34 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



which appear to have been developed, with the exception of the first, after the 

 separation of this dialect from the common Teutonic stem. These terms greatly 

 improve the nomenclature and consequently the method of the system. 



(grandson), and in no instance that of Neffe, Even this last mentioned term was but recently 

 adopted in legislative documents, having been in former times circumscribed by the term Bruder's 

 or Schwesterkind. 



Question 6. Desired : a list of obsolete terms of relationship, and the persons they were employed 

 to describe. 



6. Report on the obsolete terms of relationship. 



After the defeat of the Romans in the fifth century ancient Helvetia formed a part of the great 

 Germanic nation, and later a part of the Germanic empire. Though the Helvetian territory, and 

 particularly the towns, were governed by their own national legislation, it is not to be mistaken 

 that, besides the domestic legal sources, the laws of the Germanic family (the so-called Leges Bar- 

 barorum, of which, particularly, the Lex Allemannorum and the Lex Burgundionum, and, later, 

 the Sachsen- and Schwaben- Spiegel) enjoyed a high authority, and that the domestic law has been 

 amended and completed from that source. If we, therefore, now give a brief statement of the views 

 of the ancient Germans with regard to relationship and their terms, it is thereby to be understood 

 that throughout ancient Helvetia the same views had been adopted. 



1. The term parenlela, in ancient legal documents, is used to describe the family as a separate 

 fellowship (geschlossene Rechtsgenossenschafl) as well as a number (Mchrheit) of relatives united 

 under the same pair of parents as their next common stock (Stamm). The following expressions 

 are remarkable : 



2. Lippschaft, Magschaft (kin), means, in its larger sense, the kindred in general ; in its proper 

 sense the law distinguishes between Busen (bosom), comprehending only the descendants of a 

 deceased, and the Magschaft (kin proper), comprehending only the remote relatives. (According to 

 the " Sachsenspiegel") the kin begins at the cousinship. 



3. Schwermagen, Speermagen, Oermagen (male issue), are called the male persons united by 

 but male generation (Zeugung). In its real sense it means the blood-cousins upon whom rests the 

 propagation of the family name and of the house-coat. Opposite to them are the 



4. Spillmagen, Spindelmagen, Kunkelmagen (female issue), that is, all the rest of kindred whoso 

 consanguinity, either in the ascending or in the descending line, is founded upon the birth from a 

 woman, or who, although relatives by but male generation, for their female issue are not born for 

 the sword and lance, but only for the spindle. (Spillmagen is also called Niftel ) 



5. To count the degrees of consanguinity two different ways have been used the one representing 

 them by a tree with branches, the other by the form of a human body. The following representation 

 is from the " Sachsenspiegel :" Husband and wife, united in marriage, belong to the head ; the 

 children, born as full brothers and sisters from one man and one wife, to the neck. Children of full 

 brothers and sisters occupy that place where the shoulders and arms join. These form the first 

 kindred of consanguinity, viz., the children of brother and sister. The others occupy the elbow, the 

 third the hand, &c. For the seventh degree there is an additional nail, and no member and the kin, 

 which ends here, is then called Nagelmagen. 



6. Schooss are often called the ascendants. 



7. Lidmagen is often used for consanguineous with 



8. Vatermagen. This term is more comprehensive than that of Scliwertmagen , for it embraces 

 all the relatives from the father's issue and descent, and it also includes all the women issuing from 

 the fathers immediately, for instance, the sister and the aunt from the father's grandfather; and 

 further, in the descending line, also the degrees of consanguinity arising from women, because, in the 

 ascending line, fathers are at the head of parentelas. In certain cases this term can even compre- 

 hend all consanguineous with the father. 



9. Mullermagen are called the relatives from the mother's side, or, according to circumstances, 

 from a mother's side. 



