Adoption (eicriroinots, Totems, Biats) was common among the Athenians, and a man might adopt a person either in his life. time or by his testament, and either a male or a female. The adopted person was transferred by the adoption from his own family and his own demos, to those of the adopter.
Adoption was no part of the old Ger. man law : it was introduced into Germany with the Roman law, in the latter part of the middle ages. The general rules con cerning adoption in Germany are as fol low; but there are some variations estab lished by the law of the several states.
The man who wishes to adopt must have no children of his own. or the adv.
tion mast not be disadvantageous to them. As the act of adoption is an imita tion of the natural relation of parent and cl.iitl, and intended to supply its defi ciencies, the adopter must be at least eighteen years older than the person to be adopted, and for the same reason he must not have been intentionally castrated. The guardian cannot adopt his ward be fore he has accounted for his guardian ship ; and as a general rule a poor man cannot rich not adopt a ch man. The adopter must have attained a considerable (it is not said what) age , or for other reasons have no hopes of children of his own. The transaction must take place before the competent jurisdiction, and in the case of the adroption or adoption of women, the approbation of the prince is required. It is also necessary to have the consent of the parents and other ancestors who have hitherto had the child in their power, and as such would for the future be entitled to the same right; and also the consent of the child to be adopted. In the case of Adro gation, when the person to be adopted is a minor, there must also be an inquiry whether the adrogation is advantageous to him ; the consent of the neat of kin and guardians of the person to be adro gate& and security on the part of the ad rogator, that in case the child dies in his minority, he shall transfer the property to the nearest kinsman, or to a person sub stituted by the natural father.
The effects of adoption are : 1. In the ease of adoption by a man, he acquires the patria potestas over the adopted son and the children of the adopted son, so far as they are in his power. 2. The adopted son acquires all the rights of a natural-born son, and among them the capacity to inherit. He also takes the family name of the adoptive father, which, however, in Germany, he only adds to his old family name. In the case of adoption by a man, he also becomes the Agnate of all the Agnati of the adoptive father, and all his previous relationships of Agnation cease. But no alteration is produced in the relationship of Cognation. Adoption, however, in respect of nobility and the succession to fief and family property, has no effect ; a rule which had no other foundation than the wish of the nobility to keep themselves free from the influ ence of the Roman law in their family relations. 3. The adoption is' perma nent, yet the adoptive father can by emancipation, and the adopted son at a later period, dissolve the relationship on the same conditions under which the patria potestas can be dissolved on other occasions. But in the case of Adrogation, when the adoptive father emancipates or disinherits the adopted son without good reason, he must surrender not only all the property which the adopted son has brought and in the mean time acquired, but he must also leave him the fourth part of his own propert7 (quarts Divi Pii).
When an ancestor gives his own natural born children and other descendants in adoption, as a general rule the full effects of adoption (adoptio elena) only take place when the adoptive father is an ancestor; otherwise the adoption had only a minor effect (adoptio minus plena), namely, the capacity to inherit from the adoptive father in case of intestacy. (Ar ticle, by Welcker, in the of Rotteck and Welcker.) This account is sufficient to give a general view of the form and effects of adoption in Germany : but the account is deficient in precision.
i The German law of adoption is founded on the Roman, as will be obvious by comparing the German with the Roman system. There are variations in the several German states. The Prussian law does away with all distinction be tween adoption and adrogation, and allows the adopted son who is of age to manage his own property. The Austrian law does the same. Both also agree in requiring the age of the adoptive father to be fifty at least. The Prussian law, with respect to the adopted son, merely requires him to be younger than the father ; the Aus trian code requires him to be eighteen years younger than the adoptive father. (Ersch and Gruber's Encycloplidie, art. " Adoption.") The French law of adoption is con tained in the eighth title of the first book of the Code Civil. The following are its principal provisions :—Adoption is only permitted to persons above the age of fifty, having neither children nor other legiti I mate descendants, and being at least fifteen years older than the individual adopted. It can only be exercised in favour of one who has been an object of the adopter's constant care for at least six years during minority, or of one who has saved the life of the adopter in battle, from fire, or from drowning. In the latter case, the only restriction respecting the age of the parties is, that the adopter shall be older than the adopted, and shall have attained his majority, or his twenty-first year ; and if married, that his wife is a con senting party. In every case the party adopted must be of the age of twenty one. The form is for the two parties to present themselves before the justice of the peace (jage de pair) for the place where the adopter resides, and in his pre sence to pass an act of mutual consent ; after which the transaction, before being accounted valid, must be approved of by the tribunal offirst instance within whose jurisdiction the domicile of the adopter is. The adopted takes the name of the adopter in addition to his own ; and no marriage can take place between the adopter and either the adopted or his descendants, or between two adopted children of the same individual, or between the adopted and any child who may be afterwards born to the adopter, or between the one party and the wife of the other. The adopted ac quires no right of succession to the pro perty of any relations of the adopter; but in regard to the property of the adopter himself, it is declared that he shall have precisely the same rights with a child born in wedlock, even although there should be other children born in wed lock after his adoption. It has been decided in the French courts that aliens cannot be adopted.