!!!Ehepatent Marriage Patent (Ehepatent), 1783 enacted by Emperor Joseph II for the German patrimonial lands. Under this act marriage became a civil contract, but the church wedding remained obligatory; separation from bed and board was given a legal basis. !Literature W. May, Quellen zu den Reformen Josephs II., doctoral thesis, Vienna 1981. %%language [Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Ehepatent|class='wikipage austrian'] %% [{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}] [{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]