In the Protestant Church mere difference of religious Christian confession, at least in Germany, has never been regarded as an actual impediment to marriage requiring a formal dispensation, although in Saxony, as late as the seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries, a marriage between Lutherans and Roman Catholics needed a special license of the higher consistory, which was granted only on certain conditions, especially that of bringing up all the children in the Lutheran faith. For many years, however, the church ceremony has been generally allowed for mixed marriages, except where the Protestant party has agreed to bring up all the children in the Roman Catholic faith.
Legal statutes limiting the liberty of parents to decide as to the religious education of children born of a mixed marriage can be enacted only by the State, since those made by ecclesiastical authority can be binding only on the party to the marriage subject to such authority.
Bibliography: On primitive marriage consult: E. Westermarck, Hist. of Human Marriage, new ed., London, 1901, Fr. transl., Origine du mariage dans l'espèce humaine, Paris, 1895; L. Dargum, Mutterrecht und Raubehe und ihre Reste, Breslau, 1883; A. Girard-Teulon, Les Origines du mariage, Geneva, 1884; J. F. McClellan. Studies in Ancient Hist., 2 series, London, 1886-96; idem, The Origin of Exogamy, in English Historical Review, Jan., 1888 (both the last are of high importance); C. Letourneau, The Evolution of Marriage and the Family, New York, 1891; L. Tillier, Le Mariage, sa genèse, son évolution, Paris, 1898; E. Crawley, The Mystic Rose; a Study of primitive Marriage, London, 1901; Smith, Kinship; L. H. Morgan, Ancient Society, reissue, New York, 1907; N. W. Thomas, Kinship Organizations and Group Marriage in Australia,
206 |
On the history of Christian marriage consult: Bingham, Origines, passim (using the index); DCA, ii. 1092-1115; G. E. Howard, A History of Matrimonial Institutions, chiefly in England and the United States, 3 vols., Chicago, 1904; E. Saalfeld, Luthers Lehre von der Ehe, Leipsic, 1882; W. Kawerau, Die Reformation und die Ehe, Halle, 1892; J. F. Bingham, Chfristian Marriage; the Ceremony, History and Significance, New York, 1900.
On the theory of marriage consult: W. Glock, Christliche Ehe und ihre modernen Gegner, Carlsruhe, 1881 C. Thönes, Die christliche Anschauung der Ehe, Leyden, 1881; W. Humphrey, Christian Marriage, London, 1886 (Roman Catholic); A. H. Huth, Marriage of Near Kin, ib. 1887; A. Richard, Marriage and Divorce, ib. 1888 (religious, practical and political); H. A. Smith, in Is Marriage a Failure? ib. 1888 (a popular handbook); O. D. Watkins, Holy Matrimony, ib. 1895; A. M. Caird, The Morality of Marriage, ib. 1897; D. F. Wilcox, Ethical Marriage, Ann Arbor, 1900; M. W. Allen, Marriage, its Duties and Privileges, Chicago, 1901; P. A. Morrow, Social Diseases and Marriage, Philadelphia, 1904; L. F. Post, Ethical Principles of Marriage and Divorce, Chicago, 1906; H. H. Henson, Christian Marriage, London, 1907.
On the law of marriage and its history consult: J. P. Bishop, Commentaries on the Law of Marriage and Divorce, 2 vols., Boston, 1881; G. Mansella, De impedimentis matrimonii dirimentibus, Rome, 1891; P. Brillaud, Traité des empêchements de mariage, Paris, 1884; J. Freisen, Geschichte des canonischen Eherechts, Tübingen, 1888; A. Esmein, Le Mariage en droit canonique, 2 vols., Paris, 1891; F. Heiner, Grundriss des katholischen Eherechts, Münster, 1892; F. H. Geffcken, Zur Geschichte der Ehescheidung vor Gratian, Leipsic, 1894; G. Revesz, Das Trauerjahr der Witwe, Stuttgart, 1902; L. Gaugusch, Das Ehehindernis der höheren Weihe, Vienna, 1902; M. Leitner, Lehrbuch des katholischen Eherechts, Paderborn, 1902.
For marriage law and the general status in different countries, consult for France: E. Kelly, The French Law of Marriage, London, 1885; G. Baidry-Laeantinerie, Du contrat de mariape, 3 vols., Paris, 1901. For Germany: C. Barazetti, Das Eherecht, Hanover, 1895; C. Sartorius, Kommentar zum Personenstandgesetz in der vom Jan. 1, 1900, an geltenden Fassung, Munich, 1902. For England: W. Ernst, Treatise on Marriage and Divorce, London, 1879; J. T. Hammick, The Marriage Law of England, ib. 1887; D. M. Ford, Matrimonial Law, ib. 1888; C. Crawley, The Law of Husband and Wife, ib. 1892. For the United States: J. Fulton, The Laws of Marriage, New York, 1883; W. L. Snyder, The Geography of Marriage, New York, 1889 (on the complexities of marriage law in the U. S.); C. D. Wright, Report on Marriage and Divorce in the U. S., Washington, 1889; L. J. Robinson, Law of Husband and Wife, Boston, 1890; J. P. Bishop, Commentaries on Marriage, Divorce and Separation, 2 vols., Chicago, 1891; F. Keezer, Law of Marriage and Divorce, Boston, 1908; J. M. Donovan, Law of Marriage, Annulment, Domicile, Divorce, Sioux Falls, 1908.
![]() | Calvin College. Last modified on 08/11/06. Contact the CCEL. | ![]() |