Also known as: lineage · descent
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A line of descent from an ancestor. The concept identifies the chain of familial succession that determines relationships by blood or adoption.
After his death, declarant left a recorded statement naming his great-grandfather as the source of a disputed parcel. The statement is offered to establish the declarant's ancestry even though he lacked personal knowledge of the remote ancestor. The court admits the statement because it concerns the declarant's own ancestry and satisfies the requirements for the unavailable-declarant exception.
Owner dies without a will. His only surviving relatives are two cousins who trace their connection through a common great-grandparent. Title passes directly to the cousins by operation of the statute of descent and distribution. No deed is required because ancestry determines the heirs entitled to take under the probate code.
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Claimants offer a church baptismal register that lists their grandfather as the son of the original landowner. The entries were made in the ordinary course of the parish's record-keeping. The court receives the register to establish the claimants' ancestry because the document contains statements of family history maintained by a religious organization.
Longtime neighbors testify that the community has always regarded the plaintiff as the sole descendant of the original homesteader. The reputation arose decades before the quiet-title suit. The testimony is admitted to prove ancestry because it reflects a settled community understanding of personal and family history.
A state statute prohibits marriage between persons of different racial ancestries. The couple challenges the law after being denied a license solely because of their respective family lines. The court strikes the statute because distinctions drawn according to ancestry violate equal-protection principles.
A city ordinance limits occupancy of single-family homes to nuclear-family members and excludes more distant blood relatives. A grandmother seeks to live with her grandson under the ordinance. The restriction is invalidated because it interferes with the constitutional protection afforded to extended family ancestry and living arrangements.
A statement of ancestry contained in a regularly kept record of a religious organization is admissible under the hearsay exception for religious records of family history. The exception applies regardless of the declarant's availability and covers baptismal registers and similar documents that routinely record parentage and lineage.
Yes. Reputation among a person's family, associates, or community concerning ancestry is excepted from the hearsay rule. The exception rests on the reliability of long-standing communal knowledge about family history and applies even when no single witness has personal knowledge of every generational link.
Ancestry determines the heirs who take real property by operation of law under statutes of descent and distribution. Title passes directly to those relatives without a deed from the decedent, although a fiduciary may later execute a confirmatory deed.
Yes. Under the unavailable-declarant exception, a statement concerning the declarant's own ancestry is admissible even though the declarant had no way of acquiring personal knowledge of the fact.
…declare that a state law which denied equal enjoyment of property rights to a designated class of citizens of specified race and ancestry, was not a legitimate exercise of the state’s police power but violated the guaranty of the equal protection of the laws. Oyama v. California , 332 U.S. 633 (1948). Nor may the…