HALF-BLOOD. in English and American law, the relationship of persons who have one parent only in common, as half-brothers, etc. When two persons have the same father, but not the same mother, they are said to be consanguin eous; when they have the same mother only, they are called uterine brothers or sisters. In the succession to real property in England, the half-blood relations by the father's side succeed after the full-blood relations; and next, but at a considerable interval, the half-blood relations by the mother's side. This is a modification of the common-law rule, however, as by that law per sons of the half-blood were excluded entirely from the line of descent and were not capable of inheriting from each other. In Scotland, also, the half-blood consanguineous succeed to heritable estates in the same way, though not in identically the same order;, but the half-blood uterine never succeed in any event. In England, as regards personal estate, the half-blood on both sides succeed indiscriminately, and share equally with the full-blood. But in Scotland the half-blood succeed to movable property only after all the full-blood and their descendants are exhausted, and then the half-blood by the father's side suc ceed in exclusion of the half-blood by the mother's side, who do not come in until the succession reaches a distant point, viz. where the nearest re
lations are uncles and aunts paternal, or their descendants, in which case only the half-blood uterine after the mother's death take half the property, and the paternal relatives the other half.
The common-law disability of the half-blood for merly existed in the United States; but has every where been wholly or partially removed by statute. In some States the modern English rule has been adopted, brothers or sisters of the half-blood suc ceeding after those of full blood, while in others no distinction whatever is made between them. It is to. be observed that the distinction between the whole and half blood exists only in determin ing the relationship of brothers and sisters to one another and for the purpose of determining the descent of property from one of these to the other, all children being equally related to a common parent. See CONSANGUINITY; DESCENT.