Noun

Singular levirate marriage

Plural levirate marriages

levirate marriage (plural levirate marriages)

1. A marriage in which a widow marries her late husband's brother in order to maintain the family community.

Related terms

• sororate marriage

Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obligated to marry his brother's widow, and the widow is obligated 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 many societies around the world. The practice is similar to widow inheritance, where, for example, the deceased husband's kin can dictate whom the widow may marry.

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.