ADOPTION, the act of taking a stranger into one's family, as a son or daughter; or the taking of a person, a society, etc., into more intimate relations than formerly existed with another person or society; or the taking as one's own, with or without acknowledgment, an opin ion, plan, etc., originating with another; also the selecting one from several courses open to a person's choice.
In law, both ancient and modern, the act of taking a stranger into one's family constituted the person so adopted one's heir to all intents and purposes. The practice was common among the Greeks and Romans, and is still in use among some modern nations.
A proceeding which so materially affects the succession of property and the rights of natural heirs is a very important one. It is not recog nized by the common law of England, and exists only in the United States by special statute. Comparatively few of the States have engrafted it upon their systems of jurispru dence. But among many of the Continental nations it has been practised from the remotest antiquity. The effect of adoption was to cast the succession on the adopted in case the adopt ing father died intestate.
The statute in force in the State of Michigan is substantially similar to other statutes in the various States upon the subject. The Michigan statute provides, among other things, that the person or persons so adopting such child shall thereafter stand in the place of a parent or parents to such "child-in-law," and be liable to all the duties, and entitled to all of the rights, of parents; ancj such child shall thereupon be come an heir-at-law of such persons, the same as if he or she were in fact the child of such person or persons.
Adoption by matrimony is the placing the children of a former marriage on the same footing, with regard to inheritance, etc., as those of the present one.
Adoption by testament is the appointing of a person one's heir on condition of his assuming the name, arms, etc., of his benefactor.
Adoption by hair was performed by cutting off the hair of the person adopted and giving it to the adoptive father.
Adoption by arms was the presentation of arms by a prince to a brave man. These the recipient was expected to use for the protection of his benefactor.
In heraldry, arms of adoption are the heraldic arms received when the last representa tive of an expiring aristocratic family adopts a stranger to assume his armorial bearings and inherit his estates. The recipient may obtain permission from Parliament to take the name of his benefactor, either appended to, or substi tuted for, his own.
In Scripture and theology, the act of ad mitting one into the family of God, or the state of being so admitted. The previous position of the person adopted in this manner was that of a now he is a "son," an "heir of God,' and a "joint heir with Christ.' In ecclesiastical language, adoption by bap tism is the act of becoming godfather or god mother to a child about to be baptized. Unlike real adoption, however, this does not constitute the child heir to its spiritual father or mother.