Affinity, relationship by marriage between the husband and the blood relations of the wife, and between the wife and the blood relations of the husband, 1 Bl. Com. 434.
Affinity is distinguished into three kinds, (1) Direct, or that subsisting between the husband and his wife's relations by blood, or between the wife and the husband's relations by blood. (2) Secondary, or that which subsists between the husband's and his wife's relations by marriage. (3) Collateral, or that which subsists between the husband and the relations of his wife's relations.
Marriage within the prohibited degrees of affinity as well as of consanguinity as printed in the (English) Prayer Book Table is void by s. 2 of the (English) Marriage Act, 1835 (5 & 6 Wm. 4, c. 54), as varied by the (English) Marriage (Prohibited Degrees of Relationship Act, 1907 to 1931. See CONSANGUINITY; MARRIAGE.