Also known as: ius connubii · right to marry · marriage right
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A Roman-law right consisting of the legal capacity to enter a valid marriage and the bundle of family-law incidents that flow from that capacity. The right includes the authority to contract marriage according to prescribed forms and to enjoy the resulting status-based privileges such as patria potestas over children.
Jonathan Jaffe owes unpaid child support under a court order. When he applies for a marriage license to wed Jennifer Jackson, the clerk refuses without prior judicial approval. The denial directly burdens Jaffe's exercise of the right to marry and forces him to litigate the support compliance issue before the marriage can proceed.
Jerome Jackson and his wife Jacqueline Juarez enter a gestational surrogacy contract with Julia Jensen. After the child is born, a dispute arises over parentage. The court must decide whether the marital presumption of legitimacy attaches because the couple possessed the legal capacity to marry and did marry before the birth.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Joanna Jung and her fiancé seek to use a municipal pool for a wedding-related gathering. City officials close the facility rather than integrate it. The closure prevents the couple from exercising ordinary incidents of their planned marriage in a public setting open to others.
Jonathan Jaffe's father leaves a bequest conditioned on Jaffe marrying a woman whose both parents are Jewish within seven years. Jaffe challenges the condition as an invalid restraint on his freedom to choose a spouse. The court must determine whether the testamentary restriction impermissibly burdens the underlying right to marry.
Jennifer Jackson seeks an abortion at a clinic but is told she must first notify her husband. The statute imposes the notice requirement only on married women. Jackson argues that the rule conditions exercise of a medical choice on her marital status and thereby burdens the incidents that flow from her marriage.
Jerome Jackson and his same-sex partner apply for a marriage license in a state that previously refused recognition. After the license issues, they seek spousal benefits at a state university. Officials initially deny the benefits, claiming the marriage lacks legal capacity under prior state definitions.
It includes the full set of family-law incidents that attach once a valid marriage is formed, such as the right to exercise patria potestas over children and other status-based privileges recognized under Roman law.
Supporting sources
A statute that significantly interferes with the fundamental right to marry must be supported by sufficiently important state interests and must be closely tailored to effectuate only those interests.
Yes. Once a marriage is validly celebrated, the state must extend the same constellation of rights and responsibilities to same-sex couples that it affords to opposite-sex couples.
Supporting sources
No. A requirement that persons with unpaid support obligations obtain court permission before marrying is not narrowly tailored to the state's collection interests and therefore violates the fundamental right to marry.
…than the absence of physical restraint." The Court has said that the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause includes the right to marry, Loving v. Virginia , 388 U.S. 1 (1967); the right to have children, Skinner v. Oklahoma ex rel. Williamson , 316 U.S. 535 (1942); the right to direct the education and upbringing of…