Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Research in Behavioral and Social Sciences
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Love and Marriage in Newspaper Announcements in the 19th and the Early 20th Centuries – Social and Legal Aspects
Ljubica Kordić, Višnja Lachner
ABSTRACT:
The authors explore the social and legal status of unmarried women in the 19th and early 20th centuries in the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia as part of the Austrian Kingdom, in the later period of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. The research is founded on two different corpora. The first encompasses the relevant legal acts regulating marriage at the explored time, including special rules for royal soldiers in acquiring their rights to get married. The second comprises several original newspaper announcements in which men and women express their wish to meet a potential spouse or lover. The newspaper announcements are excerpted from the local newspapers of Osijek Die Drau and Slavonische Presse that were published in the German language in the explored period. Both newspapers are available in digitalized versions and refer to the period between 1870 and 1938. The original texts of personal announcements published by men and women represent a valuable source of information about the social rules and customs related to the relationship between men and women one century ago when social media and their availability were very limited. The aim of the paper is to present the legal rules regulating men’s and women’s rights and duties relating to marriage but also to shed light on the way of communication between potential love partners or spouses through printed media available at the explored time.
keywords: legal aspect; social rules; love and marriage; newspaper announcements; Croatia