the adoption of male children is founded
the religions necessity
of securing representatives to perform the Sacred Rites of the "Family or Clan (gens), the sacra gentilicia of the Romans." "These sacra" (to quote the
words of Sir Henry MaineX) "were 'the Roman form of an Institution which shows itself wherever society
has not wholly shaken itself free from its primitive clothing. They are the sacrifices and ceremonies
by
which the brotherhood of the family
X Sir Henry Maine's "Ancient Law", Chapter 6.
is commemorated, the pledge and the
witness of its perpetuity. Whatever be
their nature, whether it be true
or not that in all cases
they are the
worship of some
mythical ancestor, - they are every
where employed to attest...
the sacredness of the family
relation; and, therefore, they acquire
prominent significance and importance whenever the continuous existence of
the Family is endangered by a change
in the person of its chief. Accordingly,
we hear most about them in connexion
with demises of domestic sovereignty. Again