jats:pHistorically, English and Irish Law were both distinctly protective of marriage (still understood as an exclusively heterosexual institution)jats:sup1</jats:sup> as compared to other forms of adult relationship. In the 1950 English case of jats:italicGammans</jats:italic> v. jats:italicEkins</jats:italic>, it was famously deemed an “abuse of the English language” to say that an unmarried couple “masquerading” as husband and wife were members of the same family.jats:sup2</jats:sup> In its Constitution, meanwhile, the Irish state “pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack”.jats:sup3</jats:sup> The powerfulness of this “pledge” can be seen from the fact that divorce was not possible in Ireland until a 1995 referendum resulted in a constitutional amendment.jats:sup4</jats:sup></jats:p>