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April 28, 2005
Cousin marriage
Fr. Jim Tucker is blogging about cousin marriage (based on a Washington Post story about first cousins who want to marry). The laws of consanguinuity grow out of canon law; one of the things Don Jim doesn't consider (it's not really on point here) is how much the Latin Church's enforcement of laws requiring marriage outside of family lines (sometimes less successful than others, but always present after 1100) forced Europe to see families in a different way. To put it bluntly, the unintended consequence was a weakening of patriarchy. Cousin-marriage, especially arranged cousin-marriage, seems to reinforce inheritance patterns in a way that reduce the rights of women inside families.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at April 28, 2005 2:36 PM