Abstract: This article formulates the concept and characteristics of marriage in accordance with the customary law of the Russian peasant community. The established view upon peasant marriages as a property deal is subjected to a critical reevaluation. Based on the practice of volost courts is formed a list of conditions and barriers for entering marriage. Special attention is given to the accord between the will of the intending spouses and the interests of both parties arranging the marriage. The authors point at separate cases of disparity of the customary legal practice with assignments of the positive law. The historical legal method is applies in examination of practice of the peasant volost courts. Juxtaposition of the customary legal model of marriage with the modern family legislation allows concluding that at the present time, the matrimonial law is deprived of the majority of religious and ethnical ideas, which mediated the registration of marriage between the Russian peasants. The authors claim that the current crisis in the indicated area is considerably caused by the legislator’s refusal to right moral laws.