by Tdarcos » Sun Nov 24, 2013 4:12 am
Back on September 9, I wrote to a friend:
"Actually, I just looked it up to do this letter. In West Virginia, it is illegal to marry your first or second cousin, but it's not illegal to have sex with them. West Virginia law is very clear, it's illegal to marry a first or second cousin by blood or marriage, but it's not illegal to fuck them! It specifically mentions first cousin and double cousin as illegal to marry. It specifically does not mention cousins at all for incest.
"Consanguinguous Marriages: §48-2-302
http://statutes.laws.com/west-virginia/48/48-2-302
Incest: §61-8-12
http://statutes.laws.com/west-virginia/61/61-8-12 "
I didn't get to mentioning it in the letter, but the rules of statutory construction presume (1) the legislature knows what it wrote in its laws; and (2) that the omission of something included elsewhere is intentional.
Back on September 9, I wrote to a friend:
"Actually, I just looked it up to do this letter. In West Virginia, it is illegal to marry your first or second cousin, but it's not illegal to have sex with them. West Virginia law is very clear, it's illegal to marry a first or second cousin by blood or marriage, but it's not illegal to fuck them! It specifically mentions first cousin and double cousin as illegal to marry. It specifically does not mention cousins at all for incest.
"Consanguinguous Marriages: §48-2-302 http://statutes.laws.com/west-virginia/48/48-2-302
Incest: §61-8-12 http://statutes.laws.com/west-virginia/61/61-8-12 "
I didn't get to mentioning it in the letter, but the rules of statutory construction presume (1) the legislature knows what it wrote in its laws; and (2) that the omission of something included elsewhere is intentional.