Note 1330 — Chapter XVI · A CENTURY AND A QUARTER OF MARRIAGE LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES, 1776-1903

In Alabama such marriages are incestuous and must be annulled by the court on conviction; but the issue born before annulment is legitimate: Code (1897), 828; in Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indian Territory, Kentucky, Mississippi, and New Mexico they are incestuous and void or voidable after decree: Rev. Stat. of Ariz. (1887), 371; Digest of Ark. (1894), 1126; also Rev. Stat. of Ark. (1838), 536; Code of Ga. (1896), II, 222; Kentucky Stat. (1894), 763; Comp. Laws of N. M. (1897), 406; Ann. Code of Miss. (1892), 677. In Maryland, District of Columbia, Missouri, and North Carolina they are absolutely void or voidable after decree: Code of Md. (1888), I, 973, 974; Comp. Laws of D. C. (1894), 271; Rev. Stat. of Mo. (1899), I, 1036; Code of N. C. (1883), I, 688, 689. But the laws of New Mexico, while declaring these marriages "absolutely void," provides in sec. 1430 that they shall not be "declared void except by decree of the district court;" and the North Carolina act has the condition that no marriage followed by cohabitation and birth of issue shall be declared void after the death of either of the parties for any of the causes stated, except in case of unions of whites with negroes or Indians to the third generation. In Virginia prohibited marriages, if solemnized in the state, are void after decree, or when within the forbidden degrees, from the time of conviction for incest; and the law of West Virginia is similar: Code of Va. (1887), 560; Code of W. Va. (1891), 656, 661. See also Code of Tenn. (1884), 608; Rev. Stat. of Fla. (1892), 820; Rev. Civil Code of La. (1888), 61; Rev. Stat. of S. C. (1894), I, 751; and compare Wright, Report, 35-45.