Ark. Code Ann. § 9-11-106 (2026)
Incestuous marriages — Penalties for entering into or solemnizing
- All marriages between parents and children, including grandparents and grandchildren of every degree, between brothers and sisters of the half as well as the whole blood, and between uncles and nieces, and between aunts and nephews, and between first cousins are declared to be incestuous and absolutely void. This section shall extend to illegitimate children and relations.
- Whoever contracts marriage in fact, contrary to the prohibitions of subsection (a) of this section, and whoever knowingly solemnizes the marriage shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction be fined or imprisoned, or both, at the discretion of the jury who shall pass on the case, or if the conviction shall be by confession, or on demurrer, then at the discretion of the court.
History. Rev. Stat., ch. 94, §§ 3, 9; Acts 1875, No. 102, § 1, p. 221; C. & M. Dig., §§ 7038, 7045; Pope's Dig., §§ 9018, 9025; Acts 1973, No. 253, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, §§ 55-103, 55-105.
Cross References. Incest, § 5-26-202.
Case Notes
First Cousins.
A marriage between first cousins does not create “much social alarm,” so that the marriage will be recognized if it was valid by the law of the state in which it took place. Etheridge v. Shaddock, 288 Ark. 481, 706 S.W.2d 395 (1986).
Where after divorce and awarding of custody of children to father, he married his first cousin and when they discovered that such marriages were prohibited in Arkansas had such marriage annulled and got married in state permitting such marriages and returned to Arkansas, such remarriage was not a sufficient basis for change of custody. Etheridge v. Shaddock, 288 Ark. 481, 706 S.W.2d 395 (1986).