Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Cosinage:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_08_30-2009_09_05.shtml#1251823710
Here's the answer to [1]yesterday's puzzle -- cosinage is not related
to cosines, cosigning, cozening, cosseting, or the Slavic "syn"
(meaning "son"), or the Latin "sinus." Rather (isn't it obvious?) it's
what happens when you can't get an ayle, besayle, de avo, de proavo,
or mort d'ancestor. ("Very barbarous names," says Justice Duncan in
Witherow v. Keller, 11 Serg. & Rawle 271 (Pa.).)
OK, it isn't quite that hard, since it is indeed (as some commenters
noted) related to cousins and consanguinity. KeithKW was the first to
note the consanguinity link, so the promised glory &c. goes to him. I
turn to [2]Sir William Blackstone (the quotation is from my 1847
American edition, though the link is to a different edition):
[An action by writ of] assize is a real action which proves the
title of the demandant merely by showing his or his ancestor�s
possession ...
If the [ouster of the demandant] happened upon the death of the
demandant�s father or mother, brother or sister, uncle or aunt,
nephew or niece, the remedy is by an assize of mort d�ancestor, or
death of one�s ancestor. This writ directs the sheriff to summon a
jury or assize, who shall view the land in question, and recognize
whether such ancestor were seized thereof on the day of his death,
and whether the demandant be the next heir; soon after which the
judges come down by the king�s commission to take the recognition
of assize: when, if these points are found in the affirmative, the
law immediately transfers the possession from the tenant to the
demandant. If the abatement happened on the death of one�s
grandfather or grandmother, then an assize of mort d�ancestor no
longer lies, but a writ of ayle or de avo; if on the death of the
great-grandfather or great-grandmother, then a writ of besayle or
de proavo; but if it mounts one degree higher, to the tresayle, or
grandfather�s grandfather, or if the abatement happened upon the
death of any collateral relation other than those before mentioned,
the writ is called a writ of cosinage or de consanguineo.
By the way, though the main entry in the Oxford English Dictionary for
this term is "cousinage," the dominant spelling in English and
American cases has indeed been "cosinage." The origin is indeed
"cousin," but, as the OED points out, "In mediæval use, the word
[cousin] seems to have been often taken to represent L.
consanguineus," though the actual origin of "cousin" is from the Latin
consobrinus.]
More from Justice Duncan:
On the general doctrine of disseisin, Lord MANSFIELD has said, it
was once well known, but is not now to be found; the more we read,
the more we shall be confounded. Taking it for granted, that what
would confound Lord MANSFIELD, would overwhelm me, I never have
puzzled myself with this abstruse subject, and I never shall; the
study of it neither affords profit nor pleasure, and I have no
ambition to be wiser than Lord MANSFIELD.
References
1. http://volokh.com/posts/1251758065.shtml
2.
http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=2142&chapter=198806&layout=html&Itemid=27
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