Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which a woman is required to marry her deceased husband's brother. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage, i.e. that outside the clan, was forbidden. It is or was known in societies around the world.

The term is a derivative of the Latin word levir, meaning "husband's brother".

Background and rationale

Levirate marriage can, at its most positive, serve as protection for the widow and her children, ensuring that they have a male provider responsible for them. It can also be seen as a denial of women's autonomy, and a restraint on her life. The practice was extremely important in ancient societies (e.g. Israelite and Near East), and remains so today in parts of the world, because children enabled the inheritance of land, which offered security and status. A levirate marriage might only occur if the man died childless, in order to continue his family line. A barren woman or widow was often believed to be cursed by God so every possibility was exhausted in order to bear children.