A History of Family Law in Europe, Volume 1

Autorentext

Saskia Lettmaier is Professor of Law at the University of Hamburg, Germany.
Rebecca Probert is Professor of Law at University of Exeter, UK.

Klappentext

This edited collection investigates the religious roots of marriage and divorce in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox nations across Europe and shows how their laws have evolved and diverged, from 1700 through to the present day.

The eighteenth century was a pivotal period for the rules governing marriage and divorce, with the authority to establish and adjudicate on them shifting from church to state. The Formation and Dissolution of Marriage, Religious Roots, and Diverging Histories evaluates these historical developments, paying particular attention to the waxing or waning influence of religious institutions, values, and norms, and asking what other proposals for reform might have been on the agenda.

As Volume 1 of A History of Family Law in Europe, this book examines how, and to what extent, marriage and divorce are regulated in the written texts of Europe's various religious traditions. The contributors analyse each system's teachings on marriage formation, marital impediments, and dissolubility, including ideas on the socially binding character of those precepts. Jurisdiction-specific chapters focusing on countries across Northern, Central, Southern, and Eastern Europe explore the regulation of marriage formation and dissolution in the context of religion and other cultural influences.

The Formation and Dissolution of Marriage, Religious Roots, and Diverging Histories brings together the insights of an international team of leading marriage-law scholars from across Europe, and is a significant resource for scholars of family law, legal history, and the history of religion.

Cover design by Caroline Wheeler.

Inhalt

1. Introduction, Rebecca Probert (University of Exeter, UK) and Saskia Lettmaier (University of Hamburg, Germany)

Part A: The Formation and Dissolution of Marriage in the Christian Traditions
2. The Formation and Dissolution of Marriage in the Western Catholic Tradition (From the New Testament to the Council of Trent), Charles Donahue Jr (Harvard Law School, USA)
3. The Formation and Dissolution of Marriage in the Roman Catholic Tradition (From the Council of Trent to the Present), Charles Donahue Jr (Harvard Law School, USA)
4. The Formation of Dissolution of Marriage in the Protestant Traditions, John Witte Jr (Emory University, USA)
5. The Formation and Dissolution of Marriage in the Orthodox Tradition, Anthony G Roeber (Penn State University, USA)

Part B: The Legal Regulation of Marriage Formation and Dissolution in Europe, 1700 to the Present
Northern Europe
6. United Kingdom and Ireland, Rebecca Probert (University of Exeter, UK), Maebh Harding (University College Dublin, Ireland), Gillian Black (University of Edinburgh, UK) and Sharon Thompson (Cardiff University, UK)
7. Denmark, Morten Kjaer and Annette Kronborg (University of Southern Denmark)
8. Norway, John Asland and Katrine Kjærheim Fredwall (University of Oslo, Norway)

Western Europe
9. Germany, Saskia Lettmaier and Moritz-Philipp Schulz (University of Hamburg, Germany)
10. France, Jean-Louis Halpérin (École normale supérieure, France)
11. Belgium and the Netherlands, Walter Pintens (University of Leuven, Belgium)
12. Austria, Karin Neuwirth (Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria)

Southern Europe
13. Spain, Carlos Martínez de Aguirre Aldaz (University of Saragossa, Spain)
14. Italy, Mark Seymour (University of Otago, New Zealand)
15. Greece, Evdoxios Doxiadis (Simon Fraser University, Canada)

Eastern Europe
16. Poland, Piotr Fiedorczyk (University of Bialystok, Poland)
17. Estonia and Latvia, Marju Luts-Sootak and Susann Liin (University of Tartu, Estonia)
18. Hungary, Orsoyla Agnes Szeibert (Eötvös Lorand University, Hungary)
19. Bulgaria, Simeon Groysman (University of Sofia St Kliment Ohridski, Bulgaria)

Part C: Marriage Formation and Dissolution in Europe in Historical-Comparative Perspective
20. Comparative Conclusion, Saskia Lettmaier (University of Hamburg, Germany) and Rebecca Probert (University of Exeter, UK)