prophet the prohibitions of marriage were still on the maternal side,[1] and in all ages the collateral kinship with uncles and aunts has been considered very close in Arabia.[2]
Among the Hebrews, individual property was instituted in very early times, for it is alluded to in Genesis.[3] But various customs show clearly the ancient existence of communal clans. Thus the inheritance, especially the paternal inheritance, must remain in the clan. Marriage in the tribe is obligatory for daughters: "Let them marry to whom they think best; only to the family of the tribe of their father shall they marry. So shall not the inheritance of the children of Israel remove from tribe to tribe; for every one of the children of Israel shall keep himself to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers."[4]
Moses instituted three classes of heirs: first the children, then the agnates, and then the members of the clan or gentiles.[5] The Hebrew father did not inherit from his son, nor the grandfather from his grandson, which seems to indicate an ancient epoch, when the children did not yet belong to the clan of their father.
For a long time among the Hebrews the german sister was distinguished from the uterine sister; the kinship with this last was considered much closer. In primitive Judæa a man could marry the first, but not the second. To the King of Egypt and to Abimelech, who reproached Abraham for having passed Sarah off as his sister, the patriarch replies: "For indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife." In the same way Tamar could become the wife of Amnon, for she was only his paternal sister.[6] The father of Moses and Aaron married his father's sister, who was not legally his relation.[7] Abraham himself could marry his paternal sister, and his brother Nabor took to wife his fraternal niece, the daughter of his brother.[8] But by degrees paternal kinship was recognised by the same title as
