Common-law marriage

Common-law marriage, marriage undertaken without either a civil or religious ceremony. In a common-law marriage, the parties simply agree to consider themselves married. The common-law marriage is a rarity today, mainly because of the legal problems of property and inheritance that attend it in complex urban societies. Common-law marriages were valid in England until Lord Hardwicke’s Act of 1753. The act did not apply to Scotland, however, and for many years thereafter couples went north...