Concept in Definition ABC
Miscellanea / / November 13, 2021
By Florencia Ucha, in Mar. 2013
It is called as concubinage to union of a couple, sentimental, sexual, between two people, whether they are man-woman, woman-woman, man-man, and characterized by the fact that the union occurs outside the marital framework.
Union of a couple that generates duties and rights and that occurs outside the legal framework of marriage
This type of union is as old as humanity itself and it also turns out to be very current, since in our days, it is common for couples to join in this way.
Many of them never marry and there are others who first prove the union in this way and after some years or a certain time they decide to join in marriage, that is, to give a more formal framework to their relationship.
Although marriage generates that the spouses have the same rights and obligations before the lawIn many parts of the world, since the union of cohabiting couples is so widespread, the couple is also affected by a series of rights and obligations.
People who maintain a common-law relationship, that is, they are not married, are called concubines / nos.
The presence in ancient times and how the spread of Christianity relegated it
In ancient times and in some current cultures of the East, the figure of the concubine is very recurrent.
For example, men who had a prominent economic and power position, in addition to their formal wife, also had a variety of concubines, generally, these coming from a social class lower.
This common-law union guaranteed these women an improvement in their living conditions and also assured their families greater economic and social protection.
Now, the irruption of Christianity in Roman culture caused the concubinage to progressively lose its presence as institution legal, because of course, it was directly contrary to marriage, one of the most important sacraments that the Christian religion supports and promotes.
So the Church began a strong and aggressive campaign against concubinage, and of course in favor of marriage, even in the 9th century concubinage was prohibited.
In any case, and beyond these religious considerations and the legal mechanisms created in order to eradicate it, we must say that this figure never disappeared, yet more, over time, and already since the last decades of the last century, it began to become more and more present among modern couples who preferred to try their luck before get marry.
Pre-marriage step in which the couple meet and decide if their union works
Because precisely for many, the concubinage is a step prior to marriage that allows the couple to know each other more deeply during the coexistence daily, without any obligation legal beyond the personal assumed by the partners of the couple.
Many consider Civil marriage a supreme stadium, they dispense much I respect And then it is because of this that a large part of the couples of this world decide to prove their union within the framework of concubinage.
However, this does not exempt them from rights and obligations, which, although tacit, will be present as if the union had the legal permission.
Currently, the union in concubinage can be legally registered and in this way the concubines have rights such as being able to be beneficiaries of life insurance, of a social work, of the right to the pension for the death of the common-law partner, among the main ones.
To access them, a time of coexistence is usually required that must be proven with witnesses, while these are reduced in the case that the couple has procreated.
For its part, in the Ancient RomeThe male individual who was chosen by his master to become his lover was called a concubine.
Meanwhile, in the same culture, there was the concubine, that she was that illegitimate woman, although in practice she enjoyed certain benefits with the exception of the name and the dignity attributed to him.
Marriage would be the other side of the concubinage, since it is a formal couple union, endorsed by civil law and by which the spouses will enjoy benefits and rights.
Topics in Concubinage