1. Age of Consent:
- The legal minimum age for marriage was 12 for females and 14 for males.
- However, most people generally married later in their teens or early 20s.
2. Parental Consent:
- Parental consent was considered very important, especially for those under 21 years of age (the legal age of adulthood at that time).
- If parents objected to a marriage, they could use various legal means to prevent it.
3. Common Law Marriage:
- A valid common-law marriage could be formed without any formal ceremony or written documentation.
- In a common-law marriage, couples agreed to live together as husband and wife and mutually assumed the responsibilities and privileges associated with marriage.
- These marriages were recognized by the church and the state, although they were not as legally binding as a formal church wedding.
4. Church Wedding:
- For a formal and legally binding marriage, a religious ceremony was necessary, usually performed by a priest of the Church of England (the established church at the time).
- Church officials kept detailed records of marriages and other important events in parish registers, which were legally recognized evidence of marriage.
5. Banns and Licences:
- Banns of marriage were typically read in church on three consecutive Sundays before the wedding ceremony.
- The banns served as a public announcement of the intended marriage, allowing anyone who knew of any legitimate objections (such as prior marriages or forbidden degrees of kinship) to come forward.
- Alternatively, individuals could obtain a marriage licence from the local bishop, which waived the requirement for banns and expedited the marriage process.
6. Dower Rights and Jointures:
- Dower rights referred to the legal claim of a wife to one-third of her husband's property after his death.
- However, in some cases, a jointure could be arranged, which was an alternative settlement provided by the husband in lieu of dower rights.
7. Prohibited Marriages:
- Certain marriages were prohibited due to religious or legal reasons, including:
- Bigamy (being married to more than one person at a time).
- Incestuous relationships (marriage between close blood relatives).
- Marriages between godparents and godchildren.
It's essential to note that not everyone followed these rules strictly, and there were occasional instances of non-conforming marriages, especially among lower social classes. However, the general legal and societal norms described above were widely observed during Shakespeare's time.