“This is my son.” The author says: the lineage is thereby established. Or if he says, “This is my brother,” the lineage is thereby established. Or if he says, “This is my paternal uncle,” the lineage is thereby established. However, the author says: “the lineage of a minor or an insane person.” If it concerns the lineage of a mature and sane person, the ruling differs. Therefore, in setting out this issue, we say: an acknowledgement of lineage establishes lineage subject to four conditions:

First: that it be possible.

Second: that it does not negate an established lineage. That is, a person may not take hold of someone known to be so-and-so, the son of so-and-so, and say, “This is my son.”

Third: that the person whose lineage is being acknowledged confirm it, if he is mature and sane. If he is not mature and sane, this is not stipulated.

Fourth: that he be of unknown lineage.

The first condition is that it be possible. If it is not possible, the acknowledgement is not accepted. For instance, if someone claims, saying, “This is my son,” while the alleged son is twenty years old and the acknowledger is twenty-five years old, his acknowledgement is not accepted, because a five-year-old cannot father a child.

The second condition is that it not negate an established lineage. This means that the man must not be known as so-and-so, the son of so-and-so. If he is known to be so-and-so, the son of so-and-so, then the acknowledger’s acknowledgement cannot be accepted, because it would invalidate an established lineage. If this door were opened, anyone who took a liking to a particular person could say, “This is my son.”

The third condition is that the person whose lineage is being acknowledged confirm it, provided that he is mature and sane. If he is neither mature nor sane, it is not stipulated that he confirm it. But if