There was the development of Feudalism, The Crusades, The Magna Carta, The Hundred Years' War, The Black Death, and the disagreements between Popes and Kings.
In 1753, however, the Marriage Act, promoted by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hardwicke, declared that all marriage ceremonies must be conducted by a minister in a parish church or chapel of the Church of England to be legally binding.
Beginning June 1, the Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act confers most of the rights of marriage on parties to a civil union. But definitions of spouse and marriage under federal law impose important limits on the new act, requiring special planning for civilly unioned couples.