ABSTRACT
In the past the individual had to adjust himself to a plurality of organizations to which he belonged and the types are: the household, the clan, magic groupings, the village and mark association, the political group, overlordship of land, and personal overlordship. Definite groups (clan or tribe) form a marriage unit in relation to other groups, any man of the one being regarded as the husband of any woman of the other. The distinguishing mark of legitimate marriage according to patriarchal law, is the fact that from the standpoint of a certain social group only the children of a certain wife of the man in question have full legal standing. This social group may be of several kinds: the house community, the clan, a military group, a class group, a religious group. In one respect the house community is almost always a pure communism, namely in regard to consumption, though not in regard to property.
