[mvpel]

The foremost reason is that marriage has existed long before any of the governments that exist today...

But yet....

If there were no registration of a legal spouse, then all of the pre-assumed legal priveleges of a spouse that we have now would not exist,

How ever did we manage back in the days before computerized registries of every last detail of our personal lives were maintained by the all-powerful, all-knowing government?

[fr_freak]

How ever did we manage back in the days before computerized registries of every last detail of our personal lives were maintained by the all-powerful, all-knowing government?

I'm not claiming that legal registration of marriage by the state is necessary, I just understand why it started. But frankly, if we're to the point now where legal marriage is going to be used as yet another tool to endorse immoral behaviors, I'd just as soon see the state end the practice of recognizing marriage all together.