A Consideration of the marriage question in the Belgian Congo may well begin by stating that the law of the colony recognizes three kinds of marriage: viz. (1) mariage civil, marriage according to the civil law; (2) mariage coutumier, marriage according to native law or custom; (3) mariage religieux, religious marriage.

Very few Africans have availed themselves of the privilege of civil marriage for the simple reason that its existence is generally unknown. Several men known to the writer asked for civil marriage in the hope that it would add stability to their union. Almost without exception, however, they took other wives. The ceremony of civil marriage is performed by an officier de l'état civil.