prohibited degrees

prohibited degrees

the relationships between persons that make it illegal for them to marry. These vary from time to time and place to place but usually include the immediate family. They may extend to grandmothers, granddaughters, aunts, nieces or further. Particular situations sometimes require special consideration, as for example the Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship) Act 1986, which permited marriage between a man and a woman who is the daughter or granddaughter of a former spouse of his if both the parties are over 21 and the younger party had not, before attaining the age of 18, been a child of the family. Proposals are before the Scottish Parliament to liberalize the position there.