Legal Definitions - consanguineus uterinus

Consanguineus uterinus is a historical legal term that refers to individuals who share the same biological mother but have different biological fathers. In modern language, this relationship is commonly understood as a maternal half-sibling.

• Example 1: Sarah had a daughter, Emily, with her first husband. After her husband passed away, Sarah remarried and later had a son, David, with her second husband. In a historical legal context, Emily and David would be considered consanguineus uterinus because they share Sarah as their mother but have different fathers. This distinction might have been relevant for determining inheritance rights or family lineage under older legal systems.

• Example 2: Consider a family tree being analyzed for a genealogical claim related to a historical estate. If it's discovered that a woman named Eleanor had a child, Arthur, with one partner, and then later had another child, Beatrice, with a different partner, Arthur and Beatrice would be identified as consanguineus uterinus. This clarifies their specific familial connection through their shared mother, even though their paternal lines diverge.

• Example 3: In a scenario involving a will from the 19th century that uses specific legal terminology to define beneficiaries, a clause might refer to "all children consanguineus uterinus to the deceased's mother." If the deceased's mother had children with two different men, those children would fall under this category, indicating they are half-siblings through the maternal line and thus eligible for the specified inheritance according to the will's historical legal language.