[1] Levirate marriage can, at its most positive, serve as protection for the widow and her children, ensuring that they have a male provider and protector.
The anthropologist Ruth Mace also found that the practice of widow inheritance by younger brothers, common in many parts of Africa, serves to reduce population growth, as these men will be forced to marry older (and hence, less fertile) women.
[2][3] In the Hebrew Bible, a form of levirate marriage, called yibbum, is mentioned in Deuteronomy 25:5–10, under which the brother of a man who dies without children is permitted and encouraged to marry the widow.
Khazanov, citing [Abramzon, 1968, p. 289 - 290], mentions that during World War II, the levirate was resurrected in Central Asia.
The Armenian historian Movses Kalankatuatsi states that the Savirs, one of Hunnish tribes in the area, were usually monogamous, but sometimes a married man would take his brother's widow as a polygynous wife.
Koppány's rebellion against the Christian king Stephen I and claim to marry Sarolt, the widow of his relative Géza, was qualified as an incestuous attempt by 14th-century Hungarian chronicles, but was fully in line with the pagan custom.
[11][12] In 2017, the Indian Army removed a rule which restricted payment of monetary allowances to widows of gallantry awardees if she marries someone other than the late husband's brother.
[13] The most famous instance of levirate marriage in India was the wedding of the Panchala princess Draupadi to the five Pandava brothers.
[15] The Japanese had a custom of levirate marriage called aniyome ni naosu (兄嫁に直す) during the Meiji period.
"[18] "Kirghiz ... followed levirate marriage customs, i.e., a widow who had borne at least one child was entitled to a husband from the same lineage as her deceased spouse.
[23] As among the Maragoli of western Kenya,[24] likewise "in the Luo case widows become mostly remarried to the deceased husband's brother".
"[27] "According to customary law, it is tantamount to adultery for a widow to be sexually involved with a man other than a close agnate of her late husband.
Under customary law among the Yoruba, ... A brother or son of the deceased husband ... was traditionally allowed to inherit the widow as a wife ... .
[29]In Somalia, levirate marriage is practiced and is called Dumaal, and provisions are made under Somali customary law or Xeer with regard to bride price (yarad).
In the past few decades since the start of the Somali Civil War, this type of marriage has fallen out of favor due to strict Islamic interpretations that have been imported to Somalia.
In the past few decades, this type of marriage has fallen out of favor due to increased rural-to urban migration as well as improved literacy for women and girls.