BOOK: Julia MOSES, ed., Marriage, Law and Modernity : Global Histories (New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017). ISBN 9781474276108, $102.60.

(Source: Bloomsbury)

Bloomsbury has recently published a new book on the modern history of marriage in a global perspective. Several articles deal with legal historical aspects of marriage law.

ABOUT

Marriage, Law and Modernity offers a global perspective on the modern history of marriage. Widespread recent debate has focused on the changing nature of families, characterized by both the rise of unmarried cohabitation and the legalization of same-sex marriage. However, historical understanding of these developments remains limited. How has marriage come to be the target of national legislation? Are recent policies on same-sex marriage part of a broader transformation? And, has marriage come to be similar across the globe despite claims about national, cultural and religious difference?

This collection brings together scholars from across the world in order to offer a global perspective on the history of marriage. It unites legal, political and social history, and seeks to draw out commonalities and differences by exploring connections through empire, international law and international migration.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: Making Marriage 'Modern', Julia Moses (University of Sheffield, UK)
Part I: Marriage and Forms of the Family
1. From Liberalism to Human Dignity: The Transformation of Marriage and Family Rights in Brazil, 1822-2013, Sueann Caulfield (University of Michigan, USA)
2. From Toleration to Prosecution: Concubinage and the Law in Modern China, Lisa Tran (California State University at Fullerton, USA)
3. The Birth of Mistresses and Bastards: A History of Marriage in Siam (Thailand), Tamara Loos (Cornell University, USA)
4. Royal Marriage in Europe: An Inherently Conservative System, Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly (University of Oxford, UK)
Part II: Marriage, Religion and the State
5. 'Til death do you part': Catholicism, Marriage and Culture War in Austria(-Hungary), Ulrike Harmat (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria)
6. Modernizing Marriage in Egypt, Kenneth M. Cuno (University of Illinois, USA)
7. 'A Babel of Law': Hindu Marriage, Global Spaces and Intimate Subjects in Late Nineteenth-Century India, Leigh Denault (University of Cambridge, UK)
8. English Exports: Invoking the Common Law of Marriage across the Empire in the Nineteenth Century, Rebecca Probert (University of Warwick, UK)
Part III: Marriage, Kinship and Community
9. Finding the Ordinary in the Extraordinary: Marriage Norms and Bigamy in Canada, Mélanie Méthot (University of Alberta, Augustana Campus, Canada)
10. Equality before the Law? The Intermarriage Debate in Post-Nazi Germany, Julia Woesthoff (DePaul University, USA)
11. Customary and Civil Marriage Law and the Question of Gender Equality in Twentieth and Twenty-First-Century Gabon and Africa, Rachel Jean-Baptiste (University of California at Davis, USA)
Postscript: How History Matters in Same-Sex Marriage Rights, Nancy F. Cott (Harvard University, USA)

More information on the publisher’s website