The legislature’s Legislative Research Bureau has suggested relaxing restrictions on marriages between collateral blood relatives to within the fourth degree of kinship following a ruling annulling a marriage between sixth-degree relatives.
The Kaohsiung Juvenile and Family Court has declared the marriage invalid, as household registration documents showed that the couple are sixth-degree collateral relatives by blood and may not marry each other as stipulated in Article 983 of the Civil Code (民法).
However, the bureau in a report on the issue said that annulling the marriage would lead to them facing loss of rights in terms of heirship and property distribution.
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
Their children would also be classified as born out of wedlock, it said, adding that would challenge the current family order in Taiwan.
The case revealed two major issues in existing regulations, the bureau said.
First, relevant laws were revised in 1998 forbidding marriages between collateral blood relatives within the sixth-degree kinship in Taiwan out of eugenic concerns, it said.
However, many countries have already relaxed similar regulations to bolster freedom of marriage, with the ban reduced to within third-degree kinship, it said.
Second, marriages that contravene the law in other countries such as Germany or Japan would be declared “annullable,” while their counterparts in Taiwan were ruled to be “void,” it said
Whether the prohibition range is too broad and whether an outright annulment can fully protect rights and benefits of the married couple and their children are worth discussing, the bureau said.
To ensure freedom of marriage and identity stability, as well as protect children’s welfare, the bureau proposed two changes in legislation to improve the nation’s marriage system, it said.
The prohibited range of marriages between collateral blood relatives stipulated by the Civil Code should be reviewed and revised, the bureau said.
People’s relationships with relatives in modern society are not as close as before, and many people do not know their relatives beyond fourth-degree kinship, it said.
As such, the ban should be reduced to within fourth-degree kinship to meet the needs of modern society, it said.
Marriages contravening the law should also be declared “annullable” instead of directly annulled to enhance the stability of existing marriages, similar to the systems in Germany and Japan, the bureau added.
Asked about the issue, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) yesterday said that it needs more thorough discussion to reach a consensus, adding that he hoped the Judicial Yuan, the Ministry of Justice and civic groups would voice their opinions, too.
While amending the Civil Code must be discreet, advancing the legal system to align with contemporary trends is also important, he said.
Meanwhile, a medical professional expressed concerns over congenital malformations due to consanguineous marriages, which he said would affect the family and burden the National Health Insurance (NHI) system.
Taiwan Society for Reproductive Medicine director Lee Mao-sheng (李茂盛) yesterday said that in the past, many Taiwanese couples who were cousins had children born with congenital malformations.
That was not good for society and added to NHI costs, he said, adding that allowing consanguineous marriages would not be helpful at all in improving low birthrates.
The key to solving low birthrates is enhancing childcare policies and birth subsidies, and encouraging young people to get married earlier, instead of relaxing regulations on collateral blood relative marriages, Lee said.
Legislation should be planned comprehensively for the long term and should not be frequently changed, otherwise it would cause chaos in society, he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
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