ABSTRACT
Tying the Knot: The Formation of Marriage 1836–2020 Rebecca Probert Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2021, xii + 283 pp (hardback £85), ISBN: 978-1-316-51828-1 Readers of this Journal will already be familiar with Professor Rebecca Probert's recent work, from her paper at the Ecclesiastical Law Society's ‘Solemnization of matrimony: past, present and future’ day conference in 2021 and her subsequent article, ‘Getting married: the origins of the current law and its problems’.3 Probert is the leading scholar on the history of marriage and family law and her previous significant works include Marriage Law and Practice in the Long Eighteenth Century and The Changing Legislation of Cohabitation.4 She is also a specialist consultant to the Law Commission on their current Weddings Project. [...]it considers the evidence as to how couples actually married in this period. [...]it assesses to what extent the law has facilitated couples getting married in accordance with their own beliefs.