Could cousins marry in 1869?

[rye470]

Can anyone help me here, I'm trying to piece together relationships in one of my trees and I don't want to go awry.

I'm sure someone has already asked this question but could cousins marry? I have a couple who's marriage certificate identifies them as cousins , not second cousins (that was his father in a later marriage), but Cousins. I thought that relationship was too close. If they are cousins ,then his father and her mother were siblings,and they share grandparents. If second cousins, they share great grandparents. I don't want to spend a lot of time looking for the parents together as siblings in the same family if someone forgot to put 2nd in front of cousins.

Does this make any sense to anyone, because the more I read it, the less sense it makes.......Help.

Regards,
Christine

[Falkyrn]

It was perfectly legal - Cousins (1st , 2nd or otherwise) didn't fall within the prohibited relationships.

Scots Law used the definitions from Leviticus to define the prohibited relationships which would form the crime of Incest and Cousins in whatever form simply did not fall into that category.

[trish1]

I have a number of cases of 1st cousins marrying in the 19th century - in Australia, Scotland and England. I often wondered if the Australian women had little chance to meet anyone other than family as they lived sheltered lives in fairly remote areas.

Trish

[rye470]

Many thanks to you both for the swift response.

Christine.

[Currie]

Queen Victoria married her first cousin. That’s their excuse, what’s ours?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coupled_cousins

Alan

[johnniegarve]

It's how the "Toffs" kept the money in the family and lost their chins in the process!

[joette]

Johhnie!