ABSTRACT
In the previous chapter I dealt with the technical dimension of office; that is, the legal procedure for investing the individual with public office: the office of marriage. Here I am concerned mainly with the moral dimension as demonstrated in the actions of the recipient, in this case the female partner. The marriage status and life is viewed as a total, that is holistic, social phenomenon, whose raison d’etre is identification of family and lineage honour or prestige (afa)> and the female partner is central to this process.
