=II. Concerning Incestuous and Adulterous Marriages and Debauchery, either with Holy Virgins, or with Widows and other Women while doing Penance.= It is our royal duty to promulgate laws to be enforced throughout all the provinces of our kingdom, to the end that crime may be prevented in the future, and that justice may put an end to the deeds of the wicked. Many persons, in defiance of the admonitions of the Divine Law, and in opposition to the honorable duties of life, are accustomed, either by violence, or with consent, to contract marriage with virgins who have been devoted in the service of God, and have taken the vow of chastity with the benediction of the priest, and according to the canons of the Church; or with other women nearly related to themselves; and, in this way, have polluted with vice that chastity which was dedicated to God, or which should have been respected on account of the ties of consanguinity. Such conduct, whether it relates to men or women, is both abhorrent to good morals, and a reproach to the True Faith. Therefore, in the name of God and the Holy Catholic Church, we decree that, hereafter, as is also provided by the ecclesiastical canons, no one, either by force or consent, shall take as a wife, any virgin devoted to God, or any widow who has assumed the habit of any order; or any one who is performing penance; or any near relative of their own; or any one with whom his connection might be branded with infamy; because that cannot be a true marriage, which from good becomes evil, and which, under a false name, is nothing more than incest and fornication. And if any other persons in our kingdom should attempt to commit a crime of this kind, they shall be separated, and condemned to perpetual exile, at the instance of the judge or priest, even if no one should accuse them; nor shall any time which may have elapsed, be pleaded in their defence. The property of such persons which has been seized for the crime, shall belong to the children of a former marriage; and if there should be no such children, to those born of this marriage; and the latter shall not be liable to reproach on this account, for those who are born out of wedlock are purified by the ceremony of baptism. But if there should be no children whatever, the inheritance shall descend to those to whom the provisions of former laws have given legitimate succession. The same regulation shall apply to persons in orders, whom the Canon Law forbids to marry.