Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/136

 the era of this new system, one is astonished at the courage with which such sweeping changes were effected, and at the complacence with which they were received. For whereas previously men had been free to adopt any rule of succession they pleased, and the legitimacy of an heir had scarcely been considered, it now became necessary that the successor to the headship of a family should be legitimate before everything: adoption being declared preferable to the choice of a bastard. But the higher the social grade of the family, the greater the latitude in this respect. It does not appear that the eligibility of an imperial concubine's son was ever questioned, and in the case of a noble belonging to one of the three first grades, a child born out of wedlock might succeed, failing legitimate sons or grandsons. Adoption, too, must be exercised within the limits of blood relatives, any departure from that rule being criminal.

Five families living in the same district were combined into an administrative group, which elected its chief and delegated to him a general duty of supervision. The group (hō) was responsible for the payment of its members' taxes. In those days it was not an uncommon incident for a family to abscond en masse, in the hope of avoiding extortionate imposts. The group had to trace the absconders, and discharge their fiscal liabilities during their absence.

The marriageable age for youths was fifteen, and