S Viemeister wrote:
On 10/20/2012 4:21 AM, abc wrote:
S Viemeister wrote:
On 10/19/2012 4:25 PM, abc wrote:
Nick Spalding wrote:

"Beginning in the 1860s, bills were introduced in Parliament
annually to
allow marriage with a deceased wife's sister, but it wasn't until 1907
that the Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act finally made it legal.
And not until 1921 (!) did the Deceased Brother's Widow's Marriage Act
make marriage to a brother-in-law legal."

Was it a requirement for the former spouse to be deceased?
Couldn't you simply divorce your wife and marry her sister?
Or did that require a separate act perhaps?


http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files/history.pdf

"It does not apply in cases of divorce where the former spouse is still
living."

Which begs the question: What applies in those cases?
Some other law? Nothing at all?

My understanding is that as long as the previous spouse is alive,
marriage to his/her sibling is prohibited.

But what is that understanding based on?

The statement that a law "does not apply to" situation X does not mean
that situation X is illegal, it merely means that that particular law
has no say at all on the subject of situation X.
abc