I have heard that there was a Jewish law that had to do with the man
marrying his brother's widow.   Does anyone know if this would have come
into play here?
Kitty

----- Original Message -----
From: "Langdon Hagen-Long" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2006 3:38 AM
Subject: Re: Marrying a Spouse's Sibling


> Lou,  I think this must be a mistaken assumption on the part of the
> author.  First, if there was a marriage circa 1692+, it was conducted by a
> minister of the church.  Why would the church perform and sanction an
> "incestuous" marriage?
>
>  If the parties discovered after the fact that the marriage should have
> been barred for one reason or another, the marriage was not automatically
> void. In other words, it wouldn't affect legal documents executed during
> the "marriage".   The only time this wouldn't be true is in the case of
> bigamy,  [knowingly being married to 2 people at the same time], which
> would make the marriage void, as if it never happened, and any action
> resulting from the marriage, void.
>
>  A woman had no legal existence during marriage.   As soon as the woman
> married, the property became her husband's.  He could sell it, with only
> the certification attached that she was agreeable to the sale.  Even if a
> marriage was later declared voidable, the actions taken during the
> marriage were not voidable.   The husband had every right to act for his
> wife, during the time they believed they were married.
>
>  If there was a problem with the ecclesiastical law, I don't see how that
> would affect land obtained when she was a widow.  Land wasn't handled by
> ecclesiastical law or courts.  The civil courts would only be concerned
> that there was a marriage conducted by the church.  A violation of
> ecclesiastical law wouldn't affect civil law of executing a deed, for
> instance.  Also, incest was defined as a relationship in the direct
> descent, such as grandfather/father/ son or daughter, and brother/sister.
> The definition, at this point in time, did not include uncle/niece/
> nephew/ or other collateral relationships.  That being the case, I don't
> see why a civil court would be concerned about a woman marrying someone
> who she was not related to, by blood. The cannon law I've seen only
> mentions blood relationships.
>
>  So, I think a wrong assumption, based on 20th century understanding, was
> made to explain the court case. If there is still a pleading or answer
> extant,  I'd bet money the word "incestuous"  is not used.   Perhaps the
> facts were laid out to explain the history, and the author assumed that
> history was the direct cause of the case.
>
>  Langdon Hagen-Long
>
>
>
> JLP <[log in to unmask]> wrote:  I have been following the subject
> topic with interest, and had hoped
> that someone would bring up the fact that marrying a spouse's sibling
> was an "issue" in Virginia long before the 1792 (?) law that Paul
> Drake (and others) cited. For example, there's the case of the widow
> of Francis Poythress about whom John Bodie wrote [Historical Southern
> Families, Vol. IV, p. 31]:
>
> "Francis Poythress m. Rebecca Coggin, daughter of John Coggin.
> As Rebecca Poythress, she was granted 1000 acres of land in Charles
> City 28 April 1692, said land being late in the tenure of Edward
> Ardington. She later married (2) Charles Bartholomew, the widower of
> her sister. This resulted in court action, as according to the
> ecclesiastical law in effect in Virginia at that time, this
> constituted an incestuous marriage."
>
> The above case seems to be referring to the same issue, and it was
> MUCH earlier than the 1792 law. Or am I misreading the implications?
>
> Lou Poole, Richardson, TX
>
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