Difference Between Marriage and Civil Partnership

Marriage vs Civil Partnership

Marriage is an institution as old as civilization. It was supposed to be an arrangement to bring some order in the society and to promote the basic unit of family in the society. While there has been some dilution in the concept of marriage in recent decades, there has been an increase in the number of incidents where people of the same sex have entered into a union similar to marriage. In some countries, this legal arrangement is called civil partnership. Though the couple belonging to same sex gets same rights as a couple in a traditional marriage, there are differences between a traditional marriage and civil partnership that will be talked about in this article.

Marriage

Marriage is a social arrangement that sanctions a couple to enter into wedlock and live and copulate together. It is understood that the couple in a marriage sleeps and does sex. The concept of marriage is considered sacred in many cultures, and there is religious as well as social and legal sanction behind this institution that has stood the test of time for thousands of years. Most people in all cultures marry and produce offspring who are deemed to be the legal heirs or successors of the married couple. Man and woman in wedlock is referred to as spouses.

In some cultures, there is a religious basis of marriage and people consider it to be their duty to marry. There are also social and sexual reasons to marry. A couple understands what it takes to enter wedlock as there are roles and responsibilities that are expected to be fulfilled once a man or a woman decides to marry.

Civil Partnership (Civil Union)

The traditional concept of marriage is that of a wedding ceremony between two people of different sexes. However, of late, there has been a rising trend of people of the same sex to enter into wedlock. This is given the name of civil partnership and not marriage even though the couple in a civil partnership enjoys same legal rights as in a traditional marriage.

Denmark was the first country in the world to recognize this legal arrangement between gays and lesbians in 1995. Since then, many other countries have agreed in principle to marital arrangement between people of the same sex. The idea behind civil partnership is to recognize and legalize the bond between couple belonging to same sex.

What is the difference between Marriage and Civil Partnership?

• While civil partnership is legal, it is not backed by religion that still opposes such a union

• The ceremony cannot be performed in a church, and there are no references to any religion in a civil partnership

• In all important aspects such as financial, inheritance, pension, life insurance and maintenance, the provisions of marriage apply to civil partnership as well

• There are no spoken words in a civil partnership as in a marriage, and the event is completed with the signing of the agreement by the 2nd partner