CONSANGUINITY
2fi7
CONSANGUINITY
Copps hail novor gnuitrd ;i dispensation for a nmrriaso
oiwpen brotlier and sister, even wlii'i'o tlie union
might have occurred without a knowledge of the re-
lationship on the part of the contracting persons.
Consanguinity may be duplicated as arising from two sources: first, from two roots, e. g. two brotliers marrying two women who are cousins; the cliildren of each brotlier will be related to those of the othi^r in the second degree on the father's sitle, and in the third tle- gree on the mother's side; second, from one root, but when the descendants intermarry. Hence, where there is a double consanguinity, there is a double im- pediment which must be expressed in the petition for dispensation; and should there be a more extensive
is also rr(|uired if an attcTiipt at marriage had been
made, even if not consummated.
C'lvii, Lpx;islation. — In the Eastern Ch\irch the Quinisext Council (692) forbade, as we have seen, mar- riages between first cousins. In the eighth century Emperors Leo and Constantine confirmed this decree and forbade alliances between persons in the sixth degree of consanguinity according to the computation of the Roman civil law, i. e. between the grandchildren of brothers and sisters, and still later in the seventh degree of the same computation. This holds to-day in the Greek Church. The question of consanguinity is important in determining civil rights, which are mainly under control of the State, though illegitimacy
T.\BLE OF CONS.\NGUINITY
Their great -
gramlchildrei
Their Kreal-
grantichildrer
-Great-great-^— Great-great Great-great Theii
uncle grandfather uncle chiUlrf
Great-great- Great-great Great-great- aiint grandmother aunt
- (ireat-uncle Great -gram! Great-uncle Tlieir
(_!reat-aunt father (Ireat-aunt chililn
Great-grand-
leir grand- —Their great-
chddren grandchildren
^Their great-
grandchildren
Great -grand Grand-nephew — Nepht
nephew Grand-niece Nien
Great -gram 1-
-ftister Nep'h
,Iohn
Mary
Orandilaughter
3 4
w — f .rand-nephew— Great-grand- Grand-niece nephew
CJreat-grand- uiece
iduijlication by still further intermarriages, all the for-
biilden degrees resulting from the blood-relationship
ehould he mentioned in seeking dispensation. In the
petition for dispensation, both series in the collateral
consanguinity must be mentioned, though this is not
necessary for validity of the dispensation. A sjjecial
proviso Is made when dispensation is sought from col-
lateral consanguinity. It must be mentioned, even
for validity, if the one part, is ne.xt of kin to the root or
conmion ancestor and the other witliin the forbidden
degrees; the sex of the next of kin should also be men-
tioned, because of the greater difficulty of the dispen-
sation for a nephew to marry his aunt. If the farthest
should lie in the fifth degree, there is even in that case
no |)rohihition of marriage. The impediment of mar-
riage arises also from any carnal intercourse, even out-
side of marriage, to the fourth degree of consanguinity.
To consanguinity within the prohibited degrees may
be added the gravamen of the crime of incest. If the
incest were committed in the hope of facilitating the
grant of a dispensation, this circumstance must be
mentioned in the petition for dispensation; mention
often produces ecclesiastical disbarments (see Birth).
The hindrances to marriage basedon consanguinity vary
considerably in different States. In Germany consan-
guinity is a, bar only in the direct line, and between
brothers and sisters. In France uncle and niece, aunt
and nephew, are forbidden to intermarry, but dispen-
sation may be granted by the head of the State. The
lirohil:)ition does not extend to this relationship aris-
ing from an illegitimate union. Even in the most
conservative Catholic countries, there is a tendency to
limit th(' impediment of con.sangtiinity. In England
th(' statutes of Henry VIII, repealed in part by Ed-
ward VI and wholly Ijy Phillip and Mary, were revived
in Klizabeth's first year, the provision being that "no
prohibition, Goil's law except, .shall trouble or im-
peach any marriage outside Levitical law". The ec-
clesiastical interpretation was that consanguinity was
an impediment to marriage as far as the third degree
of civil computation. A man might not marry his
aunt, or his niece, but might marry his first cousin.
Relationship by the half-blood was put on the same
footing .as the uiU-blood, and illegitimate consanguin-
