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INCEST (Lat. incestus, unchaste)

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 353 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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INCEST (See also:Lat. incestus, unchaste) , sexual intercourse between persons so related by kindred or See also:affinity that legal See also:marriage cannot take See also:place between them (see MARRIAGE, especially the See also:section See also:Canon See also:Law). In See also:England incest formerly was not generally treated as a See also:crime, although, along with other offences against morals, it was made punishable by See also:death in 165o. Since the Restoration it had, to use See also:Blackstone's phrase, been See also:left to the " feeble See also:coercion of the spiritual courts," but bills to make it a criminal offence have at various times been unsuccessfully introduced in See also:Parliament. In 1908 however, an See also:act (The See also:Punishment of Incest Act 1908) was passed, under which sexual intercourse of a male with his See also:grand-daughter, daughter, See also:sister or See also:mother is made punishable with penal See also:servitude for not less than 3 or more than 7 years, or with imprisonment for not more than two years with or without hard labour. It is immaterial that the sexual intercourse was had with the consent of the See also:female; indeed, by s. 2 a female who consents is on conviction liable to the same punishment as the male. The act also makes an See also:attempt to commit the offence of incest a See also:misdemeanour, punishable by imprisonment for not more than two years with or without hard labour. The terms " See also:brother " and " sister " include See also:half-brother and half-sister, whether the relationship is or is not traced through lawful wedlock. All proceedings under the act are held in See also:camera (s. 5). The act does not apply to See also:Scotland, incest being punishable in Scots law. Under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, s.

27, incestuous See also:

adultery is per se sufficient ground to entitle a wife to See also:divorce her See also:husband. The Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907, s. 3, retained wives' sisters in the class of persons with whom adultery is incestuous. In the law of Scotland, it was, until the Criminal See also:Procedure (Scotland) Act 1887, a crime nominally punishable with death, but the See also:penalty usually inflicted was penal servitude for See also:life. This See also:sentence was actually pronounced on a See also:man in 1855. In the See also:United States incest is not an indictable offence at See also:common law, but, generally speaking, it has been made punishable by See also:fine and imprisonment by See also:state legislation. It is also a punish-able offence in some See also:European countries, notably See also:Germany, See also:Austria and See also:Italy.

End of Article: INCEST (Lat. incestus, unchaste)

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