sponsalia per verba de praesenti
sponsalia per verba de praesenti (spon-say-lee-[schwa] p[schwa]r v[schwa]r-b[schwa] dee pri-zen-tIor pree-).Eccles. law. A type of informal marriage that occurred when the parties made an informal agreement to have each other as husband and wife. • This type of informal marriage was based on nothing more than the present consent to be married but was entirely valid and would take precedence over a later formal ceremonial marriage that either of the parties attempted to contract with someone else.