Marriage as social and religious issue

marriage can be defined from the universal point of view as a union of two people of opposite sex, namely man and woman. It should be noted that sex is a central point in determining whether or not a marriage exists. It must therefore be shown that the people involved in that union are a man and a woman. Marriage is therefore a religious, social and widely accepted institution which is globally respected. Marriage remains the foundation of every family worldwide. This explains the respect accorded the marriage institution. The sanctity of marriage forms the basis or foundation for family life as well as life in the society. A good marriage produces good family and good families in turn gives rise to a good society.

A marriage may be monogamous or polygamous. A monogamous marriage is the voluntary union for life of one man and the woman to the exclusion of all others. This definition was taken from an English decided case, Hyde-V-Hyde (1886) L.R IP & D 130. And monogamous marriage in England means same in Nigeria. However, a polygamous marriage is a voluntary union for life of one man with one or several wives. In every respect, whether monogamous or polygamous, marriage must necessarily be a union with the opposite sex. We are not however unaware of a union of man and man, or woman and woman which may not fall into any category or types of  marriages above. Thus, we recognise the hardship posed by trans-sexualism, hermaphrodites and pseudo hermaphrodites. There is also the advance in medical science which makes ‘sex-change’ possible. The question that ‘arises’ is that; are they men or women?

The difficulty in pinning down these groups of people to a particular sex group has been reflected in two diametrically opposed decisions of the courts in two different jurisdictions. First in England, Corbett-V-Corbett (1971 83 P.100) and later in the United States of America, M-T-V-J.T (1976) 355 A20.20K. Particularly, apart from the above global examination of marriage, one may ask himself or herself that what is the general position with the regard to the Nigerian people. Especially those of them that reside in the metropolitan cities. The trend is generally the same.

Each Saturday or even on weekdays, it has become somewhat a dominant sight to see on our roads, expensive jeep, sleek and posh cars gracefully decorated with beautiful balloons and ribbons as well as cardboard papers covering their number plates and sending obvious messages aptly captured in the words like: “About to Wed” “To the Altar” shortly before and the words like “Just wedded” “Newly Married” immediately after wedding. It is observed that more marriages occur nowadays than in the early 70s and mid-80s. This is evidenced by the frequency of marriage has become so very flamboyant that it seems to have spilled into the arena of competition between various couples as to who would be regarded as the most expensive couple of the year or century. The most flamboyant of these celebrations could cost a hell of money, at times running into a few millions of naira. Some Nigerians have queried this show of affluence in a country where we have the majority of the people wallowing in abject poverty. This is unlike weddings in the registries and among Europeans and Americans where, though they have their own flamboyance, the dominant milieu is often a quiet and secret wedding, to the extent that in some cases, the spouses have to call their friends to break the news of their wedding and ongoing honeymoon.

Conversely, cultural differences in this part of the world may not permit such “quiet” or “simple” weddings as practised by the white people. No Nigerian girl would wish to be married away secretly or quietly. They want the expensive and flamboyant three-stages of marriage including the engagement and family introduction, the traditional/battalion wine carrying and the ultimate white wedding. Research has shown in the 60s and even up till mid-80s, marriage was basically seen as a wholly social and religious issue as usually embedded in the principle… “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder”. But in the mid-90s and the turn of the century, the legal perspective of marriage has become more and more prominent. Every wife now wants a marriage certificate as a form of security; security that she is the lawfully married wife entitled at law to inherit the personal and real estate of her husband in the event of sudden death.

This desire to be secure is partly borne out of the fact of the treatment and deprivation or denial suffered by widows at the hands of their husband’s relatives, to the extent that even the children may not have anything to sustain them in the face of an otherwise wealthy or affluent estate of their deceased father. Consequent upon the above reason, women have become wiser and willing to go to court to defend not only themselves, but also their children against the avaricious tendencies of unscrupulous relations, in the event of untimely death of the husband. Further to the above is the security that once married legally, Nigerian husbands, some of whom are polygamous by nature, may be prevented from taking a second wife, at least openly. She has the security or assurance that even if her husband secretly marries another, she would be the only recognised and lawfully wedded wife and, as such, not subject to any competition with another.

The above awareness, among others, now accounts for the increased activities at the marriage registries, now found at the headquarters of almost every local government council within the states, and in the federal registries. Although there is an increase in new homes, yet this is not a 100 per cent scorecard for that sector. This is so because there are quiet a great number of young men and women who are all ripe in age for marriage, but for some reasons could not solemnize one. As a matter of fact, research has further revealed that though more marriages take place these days in terms of number, but when considered proportionately, a great percentage or number actually got  married before year 2000. A lot of reasons have accounted for why less and less young people get married these days, ranging from economic, religious, and ethnic to psychological and medical reasons.

More importantly, marriage involves financial responsibility on the part of the man from its inception to the end. This responsibility is unending and ceaseless. In fact, from the first day a man says hello to a lady of his choice till the very old age and to the end, the man is entwined in dutiful expenses. No lady would want to be camp up with a guy who has no money and who has no prospects of making money in the nearest future. Therefore, the economic importance in the sustenance of a Marriage cannot be under-estimated.

• Oluwanisomo is a legal practitioner

Jan. 2017