traft may
alfo, in certain
cafes, be
a witnefs to
It is unlawful
to marry a
mother, or a
grandmother,
in marriage to a third perfon, and the other Ihould accordingly con-
traft his daughter, upon the fpot, to the third perfon, in the prefence
of the perfon fo defiring, and the aft be witnelled by- only one perfon
befides thefe two, the marriage is lawful; becaufe, in this cafe, the
father, as being upon the fpot, is confidered.as the.aftual contraftor
of the marriage [on behalf of his daughter;} wherefore the fecond
perfon Hands merely as the negotiator of the eontraft,- and of courfe,
not appearing as 2c partyrin it, is a competent witnefs with the other.
But, if the father of the infant aforefaid Ihould go away, and be not
actually prefent at the execution of the eontraft, the marriage would
be null; becaufe the father, as not being prefent, cannot.be confidered
as the contraftor, that appellation properly applying to the other— who
appears to aft, in his abfenee, as his matrimonial agent on his daughter’
s behalf; confequently here would be only one competent witnefs
prefent; and one evidence is not fufficientf whence the marriage
would be illegal.— And the rule is the fame where a father' matches
his daughter, (being an adult,) at her defire, in the prefence of one
other witnefs; that is to fay, i f the daughter be herfelf prefent at the
execution of the eontraft it is legal, otherwife not.
S E C T I O N .
O f the P rohibited D egrees ; that is to fa y , o f Women whom it is
lawful to marry, and o f thofe with whom Marriage is unlawful^
A m an may not marry his mother, nor his paternal or maternal
grandmother; becaufe the word of G od in the Koran fays “ Y our
“ A ms (that is, your mothers) and your daughters ar e forbidden
“ to you ;” and the primitive fenfe of the term A m [mother'] being
origin or root, the grandmothers are comprehended in this prohibition.
The illegality of.fuch a connexion is, moreover, fupported upon the
united opinion of all our doftors.
A man
A man may not marry his daughter, on the authority of the
text above quoted, nor his grand-daughter, nor any of his. direft
defeendants.
N either may a man marry his filler, nor his filler’s daughter,
nor his brother’ s daughter, nor his paternal aunt, nor his maternal
aunt; the prohibition of fuch in marriage being included in the text
already quoted.
All the degrees of aunts are alfo included'in this prohibition; to
I wit, maternal and paternal aunts, as well as the aunts of the father,
and the aunts of the mother, both paternal and maternal:— fo alfo the
daughters of all the brothers; that is to fay, of the full brother, and of
the paternal* brother, and of the maternal brother ; and, in like
manner, thé daughters of all fillers, to wit, of the full fillers, and of
the paternal fillers,' and of the maternal filters; becaufe'the terms
Amnia, Khala, Okh, and Okht, which -occur in the paffage of the
Koran already cited, apply to all thofe degrees of kindred.
It it not- lawful for a man to marry, his wife’ s mother, whether
he may have confummated his marriage with her daughter or not,
the Almighty having prohibited fuch a "connexion in general terms,
without any regard to that circumftance: neither is it lawful for a
man to marry the daughter of his wife; but this only, provided he
have already confummated his marriage with the latter, becaufe the
facred text reltrifts the illegality of this union to that circumftance,
wherefore marriage with the daughter of the wife is illegal, where
carnal connexion has taken place with the latter, whether the daughter
be an inmate of the hulband’s Haram or not. It is here to be
obferved, that the text in the facred writings which fays Y our
* By the terms maternal or paternal, applied to brothers and fillers, is to be underwood
brothers or half filters, by the father’s or mother’s fide.
a daughter or
a granddaughter,
a filler, a
niece, or an
aunt,
or a mother-
in-law,
or a ftep-
daughter.
WOMEN