§ 4. Succession Through A Married Daughter: Growth Of Adoption: Introduction Of New Member To Kinsmen.
(M41) But if the heiress was already married and had sons, she need not be divorced and marry the next of kin, though that still lay in her power. It was considered sufficient if she set apart one of her sons to be heir to her father's house. But she must do this absolutely: her son must entirely leave her husband's house and be enfranchised into the house of her father. If she did not do this with all the necessary ceremonies, the house of her father would become extinct, which would be a lasting shame upon her.
Isaeus(75) mentions a case where a wife inherits from her deceased brother a farm and persuades her husband to emancipate their second son in order that he may carry on the family of her brother and take the property.
(M42) In another passage(76) the conduct of married sisters in not appointing one of their own sons to take his place as son in the house of their deceased brother, and in absorbing the property into that of their husbands, whereby the { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI AND PERISPOMENI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER KAPPA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~} of their brother became { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON WITH PSILI AND OXIA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER MU~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}, is described as shameful ({ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA WITH PSILI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER CHI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA WITH PERISPOMENI~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}).
In Demosthenes(77) a man behaving in similar wise is stigmatised as { ~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH DASIA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER BETA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER ETA WITH OXIA~}{ ~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}.
(M43) Herein lay the reason that adoption became so favourite a means in classical times of securing an heir. It became almost a habit among the Athenians who had no sons, to adopt an heir--often even the next of kin who would naturally have succeeded to the inheritance.(78)