A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, amulets, astrology, fortune telling, spirits, and certain paranormal entities, particularly the belief that future events can be foretold by specific (apparently) unrelated prior events.[1][2]
Also, the word superstition is often used to refer to a religion not practiced by the majority of a given society regardless of whether the prevailing religion contains alleged superstitions or to all religions by the antireligious.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstition
Suspicion is a cognition of mistrust in which a person doubts the honesty of another person or believes another person to be guilty of some type of wrongdoing or crime, but without sure proof. Suspicion can also be aroused in response to objects that negatively differ from an expected idea. In the US, the courts use the term "reasonable suspicion" in connection with the right of the police to stop people on the street. The word comes from Middle-English via the Old French word "suspicion", which is a variation of the Italian word "sospetto" (a derivative of the Latin term "suspectio", which means "to watch").
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspicion_(emotion)
A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state, or another community, often by intrigue and usually unbeknownst to those who are outside their group. The use of this term usually carries negative connotations of political purpose, conspiracy and secrecy.[1][2] It can also refer to a secret plot or a clique, or it may be used as a verb (to form a cabal or secretly conspire).[1][3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabal
Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them.[1][better source needed] Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertainty, distrust or lack of conviction on certain facts, actions, motives, or decisions. Doubt can result in delaying or rejecting relevant action out of concern for mistakes or missed opportunities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubt
In law enforcement jargon, a suspect is a known person accused or suspected of committing a crime. Police and reporters in the United States often use the word suspect as a jargon when referring to the perpetrator of the offense (perp in dated U.S. slang). However, in official definition, the perpetrator is the robber, assailant, counterfeiter, etc.—the person who committed the crime. The distinction between suspect and perpetrator recognizes that the suspect is not known to have committed the offense, while the perpetrator—who may not yet have been suspected of the crime, and is thus not necessarily a suspect—is the one who did. The suspect may be a different person from the perpetrator, or there may have been no actual crime, which would mean there is no perpetrator.[1]
A common error in police reports is a witness description of the suspect (as a witness generally describes a perpetrator, while a mug shot is of a suspect). Frequently it is stated that police are looking for the suspect, when there is no suspect; the police could be looking for a suspect, but they are surely looking for the perpetrator, and very often it is impossible to tell from such a police report whether there is a suspect or not.
Possibly because of the misuse of "suspect" to mean "perpetrator", police in the late 20th and early 21st century began to use person of interest, possible suspect, and even possible person of interest, to mean suspect.[citation needed]
Under the judicial systems of the U.S., once a decision is approved to arrest a suspect, or bind him over for trial, either by a prosecutor issuing an information, a grand jury issuing a true bill or indictment, or a judge issuing an arrest warrant, the suspect can then be properly called a defendant, or the accused. Only after being convicted is the suspect properly called the perpetrator.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspect
False advertising is defined as the act of publishing, transmitting, or otherwise publicly circulating an advertisement containing a false claim, or statement, made intentionally (or recklessly) to promote the sale of property, goods, or services.[3] A false advertisement can be classified as deceptive if the advertiser deliberately misleads the consumer, rather than making an unintentional mistake. A number of governments use regulations to limit false advertising.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_advertising
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veracity_of_statements_by_Donald_Trump
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_free_speech_exceptions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_accusation
A false accusation is a claim or allegation of wrongdoing that is untrue and/or otherwise unsupported by facts.[1] False accusations are also known as groundless accusations or unfounded accusations or false allegations or false claims. They can occur in any of the following contexts:
- Informally in everyday life
- Quasi-judicially
- Judicially
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_accusation
A false accusation of rape is the intentional reporting of a rape where no rape has occurred. It is difficult to assess the prevalence of false accusations because they are often conflated with non-prosecuted cases under the designation "unfounded".[8][9] However, in the United States, the FBI Uniform Crime Report in 1996 and the United States Department of Justice in 1997 stated 8% of rape accusations in the United States were regarded as unfounded or false.[10][11][12] Studies in other countries have reported their own rates at anywhere from 1.5% (Denmark) to 10% (Canada).[12]: 140–142 Due to varying definitions of a "false accusation", the true percentage remains unknown.[11]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_accusation
A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deceiving or misleading someone.[1][2][3] The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a liar. Lies can be interpreted as deliberately false statements or misleading statements. Lies may also serve a variety of instrumental, interpersonal, or psychological functions for the individuals who use them.
Generally, the term "lie" carries a negative connotation, and depending on the context a person who communicates a lie may be subject to social, legal, religious, or criminal sanctions; for instance, perjury, or the act of lying under oath, can result in criminal and civil charges being pressed against the perjurer.
Although people in many cultures believe that deception can be detected by observing nonverbal behaviors (e.g. not making eye contact, fidgeting, stuttering) research indicates that people overestimate both the significance of such cues and their ability to make accurate judgements about deception.[4][5] More generally, people's ability to make true judgments is affected by biases towards accepting incoming information and interpreting feelings as evidence of truth. People do not always check incoming assertions against their memory.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambling
Workplace mobbing can be considered as a "virus" or a "cancer" that spreads throughout the workplace via gossip, rumour and unfounded accusations.[18]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_accusation
The case has been made that diagnoses of Münchausen syndrome by proxy, that is harming someone else in order to gain attention for oneself, are often false or highly questionable.[19]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_accusation
In 1999, Pathe, Mullen, and Purcell wrote that popular interest in stalking was promoting false claims.[20] In 2004, Sheridan and Blaauw said that they estimated that 11.5% of claims in a sample of 357 reported claims of stalking were false.[21]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_accusation
False claims of stalking, "gang stalking" and delusions of persecution
In 1999, Pathe, Mullen and Purcell wrote that popular interest in stalking was promoting false claims.[33] In 2004, Sheridan and Blaauw said that they estimated that 11.5% of claims in a sample of 357 reported claims of stalking were false.[34]
According to Sheridan and Blaauw, 70% of false stalking reports were made by people experiencing delusions, stating that "after eight uncertain cases were excluded, the false reporting rate was judged to be 11.5%, with the majority of false victims suffering delusions (70%)."[34] Another study estimated the proportion of false reports that were due to delusions as 64%.[35]
A 2020 study by Sheridan et al. gave figures for lifetime prevalence of perceived gang-stalking at 0.66% for adult women and 0.17% for adult men.[39]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalking#False_claims_of_stalking,_%22gang_stalking%22_and_delusions_of_persecution
A persecutory delusion or persecution complex is a common type of delusional condition in which the affected person believes that harm is going to occur to oneself by a persecutor, despite a clear lack of evidence. The person may believe that they are being targeted by an individual or a group of people. Persecution delusions are very diverse in terms of content and vary from the possible, albeit improbable, to the completely bizarre. The delusion can be found in a multitude of disorders, being more usual in psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and delusional disorder.
Persecutory delusion is at the more severe side of the paranoia spectrum and it often induces anxiety, depression and sleep disturbance. Individuals with this delusion have also been found to have low self-esteem.[1] Persecutory delusions have a high percentage to be acted upon, such as not leaving the house due to fear or acting violently. Persecutory type is a common type of delusion and is more prevalent in males. Theory of mind deficits are present in people with this delusion.
As with other disorders it is thought that persecutory delusions are a combination of genetic and environmental factors. This type of delusion is treatment-resistant. The most common methods of treatment are cognitive behavioral therapy, medications, namely first and second generation antipsychotics, and in severe cases, hospitalization.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecutory_delusion
Grandiose delusions (GD), also known as delusions of grandeur or expansive delusions,[1] are a subtype of delusion that occur in patients with a wide range of psychiatric disorders, including two-thirds of patients in a manic state of bipolar disorder, half of those with schizophrenia, patients with the grandiose subtype of delusional disorder, frequently in narcissistic personality disorder, and a substantial portion of those with substance abuse disorders.[2][3] GDs are characterized by fantastical beliefs that one is famous, omnipotent, wealthy, or otherwise very powerful. The delusions are generally fantastic and typically have a religious, science fictional, or supernatural theme. There is a relative lack of research into GD, in contrast to persecutory delusions and auditory hallucinations. Around 10% of healthy people experience grandiose thoughts at some point in their lives but do not meet full criteria for a diagnosis of GD.[3]
While similarly named and sharing some features in common, grandiose delusions are distinct from grandiosity. While GDs refer to beliefs about nonexistent fame, wealth, powers, or religious and historical relevance, grandiosity refers to feelings of superiority, uniqueness, importance or invulnerability, and is best understood as a form of self-regard.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiose_delusions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humankind_(disambiguation)
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=False_claims_of_stalking,_gang_stalking_and_delusions_of_persecution&redirect=no
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoacoustics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychophysics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalking#Types_of_stalkers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_accusation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_pen_letter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexatious_litigation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyeurism
Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of watching other people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions of a private nature.[1]
The term comes from the French voir which means "to see". A male voyeur is commonly labelled as "Peeping Tom" or a "Jags", a term which originates from the Lady Godiva legend.[2] However, that term is usually applied to a male who observes somebody secretly and, generally, not in a public space.
The American Psychiatric Association has classified certain voyeuristic fantasies, urges and behaviour patterns as a paraphilia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) if the person has acted on these urges, or the sexual urges or fantasies cause marked distress or interpersonal difficulty.[3] It is described as a disorder of sexual preference in the ICD-10.[4] The DSM-IV defines voyeurism as the act of observing "individuals, usually strangers, engaging in sexual activity, exhibitionism, or disrobing".[5] The diagnosis as a disorder would not be given to people who experience typical sexual arousal or amusement, simply by seeing nudity or sexual activity.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyeurism
Vicariousness refers to qualities or scenarios wherein one experiences another person's life, through imaginative or sympathetic participation.[1]
There are various examples whereby the social phenomenon of vicariousness may be observed. These include for instance, stage parents, some of whom may try to live out their dream career through their offspring.[2] Such attempts of vicarious behavior has been noted by some analysts as having negative consequences.[3] In actual circumstances wherein a parent tries to live out their accomplishment through their child even though the child seems uninterested, it has been labeled with common phrases such as chasing lost dreams.[4] In these instances, it is a subset of possessiveness which has been most markedly observed at the spectator stands of children's sport games.[5] There are some idioms wherein vicariousness is viewed favorably, such as put oneself in another's shoes.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicariousness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy
A poison pen letter is a letter or note containing unpleasant, abusive, or malicious statements or accusations about the recipient or a third party. It is usually sent anonymously. In the term "poison pen" (or poisoned pen[1]), the word poison is used figuratively, rather than literally. Poison pen letters are usually composed and sent to upset the recipient. They differ from blackmail, which is intended to obtain something from the recipient.
In the United Kingdom, Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 covers most cases of poison pen letters.[2]
See also
- Ransom note effect – A message composed of multiple juxtaposing typefaces
- James Forster (poison pen letter writer)
- Hate mail
- Chain letter
- Stalking
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_pen_letter
Anonymity[a] describes situations where the acting person's identity is unknown. Some writers have argued that namelessness, though technically correct, does not capture what is more centrally at stake in contexts of anonymity. The important idea here is that a person be non-identifiable, unreachable, or untrackable.[1] Anonymity is seen as a technique, or a way of realizing, a certain other values, such as privacy, or liberty. Over the past few years, anonymity tools used on the dark web by criminals and malicious users have drastically altered the ability of law enforcement to use conventional surveillance techniques.[2][3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymity
In Christian theology, charity (Latin: caritas) is considered one of the seven virtues and is understood by Thomas Aquinas as "the friendship of man for God", which "unites us to God". He holds it as "the most excellent of the virtues".[1] Further, Aquinas holds that "the habit of charity extends not only to the love of God, but also to the love of our neighbor".[2]
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines "charity" as "the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God".[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charity_(Christian_virtue)
In the law of the United States, the Code of Laws of the United States of America[1] (variously abbreviated to Code of Laws of the United States, United States Code, U.S. Code, U.S.C., or USC) is the official compilation and codification of the general and permanent federal statutes.[2] It contains 53 titles (Titles 1–54, excepting Title 53, which is reserved for a proposed title on small business).[3][4] The main edition is published every six years by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives, and cumulative supplements are published annually.[2][5][6] The official version of these laws appears in the United States Statutes at Large, a chronological, uncodified compilation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Code
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_warfare
A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation,[1] while keeping their agreement secret from the public or from other people affected by it. In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of people united in the goal of usurping, altering or overthrowing an established political power. Depending on the circumstances, a conspiracy may also be a crime, or a civil wrong.[2] The term generally implies wrongdoing or illegality on the part of the conspirators, as people would not need to conspire to engage in activities that were lawful and ethical, or to which no one would object.
There are some coordinated activities that people engage in with secrecy that are not generally thought of as conspiracies. For example, intelligence agencies such as the American CIA and the British MI6 necessarily make plans in secret to spy on suspected enemies of their respective countries and the general populous of its home countries, but this kind of activity is generally not considered to be a conspiracy so long as their goal is to fulfill their official functions, and not something like improperly enriching themselves.[3] Similarly, the coaches of competing sports teams routinely meet behind closed doors to plan game strategies and specific plays designed to defeat their opponents, but this activity is not considered a conspiracy because this is considered a legitimate part of the sport. Furthermore, a conspiracy must be engaged in knowingly. The continuation of social traditions that work to the advantage of certain groups and to the disadvantage of certain other groups, though possibly unethical, is not a conspiracy if participants in the practice are not carrying it forward for the purpose of perpetuating this advantage.[3]
On the other hand, if the intent of carrying out a conspiracy exists, then there is a conspiracy even if the details are never agreed to aloud by the participants.[3] CIA covert operations, for instance, are by their very nature hard to prove definitively but research into the agency's work, as well as revelations by former CIA employees, has suggested several cases where the agency tried to influence events.[4] During the Cold War, the United States tried to covertly change other nations' governments 66 times, succeeding in 26 cases.[5]
A "conspiracy theory" is a belief that a conspiracy has actually been decisive in producing a political event of which the theorists strongly disapprove.[6] Political scientist Michael Barkun has described conspiracy theories as relying on the view that the universe is governed by design, and embody three principles: nothing happens by accident, nothing is as it seems, and everything is connected.[7] Another common feature is that conspiracy theories evolve to incorporate whatever evidence exists against them, so that they become, as Barkun writes, a closed system that is unfalsifiable, and therefore "a matter of faith rather than proof."[8][9][10]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy
A civil conspiracy is a form of conspiracy involving an agreement between two or more parties to deprive a third party of legal rights or deceive a third party to obtain an illegal objective.[1] A form of collusion, a conspiracy may also refer to a group of people who make an agreement to form a partnership in which each member becomes the agent or partner of every other member and engage in planning or agreeing to commit some act. It is not necessary that the conspirators be involved in all stages of planning or be aware of all details. Any voluntary agreement and some overt act by one conspirator in furtherance of the plan are the main elements necessary to prove a conspiracy.
A conspiracy may exist whether legal means are used to accomplish illegal results, or illegal means used to accomplish something legal.[2] "Even when no crime is involved, a civil action for conspiracy may be brought by the persons who were damaged."[1]
In tort law the legal elements necessary to establish a civil conspiracy are substantially the same as for establishing a criminal conspiracy, i.e. there is an agreement between two or more natural persons to break the law at some time in the future or to achieve a lawful aim by unlawful means. The criminal law often requires one of the conspirators to take an overt step to accomplish the illegal act to demonstrate the reality of their intention to break the law, whereas in a civil conspiracy, an overt act towards accomplishing the wrongful goal may not be required. Etymologically, the term comes from Latin con- "with, together", and spirare "to breathe".
In United States business litigation
Business litigation often involves the use of conspiracy lawsuits against two or more corporations. Often joined in the lawsuit as defendants are the officers of the companies and outside accountants, attorneys, and similar fiduciaries. In many states, officers and directors of a corporation cannot engage in a conspiracy with the corporation unless acting for their private benefit independent of any benefit to the corporation.
Civil conspiracy law often takes the form of antitrust lawsuits, usually litigated in federal court, where, for example, a plaintiff may seek treble damages for overpayments caused by price-fixing above a market rate. The federal Sherman Antitrust Act provides both civil and criminal penalties. Other agreements among businesses and their agents for group boycotts, to monopolize, and to set predatory prices with intent to drive a small competitor out of business, would be actionable.
Conspiracies in violation of the federal securities laws such as the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 form another area where intense civil and criminal lawsuits occur over the existence or non-existence of an alleged conspiracy. Both the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice bring legal actions for conspiracies to violate the securities laws. For example, a regional bank called PNC Financial Services Group Inc. through a subsidiary agreed, in June 2003, to pay $115 million in civil fines and restitution to settle the SEC's allegations of securities fraud. The subsidiary was accused of conspiracy to violate securities laws by transferring $762 million in troubled loans and investments to off-balance-sheet entities in 2001. In that case, the Justice Department deferred prosecution of PNC, citing its cooperation in a related investigation. Similarly, the civil litigation against the tobacco companies to recover health care costs, alleges a conspiracy under the Medical Care Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2651, et seq. (Count One), the Medicare Secondary Payer provisions of Subchapter 18 of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1395y(b)(2)(B)(ii) & (iii) (Count Two), and the civil provisions of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations ("RICO") 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961–1968, to deceive the American public about the health effects of smoking.
"Plain Language" jury instructions
Often the modern civil law of conspiracy is described in "plain language" jury instructions. The standard California jury instruction for conspiracy is governed by Rule 2.1050 of the California Rules of Court, The new California jury instructions are designated as the “official instructions for use in the state of California.” It is not mandatory for the California judges to use them; but it is strongly encouraged.
An example of some of the "plain language" California civil instructions on the essential factual elements of conspiracy reads as follows (with fictional names placed in the blanks in the jury instruction form):
A conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit a wrongful act.
Such an agreement may be made orally or in writing or implied by the conduct of the parties.
Plaintiff Smith, Inc., claims that it was harmed by Defendant Jones Corp. for refusing to sell widgets to Plaintiff Smith, Inc. with intent to unreasonably injure competition and that Defendant Brown & Associates is also liable for the harm because it was part of the conspiracy with Jones Corp. to unreasonably injure competition under the California antitrust laws.
The facts of each case can vary widely as to exact nature of the underlying scheme. In the above example, a common fact pattern could be that widgets are necessary for Smith, Inc. to manufacture its product, and Brown & Associates is a competitor of Smith, Inc.
How the conspirators entice one another into the scheme also varies. In the above example Brown & Associates could promise Jones, Corp. kickbacks from the additional profits it hopes to make if Smith, Inc is forced out of business because it lacks the necessary widgets, or Jones Corp could entice Brown into a conspiracy with the prospect of increased profits, to be shared with Jones for withholding widgets from Smith.
In English law
The tort of conspiracy requires there to be knowledge of the relevant circumstances and of the agreement made. Thus, as a precondition to corporate liability, it must be possible to attribute the relevant employee's or agent's knowledge to the corporation. There are two possible legal approaches:
- as a matter of agency law, the acts and omissions constituting the alleged conspiracy must have been carried out within the actual or ostensible authority of the agent; or
- as a matter of vicarious liability the acts and omissions must have been carried out in and during the course of the employment.
There is little difficulty when the claim is that the company either conspired with a second company or with at least two natural persons. The requisite knowledge can be attributed under either head as appropriate. But there is a problem under the first heading when fraud is involved because there is a clash of authority. Lloyd v Grace, Smith & Co [1912] AC 716 held that a Principal may be liable where the Agent commits a fraud within actual or apparent authority, whereas in In re Hampshire Land Company [1896] 2 Ch 743, it was held that the knowledge and, sometimes, the conduct of an Agent acting fraudulently so as to cause loss to the Principal will not be imputed to the Principal. In theory, vicarious liability may be of more assistance in that it is attributing the wrong done by one (natural) person to another (fictitious) but, in Belmont Finance Corporation v Williams Furniture Ltd [1979] Ch 250, the Hampshire Land agency line of authority was preferred. Belmont, a company in liquidation, sued a number of defendants, including the majority of its own directors, for conspiracy to procure Belmont to buy shares in another company at a gross overvalue. The purpose of this plan was to fund the acquisition of shares in Belmont itself by some of the defendants. Foster J. struck out the claim on the basis that Belmont was itself a party to the conspiracy. On appeal, Buckley LJ. said:
- But in my view knowledge should not be imputed to the company, for the essence of the arrangements was to deprive the company improperly of a large part of its assets. As I have said, the company was a victim of the conspiracy. I think it would be irrational to treat the directors, who were allegedly parties to the conspiracy, notionally as having transmitted this knowledge to the company.
Because Belmont could only be a party to the conspiracy if knowledge was imputed, the Court of Appeal insulated it from the knowledge of its directors even though those directors, with that knowledge, made relevant decisions at board meetings and attached the company seal to the relevant documents. To that extent, liability in conspiracy is different from the standard vicarious liability situations in which, say, a company will be deemed to know that vehicles or machinery have not been properly maintained or that a service has been negligently delivered.
See also
References
- Department of Trade & Industry: "Company Law Review: Attribution of Liability"
- U.S. Department of Justice: "Antitrust Enforcement and the Consumer"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_conspiracy
In criminal law, an overt act is the one that can be clearly proved by evidence and from which criminal intent can be inferred, as opposed to a mere intention in the mind to commit a crime.[1] Such an act, even if innocent per se, can potentially be used as evidence against someone during a trial to show participation in a crime.[2] For instance, the purchase of a ski mask, which can conceal identity, is generally a legal act but may be an overt act if it is purchased in the planning of a bank robbery.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overt_act
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_robbery
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_crime_in_the_United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_18_of_the_United_States_Code
In criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime at some time in the future.[1] Criminal law in some countries or for some conspiracies may require that at least one overt act be undertaken in furtherance of that agreement, to constitute an offense. There is no limit to the number participating in the conspiracy and, in most countries, the plan itself is the crime, so there is no requirement that any steps have been taken to put the plan into effect (compare attempts which require proximity to the full offense). For the purposes of concurrence, the actus reus is a continuing one and parties may join the plot later and incur joint liability and conspiracy can be charged where the co-conspirators have been acquitted or cannot be traced. Finally, repentance by one or more parties does not affect liability (unless, in some cases, it occurs before the parties have committed overt acts) but may reduce their sentence.
An unindicted co-conspirator, or unindicted conspirator, is a person or entity that is alleged in an indictment to have engaged in conspiracy, but who is not charged in the same indictment. Prosecutors choose to name persons as unindicted co-conspirators for a variety of reasons including grants of immunity, pragmatic considerations, and evidentiary concerns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_conspiracy
Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation.[1] Human trafficking can occur within a country or trans-nationally. It is distinct from people smuggling, which is characterized by the consent of the person being smuggled.
Human trafficking is condemned as a violation of human rights by international conventions, but legal protection varies globally. The practice has millions of victims around the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking
Marriageable age (or marriage age) is the general age, as a legal age or as the minimum age subject to parental, religious or other forms of social approval, at which a person is legitimately allowed for marriage. Age and other prerequisites to marriage vary between jurisdictions, but in the vast majority of jurisdictions, the marriage age as a right is set at the age of majority. Nevertheless, most jurisdictions allow marriage at a younger age with parental or judicial approval, and some also allow adolescents to marry if the female is pregnant. The age of marriage is most commonly 18 years old, but there are variations, some higher and some lower. The marriageable age should not be confused with the age of majority or the age of consent, though they may be the same in many places.
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, and tribal laws and traditions. When the marriageable age under a 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.[1]
Until recently, the minimum marriageable age for females was lower in many jurisdictions than for males, on the premise that females mature at an earlier age than males. This law has been viewed by some to be discriminatory, so that in many countries the marriageable age of females has been raised to equal that of males.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriageable_age
Marriageable age (or marriage age) is the general age, as a legal age or as the minimum age subject to parental, religious or other forms of social approval, at which a person is legitimately allowed for marriage. Age and other prerequisites to marriage vary between jurisdictions, but in the vast majority of jurisdictions, the marriage age as a right is set at the age of majority. Nevertheless, most jurisdictions allow marriage at a younger age with parental or judicial approval, and some also allow adolescents to marry if the female is pregnant. The age of marriage is most commonly 18 years old, but there are variations, some higher and some lower. The marriageable age should not be confused with the age of majority or the age of consent, though they may be the same in many places.
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, and tribal laws and traditions. When the marriageable age under a 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.[1]
Until recently, the minimum marriageable age for females was lower in many jurisdictions than for males, on the premise that females mature at an earlier age than males. This law has been viewed by some to be discriminatory, so that in many countries the marriageable age of females has been raised to equal that of males.
History and social attitudes
Classical antiquity
Greece
Females married as young as 14 or 16.[2] In Spartan marriages, females were around 18 and males were around 25.[3]
In ancient Athens, both husband and wife had the power to initiate a divorce. The husband simply had to send his wife back to her father to end the marriage.[4]
Rome
In the Roman Empire, the Emperor Augustus introduced marriage legislation, the Lex Papia Poppaea, which rewarded marriage and childbearing. The legislation also imposed penalties for both men and women who remained unmarried, or who married but for whatever reason failed to have children, between the ages of 25 and 60 for men, and 20 and 50 for women.[5] Women who were Vestal Virgins were selected between the ages of 6 and 10 to serve as priestesses in the temple of goddess Vesta in the Roman Forum for 30 years, after which time they could marry.[6]
Noblewomen were known to marry as young as 12 years of age,[7] whereas women in the lower social classes were more likely to marry slightly further into their teenage years.[8][9] The father had the right and duty to seek a good and useful match for his children, and might arrange a child's betrothal long before he or she came of age (age of maturity).[10] To further the interests of their birth families, daughters of the elite would marry into respectable families.[11] If a daughter could prove the proposed husband to be of bad character, she could legitimately refuse the match[11]
In Roman law, age of majority varied from being 25 or as high as 30, though the age of marriage was 12 years for females and 14 years for males, and age of betrothal was 7 years for both males and females. The age of lawful consent to a marriage was 12 for girls and 14 for boys.[7]
Ancient Roman law required brides to be at least 12 years old. In ancient Roman law, first marriages to brides aged 12–25 required the consent of the bride and her father, but by the late antique period Roman law permitted women over 25 to marry without parental consent.[12]: 29–37
Historically, individuals were allowed to enter into a marriage contract at a very young age. This coincided with signs of puberty: such as the start of menstruation for a female and the growth of pubic hair for a male. In Ancient Rome, the appropriate minimum age was regarded as 14 for males and 12 for females.[13]
43% of Pagan females married as young as 12-15 and 42% of Christian females married as young as 15-18.[14]
In late antiquity, most Roman women married in their late teens to early twenties, but noble women married younger than those of the lower classes, as an aristocratic girl was expected to be virgin until her first marriage.[8] In late antiquity, under Roman law, daughters inherited equally from their parents if no will was produced.[12]: 63 In addition, Roman law recognized wives' property as legally separate from husbands' property,[12]: 133–154 as did some legal systems in parts of Europe and colonial Latin America.
In 380 CE, the Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, which made Catholicism the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Catholic Church adopted Roman law into Canon law.[13]
Post-classical history
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, manorialism also helped weaken the ties of kinship and thus the power of clans; as early as the 9th century in northwestern France, families that worked on manors were small, consisting of parents and children and occasionally a grandparent. The Roman Catholic Church and State had become allies in erasing the solidarity and thus the political power of the clans; the Roman Catholic Church sought to replace traditional religion, whose vehicle was the kin group, and substitute the authority of the elders of the kin group with that of a religious elder; at the same time, the king's rule was undermined by revolts by the most powerful kin groups, clans or sections, whose conspiracies and murders threatened the power of the state and also the demands by manorial lords for obedient, compliant workers.[15] As the peasants and serfs lived and worked on farms that they rented from the lord of the manor, they also needed the permission of the lord to marry. Couples therefore had to comply with the lord of the manor and wait until a small farm became available before they could marry and thus produce children; those who could and did delay marriage were presumably rewarded by the landlord and those who did not were presumably denied that reward. For example, marriage ages in Medieval England varied depending on economic circumstances, with couples delaying marriage until their early twenties when times were bad, but might marry in their late teens after the Black Death, when there was a severe labour shortage;[16]: 96 by appearances, marriage of adolescents was not the norm in England.[16]: 98–100
In medieval Western Europe, the rise of Catholicism and manorialism had both created incentives to keep families nuclear, and thus the age of marriage increased; the Western Church instituted marriage laws and practices that undermined large kinship groups. The Roman Catholic Church prohibited consanguineous marriages, a marriage pattern that had been a means to maintain clans (and thus their power) throughout history.[17] The Roman Catholic Church curtailed arranged marriages in which the bride did not clearly agree to the union.[18]
Male and female adolescents needed parental consent to marry because they were under the age of majority, 21 years old. In the 12th century, the Roman Catholic Church drastically changed legal standards for marital consent by allowing daughters over 12 years old and sons over 14 years old to marry without their parents' approval, even if their marriage was made clandestinely.[19] Parish studies have confirmed that in the late medieval period females did sometimes marry without their parents' approval in England.[20]
In the 12th century, Canon law jurist Gratian, stated that consent for marriage could not take place before the age of 12 years old for females and 14 years old for males; and consent for betrothal could not take place before the age of 7 years old for females and males, as that is the age of reason. The Church of England, after breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church, carried with it the same minimum age requirements. Age of consent for marriage of 12 years old for girls and of 14 years old for boys were written into English civil law.[13]
The first recorded age-of-consent law, in England, dates back 800 years. The age of consent law in question has to do with the law of rape and not the law of marriage as sometimes misunderstood. In 1275, in England, as part of the rape law, the Statute of Westminster 1275, made it a misdemeanor to have sex with a "maiden within age", whether with or without her consent. The phrase "within age" was interpreted by jurist Sir Edward Coke as meaning the age of marriage, which at the time was 12 years old.[21] A 1576 law was created with more severe punishments for having sex with a girl for which the age of consent was set at 10 years old.[22] Under English common law the age of consent apart of the law of rape was 10 or 12 years old and rape was defined as forceful sexual intercourse with a woman against her will. To convict a man of rape, both force and lack of consent had to be proved, except in the case of a girl who is under the age of consent. Since the age of consent applied in all circumstances, not just in physical assaults, the law also made it impossible for an underage girl (under 12 years old) to consent to sexual activity. There was one exception: a man's acts with his wife (females over 12 years old), to which rape law did not apply.[23] Jurist Sir Matthew Hale stated that both rape laws were valid at the same time.[24] In 1875, the Offence Against the Persons Act raised the age to 13 years in England; an act of sexual intercourse with a girl younger than 13 was a felony.[25]
There were some fathers who arranged marriages for a son or a daughter before he or she reached the age of maturity, which is similar to what some fathers in ancient Rome did. Consummation would not take place until the age of maturity. Roman Catholic Canon law defines a marriage as consummated when the "spouses have performed between themselves in a human fashion a conjugal act which is suitable in itself for the procreation of offspring, to which marriage is ordered by its nature and by which the spouses become one flesh."[26] There are recorded marriages of two- and three-year-olds: in 1564, a three-year-old named John was married to a two-year-old named Jane in the Bishop's Court in Chester, England.
Modern history
The policy of the Roman Catholic Church, and later various protestant churches, of considering clandestine marriages and marriages made without parental consent to be valid was controversial, and in the 16th century both the French monarchy and the Lutheran Church sought to end these practices, with limited success.[27]
In most of Northwestern Europe, marriages at very early ages were rare. One thousand marriage certificates from 1619 to 1660 in the Archdiocese of Canterbury show that only one bride was 13 years old, four were 15, twelve were 16, and seventeen were 17 years old; while the other 966 brides were at least 19 years old.[28]
In England and Wales, the Marriage Act 1753 required a marriage to be covered by a licence (requiring parental consent for those under 21) or the publication of banns (which parents of those under 21 could forbid). Additionally, the Church of England dictated that both the bride and groom must be at least 21 years of age to marry without the consent of their families; in the certificates, the most common age for the brides is 22 years. For the grooms 24 years was the most common age, with average ages of 24 years for the brides and 27 for the grooms.[28] While European noblewomen often married early, they were a small minority of the population,[29] and the marriage certificates from Canterbury show that even among nobility it was very rare to marry women off at very early ages.[28]
The minimum age requirements of 12 and 14 were eventually written into English civil law. By default, these provisions became the minimum marriage ages in colonial America.[13] Marriages occurred several years earlier, on average, in colonial America than in Europe, and much higher proportions of the population eventually married. Community-based studies suggest an average age at marriage of about 20 years old for women in the early colonial period and about 26 years old for men.[30] In the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, U.S. states began to slowly raise the minimum legal age at which individuals were allowed to marry. Age restrictions, as in most developed countries, have been revised upward so that they are now between 15 and 21 years of age.[13]
Before 1929, Scots law followed Roman law in allowing a girl to marry at twelve years of age and a boy at fourteen, without any requirement for parental consent. However, marriage in Scotland at such young ages was in practice almost unknown.[31]
France
In France, until the French Revolution, the marriageable age was 12 years for females and 14 for males. Revolutionary legislation in 1792 increased the age to 13 years for females and 15 for males. Under the Napoleonic Code in 1804, the marriageable age was set at 15 years old for females and 18 years old for males.[32] In 2006, the marriageable age for females was increased to 18, the same as for males. In jurisdictions where the ages are not the same, the marriageable age for females is more commonly two or three years lower than that for males.
Central Europe
In 17th century Poland, in the Warsaw parish of St John, the average age of women entering marriage was 20.1, and of men, 23.7. In the second half of the eighteenth century, women in the parish of Holy Cross married at 21.8, while men at 29.[33]
Eastern Europe
In medieval Eastern Europe, the Slavic traditions of patrilocality of early and universal marriage (usually of a bride aged 13–15 years, with menarche occurring on average at 14) lingered;[34] the manorial system had yet to penetrate into Eastern Europe and had generally had less effect on clan systems there; and the bans on cross-cousin marriages had not been firmly enforced.[35]
In Russia, before 1830 the age of consent for marriage was 15 years old for males and 13 years old for females[36] (though 15 years old was preferred for females, so much so that it was written into the Law Code of 1649).[37] Teenage marriage was practiced for chastity. Both the female and the male teenager needed consent of their parents to marry because they were under 20 years old, the age of majority. In 1830, the age of consent for marriage was raised to 18 years old for males and 16 years old for females[36] (though 18 years old was preferred for females). The average age of marriage for females was around 19 years old.[38][39]
Mesoamerica
Aztec society
Aztec family law generally followed customary law. Men got married between the ages of 20-22, and women generally got married at 15 to 18 years of age.[40]
Mayan civilization
Maya family law appears to have been based on customary law. Maya men and women usually got married at around the age of 20, though women sometimes got married at the age of 16 or 17.[41]
Marriageable age as a right vs exceptions
In the majority of countries, a right to marry at age 18 is enshrined along with all other rights and responsibilities of adulthood. However, most of these countries allow those younger than that age to marry, usually with parental consent or judicial authorization. These exceptions vary considerably by country. The United Nations Population Fund stated:[42]
In 2010, 158 countries reported that 18 years was the minimum legal age for marriage for women without parental consent or approval by a pertinent authority. However, in 146 [of those] countries, state or customary law allows girls younger than 18 to marry with the consent of parents or other authorities; in 52 countries, girls under age 15 can marry with parental consent. In contrast, 18 is the legal age for marriage without consent among males in 180 countries. Additionally, in 105 countries, boys can marry with the consent of a parent or a pertinent authority, and in 23 countries, boys under age 15 can marry with parental consent.
In recent years, many countries in the EU have tightened their marriage laws, either banning marriage under 18 completely, or requiring judicial approval for such marriages. Countries which have reformed their marriage laws in recent years include Sweden (2014), Denmark (2017), Germany (2017), Luxembourg (2014), Spain (2015), Netherlands (2015), Finland (2019) and Ireland (2019). Many developing countries have also enacted similar laws in recent years: Honduras (2017), Ecuador (2015), Costa Rica (2017), Panama (2015), Trinidad & Tobago (2017), Malawi (2017).
The minimum age requirements of 12 years old for females and 14 years old for males were written into English civil law. By default, these provisions became the minimum marriage ages in colonial America. This English common law inherited from the British remained in force in America unless a specific state law was enacted to replace them. In the United States, as in most developed countries, age restrictions have been revised upward so that they are now between 15 and 21 years of age.[13]
In Western countries, marriages of teenagers have become rare in recent years, with their frequency declining during the past few decades. For instance, in Finland, where in the early 21st century underage youth could obtain a special judicial authorization to marry, there were only 30–40 such marriages per year during that period (with most of the spouses being aged 17), while in the early 1990s, more than 100 such marriages were registered each year. Since 1 June 2019 Finland has banned marriages of anyone under 18 with no exemptions.[43][44]
Relation to the age of majority
The marriage age as a right is usually the same with the age of majority which is 18 years old in most countries. However, in some countries, the age of majority is under 18, while in others it is 19, 20 or 21. In Canada for example, the age of majority is 19 in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut, and marriage under 19 in these provinces requires parental or court consent (see Marriage in Canada). In USA for example, the age of majority is 21 in Mississippi and 19 in Nebraska and requires parental consent. In many jurisdictions of North America, by marriage minors become legally emancipated.[45]
By country
Africa
| Country | Without parental or judicial consent | With parental consent | With judicial consent | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | ||
 Algeria |
19 | None | (Article 7 of the Family Code[46]) | ||||
 Angola[47] |
18 | 16 | 15 | – |
| ||
 Benin[48] |
18 | None |
| ||||
 Botswana[49] |
21 | 18 | – |
| |||
 Burkina Faso[50] |
20 | 20 | 17 | 18 | 15 |
| |
 Burundi[51] |
21 | 18 | – |
| |||
 Cameroon[52] |
21 | 18 | 15 | – |
| ||
 Central African Republic[53][54] |
22 | 18 | 22 | 18 | 13 |
| |
 Chad[55] |
21 | 18 | – |
| |||
 Democratic Republic of Congo[56][57] |
18 |
| |||||
 Djibouti[58] |
18 | None |
| ||||
 Egypt[59] |
18 |
| |||||
 Equatorial Guinea[60] |
18 | 14 |
| ||||
 Eritrea[61] |
18 |
| |||||
 Eswatini[62] |
21 | 18 | 16 | – | |||
 Ethiopia[63] |
18 |
| |||||
 Gabon[64] |
21 | 18 | 15 | – |
| ||
 Guinea[65] |
21 | 18 | – |
| |||
 Guinea-Bissau[66] |
18 |
| |||||
 Ivory Coast[67] |
21 | 20 | 18 | – |
| ||
 Kenya |
18 | As per section 4, Marriage Act 2014.[68] | |||||
 Lesotho[69] |
21 | 18 | 16 | – |
| ||
 Liberia[70] |
21 | 18 | 18 | 16 | – |
| |
 Libya[71] |
20 | None |
| ||||
 Mauritius[72] |
18 | 16 | – |
| |||
 Madagascar[73] |
18 |
| |||||
 Mali[74] |
18 | 16 | 18 | 16 | 15 |
| |
 Mauritania[75] |
18 | None |
| ||||
 Morocco[76] |
18 | None |
| ||||
 Mozambique[77] |
18 | 18 | – | In July 2019, Mozambique passed a law to ban child marriage outright. It was signed by president on 14 October 2019 and became a law after being published in "Boletim da República" on 22 October.[78] | |||
 Namibia |
21[79] | 18 | None | Under the age of 18 with the written permission of the Minister or any staff member in the Public Service authorized by the Minister.[80] | |||
 Niger[81] |
21 | 18 | 15 | – |
| ||
 Nigeria[82] |
18 |
| |||||
 Republic of the Congo[83] |
21 | 18 | 21 | 18 | None |
| |
 Rwanda[84] |
21 |
| |||||
 São Tomé and Príncipe[85] |
18 | 16 | 14 | – |
| ||
 Senegal[86] |
18 | 16 | – |
| |||
 Sierra Leone[87] |
18 |
| |||||
 Somalia[88] |
18 | 16 | – |
| |||
 South Africa |
18 | 15 | None |
| |||
 South Sudan |
18 | [93] | |||||
 Sudan |
Puberty | 10 | The Personal Status Law of Muslims, 1991, allows the marriage of a girl from puberty. Ten years-olds can be married with judicial authorization. The Marriage of Non-Muslims Act of 1926 sets the age of marriage at 13 for non-Muslim girls, and 15 for non-Muslim boys.[94] | ||||
 Tanzania[95] |
18 | 15 | 14 |
| |||
 Togo[96][97] |
18 | 16 |
| ||||
 Tunisia[98] |
18 |
| |||||
 Uganda[99] |
18 |
| |||||
 Zambia[100] |
21 | 16 | – |
| |||
 Zimbabwe |
18 | In 2016, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Marriage Act, which permitted girls (not boys) aged 16 to be married with their parents' consent, was unconstitutional and recognised 18 years as the legal minimum age of marriage.[101] | |||||
Americas
| Country | Without parental or judicial consent | With parental consent | With judicial consent | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | ||
 Antigua and Barbuda[102] |
18 | 15 | – | Section 25 of The Marriage Act reads: "A marriage solemnized between persons either of whom is under the age of fifteen shall be null and void."[103] | |||
 Argentina |
18 | 16 | None | (Art 403 and 404 of Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación).[104] | |||
 Bahamas |
18 | 15 | None | The Marriage Act (1908) provides no minimum age with judicial consent; the age with parental consent is 15 (Marriage Act, Sec. 20(2), 50 and Schedule M).[105] | |||
 Barbados |
18 | 16 | – | [106] | |||
 Belize |
18 | 16 | – | with parental consent (The Belize Marriage (Amendment) Act of 2005 increased the minimum age from 14 to 16).[107] | |||
 Bolivia |
18 | 16 | (Article 139 of the new Civil Code of 2014).[108] | ||||
 Brazil |
18 | 16 | [109] | ||||
 Canada |
18/19 | 16 | Marriage in Canada is governed by both federal and provincial law. The minimum age to marry is set at 16 by a federal statute, the Civil Marriage Act, which states: "No person who is under the age of 16 years may contract marriage."[110] In addition, the provinces may impose procedural requirements for the marriage of a minor who is over 16 but under the age of majority (18 or 19), such as requiring parental consent or permission from a judge. The Criminal Code also prohibits marriage under the age of 16: "Everyone who celebrates, aids or participates in a marriage rite or ceremony knowing that one of the persons being married is under the age of 16 years is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years."[111] | ||||
 Chile |
18 | Since 2022, the minimum age is 18.[112][113] | |||||
 Colombia |
18 | 14 | – | [114] | |||
 Costa Rica |
18 | [115] | |||||
 Cuba |
18 | 16 | 14 | – | [116] | ||
 Dominica |
18 | 16 | – | [117] | |||
 Dominican Republic |
18 | Since 2021, the minimum age is 18.[118] | |||||
 Ecuador |
18 | Since 2015, the minimum age is 18.[119] | |||||
 El Salvador |
18 | Since 2017, the minimum age is 18.[120] | |||||
 Grenada |
21 | 16 | – | [121] | |||
 Guatemala |
18 | 16 | [122][123] | ||||
 Guyana |
18 | 16 | – | [124] | |||
 Haiti |
18 | 15 | – | [125] | |||
 Honduras |
18[126] | Since 2017, the minimum age is 18. Before 2017 females could marry from 16, with parental consent.[126] | |||||
 Jamaica |
18 | 16 | – | [127] | |||
 Mexico |
18 | Varies by state. The General Law on the Rights of Children and Adolescents 2014 establishes 18 years as the general age of marriage, but allows girls to marry at 14 and boys at 16 with parental consent. At state level, as of May 2017, 22 states have made marriage before 18 illegal, while another ten allow it under certain circumstances.[128] As of June 1, 2020 marriageable age in all states is 18 without exceptions.[129] | |||||
 Nicaragua |
18 | 16 | – | Under the new 2014 Código de Familia, Articles 54, 57(a) and 58(c).[130] | |||
 Panama |
18 | Since 2015, the minimum age is 18; prior to that date girls could marry from age 14 years and boys from age 16, with parental consent.[131] | |||||
 Paraguay |
18 | 16 | – | [132] | |||
 Peru |
18 | 16 | – | [133] | |||
 Puerto Rico |
21 | 18 | None | (Younger parties may obtain license in case of pregnancy or birth of child), and 18 with parental consent.[134] Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States. | |||
 Saint Kitts and Nevis |
18 | [135] | |||||
 Saint Lucia |
18 | 16 | – | [136] | |||
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines |
18 | – | – | [137] | |||
 Suriname |
21 | 17 | 15 | – | [138] | ||
 Trinidad and Tobago |
18 | Since 2017, the minimum age is 18.[139] | |||||
 United States |
18 in most states 19 in Nebraska 21 in Mississippi |
Varies by state |
The minimum marriage age requirements of 12 years old for females and
14 years old for males were written into English civil law. By default,
these provisions became the minimum marriage ages in colonial America. English common law
inherited from the British remained in force in America unless a
specific state law was enacted to replace them. In the United States, as
in most developed countries, age restrictions have been revised upward
so that they are now between 15 and 21 years of age.[13]
Minors under 18 can't marry in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Minnesota, and Rhode Island. This also holds true for the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa. | ||||
 Uruguay |
18 | 16 | – | [140][141] | |||
 Venezuela |
18 | 16 | Articles 18, 46, 59–65 of the Civil Code,[142] decision of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.[143] | ||||
Asia
| Country | Without parental or judicial consent | With parental consent | With judicial consent | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | ||
 Afghanistan |
Puberty | [144] | |||||
 Armenia |
18 | 17 | 16 | The age was set at 18 for both sexes in 2012,[145] prior to that date it was 17 for females and 18 for males.[146] However, marriage at age 17 is allowed with parental consent, and at age 16 with parental consent and the condition that the other intending spouse is at least 18.[147] | |||
 Azerbaijan |
18 | 17 | 17 in special cases with judicial authorization. (Article 10 of the Family Code[148]). The marriageable age for females was raised in 2011 to 18, equalizing it to that of males; prior to that date it was 17.[149] | ||||
 Bangladesh |
21 | 18 | None | Bangladeshi law provides penal sanctions for the contraction of under-age marriages, although such unions are not considered invalid.[150] Despite the law, child marriage rates in Bangladesh are among the highest in the world. Every 2 out of 3 marriages involve child marriages.[151] | |||
 Bhutan |
18 | [152] | |||||
 Brunei |
18 | 14[153] | Minimum legal age for marriage without parental consent varies across states/provinces, ethnic groups, religious groups or forms of marriage.[154] | ||||
 Cambodia |
18 | [155] | |||||
 China |
22 | 20 | 22 | 20 | – | China is the only country to have the highest set marriageable age for men.[156] | |
The sign painted on a building in a village in Hubei, China, informs of the marriageable age in the country (22 for men, 20 for women). | |||||||
 Cyprus |
18 | 16 | 16 with parental consent, if there are serious reasons for the marriage.[157][158] | ||||
 East Timor |
17 | 16 | – | [159] | |||
 Georgia |
18 | Since 2017, marriage under 18 is prohibited.[160] | |||||
 Hong Kong |
21 | 16 | – | [161] | |||
 India |
21 | The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA) provides that the
minimum age of marriage is 21 years in case of males, and 18 years in
case of females. The proposal to amend the 2006 Act was placed in Lok
Sabha in December 2021. It was referred to The Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports (EWCY&S)
under the Chairpersonship of Dr. Vinay P. Sahasrabuddhe. The Bill
proposes to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, to
reinforce its application in relation to marriage; bring women at par
with men in terms of marriageable age; prohibit child marriage; make
consequential amendments to the other laws relating to marriage; and
other connected matters. The PCMA prevails in India till the new
Amendment is passed.In short, the minimum age of marriage is 21 years
in case of males, and 18 years in case of females. India has been at the
forefront in the battle against child marriage since 1929, when the
practice of child marriage (below 14 for girls and 18 for boys) was
first legally prohibited through the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 replaced the 1929 Act,
with the same minimum age limits.
On 30th of November, 2022, The High court of Jharkhand reported that Muslim Woman Can Marry Person Of Her Choice After Attaining 15 Yrs Of Age.[162] | |||||
 Indonesia |
21 | 19 | None | The 2019 Revision of the Marriage Law (1974) raised the marriage age for female from 16 to 19, equalizing it to that of males. However, grooms and brides under the age of 21 are required to get their parents' permission before the marriage. While parents remain able to ask the court to grant permission in the case of the grooms or the brides were under the age of 19, the revision stipulated that the court can grant such permission only if there are urgent reasons as well as supporting evidences to back them. The law revision also stresses that the court must consider the spirit of preventing child marriage, as well as moral, religious, cultural, psychological, and health considerations before granting the permission.[163] | |||
 Iran |
18 | 15 | 15 | 13 | None | [164][165] Ways around these regulations include temporary marriages (Nikah mut'ah).[166] With the permission of a court girls may marry at a younger age; during 2010 as many as 42,000 children aged between 10 and 14 were married,[167] and 716 girls younger than 10 had wed.[168] | |
 Iraq |
18 | 15 | 15 with judicial permission if fitness, physical capacity and guardian's consent (or unreasonable objection on part of guardian) are established. (These rules may have been revised after Saddam Hussein's fall.[citation needed])[169] | ||||
 Israel |
18 | 16 | Minimum marriageable age increased from 17 to 18 in November 2013. Family courts able to recognise marriage for 16 and above in special cases.[170] | ||||
 Japan |
18 | – | [171] | ||||
 Jordan |
18 | The legal minimum age to marry in Jordan is 18, with no restrictions, but is set at 15 with parental/guardian consent, for both males and females. | |||||
 Kazakhstan |
18 | 17 | 16 | – | [172] | ||
 Kuwait |
17 | 15 | – | [173] | |||
 Kyrgyzstan |
18 | 17 | Local self-government agencies may, at the request of the parties entering the marriage, provided that justifiable reasons exist, lower the marriage age. The marriage age may not be lowered by more than 1 year.[174] | ||||
 Laos |
18 | 15 | – | [175] | |||
 Lebanon |
18 | 17 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 14 | [176] 18 or 17 and 16 or 15 with judicial permission for Druze.[177] |
 Macau |
18 | 16 | Articles 1478, 1479 and 1482 of the Civil Code. | ||||
 Malaysia |
21 | 18 | 16 | A special marriage licence granted by the Chief Minister must be obtained for female sixteen (16) years and above but under the age of eighteen (18) years.[178] | |||
 Maldives |
18 | 16 | According to custom, the minimum age for marriage is 15. The Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child discourages marriage before the age of 16.[179] | ||||
 Mongolia |
18 | [180] | |||||
 Myanmar |
18 | 18 | 18 | – | [181] | ||
 Nepal |
20 | 20 | – | (Civil Code 2017, Section 70 and 71) Marriage may be concluded if both have attained twenty years of age.
Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (b) of sub-section (1), nothing shall bar the conclusion, or causing the conclusion of, a marriage within the relationship that is allowed to marry in accordance with the practices prevailing in their ethnic community or clan.[182] | |||
 North Korea |
18 | 17 | 18 | 17 | – | [183] | |
 Oman |
18 | While the legal minimum age is 18, "custom still recognises marriages below the age of 18".[184] | |||||
 Pakistan |
18 | 16 in most provinces 18 in some provinces, including Punjab and Sindh[185][186] |
18 | 16/18 | – | Despite the law[187] against child marriage, the practice is widespread. According to two 2013 reports, nearly 20% of all marriages in Pakistan involve girls less than 18 years old.[188][189] However, in Punjab and Sindh, severe punishments are given for marriages before the age of 18.[190][191] | |
 Palestine |
18 | None | Since 2019 marriage below 18 is allowed only with religious court permission.[192] | ||||
 Philippines |
21 | 18 | – | -[193][194] | |||
 Qatar |
18 | 16 | None | No minimum age for marriage with parental consent, and permitted only when in conformity with religious and cultural norms and with permission of a competent court.[195] | |||
 Saudi Arabia |
18 | 15 | [196] | ||||
 Singapore |
21 | 18 | None |
| |||
 South Korea |
19 | 18 | – |
| |||
 Sri Lanka |
18 | However, the parties must have a Qadi's permission to marry before contracting into marriage if they are Muslims.[197] | |||||
 Syria |
18 | Thomson Reuters Foundation notes that child marriage occurs from 13 years.[198] | |||||
 Taiwan |
20 | 18 | 18 | 18 for with statutory agent's consent.[199][200] | |||
 Tajikistan |
18 | 17 | – | [201] | |||
 Thailand |
20 | 17 | – | [202] | |||
 Turkey |
18 | 17 | 16 |
| |||
 Turkmenistan |
18 | [203] | |||||
 United Arab Emirates |
18 | None | Mature minors allowed to marry with judicial permission.[204] | ||||
 Uzbekistan |
18 | 18 | 17 | [205] | |||
 Vietnam |
20 | 18 | 20 | 18 | None[206] | [207] | |
 Yemen |
15 | None | HRW notes no legal minimum age for marriage under Yemeni law, and UNSD notes that child marriage is permitted where "such marriage will entail some clear benefit."[208] | ||||
Europe
The marriageable age as a right is 18 in all European countries, with the exception of Andorra and Scotland where it is 16 (for both sexes). Existing exceptions to this general rule (usually requiring special judicial or parental consent) are discussed below. In both the European Union and the Council of Europe the marriageable age falls within the jurisdiction of individual member states. The Istanbul convention, the first legally binding instrument in Europe in the field of violence against women and domestic violence,[209] only requires countries which ratify it to prohibit forced marriage (Article 37) and to ensure that forced marriages can be easily voided without further victimization (Article 32), but does not make any reference to a minimum age of marriage.
| Country | Without parental or judicial consent | With parental consent | With judicial consent | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | ||
 Albania |
18 | [210][211] | |||||
 Andorra |
16 | 14 | [212] | ||||
 Austria |
18 | 16 | – | 16 with parental consent but the other partner must be at least 18. | |||
 Belarus |
18 | [213] | |||||
 Belgium |
18 | None | With parental consent, serious reasons are required for a minor to marry; without parental consent, the unwillingness of the parents has to constitute an abuse.[214] | ||||
 Bosnia and Herzegovina |
18 | 16 | In both entities and the Brčko District.[215][216][217] | ||||
 Bulgaria |
18 | 16 | The new 2009 Family Code fixes the age at 18, but allows for an exception for 16 years olds, stating that "Upon exception, in case that important reasons impose this, matrimony may be concluded by a person at the age of 16 with permission by the regional judge". It further states that both persons wanting to marry, as well as the parents/guardians of the minor, must be consulted by the judge. (Chapter 2, Article 6)[218] | ||||
 Croatia |
18 | 16 | Croatian Family Act, Article 25 | ||||
 Czech Republic |
18 | 16 | Article 672 of Act No. 89/2012 Coll. the Civil Code (which came into force in 2014) states that the court may, in exceptional cases, allow a marriage of a 16 year old, if there are serious reasons for it.[219] Moreover, a minor can marry if he or she has been granted full capacity by a court decision as given by Article 37 of the Civil Code. | ||||
 Denmark |
18 | [220] | |||||
 Estonia |
18 | 15 | 15 with court permission.[221][222] | ||||
 Finland |
18 | In Finland, all marriages under 18 – is completely legally banned with no exemptions since June 1, 2019.[43] | |||||
 France |
18 | 16 | Under 18 permission from a court and both parents. In France, the legal age for marriage was equalized for both sexes at 18 in 2006,[223] but in exceptional cases a court may allow marriage at younger ages.[224] | ||||
 Germany |
18 | The minimum age was explicitly set to 18 on July 22, 2017.[225] (Before this day, a Family Court could issue an exception for 16–18 year-olds if one party was over 18.) Marriages with a spouse under 16 are legally void. For a 16–17 year old spouse the marriage is repealed.[226][227] | |||||
 Gibraltar |
18 |
| |||||
 Greece |
18 | None | Under 18 requires court permission, which may be given if there are serious reasons for such a marriage.[157][228] | ||||
 Hungary |
18 | 16 | 16 with authorization from the guardianship authority.[229] | ||||
 Iceland |
18 | Since 2022, marriage under 18 is prohibited.[230] | |||||
 Ireland |
18 | Since 2019, marriage under 18 is prohibited.[231] | |||||
 Italy |
18 | 16 |
| ||||
 Latvia |
18 | 16 |
| ||||
 Liechtenstein |
18 | None | [232] | ||||
 Lithuania |
18 | 15 | None | Minors can only marry below 15 if they are pregnant females with court permission.[233] | |||
 Luxembourg |
18 | None | New laws of 2014 fixed the marriageable at 18 for both sexes; prior to these regulations the age was 16 for females and 18 for males. The new laws still allow both sexes to obtain judicial consent to get married under 18.[234] | ||||
 Malta |
18 | 16 | 16 with parental consent, specifically for "a person who is subject to paternal authority or to tutorship". (However if this is unattainable, the court can provide the consent.)[235] | ||||
 Moldova |
18 | 16 | 16, if there are valid reasons, with both judicial and parental permission.[236] | ||||
 Montenegro |
18 | 16 | [237] | ||||
 Netherlands |
18 | Marriage under 18 is prohibited. Exceptions were removed by a change in the law in 2015.[238] | |||||
 North Macedonia |
18 | 16 | 16, with court approval for male and female, their consent and their parents consent is needed. | ||||
 Norway |
18 | 16 | 16 with consent from parents (guardian) and permission from the County Governor. The County Governor may only give permission when there are 'special reasons for contracting a marriage'.[239][240] In 2018, the unicameral Parliament of Norway passed a bill on the first reading to ban all child marriage under 18 with no exemptions at all. The bill has to pass again second reading before it can get royal assent by the King of Norway to go into law.[241][242] | ||||
 Poland |
18 | 16 | Article 10. §1. No one under the age of eighteen can enter into marriage. However, if there are important reasons, the guardianship court may permit a woman who has reached the age of sixteen to marry, where the circumstances show that the marriage would be in the best interests of the newly established family.[243] | ||||
 Portugal |
18 | 16 |
| ||||
 Romania |
18 | 16 | 16, if there are valid reasons, with both judicial and parental permission, as well as medical approval.[244] | ||||
 Russia |
18 | 16, only for justifiable reasons, such as pregnancy | Under 16, in special circumstances, but different rules apply in some regions.[245][246] | ||||
 San Marino |
18 | 16 | [247] | ||||
 Serbia |
18 | 16 |
| ||||
 Slovakia |
18 | 16 | 16 with court consent, with a serious reason such as pregnancy.[citation needed] | ||||
 Slovenia |
18 | None | Under 18 may be approved by the Social Work Center if there are "well founded reasons" arising upon the investigation of the situation of the minor. (Art 23, 24 of the Law on Marriage and Family Relations).[248] | ||||
 Spain |
18 | 16 | [249] | ||||
 Sweden |
18 | Not possible to marry under the age of 18 since July 1, 2014.[250] | |||||
 Switzerland |
18 | To be able to marry, the prospective spouses must have reached 18 years of age and have the capacity of judgement.[251] | |||||
 Ukraine |
18 | 16 | In[permanent dead link] 2012 the Family Code of Ukraine was amended to allow persons aged 16 to marry under certain circumstances if issued by a court (article 23).[252] | ||||
 United Kingdom |
18 in most jurisdictions 16 in Scotland |
See notes |
Northern Ireland: 16 with parental consent (with the court able to give consent in some cases).[255] | ||||
Oceania
| Country | Without parental or judicial consent | With parental consent | With judicial consent | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | ||
 Australia |
18 | 16 | 16 with permission from a court and both parents (only granted in exceptional circumstances).[256] Also in its external territories. | ||||
 Fiji |
18 | 16 | – | [257] | |||
 Kiribati |
21 | 18 | – | [258] | |||
 Micronesia |
18 | 18 | 16 | – | [259] | ||
 Nauru |
18 | – | [260] | ||||
 New Zealand |
18 | 16 | 16 with permission from a court and both parents.[261][262] | ||||
 Niue |
21 | 19 | 18 | 15 | – | [263] | |
 Palau |
18 | 16 | 18 | 16 | – | [264] | |
 Papua New Guinea |
21 | [265] | |||||
 Samoa |
21 | 19 | 18 | 16 | – | [266] | |
 Solomon Islands |
18 | 15 | – | [267] | |||
 Tonga |
18 | 16 | – | [268] | |||
 Tokelau |
21 | 19 | 18 | 16 | – | [269] | |
 Tuvalu |
21 | 16 | – | [270] | |||
 Vanuatu |
21 | 18 | – | [271] | |||
By religion
Judaism
Classical Antiquity
In ancient Israel, men twenty years old and older would become warriors[272] and when they would get married, they would get one year leave of absence to be with their wife.[273]
Before the end of Second Temple Judaism, Rabbis set the age of marriage for every Israelite at 18 years old.[274] Women were expected to marry by 20 years old and men were expected to marry by 24 years old.
In late antiquity, males and females were expected to be married by 20 years old in teenage marriage.[274] Rabbis estimated the age of maturity from about the beginning of the thirteenth year with women and about the beginning of the fourteenth year with men.[275]
On the practice of Levirate marriage, the Talmud advised against a large age gap between a man and his brother's widow.[276] A younger woman marrying a significantly older man, however, is especially problematic: marrying one's young daughter to an old man was declared, by the Sanhedrin, as reprehensible as forcing her into prostitution.[277]
Post-Classical period
In Rabbinic Judaism, males cannot consent to marriage until they reach the age of 13 years and a day and have undergone puberty and females cannot consent to marriage until they reach the age of 12 years and a day and have undergone puberty. Males and females are considered minors until the age of twenty. After twenty, males are not considered adults if they show signs of impotence. If males show no signs of puberty or do show impotence, they automatically become adults by age 35 and can marry.[278][279]
Marriage involved a double ceremony, which included the formal betrothal and wedding rites.[280]
The minimum age for marriage was 13 years old for males and 12 years old for females but formal betrothal could take place before that and often did. Talmud advises males to get married at 18 years old or between 16 years old and 24 years old.[281]
A ketannah (literally meaning "little [one]") was any girl between the age of 3 years and that of 12 years plus one day;[282] she was subject to her father's authority, and he could arrange a marriage for her without her agreement, and that marriage remains binding even after reaching the age of maturity.[282] If a girl was orphaned from her father, or she was married by his authority and subsequently divorced, she, her mother, or her brother could marry her in a quasi-binding fashion. Until the age of maturity, she could annul the marriage retroactively. After reaching the age of maturity, intercourse with her husband renders her officially married. [283][284]
Modern period
Jewish people follow the law of the land that they live in. In modern Israel, the general age for marriage is 18 years old for males and females but with judicial consent 16 year old males and females can marry.
Catholicism
Catholic canon law adopted Roman law, which set the minimum age of marriage at 12 years old for females and 14 years old for males. The Roman Catholic Church raised the minimum age of marriage to 14 years old for females and to 16 years old for males in 1917 and lowered the age of majority to 18 years old in 1983.
| blank | Without parental or ordinary officer consent | With parental consent | With ordinary officer consent | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male consent | Female consent | Male consent | Female consent | Male consent | Female consent | ||
| Roman Catholic Church | 18 | 18 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 14 | The minimum ages of consent for marriage in the Catholic Church are 14 for girls and 16 for boys. Being underage constitutes a diriment impediment. That is, a marriage involving an underage bride or groom is canonically invalid. A Conference of Bishops may adopt a higher age for marriage, but in that case, the higher age only creates a prohibitive impediment, that is, a marriage involving a bride or groom above the Church's minimum age but below that set by the Conference is valid but illicit. Permission to marry against a civil authority's directive requires the permission of the Ordinary, which, in the case of sensible and equal laws regarding marriage age, is not usually granted. The permission by the Ordinary is also required in case of a marriage of a minor when their parents are unaware of his marriage or if their parents reasonably oppose the marriage.[285] |
Higher ages set by Conferences of Bishops
| Male consent | Female consent | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 18 | [286] | |
| England and Wales | 16 | [287] | |
| Gambia | 18 | 16 | [288] |
| Liberia | 18 | 16 | [288] |
| New Zealand | 16 | [286] | |
| Nigeria | see note | Each bishop has the authority to set a higher prohibitive minimum age.[289] | |
| Philippines | 21 | 18 | [290] |
| Sierra Leone | 18 | 16 | [288] |
Islam
Golden Age
Sunni and Shia
Hanafi and Ja'fari schools of classical Islamic jurisprudence interpret the "age of marriage", in the Quran (24:59;65:4), as the beginning of puberty; that is 9–11 years old.
'Büchler and Schlater mention that the schools of Islamic jurisprudence (madhaahib) set the following marriageable ages for boys and girls:[291]
| Male consent | Female consent | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanafi | 12 | 9 | Sunni |
| Ja'fari | 15 | 9 | Shia |
Marriages were traditionally contracted by the father or guardian of the bride and her intended husband.[280]
Sunni
Shafiʽi, Hanbali, and Maliki schools of classical Islamic jurisprudence interpret the "age of marriage", in the Quran (24:59), as completion of puberty; that is 15-17. For Shafiʽi, Hanbali, and Maliki schools of Islamic jurisprudence, in Sunni Islam, the condition for marriage is physical (bulugh) maturity and mental (rushd) maturity.
Büchler and Schlater mention that the schools of Islamic jurisprudence (madhaahib) set the following marriageable ages for boys and girls:[291]
| Male consent | Female consent | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shafiʽi | 16 |
| |
| Hanbali | 15 |
| |
| Maliki | 17 |
| |
Büchler and Schlater state that "marriageable age according to classical Islamic law coincides with the occurrence of puberty. The notion of puberty refers to signs of physical maturity such as the emission of semen or the onset of menstruation".[291]
In his Shafiʽi jurisprudential compilation The Stocks of the Sojourner, Ahmad Ibn Naqib Al-Misri (died 1368 A.D.) writes:
Guardians are, moreover, two types, a binder and a non-binder. The binder is the father and the grandfather, mainly as to the marriage of a virgin, and so is the master as to the marriage of his slave girl. The meaning of "binder" is that he may marry her off without her consent. The non-binder may not marry her off without her consent and permission. When virgin, though, the father or the grandfather may marry her off without her permission, but it is commendable to ask her, and her silence should signify acquiescence. The sane-minded non-virgin, however, may not be married off by anyone after maturity unless with her express consent, be it by the father, the grandfather, or anyone else. Before maturity, the non-virgin may not be married off at all.[292]
Modern period
Marriages are traditionally contracted by the father or guardian of the bride and her intended husband.[280]
The 1917 codification of Islamic family law in the Ottoman empire distinguished between the age of competence for marriage, which was set at 18 for boys and 17 for girls, and the minimum age for marriage, which followed the traditional Hanafi minimum ages of 12 for boys and 9 for girls. Marriage below the age of competence was permissible only if proof of sexual maturity was accepted in court, while marriage under the minimum age was forbidden.
During the 20th century, most countries in the Middle East followed the Ottoman precedent in defining the age of competence, while raising the minimum age to 15 or 16 for boys and 15–16 for girls. Marriage below the age of competence is subject to approval by a judge and the legal guardian of the child. Egypt diverged from this pattern by setting the age limits of 18 for boys and 16 for girls, without a distinction between competence for marriage and minimum age.[293]
Many senior clerics in Saudi Arabia have opposed setting a minimum age for marriage, arguing that a girl reaches adulthood at puberty.[294]
However in 2019 Members of the Saudi Shoura Council in 2019 approved fresh regulations for child marriage that will see to outlaw marrying off 15-year-old children and force the need for court approval for those under 18. Chairman of the Human Rights Committee at the Shoura Council, Dr. Hadi Al-Yami, said that introduced controls were based on in-depth studies presented to the body. He pointed out that the regulation, vetted by the Islamic Affairs Committee at the Shoura Council, has raised the age of marriage to 18 and prohibited it for those under 15.[295]
Hinduism
The Dharmaśāstras state that females can marry only after they have reached puberty. However, there is no fixed age in Hinduism as the religion is not under any single institution. However, the Hindu Code Law which includes Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists has fixed the legal age of marriage - 21 years for men and 18 years for women in India.[296]
Baha'i Faith
In the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the age of marriage is set at 15 for both boys and girls. It is forbidden to become engaged before the age of 15.[297]
See also
- List of countries by age at first marriage
- Age disparity in sexual relationships
- Arranged marriage
- Child marriage
- Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (UN treaty)
- Legality of polygamy
- Mature minor doctrine
- Polygamy
- Teenage marriage
References
To get married in Denmark, you must both have turned 18 years of age [...].
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Majority". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
- Smith P (2008-04-07). An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-86251-6.
External links
- Age at 1st marriage in Gapminder World
- Cornell Law table of marriage age by state and territory for the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriageable_age
Criminal transmission of HIV is the intentional or reckless infection of a person with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This is often conflated, in laws and in discussion, with criminal exposure to HIV, which does not require the transmission of the virus and often, as in the cases of spitting and biting, does not include a realistic means of transmission.[1] Some countries or jurisdictions, including some areas of the U.S., have enacted laws expressly to criminalize HIV transmission or exposure, charging those accused with criminal transmission of HIV. Other countries charge the accused under existing laws with such crimes as murder, manslaughter, attempted murder, assault or fraud.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_transmission_of_HIV
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_63_of_the_Criminal_Justice_and_Immigration_Act_2008
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are particularly associated with female street prostitution, though in some cities, these areas may coincide with spaces of male prostitution and gay venues.[1] Areas in many big cities around the world have acquired an international reputation as red-light districts.[2]
The term red-light district originates from the red lights that were used as signs for brothels.[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-light_district
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