And their "own" chapters of law make it unique.Well, there's nothing fundamentally different about the state's role in marriage than in other contracts. Obviously, it has it's own chapters of law, as do any other specific types of contracts.
How is something that the government does for all contracts what makes the marriage contract unique?But it's what make the marriage contract important.
There may have been miscommunication becuase I never meant to say that the benefits the government provides are meant to restrict marriage to a specific group of people.The conferring of a benefit upon the married couple by Congress was not intended in any case that I'm aware of to restrict access to marriage based upon the intent of the benefit. The only law I know of that really attempts to restrict access to marriage benefits is the deplorable Defense of Marriage Act, and that was passed after the fact specifically to deny benefits to homosexuals in an act of naked bigotry.
What specifics are in the legal union?It's a legal union as well as a personal relation. There are any number of implications.
Well that's boring. lain:We don't actually seem to be disagreeing much here, so I don't have much to add. Not sure if I've addressed your questions, but feel free to add more.