Prohibited degree of kinship / Anglican - Common Prayer etc (General)

by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Tuesday, February 24, 2009, 20:52 (5823 days ago) @ stephenmiller

I'm sure it happened - sometimes by accident , but probably more often with full knowledge.

Prohibited degrees
The prohibited Degrees - The marriage of first cousins is not unusual and been legal since the 16th century. However, marriages between people who were related in some other ways (known as the prohibited degrees) were forbidden by acts of Parliament and ecclesiastical law. A marriage between two people within a prohibited degree required (and still requires) a private act of Parliament authorising that marriage.

The prohibited degrees have varied over time, but are explained in detail in Chapman & Litton "Marriage Laws, Rites, Records & Customs". (Lovchin Publishing 1996).

The present position is set out in the Marriage Act 1949, as amended in 1986, but for most of the period that you will be researching, the relevant rules (reached in about 1560 and confirmed by church laws, known as Canons, in 1604) were listed in the Book of Common Prayer of 1662.

The prohibitions prevented someone marrying his or her:
(a) brother or sister (or their spouse);
(b) parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, child or grandchild (or their spouse);
(c) niece or nephew (or their spouse);
(d) spouse's child, grandchild, parent, aunt, uncle or grandparent.

Statutes of 1907 and 1921 made an exception to the prohibition at (a) above, allowing people to marry the spouse of their brother or sister, if that brother or sister had died. Some further exceptions were made in 1931, 1949 and 1986 so that, for example, a man was allowed to marry his deceased wife's niece, aunt or widowed mother.

Notes are taken from "Ancestral Trails by Mark D Herber (ISBN 0-7509-1418-1)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibited_degree_of_kinship

and discussed here

http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?mode=thread&id=12344#p12388

and a current view !
http://www.uk-civil-partnership-act-2004.co.uk/s-T

--
Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>