Legal Nature of Marriage: Matrimonium And Contractum Thought of Synonims for Centuries

Abstract

By this piece of work we have dug in the concept and legal nature of Roman marriage, as well as in other extra family partnerships arising in Rome during those times of great splendor of the city and its evolution to date. For starters, we notice the importance of connubium penned as the right and legal ability to get married in a legitimate manner and how, the lack of such requirement, led to the term “off marriage partnership», since it did not meet one of the typical elements of a matrimonium iustum. Second of all, we have noticed how several bannings aiming at getting married according to law in classic times, when there were no basic requirements nor there was an impact on personal or property rights that we will look into later on. Last but not least, on the basis of how current marriage is ruled in Spanish Civil Code and on its main requirements, it has turned out to be necessary to prove how classic Roman marriage, as opposed to other stages in life, was not legally seen as a contract since not only did it require a marital cohabitation but also an ongoing consent freely vowed between the parties.