A teen’s sexual relationship with her uncle is not verboten, a German court ruled this week.

In its ruling, the judges reasoned that the 15-year-old girl, identified as Josephine, risked “serious damage in her social-emotional and mental development” if she and her non-blood uncle, 47-year-old Gerrit Haager, were denied contact.

In Germany, as in many European countries, the legal age of sexual consent is 14. Since there is no law in Germany prohibiting the relationship, it may continue to blossom, the court ruled.

“The court does not offer any opinion on the non-judicial question of whether a 47-year-old married man should return the love of a 14-year-old fired by adolescent affection and enthusiasm,” it wrote, the Telegraph reported.

“The relationship may be socially undesirable and unacceptable, but it is not covered by criminal law, and not categorically forbidden.”

The girl from Schildow, a town in the German state of Brandenburg, ditched school and ran off with her uncle a year ago — to the dismay of her worried parents, who alerted police.

The pair were later found in southern France, and the teen was brought back to Germany, where her parents forbade her from seeing her uncle. The parents got the court involved in a bid to keep the two apart. The red-haired teen revolted, stopped attending school, and tried to stay in a government shelter.

The teen, whom the court described as of “above average intelligence,” has said her relationship with her uncle is “goal-oriented and stable,” according to CEN.