The Lectures on Jurisprudence of Adam Smith Adam Smith, in his Lectures on Jurisprudence, supports the necessity of marriage through biological mechanisms. Although superficially similar, his arguments appear to differ markedly from the modern notion of how work is distributed within the family. Instead of examining the comparative advantages in production between husband and wife, Smith seems to focus on the importance of lineage and, more specifically, inheritance. The foundation of Smith's argument for the necessity of marriage is rooted in children. Start with examples contrary to human experience. He believes that in mammals, since “the support of the young is not a burden to the female,” any further relationship is considered unnecessary (Smith 438). In birds, however, “something like marriage seems to occur” (438). He immediately retorts: “but whenever young people manage to move on their own, all further inclination ceases” (438). The essential part of this argument is the demands made by the child on the parent. According to his argument, th...