levirate

/lev-er-it, -uh-reyt, lee-ver-it, -vuh-reyt/US // ˈlɛv ər ɪt, -əˌreɪt, ˈli vər ɪt, -vəˌreɪt //UK // (ˈlɛvɪrɪt) //

娶妻制,娶妻生子,嫂子,娶亲

Definitions

n.名词 noun

1
- : the custom of marriage by a man with his brother's widow, such marriage required in Biblical law if the deceased was childless. Deuteronomy 25:5–10.

The Levirate (from "Levir," a brother-in-law, in Sanscrit dvar) is also found operating as a stringent injunction.
By a Levirate marriage if a man died without heirs his remaining brother married his widow and raised up heirs to him.
There is absolutely no trace of a levirate system by which the nearest male kinsman must marry his deceased brother's widow.
We are therefore reduced to the levirate as a proof of the former existence of group marriage.
He regards this rather unfortunately named custom of the levirate as having its root in group marriage.