Social and legal approach to ancient rural family : experience of different cultures and countries ; Teisinis ir socialinis požiūris į senovės kaimo šeimą: skirtingų šalių ir kultūrų patirtis

Abstract

Family is one of the oldest public institutions, in which priests, medics and lawyers have showed an interest throughout the history. However in the earliest historicai signs of humans one can find psychological attempts to affect a family's prosperity and compatibility. The present work tries to carry out a brief exposition of the evolution of ancient rural families from a social and legal scope as well as the most relevant characters of the family and marriage institutions in a comparative perspective, studying different conceptions and requirements of law of marriage (basically the consent of the couple) and the influence of the religion on them. It is also made an exposition of the most relevant examples of nowadays legislations and their common legal background as well as the more important differences among the different legislations included in the study.