16 SYSTEMS OE CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



CHAPTER III. 

 SYSTEM OF RELATIONSniP OF THE ARYAN FAMILY. 



Roman System of Consanguinity and Affinity — Framed by the Civilians — Relationships of two kinds — By Coasan- 

 gninity, or Blood — By Affinity, or Marriage — Lineal and Collateral Consanguinity — Diagram — Method of Descrip- 

 tion by Lines explained — Diagram of the Roman Civilians — Completeness and precision of the Roman System 



Immense number of Consanguine! within the near Degrees — Computations — Rapid intermingling of the Blood 

 of a People — Mode of Computing Degrees under the Civil Law — Under the Canon Law — Under the Common 



Law — Origin of the Variance — Marriage Relationships fully discriminated — English System barren of Terms 



Opulence of the Roman Nomenclature of Relationships. 



An understanding of the framework and principles of our own system of rela- 

 tionship is a necessary preparatory step to the consideration of those of other 

 nations. It was originally strictly descriptive. After the settlement and civiliza- 

 tion of the several branches of the Aryan family, there was engrafted upon it, 

 among several of them, a method of description differing materially from the primi- 

 tive form, but without invading its radical features, or so far overspreading them 

 as to conceal the simple original. The new element, which came naturally from 

 the system itself, was introduced by the Roman civilians to perfect the framework 

 of a code of descents. Their improvements have been adopted into the system of 

 the several branches of the family, to Avhich the Roman influence extended. To 

 obtain a knowledge historically of our present English form, we must resort to the 

 Roman as it was perfected by the civilians, and left by them in its codified form. 

 The additions were slight, but they changed materially the method of describing 

 kindred. They consisted chiefly in the establishment of the relationships of uncle 

 and aunt on the father's side, and on the mother's side, which were unknown in 

 the primitive system, and in the adoption of a descriptive method based upon these 

 terms, which, with proper augments, enabled them to systematize the relationships 

 in the first five collateral lines. We are also indebted to the Latin speech for the 

 modern portion of our nomenclature of relationships. 



It is evident, however, that the elaborate and scientific arrangement of kindred 

 into formally described lines of descent employed by the civilians, and which 

 became the law of the State, was not adopted by the Roman people, except in its 

 least complicated parts. There are reasons for believing that the ancient method, 

 modified by the substitution of some of the new terms of relationship in the place 

 of descriptive phrases, was retained for those nearest in degree, and that more dis- 

 tant relatives were described without any attempt to preserve the artificial distinc- 

 tions among the several lines. This variance between the forms used by the 



