From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In
law
,
affinity
is the
kinship
relationship that exists between two or more people as a result of somebody's
marriage
.
[1]
It is different from
consanguinity
(blood relationship).
[1]
Affinity is the
relationship
which each party to a marriage has to the
relatives
of the other partner to the marriage. But affinity does not cover the
marital relationship
of the parties to the marriage themselves.
Under the law, such relatives by marriage are known as
affines
.
[2]
More commonly, they are known as
"
in-laws
"
, as affinity is usually signified by adding
"
-in-law
"
to a degree of kinship.
[n 1]
In law, affinity may be used to
prohibit
incestuous sexual relations
. It may also be
relevant
in preventing some couples from marrying. Which relationships are prohibited varys from country to country, and from time to time. In some countries, especially in the past, the prohibited relationships were based on religious laws. In earlier laws, affinity was used in the same degrees as consanguinity in prohibiting marriages.
[3]
Though laws vary considerably, affinity does not always cease with the death of one of the marriage partners through whom affinity is traced. It does not always end with the divorce of the marriage partners. In addition to kinship by marriage, "affinity" can sometimes also include kinship by
adoption
and
step relationship
.
- ↑
This is standard for the closest degrees of kinship?
father-in-law
,
daughter-in-law
,
&c.?but is frequently omitted in the case of more extended relations. As
uncle
and
aunt
are frequently used to refer to friends of the family. The terms may be used without specifying whether the person is a
cognate
(blood relative) or affine (related by marriage). A
spouse
of a
cousin
may not be called a relation at all or may be called a "cousin by marriage".
- ↑
1.0
1.1
Saint Raymond of Penafort; Pierre J. Payer,
Summa on Marriage
(Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2005), p. 61
- ↑
"What is AFFINES?"
. My Law Dictionary. Archived from
the original
on 5 October 2019
. Retrieved
27 August
2016
.
- ↑
American Family Laws
, Volume I (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1931), p. 183