ABSTRACT
It has often been observed that, while marriage1 may be based on agreement, it is an agreement sui generis, in that it confers on the parties a particular status.2 Marriage provides an excellent counter example to the notion that classifications can be made on the basis of analytical jurisprudence and comparative law. While it is a universal institution, in that all societies have a concept of marriage, very different cultural traditions have influenced the development of the concept in the various countries of the world. So that, while the institution can be recognised easily enough, its attendant incidents vary considerably. Even within the Western Christian cultural tradition, different rules on capacity and form and different attitudes to the termination of marriage produce important variations from the core of monogamy.
