[1459] Rev. Stat. of Del. (1853), as amended (1893), 594. This provision is now obsolete, though retained in the statutes.
[1460] A marriage with a step-parent or parent-in-law is forbidden in Delaware, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, and Washington; apparently also in Pennsylvania. In the latter state marriages within the degrees of affinity, forbidden by the act of March 31, Laws (1860), 394, were legalized by the act of April 6, 1868; Laws of the Gen. Assem., 67; or the same in Pepper and Lewis, Digest (1896), II, 2884.
[1461] Of course, such unions are included where marriage is expressly prohibited between persons nearer of kin than first or second cousins by the rules of the civil law.
[1462] In Utah marriage is forbidden within, but not including, the fourth degree of collateral kinship according to the rules of the civil law. Originally Iowa had the same rule as Minnesota: Code of Iowa (1843), 434.
[1463] First cousins are prohibited by act of March 10: Session Laws of Col. (1864), 108; the prohibition is retained in Gen. Laws (1877), 612; but omitted in Gen. Stat. (1883), 690, the change being made in Session Laws (1883), 243. But Mills, Ann. Stat. (1891), sec. 1320, p. 931, declares the marriage of first cousins incestuous and void. See Laws of Pa. (1901), 597, for prohibition of marriage of first cousins; Laws of Ore. (1893), 41; Codes and Stat. of Ore. (1902), II, 1681.
[1464] Such marriages are voidable in New Jersey, "and until dissolved by a court of competent jurisdiction must in all collateral proceedings, be treated as valid."—Gen. Stat. (1896), II, 2003. Cf. Boylan v. De Inzer, 18 Stewart, N. J. Equity Reports, 485.
[1465] For example, in Colorado, knowingly contracting or solemnizing such a marriage is a misdemeanor subject to a fine of $50 to $500, or imprisonment from three months to two years, or both: Mills, Ann. Stat. (1891), II, 1678; in Illinois incest is punished by imprisonment for not more than ten years, or twenty if the crime is that of father with daughter: Hurd, Rev. Stat. (1898), 577; in Kansas, for contracting, solemnizing, or licensing a marriage within the forbidden degrees the offender is liable to a fine of from $100 to $1,000, or imprisonment for from three months to five years, or both: Webb, Gen. Stat. (1897), II, 637; but elsewhere the law makes an incestuous marriage punishable by confinement and hard labor not exceeding seven years: ibid., II, 301; in Ohio, persons nearer of kin than cousins committing fornication or adultery are liable to imprisonment for from one to seven years: Bates, Ann. Stat. (1897), III, 3220; in Utah, solemnizing a marriage within the forbidden degrees is punished by not exceeding three years in the penitentiary, or a fine of not more than $1,000, or both: Rev. Stat. (1898), 331; by Laws (1888), 91; in Washington the penalty for contracting is imprisonment in the penitentiary for from one to ten years: Ann. Codes and Stat. (1897), I, 1175; in North Dakota it is a misdemeanor, with imprisonment not more than six months, or a fine of not more than $500: Laws (1890), 276; but for incest the penalty is one to ten years in the penitentiary: Rev. Codes (1895), 1273; in Delaware, a fine of $100: Rev. Stat. (1893), 593.
[1466] Mills, Ann. Stat. of Col. (1891), II, 1678. On the Spanish laws and their effect see Smith v. Smith, 1 Texas Reports, 621; 46 Am. Decis., 121, note, 130-34.
[1467] Sec. 11 of the Digest of the Laws of Pa. (1883) provides that "in all cases where a supposed or alleged marriage shall have been contracted which is absolutely void by reason of one of the parties thereto having a husband or wife living at the time, the court of common pleas shall have power to decree the said supposed or alleged marriage to be null and void upon the application of the innocent or injured party;" and this provision is still in force: Pepper and Lewis, Digest (1896), I, 1634. Now, as in 1785, a bigamous marriage is a ground of divorce: ibid., I, 1633. Myers, Rev. Stat. of Ill. (1895), 545, provides that "no divorce shall in any wise affect the legitimacy of children, except where the marriage shall be declared void on the ground of a prior marriage;" and Colorado has the same provision: Mills, Ann. Stat. (1891), I, 1035.
[1468] A bigamous marriage is ground for divorce in Colorado: Mills, Ann. Stat., III, 4341.