The introduction outlines the scope of the research on the evolution of marriage in Ethiopian legal codes. The study focuses on the Amhara people who historically shaped Ethiopia’s culture and legislation. It traces Ethiopia’s history from its formation to the 1974 fall of the Ethiopian Empire, demonstrating the transformation of marriage as a social institution. The study places particular emphasis upon the 1960 Civil Code, which introduced the most significant changes to Ethiopia’s legal treatment of marriage. It also draws upon primary sources, including the sixteenth-century Fǝtḥa Nägäśt, imperial chronicles, archival documents, memoirs, accounts by European travellers and missionaries, and scholarly analyses within ethnographic, historical, political, and legal contexts. The study also acknowledges the challenges posed by the source material: scarce documentation of matrimonial ceremonies, reliance on oral traditions to reconstruct customary legal systems, and the absence of legal trial records before the nineteenth century.