Abstract: This book is a comprehensive analysis of common law marriage. Part I provides a cultural and historical history of the subject, from Ancient Roman Law to Medieval Canon Law, and analyzes the reception of the doctrine in the United States. The current law concerning common law marriage is extremely complex and uncertain. By analyzing more than 2,000 American cases, Part II of the book is intended to be a legal guide for courts, public authorities and law firms dealing with common law marriage cases. It discusses the legal requirements for the establishment of a common law marriage as to capacity, contract, implied agreement, cohabitation and holding out, burdens of proof, and presumptions. Choice of law rules in all American jurisdictions are analyzed. One of the greatest challenges that family law today faces in the Western World is the decreasing rate of marriage and the increasing number of unmarried cohabiting couples. Part III conducts from historical, comparative, and sociological perspectives a legal policy discussion concerning the future of common law marriage and the modern cohabitation law. It contains a comparison of both the judicial and legislative developments in the United States, Northern and Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. With no predetermined agenda or bias, arguments are presented and discussed to give legislators and policymakers a basis for their considerations. Different legal constructions are discussed and a new model of marriage is presented.

Keywords: common law marriage, cohabitation, legal requirements, modern cohabitation law, family law, marriage