A sibling-in-law is the
spouse of one's
sibling
A sibling is a relative that shares at least one parent with the subject. A male sibling is a brother and a female sibling is a sister. A person with no siblings is an only child.
While some circumstances can cause siblings to be raised separa ...
, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.
[Cambridge Dictionaries Online.]
Family: non-blood relations
.
More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred to as a brother-in-law for a male sibling-in-law, and a sister-in-law for a female one.
Sibling-in-law also refers to the reciprocal relationship between a person's spouse and their sibling's spouse. In
Indian English this can be referred to as a co-sibling (specifically a co-sister, for the wife of one's sibling-in-law,
or co-brother, for the husband of one's sibling-in-law
).
Relationships
Siblings-in-law are related by a type of
kinship called ''
affinity
Affinity may refer to:
Commerce, finance and law
* Affinity (law), kinship by marriage
* Affinity analysis, a market research and business management technique
* Affinity Credit Union, a Saskatchewan-based credit union
* Affinity Equity Par ...
'' like all in-law relationships. All of these are relations which do not relate to the person directly by blood.
Just like the children of one's siblings, the children of one's siblings-in-law are called simply
''nieces'' and ''nephews'' – if necessary, specified whether "by marriage", as opposed to "
by blood" or "by adoption".
If one pair of siblings is married to another pair of siblings, the siblings-in-law are thus doubly related, each of the four both through one's spouse and through one's sibling, while the children of the two couples are
double cousins
Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...
.
Culture
One study, examining the issue of envy in the triadic system of sibling, sibling-in-law and spouse, concluded that "The sibling-in-law relationship shared similarities with both
spousal and
sibling relationship
Siblings play a unique role in one another's lives that simulates the companionship of parents as well as the influence and assistance of friends. Because siblings often grow up in the same household, they have a large amount of exposure to one a ...
s" and that "Relational closeness and satisfaction for all relationships in the triad were correlated."
In
Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
(Sharia) and
Jewish law (''halakha''), sexual relations between siblings-in-law are prohibited as incestuous, unless the spouse is no longer married. Conversely, in Judaism there was the custom of
yibbum
Yibbum (, Hebrew: ייבום) is the form of levirate marriage found in Judaism. As specified by , the brother of a man who died without children is permitted and encouraged to marry the widow. However, if either of the parties refuses to go throu ...
, whereby a man had a non-obligatory duty to wed his deceased brother's childless widow, so she might have progeny by him.
[ Deuteronomy 25:5–10.]
See also
*
Nephew and niece
In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of the subject's sibling or sibling-in-law. The converse relationship, the relationship from the niece or nephew's perspective, is that of an ...
*
Cousins-in-law
*
Affinity (law)
In law and in cultural anthropology, affinity is the kinship relationship created or that exists between two people as a result of someone's marriage. It is the relationship which each party to a marriage has to the relations of the other part ...
References
{{Family
Affinity (law)
Kinship and descent
Law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...