Courting marriage
Juridification of intimate relationships in North India
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14800185 |
|---|---|
| Authors | R Srinivasan (0000-0002-8841-1503, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 213-234 |
| Publication date | 2018-05-04 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0732-9113 • E-ISSN: 2305-9931 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07329113.2018.1501243 |
| OpenAlex | W2889704282 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
This paper examines cases of elopements and choice-based marriages in North India that have consolidated into an established form of litigation in the past two decades. Through ethnographic research at the Punjab and Haryana High Court, I delineate the nature and scope of legal processes in validating relationships of choice and in mediating between couples and their kin groups. The proliferation of elopement cases, popularly known as court marriages, reflects a juridification of potentially deviant marriages, where discourses on universal rights both inform, and are, in turn, shaped by the dialogue initiated in such courtroom proceedings. I argue that court marriages signify a creative re-imagination of law, a research subject that is gaining traction within the field of legal anthropology but is, as yet, under-represented in the study of gender and sexuality in India. While feminist scholarship from South Asia has contributed immensely in highlighting the patriarchal biases in judicial intervention on gendered violence and discrimination, the creative possibilities inherent in legal procedures continue to be under-emphasized. Combining recent anthropological research on law and classical kinship studies on marriage, I propose that court marriage is an innovative, contextually-driven effort to re-imagine both legal spaces and the institution of marriage itself
Criminology · Political science · Sociology · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Law · Law in Society and Culture
The poison in the gift
Sherpas through their Rituals
The State of Exception
Law against the State
Scientific objects and legal objectivity
Erotic Justice
The Intimate State
The Sexual Contract
Sexual States
Legal Pluralism
Habeas Corpus in the Realm of Love
Private Lives, State Intervention
The judicialization of biopolitics
| Highly cited | No |
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