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1. Term and meaning Betrothal (or engagement) is the term for the promise between a man and a woman to enter into marriage with each other. This understanding only came into its own in the early modern period. Previously betrothal was part of the marriage contraction (Marriage, contraction of)  itself. The betrothal was distinguished from the wedding (originally the traditio puellae, the “handing over of the bride”), which followed as a necessary concrete act upon the marriage-justifying marriage promise [8. 31].  Characteristic of the early modern period was the statement of Gratian […

1. The act Normally in the modern period, the act of adultery could be committed by both married women and married men. Under criminal (see below 2) and civil law (see below 3) alike, adultery had consequences that might vary both regionally and between men and women. The understanding of the act in the modern period was marked by Christian conceptions. Married men and women alike might commit adultery if they infringed their obligations of loyalty arising from the marriage sacrament (Marriage) by having sexual intercourse outside marriage [6]; [2]; [1]. This conception of adultery…

1. DefinitionThe opprobrium attached to illegitimacy (from Latin illegitimus, “unlawful”) in the early modern period (when it was used more often as an adjective, as in “illegitimate child,” “illegitimate birth”) finds expression in synonyms like bastard and euphemisms like  love child). The German adjective u nehelich (“out of wedlock”) is still usually treated as synonymous with illegitim (English  illegitimate, French  illégitime). The terms  bastard and bastardy were also common in the early modern period; they, too, denigrate what was considered …

1. IntroductionThrough legitimation and adoption, children born out of wedlock could obtain the status of legitimate children. In the early modern period, legitimation was particularly common by way of subsequent marriage (Latin  per matrimonium subsequens; see section 2, below) and legitimation by sovereign act ( per rescriptum principis; see section 3, below). Both have their roots in Roman law, but had already been substantially influenced by canon law (Ecclesiastical law) and particular law by the dawn of the early modern period [10. 130]; [7. 69]; [8. 94]; [4. 408 f.].The ne…

1. DefinitionThe dissolution of marriage serves as the legal umbrella term for all ways in which a marriage may be terminated. In modern terms, one thinks first and foremost of divorce. In the early modern period, in which ecclesiastical matrimonial law remained influential, it makes sense to distinguish between Catholic, Protestant, and secular law. The starting point for the evolution of the law governing the dissolution of marriage is the view of canon law that presumed the indissolubility of a legally contracted, sacramental marriage [7. 240 ff.]: “What God has joined toge…

1. ConceptThe term concubinage in the early modern period denoted the cohabitation of man and woman out of wedlock. It derived from Roman law (Latin concubinatus), in which it stood for a legally recognized form of permanent extramarital sexual communion. It lost this legal recognition in the Late Middle Ages under the influence of Christian concepts of marriage and opposition to married clergy. This development continued through the early modern period, and concubinage soon came to refer without distinction and with di…

1. Definition and functionIn the early modern period, the legal institution of guardianship served to provide legal assistance to persons in need of protection. It predominantly derived from the ancient Roman legal institution designed to protect the interests of such persons [2. 255 f.]. It was above all European cities that issued guardianship ordinances following Roman legal and medieval precedents [8. 87]. Guardianship primarily helped people overcome familial crises, especially those caused by the death of a parent for minors and underage children…

1. ConceptBy children’s rights we mean the rights of the child in relation to its parents and other persons responsible for its care and upbringing (cf. Guardianship). With regard to children’s rights in relation to their parents the term is the mirror image ofparental rights and obligations. The rights of the child in the modern period depend in many cases on his or her birth to a married or an unmarried couple. The following discussion relates to the rights of the child on the assumption of leg…

1. Scope Family law consists of the key norms that govern personal and property relations within the family. The areas of law that family law covered varied over time as the underlying understanding of the social concept of the family changed. In the early modern period, following ancient models, the family was understood broadly as an economic unit to which every member of household contributed. The definition of the family in the  Codex Maximilianeus Bavaricus Civilis of 1756 (part 1, chap. 4  § 1) is characteristic:  “a family [is] … the totality of people living t…

1. Definition Morganatic marriage, also known as left-handed marriage, made it possible for men of the high nobility to marry a woman of inferior rank (Equal birth, principle of) and thus legitimate his cohabitation with her without permitting her to enjoy his privileges or property rights. This form of marriage thus existed in early modern Europe predominantly as a legal institution of princely law (Privatfürstenrecht) [1. 180]; [3. 16, 18, 32ff.].Cordula Scholz-Löhnig2. Juristic constructionThanks to the influence of the Church in the Middle Ages, morganatic marri…

1. RequirementsThe contraction of a legally valid marriage in the early modern period depended on satisfying specific legal requirements that served to monitor and guarantee this extremely important union in a community for the purpose of cohabitation and especially procreation. Impediments to marriage and formal requirements were used to reach this goal; the freedom to marry was sometimes limited for such regulatory purposes, insofar as marriage licenses were required (Marital consent). At the b…

1. IntroductionMaintenance is the provision of payments to people who are unable to support themselves. A distinction is made between maintenance between spouses and between other relatives, especially parents and children. Maintenance obligations in the early modern period were regulated by law. Marriage contracts generally contained no such provisions.Cordula Scholz-Löhnig2. Claims between parents and children 2.1. Early modern periodIn the first centuries of the early modern period, the right to maintenance was not yet found as a distinct legal in…

1. DefinitionAs a subject of private law, matrimonial law essentially comprises the three following areas: the contraction of a legally valid marriage (Marriage, contraction of), the shared life of spouses (effects of marriage, see section 5 below), and the dissolution of marriage (Marriage, dissolution of) [11. 20].Cordula Scholz-Löhnig2. Jurisdiction over marriage legislationEarly modern matrimonial law was shaped by the Church, which had replaced quite secular medieval concepts and rights of marriage with Christian views and ecclesiastical law [12]. This was true b…

1. IntroductionParental rights and obligations today are understood to be the rights and duties of a mother and father, who are equally entitled to take responsibility for the care and upbringing of their non-adult children, that is, to provide for their full physical, spiritual, ethical, and religious development and their property. Parental rights in this sense were still unknown in the early modern period.Developments of the early modern period primarily centered around the final detachment of parental rights from the concept of the comprehensive legal…

1. DefinitionPolygamy (Latin/Greek polygamia, “often married”; double marriage or bigamy was also sometimes called polygamy) includes both the marrying of multiple wives (polygyny) and the marrying of multiple husbands (polyandry), a distinction that still persisted in early modern canon law [6. 260]. One special form of polygamy was the levirate marriage, when one of two co-habiting married brothers died without issue and the surviving brother fathered children by the widow. This may still have occurred among Sephardic Jews in the early modern period [8. 79]. Use of the t…

1. In generalSince the end of the early modern period, important personal (person) circumstances with relevance to family law have been recorded in civil registers: for example, births, the legitimation of children, adoptions, marriages (Marriage, contraction of), divorces (Marriage, dissolution of), and deaths (cf. Family law). Depending on the extent to which the separation of church and state is observed (Church and state, separation of), an individual's faith may also be recorded [4. 3]. The concept of a civil register has been common since public registers b…

1. DefinitionDas E. als Gegenstand des Privatrechts umfasst im Wesentlichen folgende drei Bereiche: das Zustandekommen einer gültigen Ehe (Eheschließung), das Leben in der Ehegemeinschaft (Ehewirkungen, s. u. 5.) und die Auflösung der Ehegemeinschaft (Eheauflösung) [11. 20].Cordula Scholz-Löhnig2. Zuständigkeit für die EhegesetzgebungDas frühnzl. E. war ein durch die Kirche geprägtes Recht, das ma. weltliche Vorstellungen und Rechte zugunsten christl. Auffassungen und kirchlichen Rechts (Kirchenrecht) verdrängt hatte [12]. Dieser Befund gilt für das materiel…

1. DefinitionDie negative nzl. Bewertung von U. (in der Nz. häufiger als Adjektiv gebraucht, etwa in »uneheliches Kind«, »uneheliche Geburt«) kommt in Synonymen wie »unechte«, »unehrliche« oder »illegitime Kinder« ( liberi illegitimi, von lat. illegitimus, »ungesetzmäßig«) zum Ausdruck. Davon ausgehend wird U. bis heute mit Illegitimität (engl. illegitimacy, franz. illégitimité) gleichgesetzt. Auch der in der Nz. häufig verwendete Begriff des Bastards (auch Bankert) drückt die Abwertung einer als unrechtmäßig betrachteten Vermischung aus (engl. bastardy, »U.«) [1]; [15]…

1. AllgemeinIn P. werden seit dem Ende der Nz. wichtige familienrechtliche Verhältnisse einer Person aufgezeichnet: z. B. Geburt, Legitimation des Kindes, Adoption, Eheschließung, Eheauflösung und Tod (vgl. Familienrecht). Je nach Trennung von Staat und Kirche wird die Konfession der Person ebenfalls vermerkt oder nicht [4. 3]. Der Begriff P. ist seit einer staatlichen Registerführung geläufig, die Ende des 18 Jh.s von Frankreich ausgehend europaweit einsetzte [5. 1]. Vorläufer dieser staatlichen Registrierung waren die von den Kirchen geführten Matrikeln bzw.…

1. TatbestandIn der Nz. konnte der Tatbestand des E. in der Regel von verheirateten Frauen und Männern verwirklicht werden. Der E. hatte strafrechtliche (s. u. 2.) und zivilrechtliche (s. u. 3.) Folgen, die weder regional noch für Mann und Frau einheitlich waren. In der Nz. prägten christliche Vorstellungen das Verständnis des E.-Tatbestands. E. konnten verheiratete Männer und Frauen gleichermaßen begehen, wenn sie durch außerehelichen Beischlaf ihre Treue-Pflichten aus dem Sakrament der Ehe verletzten [6]; [2]; [1]. Diese Auffassung von E. setzte sich in den Rechtsb…