Gradus

Lat. In civil and canon law. A degree in relationship.

Inst. 3. 6. Dig, 38. 11.

The word properly denotes a step, and is figuratively used, like the Gr. ^adfibs, to express the course of relationship upwards, downwards, or collaterally, stepping as it were (gradiendo,) from one person to another in the series. See Degree, De gradu in gradum; from degree to degree, or from step to step. Bract, fol.

374.

Bracton uses it to signify the place occupied by a person in a scale or scheme of consanguinity; and where such place was left vacant by the death of such person, he calls it gradus vacuus, {a vacant or void degree.) Bract, fol.

134, 374.