Prohibited Marriages

During the holidays my partner and I got to spend some time on the road and we ended up having a conversation about work, as we do, but this time we weren’t talking about divorce law – we were talking about marriage. I was telling him the different types of illegal marriages, some of which he found rather interesting and said I should share it with you.

Below I set out the two types of illegal marriages, one through blood and the other through marriage;

Relationships by blood

• If the parties intending to marry are related to one another within certain degrees of blood this may be an obstacle.
• The first group of blood relationship which are prohibited is if the parties are related to one another through one common parent, it does not matter if the parties are related by full or half blood. Thus, marriage between a father and daughter, a mother and son, a grandfather and granddaughter, a grandmother and grandson is illegal.
• The second group of blood relationships which are prohibited is if the parties are related to one another through a common ancestor and if one of them is related in the first degree to that common ancestor. Thus, marriage is forbidden between brother and sister, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, it extends to great uncles and great aunts related in the first degree to the common ancestor.
• Adoption does not remove the obstacle and it is illegal for adopted parties to marry persons related to them in the prohibited degrees of blood, even though there is no blood connection.
• Marriage between cousins is not forbidden.

Relationships by marriage

• The reasoning of this law is from the Christian faith that husband and wife became one flesh, and that a spouse was disqualified from marrying the blood relations of his spouse if they were related to that spouse within the prohibitions outlined in point 1 above.
• However, modern society has changed, and the rule is now only limited to relatives in law in the direct line. i.e. a man may not marry the daughter or granddaughter or mother or grandmother of his wife and that the woman may not marry the son or grandson or father or grandfather of her husband, whether the marriage is dissolved by death or divorce is irrelevant.
• Section 28 of the Marriage Act sets out the lawful marriages between a person and relatives of his/her deceased/ divorced spouse.

 

A Man May Not Marry	A Woman May Not Marry
Mother	Father
Daughter	Son
Father’s mother	Father’s father
Mother’s mother	Mother’s father
Son’s daughter	Son’s son
Daughter’s daughter	Daughter’s son
Sister	Brother
Wife’s mother	Husband’s father
Wife’s daughter	Husband’s son
Father’s wife	Mother’s husband
Son’s wife	Daughter’s husband
Father’s father’s wife	Father’s mother’s husband
Mother’s father’s wife	Mother’s mother’s husband
Wife’s father’s mother	Husband’s father’s father
Wife’s mother’s mother	Husband’s mother’s father
Wife’s son’s daughter	Husband’s son’s son
Wife’s daughter’s daughter	Husband’s daughter’s son
Son’s son’s wife	Son’s daughter’s husband
Daughter’s son’s wife	Daughter’s daughter’s husband
Father’s sister	Father’s brother
Mother’s sister	Mother’s brother
Brother’s daughter	Brother’s son
Brother’s daughter’s daughter	Brother’s son’s son
Sister’s daughter	Sister’s son
Sister’s daughter’s daughter	Sister’s son’s son
Sister’s son’s daughter	Sister’s daughter’s son