yes there were laws even in NC but again laws were meant to be broken and or challenged.. One could ask how the Cherokee wound up being mixed with European ancestors ( this applies to other tribes too) if marriages were not permitted to happen. Im sure some had legal marriages, sweeties on the side would be another issue and some may have lived together. I have AI ancestors who's first born son was baptized and called legitimate because the church recognized my ancestors had an Indian marriage though they were not married by church until a year after their first child was born.These lines I do have do not have anything to do with the Cherokee.