Until the Revolutionary War, according to an article on the Library of Virginia site, the marriage laws pertaining to relationships were those of the English common law. Unfortunately, I can't find what these were - still lolling. Richard Fairfax VA ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 3:24 AM Subject: [VASHENAN] Marriage & Code of VA I assume this is the current Code. Do you perhaps have the time line of the changes to the VA Code for family law. It is my understanding the cousin restriction was a restriction of the Roman Catholic Church and not originally a legal one. Phyllis Vannoy Spiker § 20-38.1. Certain marriages prohibited. (a) The following marriages are prohibited: (1) A marriage entered into prior to the dissolution of an earlier marriage of one of the parties; (2) A marriage between an ancestor and descendant, or between a brother and a sister, whether the relationship is by the half or the whole blood or by adoption; (3) A marriage between an uncle and a niece or between an aunt and a nephew, whether the relationship is by the half or the whole blood. ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Richard, This site gives two of the applicable Virginia laws that were codified: http://www.wvculture.org/history/marriagelaws.html But, as you point out, there was also common law pertaining to who could marry. Unfortunately, common law was often not recorded, save in case law, and can be hard to find, again as you note. There were some non-bloodline prohibitions such as your step-mother, but those seemed to be mostly concerned with propriety and property. The bulk of the prohibitions involved degree of consanguinity wherein your parents and children are degree 1 and your siblings are degree 2. To find your degree of consanguinity simply add the degrees along the lowest sum path. For example, your father is degree 1, his sister is degree 2. Her daughter is degree 1. So, if you marry your first cousin, that is degree 4 (1+2+1). Common law sometimes prohibited marriages as far removed as 10 degrees, but, so far as I know, always prohibited 3 or less. The actual degree seems to have changed depending on which Bishop did the pronouncement and which King wanted to marry which 2nd cousin. Most modern laws prohibit marriages at 3 or 4 degrees. This use of degree of consanguinity, I am told by my geneticist acquaintances, applies better to Mendel's peas than to humans. The other problem with this arose with smaller, restricted, religious groups such as my Dunkard or Quaker ancestors where families tended to intermarry generation after generation. You could do a network calculation using something like that used for equivalent resistances, but I don't know of anyone doing that. If there are any horse breeders reading this, you may know how to figure this. Are you old enough to remember Jerry Lee Lewis' marriage to his 3rd cousin, twice removed? The nation was horrified. Tom Pierce ----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard A. Pence" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 4:47 AM Subject: Re: [VASHENAN] Marriage & Code of VA Until the Revolutionary War, according to an article on the Library of Virginia site, the marriage laws pertaining to relationships were those of the English common law. Unfortunately, I can't find what these were - still lolling. Richard Fairfax VA ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, June 17, 2007 3:24 AM Subject: [VASHENAN] Marriage & Code of VA I assume this is the current Code. Do you perhaps have the time line of the changes to the VA Code for family law. It is my understanding the cousin restriction was a restriction of the Roman Catholic Church and not originally a legal one. Phyllis Vannoy Spiker § 20-38.1. Certain marriages prohibited. (a) The following marriages are prohibited: (1) A marriage entered into prior to the dissolution of an earlier marriage of one of the parties; (2) A marriage between an ancestor and descendant, or between a brother and a sister, whether the relationship is by the half or the whole blood or by adoption; (3) A marriage between an uncle and a niece or between an aunt and a nephew, whether the relationship is by the half or the whole blood. ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message