HALF-BLOOD, parentage, kindred. When persons have only one parent in common,
they are of the half-blood. For example, if John marry Sarah and has a son
by that marriage, and after Sarah's death he marry Maria, and has by her
another son, these children are of the half-blood; whereas two of the
children of John and Sarah would be of the whole blood.
2. By the English common law, one related to an intestate of the half-
blood only, could never inherit, upon the presumption that he is not of the
blood of the original purchaser; but this rule has been greatly modified by
the 3 and 4 Wm. IV. c. 106.
3. In this country the common law principle on this subject may be
considered as not in force, though in some states some distinction is still
preserved between the whole and the half-blood. 4 Kent, Com. 403, n.; 2
Yerg. 115; 1 M'Cord, 456; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.; Reeves on Descents,
passim. Vide Descents.