Report No. 212
Chapter IV
The Prohibited Degrees in Marriage
A. Special Marriage Act 1872
The concept of "prohibited degrees in marriage" is recognized by all systems of family law and generally every family law has its own list of relatives with whom one cannot marry. The Special Marriage Act 1872 did not contain any such list and only laid down that:
"The parties must not be related to each other in any degree of consanguinity or affinity which would, according to any law to which either of them is subject, render a marriage between them illegal."
Thus, in respect to prohibited degrees in marriage in an intended civil marriage to be regulated by the Special Marriage Act 1872 personal laws of the parties, common or different, remained in force.
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