Section 2 of SMA : Section 2: Definitions

Bare Act

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -

(b) "degrees of prohibited relationship" - a man and any of the persons mentioned in Part I of the First Schedule and a woman and any of the persons mentioned in Part II of the said Schedule are within the degrees of prohibited relationship.

Explanation I - Relationship includes, -

• (a) relationship by half or uterine blood as well as by full blood;
• (b) illegitimate blood relationship as well as legitimate;
• (c) relationship by adoption as well as by blood; and all terms of relationship in this Act shall be construed accordingly.

Explanation II - "Full blood" and "half blood" - two persons are said to be related to each other by full blood when they are descended from a common ancestor by the same wife and by half blood when they are descended from a common ancestor but by different wives.

Explanation III - "Uterine blood" - two persons are said to be related to each other by uterine blood when they are descended from a common ancestress but by different husbands.

Explanation IV - In Explanations II and III, ancestor includes the father and "ancestress" the mother;

(d) "district" in relation to a Marriage Officer, means the area for which he is appointed as such under sub - section (1) or sub - section (2) of section 3;

(e) "district court" means, in any area for which there is a city civil court, that court, and in any other area, the principal civil court of original jurisdiction, and includes any other civil court which may be specified by the State Government by notification in the Official Gazette as having jurisdiction in respect of the matters dealt with in this Act;

(f) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;

(g) "State Government", in relation to a Union territory, means the administrator thereof.

Simplified Act

This section explains certain terms used in the Special Marriage Act, 1954:

(b) "Degrees of prohibited relationship" means that there are certain relatives you are not allowed to marry. For men, the list of these relatives is in Part I of the First Schedule of the Act, and for women, the list is in Part II of that Schedule.

Explanation I - When we talk about relationships, it includes:

• (a) Relatives by half blood (same parent, different other parent) or by full blood (same parents);
• (b) Relatives whether the family connection is official (legitimate) or not (illegitimate);
• (c) Relatives by adoption just as much as relatives by birth.

Explanation II - "Full blood" and "half blood" mean that if two people share the same parents (or parent and step-parent), they are related by full blood. If they only share one parent and have different other parents, they are related by half blood.

*Explanation I...

Explanation using Example

Imagine a couple, John and Jane, who want to get married under The Special Marriage Act, 1954. Jane has a half-brother, Mike, from her mother's first marriage, and a full brother, Alex, from both her parents. When considering their marriage, they need to ensure that they are not within the "degrees of prohibited relationship" as defined in the Act.

According to the Act, since John is not related to Jane by blood, adoption, or any other means mentioned in the Act, they are not within the degrees of prohibited relationship. Even if J...