The Royal Pragmatic on Marriage (in Spanish, Real Pragmática) was a form of legislation introduced by the Spanish Crown in its American colonies in order to control the institution of marriage, by requiring children to obtain permission from their parents before marrying, and allowing disinheritance in case of disobedience. The first Royal Pragmatic was passed on 23 March 1776.
The idea behind this legislation is that a family may object if they feel that the future spouse of their child is "inferior", be that in race, wealth, or even reputation. Dr. Jeffrey M. Shumway's The Case of the Ugly Suitor and Other Histories of Love, Gender, and Nation in Buenos Aires, 1776-1870 explores the legal backing of this concept through much of Argentina's history.
Famous quotes containing the words royal, pragmatic and/or marriage:
“The captain sat in a commodore’s hat
And dined in a royal way
On toasted pigs and pickles and figs
And gummery bread each day.”
—Charles Edward Carryl (1841–1920)
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So I went out into the night and the neon and let the crowd pull me along, walking blind, willing myself to be just a segment of that mass organism, just one more drifting chip of consciousness under the geodesics.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)
“With my desire to write he seemed in full sympathy, and in urging our early marriage he argued that my first necessity was leisure in which to develop and to master my craft. It appeared to me that with such a man as teacher and guide I could not fail, and it was in a queer mixture of young love and vaulting ambition that I became a wife.”
—Rheta Childe Dorr (1866–1948)