Marriages primarily symbolize the formation of a legal union. as a secondary function, they provide a hands-off message to past lovers. the secondary function is referred to as

The legality in the marriage brings in a feeling of being loyal to the other person in the marriage in all means that includes making the ex-lovers excluded from the lives of both people in the union. So here the secondary function is referred to as latent function. Anything other than loyalty should not be manifested and should be hidden.