DEGREE

degree.  1.  Generally,  a  classification  or  specification  <degrees of  proof>.2. An  incremental

measure of guilt or negligence; a level based on the seriousness of an offense <murder in the first

degree>. See DEGREE OF CRIME.3. A stage in a process; a step in a series of steps toward an

end  <the  statute  went  through  several  degrees  of  development>.4.  A  stage  in  intensity  <a  high

degree of legal skill is required>.5. In the line of descent, a measure of removal determining the

proximity of a blood  or  marital relationship <the  council  member did  not participate in the vote

because  he  was  related  to  one  of  the  bidders  within  the  first degree  of  consanguinity>.  •  In  the

civil  law,  and  in  the  degree-of-relationship  system  used  by  many  American  jurisdictions,  an

intestate estate passes to the closest of kin, counting degrees of kinship. To calculate the degree of

relationship  of  the  decedent  to  the  claimant,  one  counts  the  steps  (one  for  each  generation)  up

from the decedent to the nearest common ancestor of the decedent and the claimant, and on down

to the claimant from the common ancestor. The total number of steps is the degree of relationship.

For  example,  a  decedent’s  cousin  stands  in  the  fourth  degree  of  relationship.  Degrees  of

relationship are used not only to determine who is the closest heir but also to establish the incest

prohibition in marriage requirements. — Also termed degree of kin; degree of relationship; degree

of descent. See AFFINITY(2); CONSANGUINITY. [Cases: Descent and Distribution    22. C.J.S.

Descent and Distribution § 26.]

equal degree.A relationship between two or more relatives who are the same number of steps

away  from  a  common  ancestor.  [Cases:  Descent  and  Distribution    22.  C.J.S.  Descent  and

Distribution § 26.]

prohibited  degree.A  degree  of  relationship  so  close  (as  between  brother  and  sister)  that

marriage  between  the  persons  is  forbidden  by  law.  •  Generally,  with  slight  variations  from

jurisdiction  to  jurisdiction,  the  law  forbids  marriages  between  all  persons  lineally  related  and

within the third civil-law degree  of relationship.  That is, aunt–nephew and  uncle–niece relations

are prohibited. Prohibited degrees are also known as Levitical degrees, since the incest prohibition

is  pronounced  in  the  Bible  in  Leviticus  18:6–18.  —  Also  termed  forbidden  degree.  [Cases:

Marriage    10. C.J.S. Marriage § 17.]

6.  A  title  conferred  on  a  graduate  of  a  school,  college,  or  university,  either  after  the

completion  of  required  studies  or  in  honor  of  special  achievements <she began  studying  for  the

bar exam the day after receiving her law degree>. Cf. DIPLOMA(3). [Blacks Law 8th]