Marriage in Scotland

Marriage in Scotland is recognised in the form of both civil and religious unions between individuals. Historically, the law of marriage has developed differently in Scotland to other jurisdictions in the United Kingdom as a consequence of the differences in Scots law and role of the separate established Church of Scotland. These differences led to a tradition of couples from England and Wales eloping to Scotland, most famously to marry at border towns such as Gretna Green. The legal minimum age to enter into a marriage in Scotland is sixteen years and does not require parental consent at any age. There is a distinction between so called religious marriages, conducted by an authorised celebrant, and civil marriages, conducted by a state registrar but anyone over the age of 21 can apply to the Registrar General for authorisation to conduct a marriage under s12 of the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 and no form of religious ceremony is necessary.

Civil partnerships became available to same-sex couples in the United Kingdom in 2005 and grant rights and responsibilities virtually identical to civil marriage. In September 2011, the Scottish Government launched a public consultation on the introduction of same-sex marriage, with the Scottish Government indicating it "tend[ed] towards the view that same-sex marriage should be introduced". On 4 February 2014, the Scottish Parliament passed a same-sex marriage bill by a vote of 105 to 18.

In the late Middle Ages and early modern era, women could marry from the age of 12 (while for boys it was from 14) and, while many girls from the social elite married in their teens, most in the Lowlands married only after a period of life-cycle service, in their twenties. In some cases, marriage may have followed handfasting, a period of betrothal, which in the Highlands may have effectively been a period of trial marriage, although recent scholarship suggests this idea is the result of late 20th-century New Age mythology. Marriages, particularly higher in society, were often political in nature and the subject of complex negotiations over the tocher (dowry). Some mothers took a leading role in negotiating marriages, as Lady Glenorchy did for her children in the 1560s and 1570s, or as matchmakers, finding suitable and compatible partners for others.

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