CANADIAN OPINIONS
ON THE
BILL INTRODUCED INTO THE DOMINION PARLIAMENT
BY
DESIRÉ GIIROUAUD, Esq. M. P.
(JACQUES-CARTIER.)
LEGALIZING MARRIAGE WITH THE SISTER OF A DECEASED WIFE, AND WITH THE WIDOW OF A BROTHER.
The chief objection to the Bill which Mr. Girourad has introduced has been founded upon the assumption that Scripture forbade such unions. The letters of the different ecclesiastics and divines who have published their opinions show that such is not generally considered to be the case. The letter of "Lex," and the communication of Mr. R. D. McGibbon, of Montreal, to the Daily Witness, are terse, but lucid, expositions of the Levitical Law on the subject. They are published without further comment.
Note.—The text of the articles of the Civil Code of Lower Canada, referred to in the letters, is as follows:—
125. In the collateral line, marriage is prohibited between brother and sister, legitimate or natural, and between those connected in the same degree by alliance, whether they are legitimate or natural.
126. Marriage is also prohibited between uncle and niece, aunt and nephew.
127. The other impediments recognized according to the different religious persuasions, as resulting from relationship or affinity, or from other causes, remain subject to the rules hitherto followed in the different churches and religious communities. The right, likewise, of granting dispensations from such impediments appertains, as heretofore, to those who have hitherto enjoyed it.
