Affinity (law)

In law and in cultural anthropology, affinity, as distinguished from consanguinity (blood relationship), is the kinship relationship that is created or exists between two or more people as a result of somebody's marriage. It is the relationship which each party to a marriage has to the relations of the other partner to the marriage; but does not cover the marital relationship of the parties to the marriage themselves. Though laws vary considerably, affinity does not always cease with the death of one of the marriage partners through whom affinity is traced, nor with the divorce of the marriage partners. In addition to kinship by marriage, "affinity" can sometimes also include kinship by adoption and step relationship.

Under the law, such relatives by marriage are known as affines. More commonly, they are known as "in-laws", as affinity is usually signified by adding "-in-law" to a degree of kinship.

In law, affinity may be relevant in relation to prohibitions on incestuous sexual relations and in relation to whether particular couples are prohibited from marrying. Which relationships are prohibited vary from country to country, and from time to time. In some countries, especially in the past the prohibited relationships were based on religious laws. (See Affinity under Canon Law.)

Affinity laws

are used in hydraulics and/or HVAC to express the relationship between variables involved in pump or fan performance (such as head, volumetric flow rate, shaft speed) and power. They apply to pumps, fans, and hydraulic turbines. In these rotary implements, the affinity laws apply both to centrifugal and axial flows.

The laws are derived using the Buckingham π theorem. The affinity laws are useful as they allow prediction of the head discharge characteristic of a pump or fan from a known characteristic measured at a different speed or impeller diameter. The only requirement is that the two pumps or fans are dynamically similar, that is the ratios of the fluid forced are the same.

Law 1. With impeller diameter (D) held constant:

Law 1a. Flow is proportional to shaft speed:,

Law 1b. Pressure or Head is proportional to the square of shaft speed:

Law 1c. Power is proportional to the cube of shaft speed:

Law 2. With shaft speed (N) held constant:

Law 2a. Flow is proportional to the cube of impeller diameter:

Affinity

Affinity may refer to:

Commerce, finance and law

Religion and belief

Science and technology

Law

Law is a system of rules that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior. Laws can be made by a collective legislature or by a single legislator, resulting in statutes, by the executive through decrees and regulations, or by judges through binding precedent, normally in common law jurisdictions. Private individuals can create legally binding contracts, including arbitration agreements that may elect to accept alternative arbitration to the normal court process. The formation of laws themselves may be influenced by a constitution, written or tacit, and the rights encoded therein. The law shapes politics, economics, history and society in various ways and serves as a mediator of relations between people.

A general distinction can be made between (a) civil law jurisdictions (including Catholic canon law and socialist law), in which the legislature or other central body codifies and consolidates their laws, and (b) common law systems, where judge-made precedent is accepted as binding law. Historically, religious laws played a significant role even in settling of secular matters, which is still the case in some religious communities, particularly Jewish, and some countries, particularly Islamic. Islamic Sharia law is the world's most widely used religious law.