A first cousin is a relative who shares a common group of grandparents. For example, the children of siblings belong to the same generation. In 1846, Massachusetts Governor George N. Briggs appointed a commission to investigate people with mental disabilities (called “idiots”) in the state. This study implied that the cousins` marriage was responsible for the idiocy. Over the next two decades, numerous reports (for example, that of the Kentucky Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb) appeared with similar conclusions: that the marriage of a cousin sometimes led to deafness, blindness, and idiocy. Perhaps most important was the report by physician Samuel Merrifield Bemiss for the American Medical Association, which concluded that cousin inbreeding leads to “the physical and mental depravity of offspring.” Although other studies such as those by George Darwin and Alan Huth in England and Robert Newman in New York have been refuted, the report`s findings have been widely accepted. [100] The 19th century academic debate about marriage between cousins developed differently in Europe and America. The writings of Scotland`s assistant commissioner for madness, Arthur Mitchell, who claimed that marriage between cousins had harmful effects on descendants, have been widely refuted by researchers such as Alan Huth and George Darwin. [83] [84] In fact, Mitchell`s own data did not support his assumptions and he later speculated that the dangers of inbreeding could be partially overcome by real life. Subsequent studies by George Darwin found results similar to those appreciated today. His father, Charles Darwin, who married his first cousin, had initially speculated that marriage between cousins could pose serious risks, but perhaps in response to his son`s work, these thoughts were omitted from a later version of the book they published. When a question about the marriage of cousins was finally considered for the 1871 census, it was rejected, according to George Darwin, on the grounds that the idle curiosity of philosophers could not be satisfied.
[85] In southern Italy, marriage marriage was a common practice in regions such as Calabria and Sicily, where first-degree marriage accounted for nearly 50% of all marriages in the last century. [86] Marriage between cousins and third cousins is allowed in Greece and is considered favorable. [87] Risks associated with first-degree cousin marriage include congenital disabilities, developmental delays, and a higher risk of genetic disease. According to experts in Canada, there are no significant health risks associated with marriage between first cousins and first cousins. Many proponents of marriage between cousins dismiss the bans on the practice as racist. The authors of the NSGC study urge counselors to be “culturally respectful” of immigrant communities where marriage between cousins is “traditionally preferred.” Why do these traditions promote marriage between cousins? In some cases, because it promises “better treatment by the in-laws” or because it keeps “property and property within a family,” the study says. It sounds more like pressure than freedom. Perhaps we should be more concerned about whether people in these communities are free not to marry their cousins. Roman civil law prohibited marriages in the four degrees of consanguinity.
[69] This was calculated by counting from one potential partner to the common ancestor and then to the other potential partner. [70] Europe in the early Middle Ages continued the late Roman ban on marriage to parents. According to the law of the Catholic Church, couples were also prohibited from marrying if they were within four degrees of inbreeding. [71] In the 9th century, the Church increased the number of forbidden degrees to seven and changed the method by which they were calculated. [72] Eventually, the nobility became too intertwined to marry easily as the local pool of potential unrelated spouses became smaller; For exceptions (“dispensations”) or retroactive legitimations of children, higher and higher payments to the Church have been required. [73] Attitudes towards marriage between cousins in India vary considerably by region and culture. Family law in India takes into account religious and cultural practices and they are all equally recognized. For Muslims subject to an uncodified personal law, it is acceptable and legal to marry a first cousin, but for Hindus, it may be illegal under the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, although the specific situation is more complex. The Hindu Marriage Act makes the marriage of cousins illegal for Hindus, with the exception of marriages, which are permitted by regional customs. [133] The practices of the small Christian minority also depend on location: marriage rates of their cousins are higher in southern states with high overall rates. [134] In addition to the personal laws based on religion governing marriage, the Civil Marriage Act, known as the Special Marriage Act, 1954, applies. Those who do not wish to marry on the basis of personal laws governed by religious and cultural practices may choose to marry under this law.
He defines the first-degree relationship, both parallel and cross-shaped, as forbidden. A conflict may arise between prohibited degrees based on this law and personal law, but in the absence of other laws, it is still unresolved. [135] If your goal is to prevent people with dangerous genes from getting married, why should you use a crude standard like kinship? Why not test everyone for bad genes, ban marriage between carriers, and let cousins marry without bad genes? The ban on cousin marriage keeps these couples in the closet and prevents them from seeking genetic testing that would help them decide if they could have children safely. And as the NSGC study notes, the crude assumption that cousins` children will fare badly leads to unnecessary abortions. In contrast, Maryland delegates Henry B. Heller and Kumar P. Barve supported a bill in 2000 to ban marriages with first cousins. [150] It went further than Kahn`s bill and passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 82 to 46, although most Republicans voted no, but eventually died in the state Senate. In response to the 2005 Maryland marriage of Pennsylvanian cousins Eleanor Amrhein and Donald W.
Andrews Sr., Heller said he could revive the bill because such marriages “play genetic roulette.” [151] For some important examples of cousin marriages in ancient Rome, such as the marriage of Octavian`s daughter to her sister`s son, see the Julian-Claudian family tree. Marcus Aurelius also married his maternal cousin, Faustina the Younger, and they had 13 children. Marriages between cousins were more common in ancient Greece, and marriages between uncle and niece were also allowed there. [3] An example is King Leonidas I of Sparta, who married his half-niece Gorgo.