SECTION II.
A RELATION is the respect or connection which two or more things have to each other. When the term is applied to kindred, it denotes the connection which subsists between persons, in consequence of their mutual respect to the same family. A degree in the relation of kinsmen, expresses the interval by which the proximity or remoteness of such a relation is ascertained. The degree is computed agreeably to the respective steps, by which a removal is made from a common ancestor, and is calculated conformably to what is called the lineal, or the collateral branches. There are two sources of kindred or relation. One is denominated consanguinity, the other affinity.
Consanguinity refers to a relation in blood; or a relation produced by descent from the same progenitor. The lineal descent is that which subsists
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