CONCEPT OF MARRIAGE and the Constitutional Rights for Pursuit of Happiness

minimag · 03-07-2012

Keep in mind that you're not guaranteed happiness. You're just guaranteed the right to pursue it, but might never find it.

Wrat · 03-07-2012

In some states all you need to do to be married is (1) be over 17 years old, (2) agree to be in a marriage relationship, and (3) hold yourself out as being married. That's it. No ceremony. No license. And NO WARNING! People who are together in a common law marriage have to get a divorce to split up, and they are considered married until the divorce is final.

Just more examples of flux and rigidity in the concept.

tamati · 03-07-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wrat

In some states all you need to do to be married is (1) be over 17 years old, (2) agree to be in a marriage relationship, and (3) hold yourself out as being married. That's it. No ceremony. No license. And NO WARNING! People who are together in a common law marriage have to get a divorce to split up, and they are considered married until the divorce is final.

Just more examples of flux and rigidity in the concept.

interesting.
do those people in common law marriage get the same benefits (tax, health , inadvertence ect) as a man and a woman do with an actual marriage license?

helgaleena · 03-07-2012

Depends on what state you reside in, what the laws are re: marriage in the USA. So more than fifty different standards, in one nation alone. OP is really digging at a can of worms and has not yet even decided on whether we should talk social definition or legal definition.

Willifred · 03-07-2012

Should we start discriminating on the grounds of who somebody loves?