Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

bride price

(Encyclopedia)bride price: see marriage.

Westermarck, Edward Alexander

(Encyclopedia)Westermarck, Edward Alexander vĕsˈtərmärk, wĕsˈ– [key], 1862–1939, Finnish social philosopher and anthropologist. He was professor of sociology at the Univ. of London (1907–30) and profess...

consanguinity

(Encyclopedia)consanguinity kŏnˌsăng-gwĭnˈĭtē [key], state of being related by blood or descended from a common ancestor. This article focuses on legal usage of the term as it relates to the laws of marriage...

divorce

(Encyclopedia)divorce, partial or total dissolution of a marriage by the judgment of a court. Partial dissolution is a divorce “from bed and board,” a decree of judicial separation, leaving the parties official...

endogamy

(Encyclopedia)endogamy ĕndŏgˈəmē [key]: see marriage. ...

exogamy

(Encyclopedia)exogamy ĕksŏgˈəmē [key]: see marriage. ...

gay-rights movement

(Encyclopedia)gay-rights movement, organized efforts to end the criminalization of homosexuality and protect the civil rights of homosexuals. While there was some organized activity on behalf of the rights of homos...

legitimation

(Encyclopedia)legitimation, act of giving the status of legitimacy to a child whose parents were not married at the time the child was born. This is generally accomplished by the subsequent marriage of the parents....

Clarence, Lionel, duke of

(Encyclopedia)Clarence, Lionel, duke of, 1338–68, third son of Edward III of England. His marriage (1352) to Elizabeth de Burgh gained him the title and lands of the earl of Ulster. Governor of Ireland from 1361 ...

Gretna Green

(Encyclopedia)Gretna Green, village, Dumfries and Galloway, S Scotland, on the border with England. It was famous as a place of runaway marriages from 1754, when English marriage law was tightened, until 1856, when...