Morganatic Marriage

A lawful and inseparable conjunction of a single man of noble and illustrious birth with a single woman of an inferior or plebeian station, upon this condition, that neither the wife nor children should partake of the title, arms, or dignity of the husband, nor succeed to his inheritance, but should have a certain allowance assigned to them by the morganatic contract. This relation was frequently contracted during the middle ages. The marriage ceredren were considered legitimate, though they could not inherit. Fred. Code, bk. 2, art. 3; Poth. du Mar. 1, c 2, § 2; Shelf. Mar. & Div. 10; Pruss. Code, art. 835.

A lawful and inseparable conjunction of a single man of noble and illustrious birth with a single woman of an inferior or plebeian station, upon this condition, that neither the wife nor children should partake of the title, arms, or dignity of the husband, nor succeed to his inheritance, but should have a certain allowance assigned to them by the morganatic contract This relation was frequently contracted during the Middle Ages; the marriage ceremony was regularly performed, the union was for life and indissoluble, and the children were considered legitimate, though they could not inherit Fred. Code, b. 2, art. 3; Poth. Du Mar. 1, c. 2, § 2; Shelf. Marr. & D. 10; Pruss. Code, art. 835. In Germany, it is now confined to the reigning houses and the higher nobility and mediatized priftces. It is there called a “left band marriage.”

A marriage between a woman and a man of superior rank, in which it is stipulated that neither she nor her children shall enjoy the rank or inherit the possessions of her husband.

A marriage between a woman and a man of higher rank, in which it is stipulated that neither she nor her children shall share his rank or enjoy the ordinary ciyil consequences of legal marriage.