Common Law Marriage: A Legal Institution for Cohabitation

The extraordinary recent increase in rates of cohabitation and non-marital birth presents a major challenge to traditional family law principles, and the legal rules governing cohabitation are thus among the most hotly contested areas of family law and policy today. In many nations, courts, legislatures, and law-reform bodies are "reinventing" common law marriage, seemingly without any sense of its history, doctrinal development, or limitations. The current law surrounding common law marriage is extremely complex. Professor Göran Lind has undertaken the demanding task of writing the most well-researched text on this topic to date. Separated into three Parts, Common Law Marriage covers the origins of the doctrine, its legal aspects in modern America, and the future of cohabitation law across the globe and in the 11 American jurisdictions that currently recognize common law marriage. It provides a cultural and historical history of the subject, from Ancient Roman Law to Medieval Canon Law, and analyzes over 2,000 American cases which have utilized the doctrine. This timely book is an excellent resource for scholars, legislators, and policymakers who are interested in the complex legalities of common law marriage.