The law says that people may not get married to each other because they have a blood relationship or an adoptive relationship.

In terms of the Sexual Offences Act and the Sexual Offences Amendment Act, people who have a blood or adoptive relationship may not engage in acts of sexual penetration with each other or sexual violation. Sexual violation refers to an act where one of the parties is a child, and the action of the adult was so bad (reprehensible) that even if there was mutual consent, the adult would be guilty of the crime of incest.

The rules about incest are generally the same as the rules for rape, except with incest the law states that mutual consent is not a defence, whereas consent can be used as a defence in rape. The definition of incest has also been extended to include sexual violations where one of the parties who is violated is a child. In cases of adult/child incest, only the adult is charged with the crime. Like rape, there must be sexual penetration as defined in the Sexual Offences Act. (See Rape, incest and sexual assault).