Marriage involves a public undertaking to stay together for life, and as Jack Straw said, it is a union for the procreation of children. All around the world, across all religions and cultures, the successful societies have been those based upon marriage.[1] Marriage has enjoyed a privileged status in the Western legal tradition because of the unique social benefits it offers. Marriage is not an arbitrary construct; it is an “honourable estate” based on the different, complementary nature of men and women – and how they refine, support, encourage, and complete one another. Marriage is a public commitment, not a private liaison. The married family is profoundly important for a stable society.
It is still true that the vast majority of children are raised by married couples.[2] Most cohabiting couples marry. It is only in a married family that the parents are publicly committed to stay together for life. Marriage creates new relationships uniting the families of husband and wife. Stable married families are a primary carrier of values. It is in married families that values are most effectively passed down through the generations. It is where children learn right from wrong and where they learn to get along with others.
The Western legal tradition is explicitly based on Christian teaching. The Genesis account in the Bible states: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”[3] Christ himself quoted this passage.[4] The Christian view is that marriage between one man and one woman for life is part of the natural moral order. English Law defines marriage as “the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others.”[5] This definition was given in the leading case Hyde v Hyde and Woodmansee.[6] Lord Penzance, the Judge in the case, sought to give a definition recognised throughout “Christendom.” Some cultures legally endorse polygamy.
In the west, with its Christian tradition, polygamy has been made a criminal offence, the offence of bigamy. Until recently, the word, “family” has meant the married family. In the last few decades, the definition has embraced lone parent households. It is still true to say that a large number of lone parent households (around half) are created through divorce, separation or the death of a spouse.[7] Those families were created through marriage, although the spouses are no longer together. But now gay rights advocates want to use the idea of civil partnerships to re-define the family.
[1] O R. Johnston, Who Needs the Family? A Survey and a Christian Assessment, (Hodder and Stoughton, 1979), 44
[2] Over 70 per cent of children live in household headed by a married couple. House of Commons, Hansard, 11 May 2001, col. 435 wa
[3] Genesis 2:24
[4] See for example Matthew 19:4-5
[5] Hyde v Hyde and Woodmansee, [1866] LR 1 P & D 130
[6] Ibid
[7] Social Trends, 30, (Office for National Statistics, 2000), 37
Posted by Brendon Naicker 