Discuss (c) Marriage registration's evidentiary role

Marriage is the socially-and-legally recognized union of two persons creating the status of spouses — with mutual rights of cohabitation, maintenance and consortium, and the family-law property consequences. The Nepali legal concept's evolution: from sacrament (sanskar — an indissoluble religious rite; the shastric seven steps) to contract (the Civil Code 2074's registered, consent-based civil status — dissoluble by the statute's remedies). The modern definition's elements: (i) two persons (the "man and woman" formula now contested — Section 8); (ii) free consent; (iii) the statutory conditions; (iv) completion of the formalities (ceremony/registration); (v) the civil consequences attaching. Marriage's double character in Nepal: still performed religiously/socially for most families, but legally constituted only under the Code's conditions-and- registration regime.