degrees of prohibited relationship
Section 3(g) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 lists the degrees: lineal ascendants and descendants and their spouses, the wife or husband of a brother or of the father's or mother's brother, and brother and sister, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, and the children of brothers and sisters. Relationship includes half or uterine blood, adoption, and illegitimate as well as legitimate kinship.
Section 5(iv) bars such a marriage unless a custom or usage governing both parties permits it; a marriage in breach is void under s.11 and punishable under s.18. Sapinda relationship (s.5(v)) is a separate, wider bar. The Special Marriage Act, 1954 has its own list in the First Schedule.
Example
The marriage of first cousins is void under ss.5(iv) and 11 HMA unless a custom permitting it is proved for both families.
In Indian law
- Sections 3(g), 5(iv) and 11, Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
See also
Read more in the study notes
- Dharma and the sources of Hindu law (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
- Hindu marriage and the conditions of a valid marriage (Family Law I - Hindu Law)
- Muslim marriage: nature, essentials and kinds (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Parentage, legitimacy and acknowledgment of paternity (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Guardianship and custody (hizanat) under Muslim law (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)
- Talaq and the modes of dissolution of a Muslim marriage (Family Law II - Mohammedan Law)