Marriageable age: Difference between revisions

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The 55 parties to the 1962 [[Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage, and Registration of Marriages]] have agreed to specify a minimum marriage age by statute law‚ to override customary, religious, tribal laws and traditions. When the marriageable age under a [[religious law|law of a religious community]] is lower than that under the [[law of the land]], the state law prevails. However, some religious communities do not accept the supremacy of state law in this respect, which may lead to child marriage or forced marriage. The 123 parties to the 1956 [[Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery]] have agreed to adopt a prescribed "suitable" minimum age for marriage. In many developing countries, the official age prescriptions stand as mere guidelines. [[UNICEF]], the United Nations children's organization, regards a marriage of a minor (legal [[child]]), a person below the adult age, as [[child marriage]] and a violation of rights.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-marriage/|title=Child marriage |website=UNICEF DATA|access-date=22 April 2019}}</ref>

Historically, individuals were allowed to enter into a marriage contract at a very young age. This coincided with signs of [[puberty]], such as the [[menarche|start of menstruation]] for a female and the growth of [[pubic hair]] for a male. In Ancient Rome, the appropriate minimum age for marriage was regarded as 14 for males and 12 for females.<ref name="Dahl_2010"/>

 

 

In [[late antiquity]], most Roman women married in their late teens to early twenties, but [[nobiles|noble women]] married younger than those of the lower classes, as an aristocratic girl was expected to be virgin until her first marriage.<ref name = "Hallett_1984" /> In late antiquity, under Roman law, daughters inherited equally from their parents if no will was produced.<ref name = "Arjava_1996" />{{rp|63}} In addition, Roman law recognized wives' property as legally separate from husbands' property,<ref name = "Arjava_1996" />{{rp|133–154}} as did some legal systems in parts of Europe and colonial Latin America.

| {{flag|Maldives}} ||colspan=2 style="text-align:center;"|18||colspan=4 style="text-align:center;"|16||According to custom, the minimum age for marriage is 15 years. The Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child discourages marriage before the age of 16.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.law.emory.edu/IFL/legal/maldives.htm |title=Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im |publisher=Law.emory.edu |date=2015-09-27 |access-date=2015-11-20}}</ref>

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| {{flag|Myanmar}} ||colspan=3 style="text-align:center;"|18||style="text-align:center;"|18||style="text-align:center;"|18||style="text-align:center;"|–||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.youthpolicy.org/factsheets/country/myanmar/ |title=Myanmar &#124; Factsheets |website=Youthpolicy.org |access-date=2015-11-20 |archive-date=2022-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202163655/https://www.youthpolicy.org/factsheets/country/myanmar/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

| {{flag|Denmark}} ||colspan=6 style="text-align:center;"|18||<ref>{{cite web |url=https://familieretshuset.dk/en/your-life-situation/your-life-situation/international-marriages/if-you-wish-to-get-married-in-denmark |title=If you wish to get married in Denmark § General conditions for marriage |publisher=Familieretshuset, Ministry of Social Affairs and the Interior |quote=To get married in Denmark, you must both have turned 18 years of age [...].|access-date=24 May 2020}}</ref>

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| {{flag|Finland}} ||colspan=6 style="text-align:center;"|18||In Finland, all marriages under 18 years is completely legally banned with no exemptions since June 1, 2019.<ref name="auto6"/>

 

====Classical Antiquity====

 

Rabbis estimated the age of maturity from about the beginning of the thirteenth year for women and about the beginning of the fourteenth year for men.<ref>{{cite web | vauthors = Greenstone JH |title=MAJORITY |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10310-majority |website=jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref>