Levirate Marriage and the Family[ ]While paternity can now be biologically determined through DNA
testing, pre-modern societies had different ways of assigning paternity.
Paternity was often assigned by proximity or legal ties; a man who lived
with a woman was accepted as the father of her children, and the chil-
dren of a married woman were legally assumed to be her husband’s.^54
Paternity can be assigned to a man who is clearly not a child’s biological
fat her. In such cases, t he r ig hts or responsibi l it ies of t he biolog ica l fat her
can be set aside or superseded. The most common method of “creat-
ing” or reassigning paternity is adoption. Through legal adoption, the
rights and obligations of the biological father can be assumed by an-
other man.
In some societies, paternity can be assigned away from the genitor
in order to provide heirs for other men, or even for women. The Nuer of
Sudan practice levirate and ghost marriage. The former assigns the chil-
dren of a man’s widow and his brother to the deceased and is mandated
whether or not the deceased had children. Ghost marriage is practiced
on behalf of a man who died before marrying; a relative will take a wife
on beha l f of t he decea sed. In bot h sit uat ions, t he ch i ld ren a re cred ited to
t he deceased rat her t han t he genitor.^55 The rights of t he deceased super-
sede those of the genitor, who is expected to have progeny that will be
accou nted to h i m w it h h is ow n w i fe or w ives. Com mu n it ies may even be
w illing to accept a woma n as t he lega l “fat her” of children. Some groups
in sub-Saharan Africa practice “woman-marriage” — an arrangement
whereby a woman may arrange for another woman to have children for
her. The first woman is regarded by the children as their “father,” since
she provided the bride-wealth that allowed their mother to give birth to
and raise them.^56 The Zulu regard all of a woman’s children as her first
husband’s, regardless of who actually fathers them.^57
The practice of levirate is closely linked to the assignment of pater-
n it y. It may reflect a societ y ’s i nsistence t hat a husba nd is t he lega l fat her
of his wife’s children, even after his death. It may also reflect a society’s
emphasis on the importance of children to carry on a man’s name or line-
age, to preserve his property, or to honor his memory. In most cultures,
the designation of the deceased husband as the father of his widow’s
children by the levir is the defining characteristic of levirate. This des-
ignation of paternity guarantees that levirate serves the interests of the
dead, even if doing so makes levirate unattractive to the potential levir.