Martor No. 25 / Year 2020
Parents, Children, Marriage: Bulgarian Courts’ View on Romani Marriage-making
DOI: www.doi.org/10.57225/martor.2020.25.09
Author:
Maria G. Nikolova
Department “Law & Anthropology,” Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany
Pages: 153-164
Keywords: Roma, customary marriages, early marriages, Bulgaria, criminal justice system, court records, ethnographic sources, legal anthropology.
Abstract: This commentary deals with customary early marriages as practiced by some Romani communities in Bulgaria, and the ways in which they are represented in judgments issued by the criminal courts. It traces the legal routes by which this practice is prosecuted, explores who typically faces charges under the relevant criminal texts, and provides examples from case law. The main aims of the text are to demonstrate the value of court records as sources for ethnographic enquiry, to offer examples of the application of these sources to projects of interest to (legal) anthropology, and to encourage their use by both social scientists and lawyers.
How to cite this article: Nikolova, Maria G. 2020. “Parents, Children, Marriage: Bulgarian Courts’ View on Romani Marriage-making.” Martor 25: 153-164. [DOI: 10.57225/martor.2020.25.09]