There are certain cases of prohibition, such as the prohibition against a man marrying his deceased wife's sister, which are considered by many persons to rest on no good reasons, and much has been urged of late years against some of the prohibitions in cases of affinity com- , prised in Parker's Table. The arguments ' in favour of maintaining the prohibitions in several of the cases included within Parker's Table seem to be insufficient, if the matter is viewed solely as a question of policy : and, as already observed, the divine authority of some of the prohibited cases cannot, in the opinion of many per sons, be maintained. But opinion and prejudice are strongly opposed to any change in the law on this matter. (Notes m the Prohibition of Marriage in cases of Collateral Affinity, by Thomas Coates, London, 1842.) The general rules on this subject are the same in Scotland as in England. The 5 & 6 Wm. IV. c. 54, does not extend to that part of the country. It is the ge neral dictum of the authorities that a marriage with the sister of a deceased wife is null, but the opinion has been doubted, and there has been no oppor tunity for trying the question judicially.
In several of the United States mar riages within the Levitical degrees, with some exceptions, are made void by sta tute. In some States it is not lawful for a man to marry his deceased wife's sister : in other States it is lawful. For instance, such a marriage may be contracted in New York, and not in Massachusetts. But such a marriage would be held valid in any state in which it is forbidden, and in all other states, if contracted in a state or country where the prohibition does not exist. (Kent, Commentaries, ii.) The distinction between affinity and consanguinity is derived from the Roman law. The kinsfolk (cognati) of the hus band and wife became respectively the Adfines of the wife and husband. We have borrowed the words affinity and consanguinity from the Roman law, but we have no term corresponding to adines. The Romans did not reckon degrees of adfinitas as they did of consanguinity (cognato); but they had terms to express the various kinds of adfinitas, as sneer, father-in-law; metros, mother-in-law.