# Affinity (law) > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Affinity_(law) > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Affinity_(law).md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_(law) > Source revision: 1352004011 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Legal and anthropological concept "In-law" redirects here. For other uses, see [In-law (disambiguation)](/source/In-law_(disambiguation)). This article is about affinity in civil law. For mathematical formulae describing fluid flow, see [Affinity laws](/source/Affinity_laws). For affinity in [Catholic canon law](/source/Catholic_canon_law), see [Affinity (Catholic canon law)](/source/Affinity_(Catholic_canon_law)). This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Affinity" law – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Part of a series on the Anthropology of kinship Basic concepts Family Lineage Affinity Consanguinity Marriage Incest taboo Endogamy Exogamy Minor Moiety Monogamy Polygyny Polygamy Concubinage Polyandry Bride price Bride service Dowry Parallel / cross cousins Cousin marriage Levirate Sororate Posthumous marriage Joking relationship Clan Cohabitation Fictive / Milk / Nurture kinship Descent Cognatic / Bilateral Matrilateral Lineal Collateral House society Avunculate Linealities Ambilineality Unilineality Matrilineality Patrilineality Household forms and residence Extended Matrifocal Matrilocal Neolocal Nuclear Patrilocal Terminology Kinship terminology Classificatory terminologies By group Iroquois Crow Omaha Inuit (Eskimo) Hawaiian Sudanese Dravidian (debated) Case studies Australian Aboriginal Burmese Chinese Philippine Polyandry in Tibet / in India Feminist Chambri Mosuo Sexuality Coming of Age in Samoa Major theorists Diane Bell Tom Boellstorff Jack Goody W. D. Hamilton Joseph Henrich Gilbert Herdt Don Kulick Roger Lancaster Louise Lamphere Eleanor Leacock Claude Lévi-Strauss Bronisław Malinowski Margaret Mead Henrietta Moore Lewis H. Morgan Stephen O. Murray Michelle Rosaldo Gayle Rubin David M. Schneider Heinrich Schurtz Marilyn Strathern Related articles Alliance theory Matrilineal / matrilocal societies Feminist anthropology Sex and Repression in Savage Society Social Bonding and Nurture Kinship "The Traffic in Women" Social anthropology Cultural anthropology v t e In law and in [cultural anthropology](/source/Cultural_anthropology), **affinity** is the [kinship](/source/Kinship) relationship created or that exists between two people as a result of someone's [marriage](/source/Marriage). It is the relationship each party in the marriage has to the family of the other party in the marriage. It does not cover the [marital relationship](/source/Marital_relationship) itself. Laws, traditions and customs relating to affinity vary considerably, sometimes ceasing with the death of one of the marriage partners through whom affinity is traced, and sometimes with the divorce of the marriage partners. In addition to kinship by marriage, "affinity" can sometimes also include kinship by [adoption](/source/Adoption) or a [step relationship](/source/Stepfamily). Unlike blood relationships ([consanguinity](/source/Consanguinity)), which may have genetic consequences, affinity is essentially a social or moral construct, at times backed by legal consequences. In law, affinity may be relevant in relation to prohibitions on [incestuous sexual relations](/source/Incest) and in relation to whether particular couples are [prohibited from marrying](/source/Legality_of_incest). Which relationships are prohibited vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and have varied over time. In some countries, especially in the past, the prohibited relationships were based on religious laws. In some countries, the prohibition on sexual relations between persons in an affinity relationship may be expressed in terms of [degrees of relationship](/source/Degree_of_relationship). The degree of affinity is considered the same as the consanguineal level of the couple that was joined, so that, for example, the degree of affinity of a husband to his sister-in-law is two, the same as the wife would be to her sister on the basis of consanguinity. The degree to the wife’s parent or child is one, and to an aunt or niece it is three, and first cousin it is four. Though adoption and step relationships are cases of affinity, they are normally treated as consanguinity. ## Terminology Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see [In-law (disambiguation)](/source/In-law_(disambiguation)), [Daughter-in-law (disambiguation)](/source/Daughter-in-law_(disambiguation)), [Son-in-law (disambiguation)](/source/Son-in-law_(disambiguation)), [Father-in-law (disambiguation)](/source/Father-in-law_(disambiguation)), and [Mother-in-law (disambiguation)](/source/Mother-in-law_(disambiguation)). In law, affinity relatives by marriage are known as **affines**.[1] More commonly, they are known as **in-laws** or **family-in-law**, with affinity being usually signified by adding "-in-law" to a degree of kinship. This is standard for the closest degrees of kinship, such as *[parent-in-law](/source/Father-in-law)*, *[child-in-law](/source/Minor_(law))*, *[sibling-in-law](/source/Sibling-in-law)*, etc., but is frequently omitted in the case of more extended relations. As *uncle* and *aunt* are frequently used to refer indifferently to unrelated friends of the family, the terms may be used without specifying whether the person is a cognate or affine. Similarly, the spouse of a cousin may not be called a relation at all or may be referenced as a "cousin **by marriage**". "By-marriage" can also be used with "uncle" or "aunt", e.g. [Princess Léa of Belgium](/source/Princess_L%C3%A9a_of_Belgium) is an aunt by marriage of King [Philippe of Belgium](/source/Philippe_of_Belgium). ## Examples In [South Africa](/source/South_Africa), sexual relations are prohibited within the first degree of affinity, that is, where one person is the direct ancestor or descendant of the spouse of the other person.[2] Brazilian law, by the Article 1521 of the Civil Code, also extends the invalidity of marriage between parents and children to grandparents and grandchildren or any other sort of ascendant-descendant relationship (both consanguineous and adoptive), parents-in-law and children-in-law even after the divorce of the earlier couple, as well as to stepparents and stepchildren, and former spouses to an adoptive parent who did this unilaterally (regarded as an equivalent, in families formed by adoption, to stepparents and stepchildren); and extends the invalidity of marriage between siblings to biological cousin-siblings.[3][4] In [Hawaii](/source/Hawaii), sexual penetration and marriage is prohibited within close degrees of affinity and is punishable by up to 5 years.[5] In [Michigan](/source/Michigan), sexual contact between persons related "by blood or affinity to the third degree," and who are not lawfully married to each other, are chargeable as criminal sexual conduct in the 4th degree and punishable by a 2-year sentence or a fine of up to $500 or both.[6] In [New Jersey](/source/New_Jersey), sexual contact is prohibited when the actor is "related to the victim by blood or affinity to the 3rd degree" and the victim is at least 16 but less than 18 years old.[7] ## See also - [Affinity (Catholic canon law)](/source/Affinity_(Catholic_canon_law)) - [Alliance theory](/source/Alliance_theory) - [Consanguinity](/source/Consanguinity) - [Kinship](/source/Kinship) - [Prohibited degree of kinship](/source/Prohibited_degree_of_kinship) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Definition of AFFINE"](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affine). *www.merriam-webster.com*. Retrieved 2024-03-18. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007](/source/Criminal_Law_(Sexual_Offences_and_Related_Matters)_Amendment_Act%2C_2007), [s. 12](http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2007-032.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20180417022314/http://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/acts/2007-032.pdf) 2018-04-17 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-direito_mais_direito_3-0)** ["Mundo do Direito, da História, da Música e da Literatura"](http://direitomaisdireito.blogspot.com.br/2010/02/situacoes-nas-quais-duas-pessoas-estao.html). *direitomaisdireito.blogspot.com.br*. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-direitobrasil_4-0)** ["Direito Brasil – Marriage"](https://web.archive.org/web/20190111085341/http://www.direitobrasil.adv.br/arquivospdf/revista/revistav42/aulas/Cas20102.pdf) (PDF) (in Portuguese). Archived from [the original](http://www.direitobrasil.adv.br/arquivospdf/revista/revistav42/aulas/Cas20102.pdf) (PDF) on 2019-01-11. Retrieved 2019-01-15. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Haw. Rev. Stat. § [707-741](http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/histatutes/5/37/707/V/707-741) and [706-660](http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/histatutes/5/37/706/IV/and/706-660) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Michigan Legislature - Section 750.520e"](http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(4ncgkt1idp5xpr3lasgtpmia))/mileg.aspx?page=getobject&objectname=mcl-750-520e). *www.legislature.mi.gov*. Retrieved 2022-10-03. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** N.J.S.A. 2C:14-2(b-c) and N.J.S.A. 2C:14-3 in [NEW JERSEY](https://apps.rainn.org/policy/policy-crime-definitions.cfm?state=New%20Jersey&group=3), [Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network](http://apps.rainn.org/)[*[permanent dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*] ## External links - [Affinity (In the Bible)](http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01177c.htm) an article from the Catholic Encyclopedia v t e Family History Rights Household Nuclear family Extended family Conjugal family Immediate family Matrifocal family First-degree relatives Parent mother father Child son daughter Sibling brother sister Second-degree relatives Grandparent Grandchild Uncle/Aunt Niece and nephew Third-degree relatives Great-grandparent Great-grandchild Great-uncle/Great-aunt Cousin Family-in-law Spouse wife husband Parent-in-law Sibling-in-law Child-in-law daughter-in-law son-in-law Stepfamily Stepparent stepfather stepmother Stepchild Stepsibling Kinship terminology Kinship Australian Aboriginal kinship Adoption Affinity Consanguinity Disownment Divorce Estrangement Family of choice Fictive kinship Marriage Nurture kinship Chinese kinship Hawaiian kinship Sudanese kinship Inuit kinship Iroquois kinship Crow kinship Omaha kinship Genealogy and lineage Bilateral descent Cadet branch Common ancestor Family name Heirloom Heredity Inheritance Lineal descendant collateral descent Matrilineality Patrilineality Progenitor Clan Royal descent Family trees Pedigree chart Genogram Ahnentafel Genealogical numbering systems Seize quartiers Quarters of nobility Relationships Agape (parental love) Eros (marital love) Philia (brotherly love) Storge (familial love) Filial piety Polyfidelity Holidays Mother's Day U.S. Father's Day Father–Daughter Day Siblings Day National Grandparents Day Parents' Day Children's Day Japan Family Day Canada American Family Day International Day of Families National Family Week UK National Adoption Day Related Breadwinner model Single parent Wedding anniversary Godparent Birth order Only child Middle child syndrome Sociology of the family Museum of Motherhood Astronaut family Dysfunctional family Domestic violence Incest Sibling abuse Sibling estrangement Sibling rivalry Authority control databases International GND National United States Israel Other Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Affinity (law)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_(law)) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_(law)?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.