Heider's "Anthropological Models of Incest Laws in the United States": A Comment

In his analysis of U.S. legal prohibitions of marriage with relatives, Heider rejects the Old Testament model as an explanation of the configuration of current state laws. Although Heider's statement is generally accurate, the statutes seem to express two basic models, an attenuated Biblical and a Western American pattern. These patterns are the inverse of each other with regard to prohibition of first-cousin marriage and marriage between affines. Historical review of statutes reveals a trend from Biblical to Western American patterns. The historical perspective suggests that confounding the two models may have weakened Heider's analysis.