"So the law was made, and so it stayed as it was carried to the colonies. And when the United States was born it used the same system of calling and treating marriage in the church and legal marriage as the same thing. One problem: America introduced a little thing called freedom of religion. So it wasn't too long before there were a good number of Americans that weren't even pretending to be Christian."
I hate to say it, but your precis of the history of Anglo-American law is remarkably incorrect. The English court recognized marriages between Jews, for example, including questions of paternity, legitimacy, and divorce. Characterizing marriage as merely a Christian institution which happened to adhere to English Law overlooks the real law, and the real age of the institution.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2010-08-09 07:00 pm (UTC)I hate to say it, but your precis of the history of Anglo-American law is remarkably incorrect. The English court recognized marriages between Jews, for example, including questions of paternity, legitimacy, and divorce. Characterizing marriage as merely a Christian institution which happened to adhere to English Law overlooks the real law, and the real age of the institution.