he
relation get a stability and uniformity of coherence which makes a
definable whole, covering a great field of human interest and life
policy. It is not a complete specimen of an institution (sec. 63). It
lacks structure or material element of any kind, but the parties are
held to make good the understandings and cooperative acts which the
mores prescribe at all the proper conjunctures, and thus there arises a
system of acts and behavior such as every institution requires. In
civilized society this cluster of mores, constituting a relationship by
which needs are satisfied and sentiments are cherished, is given a
positive form by legislation, and the rights and duties which grow out
of the relationship get positive definition and adequate guarantees.
This case is, therefore, a very favorable one for studying the operation
of the mores in the making of institutions, or preparing them for the
final work of the lawmaker.

+414. Aleatory interest in marriage and the function of religion.+ The
positive history of marriage shows that it has been always made and
developed by the mores, that is to say, by the effort of adjustment to
conditions in such a way that self-realization may be better effected
and that more satisfaction may be won from life. The aleatory element
(sec. 6) in marriage is very large. Marriage is an interest of every
human being who reaches maturity, and it affects the weal and woe of
each in every detail of life. Passing by the forms of the institution in
which the wife is under stern discipline and those in which the man can
at once exert his will to modify the institution, it may be said of all
freer forms that there is no way in which to guarantee the happiness of
either party save in reliance on the character of the other. This is a
most uncertain guarantee. In the unfolding of life, under ever new
vicissitudes, it appears that it is a play of luck, or fate, what will
come to any one out of the marital union with another. Women have been
more at the sport of this element of luck, but men have cared much more
for their smaller risk in it. Therefore, at all stages of civilization,
devices to determine luck have been connected with weddings, and in many
cases acts of divination have been employed to find out what the future
had in store for the pair. Marriage is a domestic and family affair. The
wedding is public and invites the cooperation of friends and neighbors.
Wedlock is a mode of life which is pri