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An Essay on Collateral Consanguinity, It's Limits, Extent, and Duration;
An Essay on Collateral Consanguinity It's Limits Extent and Duration Author:William Blackstone Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: however I truft it will appear, from every o- thcr Method of collecting it, that he did not, could not intend that his Kinfmen mould extend their Claim in infini... more »tum. I. One of the beft and moft general Rules, for finding out the Intention of a Perfon who ufes a dubious Exprefiaon, is this : That where one Signification of the Word induces an Injuftice or Abfurdity, another Signification is to be taken. And this is the Rule, even where the unjuft or abfurd Signification is the primary and proper one; it will hold therefore much more ftrongly here, where the Cafe is otherwife. And that the Extending of Confanguinity in Infinitum muft neceflarily produce very wild and abfurd Confequences, may be beyond Contradiction demonftrated. As all collateral Confanguinity confifts in being derived from one common Parent, if this Confanguinity knows no Bounds, all Mankind are without doubt Kinfmen, becaufc derived from the fame original Anceftor. This is certainly a juft Confequence, how oddly foever it may found ; and the Ridiculoufhefs of it (if any) is not to be attributed to fuch as draw the Conclufion, but to thofe who SuAR. ubi fupr.—PuFFEND. ubifupr. § 6. maintain maintain the Premifes, from which this Con- dufion regularly follows. Let as endeavour to illuftrate this Matter a little. The common Stock of Confangui- nity of the Founder and his Nephew is the Founder's Father ; the common Stock of the Founder and his Coufin-german is the Founder's Grandfather; of him and his fecond Coufin is his Great-Grandfather ; and fo on : All thefe are confefledly his Kinfmen, and yet all derived from different common Stocks. But unlefs there be fome Period to ftop at, by the fame Rule that the common Stock may be aflumed three Generations above either of the related Parties, it may ...« less