Denise Wiedemann in her new article in the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family shows that Latin American countries have increased the legal age of marriage to 16 or 18 years during the last years. However, the numbers of child marriages in Latin America do not reflect those reforms so far. Some reforms might be too recent. But furthermore, the legal age of marriage is only one factor out of many. The legislative reforms regulate civil marriage leaving informal unions and religious or indigenous marriages unaffected. Thus, the reforms might prevent early civil marriages, but they have not eliminated early informal unions and early religious or indigenous marriages and the socio-economic factors that can promote them.
About the author
Denise Wiedemann studied law in Leipzig (first state exam in law), European law and comparative law in Lisbon (LL.M.), and administration of justice in Meißen (Diplom). During her time as a doctoral student she was a visiting researcher at the Centre de recherche de droit international of the Université Panthéon Assas (Paris II). Her dissertation examining conflict-of-law questions in relation to the cross-border enforcement of judgments was awarded the Otto Hahn Medal as well as the Dr Feldbausch-Stiftung doctoral prize.
Denise Wiedemann is a lecturer at Bucerius Law School and at the Universities of Leipzig and Hamburg. She is a member of the German-Lusitanian Lawyers’ Association and the Consejo Consultivo Internacional of the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, México.
