Who Is My Cousin in Law

The U.S. state of Maine allows marriage to a first-degree cousin if the couple accepts genetic counseling, while North Carolina allows it as long as the marriage candidates are not rare first-degree double cousins, that is, cousins of both parental lines. [189] In the other 25 states that allow at least some marriages with first cousins, no distinction is made between double cousins. [190] Mr. Hal A. Davis County Attorney Liberty County 7 West Washington Street Quincy, Florida 32351 RE: COUNTIES–Anti-Nepotism Act Dear Mr. Davis, This is in response to your request for comments essentially on the following question: Section 116.111, F.S., Florida Anti-Nepotism Act, would prohibit the employment of the “cousin” or “sister-in-law” by marriage of a member of the county commission? According to your letter, the relationships in question involve only one person. The first relationship you question in your letter is whether section 116.111, F.S., prohibits the appointment of a person as a home demonstration agent for Liberty County if that person is married to the first cousin of one of the county commissioners. For the purposes of this notice, this relationship is referred to as a “cousin-in-law”. The second question relationship involves a different district commissioner but the same applicant.

In this second relationship, the applicant is married to a man whose sister is married to the district commissioner. For the purposes of this investigation, it is believed that the Board of County Commissioners is appointing the home demonstration officer for Liberty County. Paragraph (2)(a) of s. 116.111, F.S., provides that: “A public official may not appoint, employ, promote or promote a person who is a relative of the public official, or who advocates for appointment, employment, promotion or promotion, or who advocates for a position within the Agency in which he works or over which he exercises or controls his competence. A person may not be appointed, employed, promoted or promoted to a position in an organization if such appointment, employment, promotion or promotion has been approved by an official serving in the authority or exercising jurisdiction or control over the body that is a relative of the person. An “agency” is defined in section 116.111(1)(a), F.S., and includes a county. In AGO 73-75, our Office found that s. 116.111, F.S., prohibited the employment of a brother of a member of a board of directors of county commissioners as mosquito control and garbage disposal attendants if the county commission effectively exercised jurisdiction and control over that employment and work. Thus, the position of this office is that a board of directors or commission within the meaning of the definition of “agency” in section 116.111 (1) (a), F.S., which has jurisdiction or control over the employment, promotion or promotion of employees and effectively exercises the employment, promotion or promotion of employees, is subject to the nepotism law and therefore cannot employ a collegial body to appoint or promote a relative. a member of the management body concerned. See also AGO Articles 83-81, 77-130, 73-335 and 73-75. In addition, this office concluded in case AGO 73-335 that a violation of Article 116.111 could not be avoided by the abstention of the board member concerned in the vote on the employment of that member`s relative.

As stated in AGO 73-335, “if each member of a commission could abstain, the council could possibly employ a relative of each of its members,” and the prohibition of the law would thus be circumvented. Paragraph 116.111(1)(c) sets out the categories of relationships covered by the prohibition of the Act as follows: “`Relative` means a person related to the public official as a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, uncle, aunt, first cousin, nephew, niece, husband, wife, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, half-brother, half-sister, half-brother or half-sister. Any questions about the applicability of the anti-nepotism law to the first relationship, the “cousin-in-law,” were answered earlier by this office. In AGO 77-130, this office stated: “Although several `stepparents` are listed in § 116.111(1)(c), there is no mention of the `cousin`s relationship. Therefore, the fact that the spouse of a job applicant is a cousin of a member of the employer would not in itself constitute a violation of section 116.111. It`s the same situation as your first contested relationship. Therefore, I believe that this relationship would not preclude the person`s employment as a Liberty County home demonstration officer. The other relationship concerns another district commissioner who is married to the sister of the applicant`s husband.

Although the applicant`s husband is the brother-in-law of the county commissioner, the applicant, as the brother-in-law`s wife, does not appear to belong to one of the enumerated categories of relationships to which the prohibitions in sections 116.111 et seq. apply. The application of the legal building code expressio unius is exclusio alterius, the express mention of one thing in a law implies the exclusion of other unnamed things, would lead to the conclusion that this use is not prohibited. See generally Thayer v. State, 335 So.2d 815 (fla. 1976) (where the law lists things to which it must apply or prohibits certain things, it must normally be interpreted as excluding from its application all those not expressly mentioned); Dobbs v. Sea Isle Hotel, 56 So.2d 341 (fla. 1952); Ideal Farms Drainage Dist. v. Certain Lands, 19 So.2d 234 (fla.

1944). In AGO 70-71, this rule of interpretation was applied to conclude that the relationship of the “step-nephew” does not fall within the prohibitions of Article 116.111. In that opinion, it was pointed out that the enumeration of the various relationships in the Nepotism Act serves to exclude categories of relationships not expressly included therein. See also AGO 84-30. In addition, the courts have clarified that the nepotism law must be interpreted strictly, as it is criminal in nature. See State ex rel. Keefe, 149 So. 638 (fla. 1933); OJ Agreement 70-15. Accordingly, I find that the relationship based on marriage with the brother-in-law of one of the members of the Board of County Commissioners would not be among the classes of relationships that would trigger the prohibition in section 116.111, F.S.

In summary, therefore, I am of the view that the prohibition in sections 116.111 et seq. does not apply to a relationship of a “cousin-in-law” or to a relationship in which the applicant is married to the brother-in-law of a member of the Board of County Commissioners. Sincerely, Jim Smith Attorney General Prepared by: Craig Willis Assistant Attorney General Of course, these vary by jurisdiction and time, but if we take an Anglocentric worldview, then we can confidently say that the Anglican (Episcopal) Church sees no legal obstacle for you to marry a brother or sister of your cousin`s wife (provided you meet the gender requirements). They do not have a forbidden degree of affinity. Between the first cousins, there are two common ancestors, each with four generations of separation, from top to bottom in the family tree: ( 1 2 ) 4 + ( 1 2 ) 4 {displaystyle left({tfrac {1}{2}}right)^{4}+left({tfrac {1}{2}}right)^{4}}; Their consanguinity is one-eighth. For each additional suppression of the cousin relationship, inbreeding is halved, as the generations of separation increase by one unit. For each additional degree of cousin kinship, inbreeding is reduced by a quarter, as the generations of separation increase on one of the two sides. [17] A cousin on his mother`s side is a cousin who is related to the maternal side of the family, while a cousin on his father`s side is a cousin who is related to the paternal side of the family.