# Precontract

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precontract
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{{Short description|Legal contract (or promise marriage) preceding another}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
A '''precontract''' is a legal contract that precedes another; in particular it can refer to an existing promise of marriage with another. Such a precontract would legally nullify any later marriages into which either party entered. The practice was common in the [Middle Ages](/source/Middle_Ages), and the allegation of a precontract was the most common means of dissolving a marriage by the medieval [ecclesiastical court](/source/ecclesiastical_court)s.<ref name="McCarthy">{{cite book|
author1=Conor McCarthy|
title=Marriage in Medieval England: Law, Literature, and Practice|
url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YsSu8UwNVQIC&dq=pre+contract+marriage+medieval&pg=PA40|
accessdate= 9 November 2015|
date=1 January 2004|
publisher=Boydell Press|
isbn=1843831023|
page=40}}</ref>

[Richard III of England](/source/Richard_III_of_England) claimed his brother [Edward IV](/source/Edward_IV_of_England) had entered into a marriage precontract with [Lady Eleanor Talbot](/source/Lady_Eleanor_Talbot) prior to Edward's later marriage to [Elizabeth Woodville](/source/Elizabeth_Woodville). The claim is now largely, though not universally, regarded to be false; if true, it would have meant that Edward's sons by Elizabeth, the '[Princes in the Tower](/source/Princes_in_the_Tower)', would have been [illegitimate](/source/Legitimacy_(family_law)) and Richard, rather than they, would have inherited the throne upon Edward IV's death. This claim was the basis on which Richard III displaced and replaced his nephew [Edward V](/source/Edward_V) as king, and the boy king and his brother disappeared in the [Tower of London](/source/Tower_of_London), missing presumed murdered.

==References==
{{reflist|1}}

Category:Contract law

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Precontract](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precontract) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precontract?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.