Catholic canon law The canon law of the Catholic Church () is "how the Church organizes and governs herself". It is the system of religious laws and ecclesiastical legal principles made and enforced by the hierarchical authorities of the Catholic Church to regul ...

, affinity is an impediment to marriage of a couple due to the relationship which either party has as a result of a kinship relationship created by another

marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

or as a result of extramarital intercourse. The relationships that give rise to the impediment have varied over time. Marriages and sexual relations between people in an affinity relationship are regarded as

incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

. Today, the relevant principle within the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

is that "affinity does not beget affinity"—i.e., there is no affinity between one spouse's relatives and the other spouse's relatives.

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

109 of the '' Code of Canon Law'' of the Catholic Church provides that affinity is an impediment to the marriage of a couple, and is a relationship which "arises from a valid marriage, even if not consummated, and exists between a man and the blood relatives of the woman and between the woman and the blood relatives of the man." Also, affinity "is reckoned in such a way that the blood relations of the man are related by affinity to the woman in the same line and the same degree, and vice versa."

Historical development

Mosaic law

In the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' consanguineous relationship, as well as a number of prohibitions of certain affinity relationships, e.g., (father's wife), (father's brother's wife), (brother's wife), (wife's sister), (father's wife, daughter-in-law), (woman and her mother), (sister of either one's mother or father) and (brother's wife). Marriage to a brother's

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...

is prohibited, but not to a deceased wife's sister.Patrick Colquhoun, ''A Summary of the Roman Civil Law, Illustrated by Commentaries on and Parallels from the Mosaic, Canon, Mohammedan, English, and Foreign Law'' (London: Wm. Benning & Co., 1849), p. 518 & ns. 10–13 However, as an exception, requires a brother to marry his brother's widow if the brother died without issue, in a so-called

levirate marriage Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage o ...

Roman law

Roman civil law prohibited marriages within four degrees of consanguinity but had no degrees of affinity with regards to marriage. However, the rule was that, if an issue of affinity arose, at whatever consanguineal level a couple was joined was considered the same level as regarded affinity. Roman civil laws prohibited any marriage between parents and children, either in the ascending or descending line ''ad infinitum''.

Adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, fro ...

was considered the same as affinity in that an adoptive father could not marry an unemancipated daughter or granddaughter even if the adoption had been dissolved.Patrick Colquhoun, ''A Summary of the Roman Civil Law, Illustrated by Commentaries on and Parallels from the Mosaic, Canon, Mohammedan, English, and Foreign Law'' (London: Wm. Benning & Co., 1849), p. 514 Slaves, as such, could not contract a legal marriage, but if freed were then subject to the general rules. Also, a marriage contracted within the prohibited degrees of consanguinity or affinity if contracted ''bona fide'', out of ignorance of any impediments, is allowed to stand and any children of this union were considered legitimate.Patrick Colquhoun, ''A Summary of the Roman Civil Law, Illustrated by Commentaries on and Parallels from the Mosaic, Canon, Mohammedan, English, and Foreign Law'' (London: Wm. Benning & Co., 1849), p. 510

Historical Catholic canon law

Regarding itself as not being bound by

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

commandments, the early Christian church followed Roman civil law, as the

law of the land The phrase ''law of the land'' is a legal term, equivalent to the Latin ''lex terrae'', or ''legem terrae'' in the accusative case. It refers to all of the laws in force within a country or region, including statute law and case-made law. Use in ...

. The Christian emperors modified the rules from time to time and extended the civil law impediment to the first degree of collateral affinity. The church extended the impediment to relationships created by illicit intercourse. The Council of Elvira (), prohibited the marriage of a widower with his deceased wife's sister. The prohibition became slowly more extensive. By the early 9th century, the

Western Church Western Christianity is one of two subdivisions of Christianity (Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic C ...

had increased the number of prohibited degrees of consanguinity from four to seven. The method of calculating relationships was also changed to simply count the number of generations back to a common ancestor.Constance B. Bouchard, 'Consanguinity and Noble Marriages in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries', ''Speculum'', Vol. 56, No. 2 (Apr., 1981), pp. 269–70 The church also prohibited affinity to the same seven degrees. While the impediment of affinity is close to but not as compelling as that of consanguinity, the reasoning behind the prohibited degrees of affinity being treated the same as that of consanguinity is the nearness to the blood relatives by the very act of sexual intercourse. Prior to the

Fourth Council of the Lateran The Fourth Council of the Lateran or Lateran IV was convoked by Pope Innocent III in April 1213 and opened at the Lateran Palace in Rome on 11 November 1215. Due to the great length of time between the council's convocation and its meeting, m ...

(1215), the Church recognized two additional forms of affinity. Firstly, when a man married a widow, her relatives as well as those of her former husband were considered the man's relatives and treated as if they were his blood relatives. Secondly, if the woman's first husband had been a widower then the blood relatives of his first wife became the woman's relatives and, by her subsequent marriage, were also the new husband's relatives by affinity. Also, a woman's children by a deceased husband, as well as the children of her husband by a deceased wife, were considered related by affinity. So the subsequent marriages of step-siblings carried the same prohibitions as if they were related by blood. The principle established was "affinity begot affinity." The Fourth Lateran Council removed the second type of affinity rule and the new axiom became: "affinity does not beget affinity", which is the principle followed in the modern Catholic Church. It also limited both affinity and consanguinity prohibitions to the fourth degree, but retained the same method of calculating, counting back to a common ancestor. The

Council of Trent The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most ...

(1545–1563) limited the impediment to marriage on account of affinity in cases when the affinity is created outside of marriage (e.g., by force or extra-matrimonial intercourse) to the second degree of affinity.

Dispensation

As the affinity rules have their origin in ecclesiastical and not

divine law Divine law is any body of law that is perceived as deriving from a Transcendence (religion), transcendent source, such as the will of God or godsin contrast to man-made law or to secular law. According to Angelos Chaniotis and Rudolph F. Peters, di ...

, impediments can be dispensed by the competent Church authority. The

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

or a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

may grant a dispensation to a marriage when the affinity rules would be breached.

Contemporary Christian positions

The current canon law of the

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

holds in Canon 1092 that affinity in any degree of the direct line invalidates marriage, such as between a father-in-law and his daughter-in-law, or between a mother-in-law and her son-in-law. However, the code does not prohibit marriages between people related by affinity in the collateral line, allowing a widow or widower to marry the sibling or first cousin of their deceased spouse. The

Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches The ''Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches'' (CCEC; , abbreviated CCEO) is the title of the 1990 work which is a codification of the common portions of the canon law for the 23 Eastern Catholic Churches in the Catholic Church. It is divided i ...

of the Eastern Catholic Church holds in Canon 809 that affinity invalidates marriage in the direct line in any degree, and also in the collateral line to the second degree, thus prohibiting someone from marrying their sibling-in-law without first receiving a dispensation. The modern laws of the

Anglican Church Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

regarding affinity are found in the ''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

'', which were revised from time to time. The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907 removed the impediment to marrying a late wife's sister. Restrictions were also relaxed by the Marriage Act 1949 s. 1 and the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Act 1986 s. 1. The

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

allows marriages beyond the second degree of affinity. The

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

relationship prohibitions because of affinity follow (father's wife), (father's brother's wife), (brother's wife), (wife's sister), (father's wife, daughter-in-law), (woman and her mother), (sister of either one's mother or father) and (brother's wife). However, the Greek patriarchs and bishops may grant dispensations with a certain degree of freedom or choose to adhere to the letter of the law. The

Church of the East The Church of the East ( ) or the East Syriac Church, also called the Church of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the Persian Church, the Assyrian Church, the Babylonian Church, the Chaldean Church or the Nestorian Church, is one of three major branches o ...

has few restrictions on affinity begetting affinity. The

Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...

restricts affinity to the fourth degree, while the policy of

Oriental Orthodoxy The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian tradition. Oriental Orthodoxy is ...

in general is very close to that of the Roman Catholic canons. Conservative

Lutherans Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched the Reformation in 15 ...

also prohibit marriage within close degrees of affinity, even if not specifically outlawed by the state.Christian Cyclopedia
article on Impediments to Marriage.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Affinity (Canon Law) Catholic matrimonial canon law Marriage in Christianity Impediments (Catholic canon law) Affinity (law)