Abstract
So far as we know, there is no society that has not any laws and customs of ‘the prohibited degrees of marriage’. There is no doubt that Chinese society has kept them. Some of them we can see in the Tanglü _??__??_ established under the T'ang dynasty. If we study them, we will find that they have much more various meanings than ‘incest’. In that Code, there are two articles concerning ‘the prohibited degrees of marriage’ - Art. 33 and Art. 34 of "Hu-hun _??__??_" chapter. In particular, Para. 3 of the former prohibits the marriage between a man and someone of his relatives of different surnames and different generation, although their relationship is more remote than the fifth degree.
To explain the matter in detail, a man is prohibited to marry a cousin of his mother or father, either parallel or cross, or his father's aunt (_??__??__??__??__??_), or his mother's aunt (_??__??__??__??__??_, _??__??__??__??__??_), or his paternal uncle's daughter's daughter, or his son-in law's sister. If he violates the prohibition, he will receive one hundred strokes and the marriage will be annulled.
According to "T'ung-tien _??__??_", "T'ang-hui-ya_??__??__??_"and" Ts'ê-fu yüan-kuei_??__??__??__??_", the Para. 3 of Art. 33 was enacted in 65/ A. D. by the memorial of Li Shên, _??__??_. But among those three historical materials is an important difference in ‘the prohibited degrees of marriage’.
In this paper that difference will be fully analyzed. And the author will conclude : of Para. 3, items of father's and mother's maternal parallel cousin (_??__??__??__??__??__??__??_) and of mother's great-grandfather's grandson's daughter (_??__??__??__??__??_) were not yet contained in the memorial of Li Shiên; and between 65/ A. D. and 737 A. D., some amendments were made, and Para. 3 of Art. 33 was codified as it stands now.
