INCEST (

See also:

• LAT

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

27, incestuous

adultery is per se sufficient ground to entitle a wife to divorce her 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 Procedure (Scotland) Act 1887, a crime nominally punishable with death, but the penalty usually inflicted was penal servitude for life . This sentence was actually pronounced on a man in 1855 . In the United States incest is not an indictable offence at common law, but, generally speaking, it has been made punishable by fine and imprisonment by state legislation . It is also a punish-able offence in some European countries, notably Germany, Austria and Italy .