Portal:Law/Article/Week 28 2006
Common-law marriage sometimes called informal marriage or marriage by habit and repute is, historically, a form of interpersonal status in which a man and a woman are legally married. The term is often mistakenly understood to indicate an interpersonal relationship that is not recognised in law. In fact, a common law marriage is just as legally binding as a statutory or ceremonial marriage — it is just formed differently.
The essential distinctions of a common law marriage are:
- Common law marriages are not licensed by government authorities.
- Common law marriages are not blessed by religious authorities.
- Common law marriages are not solemnized.
- There is no public record of a common law marriage (i.e., no marriage certificate).
- Cohabitation alone does not amount to common law marriage; the couple in question must hold themselves out to the world to be husband and wife.
- In some jurisdictions, a couple must have cohabited and held themselves out to the world as husband and wife for a minimum length of time for the marriage to be recognised as valid.
Otherwise, the requirements are the same for common law marriage as they are for statutory marriage, i.e., the parties must mutually consent to be married, be of legal age or have their parents' permission, and so on.