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In 1649, the Faculty of Law at the University of Rinteln gave a joint and formal decision on the subject of marriage with a deceased wife's sister, which is the most complete treatise on the subject that I have seen. With regard to Leviticus xviii. 18, paragraph 224 says: — "Endlich auch dass das matrimonium cum sorore uxoris defunctæ in dem Gesetze zugelassen sey, Solches wird ex mente legis per argumentum â sensu contrario fest behauptet. Si enim expressé est prohibitum matrimonium cum sorore uxoris viventis, sequitur â sensu contrario ex mente legis, matrimonium cum sorore uxoris defunctæ non esse prohibitum, sed concessum. Nam argumentum â sensu contrario in jure usitatum est et validum."[1] — L. qui testamento, s. mulier, ff. qui testam. fac. poss., 1. cum lex ff. de legib. Vult. Marp. cons. 18, n. 8, vol. 1. Regner. Sixtin. cons. 7, n. 19, cons. 14, n. 114, vol. 2. Goedd, cons. 28, n. 201, vol. 3.
The profoundly learned Sebastian Schmidt, whose translation appeared in 1696, also gives the same version. "Mulierem etiam ad sororem ejus non accipies ad æmulandum, revelando nuditatem ejus præter illam in vita ejus."
Le Clerc, in his commentary published about the same time, translates, "Uxorern cum ejus sorore non
- ↑ "Finally, also, that the marriage with a deceased wife's sister is allowed in the Law is unhesitatingly affirmed. For, if marriage with the sister of a living wife is expressly prohibited, it follows, â sensu contrario, according to the mind of the law, that marriage with the sister of a deceased wife is not prohibited, but permitted: for the argument â sensu contrario is in law allowed and valid." Responsum Juris Collegii Jctorum in Academia Rintelensi elaboratum a Christophoro Joachimo Bucholtz, &c. Rinteln, 1652. This University was dissolved by the quondam King of Westphalia in 1809.
