Legal Definitions - promatertera

The term promatertera originates from Roman and civil law and refers to a specific familial relationship: a great-great-aunt. More precisely, a promatertera is defined as the sister of one's great-grandmother.

This term highlights the detailed classification of kinship that was important in historical legal systems, particularly for matters of inheritance, succession, and social standing.

• Genealogical Research: Imagine a genealogist meticulously tracing a family tree in a country with a civil law tradition, such as Italy. If they identify their great-grandmother, Isabella, and then discover that Isabella had a sister named Sofia, then Sofia would be the genealogist's promatertera. This term precisely defines Sofia's relationship as the sister of the genealogist's great-grandmother, placing her in a specific, distant collateral line of ascent.

• Historical Inheritance Disputes: Consider a hypothetical legal dispute in ancient Rome concerning the distribution of an estate where the deceased had no direct descendants. If the court needed to identify the closest living relatives, and the deceased's great-grandmother had a sister who was still alive, that sister would be legally recognized as the deceased's promatertera. Her specific relationship, defined by this term, could have determined her eligibility or priority in inheriting a portion of the estate according to Roman succession laws.

• Modern Civil Law Context (Hypothetical): In some modern civil law jurisdictions, while the term "promatertera" itself might not be in common everyday use, the underlying concept of kinship degrees remains relevant for determining inheritance rights or legal standing. For instance, if a court needed to establish the precise degree of kinship between two individuals for a legal purpose, and one person's great-grandmother had a sister, that sister would occupy the position of a promatertera in the family lineage, illustrating a specific, albeit distant, collateral relationship that could be legally significant.