[10] Some states prohibiting cousin marriage recognize cousin marriages performed in other states, but this does not hold true in general despite occasional claims to the contrary. Unlike China mainland, the two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong[110] and Macau,[111] place no restrictions on marriage between cousins. June 25, 2009", "Steve Chapman. [143] These practices are particularly followed in landed communities such as the Reddys or Vellalars, who wish to keep wealth within the family. Perhaps most important was the report of physician Samuel Merrifield Bemiss for the American Medical Association, which concluded cousin inbreeding does lead to the "physical and mental deprivation of the offspring". By the 1870s, Lewis Henry Morgan (18181881) was writing about "the advantages of marriages between unrelated persons" and the necessity of avoiding "the evils of consanguine marriage", avoidance of which would "increase the vigor of the stock". This means you and your future spouse must meet all of the following requirements at the time the marriage takes place. 06:00, 16 MAR 2019 Cousins are allowed to marry in the UK. this practice is also common among Brahmins in the region. First cousins can marry in 19 states. First cousins can be married in 19 states. Prior to these . It really is OK to fancy your cousin | Relationships | The Guardian [44], In-marriage was more frequent in the late pre-Islamic Hijaz than in ancient Egypt. All in all, marrying your cousin or half-sibling will largely depend on the laws where you live and personal and/or cultural beliefs. Can you marry a second cousin? Muslim Hausas practice cousin marriage preferentially, and polygyny is allowed if the husband can support multiple wives. It was estimated in 1960 that 0.2% of all marriages between Roman Catholics were between first or second cousins, but no more recent nationwide studies have been performed. Getting married requires you to pay a fee for a marriage license. State criminal laws against incest may also effectively prohibit marriages between cousins. Code of Ala. 13A-13-3. [129], In the English upper and upper-middle classes, the prevalence of first-cousin marriage had remained steady at between 4% and 5% for much of the 19th century. "While many people have a story about a secret cousin crush or kiss, most Americans find the idea of cousins marrying and having children disturbing or even repulsive," notes the article. [75] These laws would severely cripple the existing European kinship structures, replacing them with the smaller nuclear family units. [178], In contrast, Maryland delegates Henry B. Heller and Kumar P. Barve sponsored a bill to ban first-cousin marriages in 2000. A marriage between first cousins will not be recognised in Kentucky even if it is consummated in another state. State Laws on Marriage - FindLaw Marriage between close relatives increases the chance of certain genetic concerns. [187], Cousins are not included in the lists of prohibited relationships set out in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in Leviticus 18:818 and 20:1121 and in Deuteronomy.[3]. In Vietnam, Clause 3, Article 10 of the 2000 Vietnamese Law on Marriage and Family forbids marriages of people related by blood up to the third degree of kinship. Republican Minority Leader Marty Seifert criticized the bill in response, saying it would "turn us into a cold Arkansas". The current rate of cousin marriage there is 54%, an increase of 1218% over the previous generation. In South Asia, rising demands for dowry payments have caused dire economic hardship and have been linked to "dowry deaths" in a number of North Indian states. In traditional Syria-Palestina, if a girl had no paternal male cousin (father's brother's son) or he renounced his right to her, the next in line was traditionally the maternal male cousin (mother's brother's son) and then other relatives. [65] A 1974 study analyzed Yoruba marriages in the town Oka Akoko, finding that among a sample of highly polygynous marriages having an average of about three wives, 51% of all pairings were consanguineous. [159] According to the University of Minnesota's The Wake, Kahn was aware the bill had little chance of passing, but introduced it anyway to draw attention to the issue. In general, laws about whether it's legal to marry your cousin fall into three categories: But there are even more nuances to state laws. He has shown that while a clear functional connection exists between Islam and FBD marriage, the prescription to marry a FBD does not appear to be sufficient to persuade people to actually marry thus, even if the marriage brings with it economic advantages. In fact, it may even be unacceptable to marry within one's village or for two siblings to marry partners from the same village. Help us create the next chapter of a Silicon Valley landmark that inspires the innovator in everyone. Newton Freire-Maia[pt] found paternal parallel cousin marriage to be the most common type. The Genetics of Cousin Marriage - JSTOR Daily Howard states, "During the period preceding the Teutonic invasion, speaking broadly, the church adhered to Roman law and custom; thereafter those of the Germans were accepted. ", "TPT St. Paul. [37] Anthropologists have debated the significance of the practice; some view it as the defining feature of the Middle Eastern kinship system[38] while others note that overall rates of cousin marriage have varied sharply between different Middle Eastern communities. We each carry an average of 12 genetic variants associated with recessive conditions. [179] It got further than Kahn's bill, passing the House of Delegates by 82 to 46 despite most Republicans voting no, but finally died in the state senate. The report states that these children are 13 times more likely than the general population to produce children with genetic disorders, and one in ten children of first-cousin marriages in Birmingham either dies in infancy or develops a serious disability. [133] Physician Mohammad Walji has spoken out against the practice, saying that it is a "very significant" cause of infant death, and his practice has produced leaflets warning against it. [25] However, whereas it may not have been permissible at that time, marriage with the mother's sister's children also became possible by the third century AD. Legality of incest - Wikipedia When the marriage procession progressed with the bride toward the house of the bridegroom, the male cousin rushed forward, snatched away the girl, and forced her into his own house. Instead of the former practice of counting up to the common ancestor and then down to the proposed spouse, the new law computed consanguinity by counting only back to the common ancestor. Anthropologist Jack Goody said that cousin marriage was a typical pattern in Rome, based on the marriage of four children of Emperor Constantine to their first cousins and on writings by Plutarch and Livy indicating the proscription of cousin marriage in the early Republic. However, there are a few countries where it is legal to marry your cousin. [68] They also took affinal prohibitions very seriously. Twenty states and the District of Columbia allow cousins to marry, while six allow first cousins to marry. In many Middle Eastern nations, a marriage to the father's brother's daughter (FBD) is considered ideal, though this type may not always actually outnumber other types. [31] In the case of the MSD marriage, no such ties exist, so consequently, this may not even be viewed as cousin marriage. To make things easier, below you will find links to laws on prohibited marriage and annulment laws in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Whether it is legal to marry a relative can vary depending on where you live. This makes cross-cousin marriage exceptionally important. [144][208], Hindu rules of exogamy are often taken extremely seriously, and local village councils in India administer laws against in-gotra endogamy. "So it's partly economic, and it's also partly cultural." Such marriages are not legal in many states. For your marriage to be legally valid in Ireland, you must both have the capacity to marry each other. [126] There has been discussion of whether laws prohibiting cousin marriage should be enacted. Legal requirements for marriage - Citizens Information Sailer believes that because families practicing cousin marriage are more related to one another than otherwise, their feelings of family loyalty tend to be unusually intense, fostering nepotism. [69] Though Muslims make up over a third of the Ethiopian population, and Islam has been present in the country since the time of Muhammad, cross-cousin marriage is very rare among most Ethiopian Muslims. [174][175][176], A bill to repeal the ban on first-cousin marriage in Minnesota was introduced by Phyllis Kahn in 2003, but it died in committee. Some famous historical figures married their cousins. Qatar was the last Persian Gulf nation to institute mandatory screening in 2009, mainly to warn related couples who are planning marriage about any genetic risks they may face. [73] This was calculated by counting up from one prospective partner to the common ancestor, then down to the other prospective partner. [169], The U.S. state of Maine allows first-cousin marriage if the couple agrees to have genetic counseling, while North Carolina allows it so long as the applicants for marriage are not rare double first cousins, meaning cousins through both parental lines. George Louis Arner in 1908 considered the ban a clumsy and ineffective method of eugenics, which he thought would eventually be replaced by more refined techniques. [231] The BBC story contained an interview with Myra Ali, whose parents and grandparents were all first cousins. Is It Legal to Marry Your Cousin? - FindLaw The answer depends on where you live, and how closely related your cousin is. AZ Marriage License Laws Requirements Marriage License AZ [82] It began to fall out of favor in the 19th century as women became socially mobile. [160], In contrast, Maryland delegates Henry B. Heller and Kumar P. Barve sponsored a bill to ban first-cousin marriages in 2000. While some proponents argue such marriages were banned until 1970, according to Frans van Poppel of the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute, they are confusing cousin marriage with uncle-niece marriage. To many, Morgan included, cousin marriage, and more specifically parallel-cousin marriage was a remnant of a more primitive stage of human social organization. In the United States, second cousins are legally allowed to marry in every state. [152] It is unknown what proportion of that number were first cousins, which is the group facing marriage bans. In the United States, second cousins are legally allowed to marry in every state. Several states of the United States have bans on cousin marriage. Knowing that cousin marriages increase the probability of recessive genetic conditions, she is understandably against the practice. Note that the laws listed do. ", "Marriages among cousins increasing in UAE", "Consanguineous marriages in Afghanistan", "Prevalence and determinants of consanguineous marriage and its types in India: evidence from the National Family Health Survey, 20152016", "Laws of Civil Marriages in India A Proposal to Resolve Certain Conflicts", "A Note on Cross-Cousin Marriage among Andhra Brahmins", "Karnataka second in marriages among blood relatives, Tamil Nadu first: National family Healthy Survey", "Civil Unrest and the Current Profile of Consanguineous Marriage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan", "Race of Wife by Race of Husband: 1960, 1970, 1980, 1991, and 1992. [135] Aamra Darr of the University of Leeds has also criticized what she called an "alarmist presentation of data" that exaggerates the risk. [3] Taking a contrary view, Protestants writing after the Reformation tended to see the prohibitions and the dispensations needed to circumvent them as part of an undesirable church scheme to accrue wealth, or "lucre". Moreover, the exchanging groups are not major segments of the society, but rather local descent groups from the same or closely neighboring communities. From the seventh century, the Irish Church only recognized four degrees of prohibited kinship, and civil law fewer. [114][115] As of February2014[update], 24 U.S. states prohibit marriages between first cousins, 19 U.S. states allow marriages between first cousins, and 7 U.S. states allow only some marriages between first cousins. [30] In Chinese culture, patrilineal ties are most important in determining the closeness of a relation. After all, this could help you to avoid certain surprises or major disputes down the line and can ensure that you are going into marriage fully informed. What States Is It Legal To Marry Your Cousin? - Legal Inquirer [99] Finally, Edward Westermarck states that marriage among the ancient Teutons was apparently prohibited only in the ascending and descending lines and among siblings. Learn more States have various laws regarding marriage between cousins and other close relatives,[191] which involve factors including whether or not the parties to the marriage are half-cousins, double cousins, infertile, over 65, or whether it is a tradition prevalent in a native or ancestry culture, adoption status, in-law, whether or not genetic counselling is required, and whether it is permitted to marry a first cousin once removed. In Which States Is It Legal to Marry Your First Cousin? - Her Life Online [70] In contrast to the Nigerian situation, in Ethiopia, Islam cannot be identified with a particular ethnicity and is found across most of them, and conversions between religions are comparatively common. Another picture emerges from the large literature on congenital heart defects, which are conservatively estimated to have an incidence of 50/1,000 live births. Matrilateral cross-cousin marriage in societies with matrilineal descent meant that a male married into the family his mother's brother, building an alliance between the two families. They relate this to an old Arab proverb: "Myself against my brother; my brother and I against my cousin; my cousin, my brother and I against the outsider. ", "Lawmaker files bill raising age of marriage consent", "Trish Choate. [28], Anthropologist Francis Hsu described a mother's brother's daughter (MBD) as being the most preferred type of Chinese cousin marriage. [1] Worldwide, more than 10% of marriages are between first or second cousins. [35] During the Qing dynasty era (1636-1912), first cousin marriage was common and prevailed after the era particularly in rural regions. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful. [233] According to a statement by the UK's Human Genetics Commission on cousin marriages, the BBC also "fails to clarify" that children born to these marriages were not found to be 13 times more likely to develop genetic disorders. Jackson, LG. ", "War in medical community over cousin marriage", "Cousin marriage is a social choice: it needn't be a problem. Subhadra and Arjuna's son was the tragic hero Abhimanyu. To many (Morgan included), cousin marriage, and more specifically parallel-cousin marriage, was a remnant of a more primitive stage of human social organization. In the United States, it is not legal to marry your cousin. Richard Curtis wrote in the ending to Four Weddings and a Funeral that Tom marries his distant cousin Deirdre, having fallen in love at a wedding - a joke about the aristocracy supposedly keeping things in the family. "Clinical Genetics Handbook". This practice is said to possess advantages such as resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity. [228], The Latin American Collaborative Study of Congenital Malformation found an association between consanguinity and hydrocephalus, postaxial polydactyly, and bilateral oral and facial clefts. Finally, one reason that MBD marriage is often most common may be the typically greater emotional warmth between a man and his mother's side of the family. Republican Minority Leader Marty Seifert criticized the bill in response, saying it would "turn us into a cold Arkansas". Laws relating to the marriage of first cousins are not always the same. [205], Although marrying his cousin himself, Umar, the second Caliph, discouraged marrying within one's bloodline or close cousins recurringly over generations and advised those who had done so to marry people unrelated to them, by telling a household that did so, "You have become frail, so marry intelligent people unrelated to you. Children of siblings are referred to as first cousins. The Tech Interactive is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.Tax ID#: 94-2864660. Can you marry your cousin in Finland? - 2023 [171], In 1846, Massachusetts Governor George N. Briggs appointed a commission to study mentally handicapped people (at the time termed "idiots") in the state. There is however a big matter of contention surrounding. In the United States, second cousins are legally allowed to marry in every state. India's Muslim minority represents about 14% of its population and has an overall rate of cousin marriage of 22% according to a 2000 report. [19], China has prohibited first-cousin marriage since 1981,[108] although cross-cousin marriage was commonly practiced in China in the past in rural areas. Illinois. Groups like the Kachin exhibiting matrilateral cross-cousin marriage do not exchange women in circular structures; where such structures do exist they are unstable. People worry about not getting health insurancebut saying that someone shouldn't marry based on how they're related, when there's no known harm, to me is a form of discrimination. The Catholic Churches' teachings had proved unworkable in practice as they required people to know, and not marry, all relations back as far as their common Great Great Great Great Great Grandparents (i.e. [57], Cousin marriage rates from most African nations outside the Middle East are unknown. Finally, according to the book of Tobit, Tobias had a right to marry Sarah because he was her nearest kinsman (Tobit 7:10), though the exact degree of their cousinship is not clear. [216] In terms of mortality, a 1994 study found a mean excess pre-reproductive mortality rate of 4.4%,[217] while another study published in 2009 suggests the rate may be closer to 3.5%. Their thesis is the converse of Fredrik Barth's, who describes the fission as leading to the cousin marriage. [108] Currently, according to the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China, Article 7, "No marriage may be contracted under any of the following circumstances: (1) if the man and the woman are lineal relatives by blood, or collateral relatives by blood up to the third degree of kinship. This study implicated cousin marriage as responsible for idiocy. [136], A 2008 analysis of infant mortality in Birmingham showed that South Asian infants had twice the normal infant mortality rate and three times the usual rate of infant mortality due to congenital anomalies.[132][17]. [124] Limited existing data indicate some remaining cousin marriage of types besides father's brother's daughter in many villages, with percentages usually in the lower single digits. First-cousin marriage can be allowed in seven states. Colorado. [237] He states that the social, cultural, and economic benefits of cousin marriage also need to be fully considered. [58] In Nigeria, the most populous country of Africa, the three largest ethnic groups in order of size are the Hausa, Yoruba, and Igbo. Genetic Counseling and Screening of Consanguineous Couples and Their Offspring: Recommendations of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, First cousin: the child of your aunt or uncle (your parents siblings child), Second cousin: the child of your parents cousin, Cousin once-removed: your parents first cousin or your first cousins child. Alaska. It's just not the accepted normal thing. They must be at least 25 years old, They must have completed high school or its equivalent, They must have resided in Canada for not less than three years, They should possess health insurance for both spouses for at least 12 months. Among double first cousin progeny, 41.2 percent of prereproductive deaths were associated with the expression of detrimental recessive genes, with equivalent values of 26.0, 14.9, and 8.1 percent for first cousins, first cousins once removed/double second cousins, and second cousins respectively. Genetic counseling in developing countries has been hampered, however, by lack of trained staff, and couples may refuse prenatal diagnosis and selective abortion despite the endorsement of religious authorities. The Archbishop of Canterbury reached the same conclusion soon after.[104]. But there are even more nuances to state laws. [2] Cousin marriage is an important topic in anthropology and alliance theory. Only 21 states in America allow first cousins to be married legally. But the situation gets hairy (read: birth defects) if you trace the pattern through a family's genealogy. [201], Many of the immediate successors of Muhammad also took a cousin as one of their wives. Brill Online. Whereas in other kinship systems one or another of these aspects dominates, in cross-cousin marriage they overlap and cumulate their effects. Green. [157] While recent studies have cast serious doubt on whether cousin marriage is as dangerous as is popularly assumed, professors Diane B. Paul and Hamish G. Spencer speculate that legal bans persist in part due to "the ease with which a handful of highly motivated activistsor even one individualcan be effective in the decentralized American system, especially when feelings do not run high on the other side of an issue. [11] A study indicated that between 1800 and 1965 in Iceland, more children and grandchildren were produced from marriages between third or fourth cousins (people with common great-great- or great-great-great-grandparents) than from other degrees of separation. Data on cousin marriage in the United States is sparse. An article in The New York Times by Sarah Kershaw documents fear by many married cousins of being treated with derision and contempt. However, even in the states where it is legal, the practice is not widespread. A consistent positive association between consanguinity and disorders such as ventricular septal defect and atrial septal defect has been demonstrated, but both positive and negative associations with patent ductus arteriosus, atrioventricular septal defect, pulmonary atresia, and Tetralogy of Fallot have been reported in different populations. Consanguinity rates were generally stable across the four decades for which data exist, though second-cousin marriage appears to have been decreasing in favor of first-cousin marriage. [42] In ancient Persia, the Achaemenid kings habitually married their cousins and nieces,[46] while between the 1940s and 1970s, the percentage of Iranian cousin marriages increased from 34 to 44%. It is currently legal for you to marry your cousin in the UK. Isaac married Rebekah, his first cousin once removed (Genesis 24:1215). In much of the world, consanguineous marriage between cousins is very common. That chance is 1 in 4, or 25%. [19] This may be due in part to the token or significantly reduced dowries and bridewealths that exist in such marriages and also the much smaller pool of viable marriage candidates in rural areas.
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