[64]
It was
to guard against this that the lawgiver forbade a person who was himself adopted
to create a son by adoption. In what manner did he declare his view regarding
this? When he says “ a man may return to his own family, leaving
behind him a lawfully born son” he makes it plain, I take it, that it
is not lawful for him to adopt; for it is impossible for a man to leave behind
him a lawfully born son, unless he have a son born of his body. But you,
Leostratus, claim the right to bring an adopted son into the inheritance of the
dead man, who had himself been adopted into our family, just as though you were
taking possession of your own property, and not that which the law declares
shall be given to the nearest of kin.
Demosthenes. Demosthenes with an English translation by A. T. Murray, Ph.D., LL.D. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1939.
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