Concubinage

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Concubinage \Con*cu"bi*nage\, n.
     1. The cohabiting of a man and a woman who are not legally
        married; the state of being a concubine.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: In some countries, concubinage is marriage of an


           inferior kind, or performed with less solemnity than a
           true or formal marriage; or marriage with a woman of
           inferior condition, to whom the husband does not convey
           his rank or quality. Under Roman law, it was the living
           of a man and woman in sexual relations without
           marriage, but in conformity with local law.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Law) A plea, in which it is alleged that the woman suing
        for dower was not lawfully married to the man in whose
        lands she seeks to be endowed, but that she was his
        concubine.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  concubinage
       n : cohabitation without being legally married

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CONCUBINAGE. This term has two different significations; sometimes it means 
  a species of marriage which took place among the ancients, and which is yet 
  in use in some countries. In this country it means the act or practice of 
  cohabiting as man and woman, in sexual commerce, without the authority of 
  law, or a legal marriage. Vide 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 80; Merl. Rep. b. t.; Dig. 
  32, 49, 4; Id. 7, 1, 1; Code, 5, 27, 12.