Louisiana State University Law Center LSU Law Digital Commons Journal Articles Faculty Scholarship 2011 Reviving Proxy Marriage Andrea B. Carroll Louisiana State University Law Center,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/faculty_scholarship Part of the Family Law Commons Repository Citation Carroll, Andrea B., "Reviving Proxy Marriage" (2011). Journal Articles. 166. https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/faculty_scholarship/166 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at LSU Law Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of LSU Law Digital Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Reviving Proxy Marriage Andrea B. Carroll∗ Ask people to identify the most important event in their lives and their answers bear an overwhelming resemblance. The day of their marriage ranks near the top of the list for virtually all.1 Entry into the marital relationship is a decision we approach with much contemplation and reflection.2 Typically the decision is not made whimsically. Indeed, popular culture has admonished us that “only fools rush in,” a virtual axiom in today’s society.3 Nonetheless, American states recognize without exception that marriage is merely a contract.4 It creates myriad rights and responsibilities5—essentially conferring a status6—but the parties’ relationship is at base nothing more than a contractual one. Still, modern society has elevated the marriage contract above all others. This distinction has overwhelmingly focused on the very personal nature of the marital relationship, a feature nonexistent in the arms-length contractual dealings with which we are accustomed to working when applying contract law.7 As a result, marriage is subject to a number of requirements, even ∗ C.E.