AFFILIATION
This term has been applied, in different eras and places, to various legal institutions.
### HISTORY OF LAW
In the Middle Ages, among populations that had once belonged to the Roman Empire, it referred to a special inheritance contract through which an adoption and a *donatio mortis causa* were effected simultaneously. The contract took effect only upon the death of the *affilians*, but the latter could never revoke the donation once made.
Often, the contract contained special clauses, such as the obligation to provide support, to marry or endow the *affilians*' daughter, etc. This institution disappeared in the 12th century. Some scholars (Schupfer) consider this form of affiliation a derivation of the Lombard *thinx*; it is certain, however, that at least later on, it differed distinctly from the *thinx*, as it could occur even if the *affilians* had legitimate children.
In the early Middle Ages, there also arose the affiliation of a son-in-law, analogous to the Roman *adoptio generi* (D. 23, 2, 17; § 1), though without the necessity of emancipating the daughter. Moreover, we also find the affiliation of unrelated persons.
A similar institution is found in the Church, at least since the Justinian era, and later in the early Middle Ages especially in Sardinia and southern Italy. Here, Christ, the Church, a saint, or an ecclesiastical entity was called upon to take the place of children in inheritance or at least to share in it, with the aim of somehow personifying the heir or legatee of property left for pious purposes (cf. *Cod. Iustin.* I, 2, 25; *Nov.* 131, 3). It is unclear which of the two institutions (the ecclesiastical one or the secular one described above) is derived from or imitates the other.
### CANON LAW
In canon law, until the last century, the term referred to the affiliation of religious, in cases where a religious was aggregated to a house or province different from the one in which they had professed vows. Such aggregation was valid only if justified by proper motives and (unless dispensed by the Holy See) with the permission of the superior and the consent of the religious of both the sending (*a quo*) and receiving (*ad quem*) convents. This institution of the affiliation of religious was particularly significant in certain Orders where the religious had a more or less strict right to stability, and it cannot be excluded that it may still exist in current canon law by virtue of a privilege or particular law.
With the same term, the *Normae servandae in approbandi novis institutis votorum simplicium*, issued by the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars on June 28, 1901, referred (§ 16) to the aggregation of a Third Order to its respective First Order; now can. 492, § 1 of the *Codex Iuris Canonici* (CIC) indeed speaks of such aggregation.
In the Eastern Church, especially the Byzantine, the founder of a monastery or laypeople often affiliated themselves with a monastery to participate in some way in the spiritual fruits of the monks' prayers and other good works. These affiliated persons do not constitute a Third Order or any other true association.
### CIVIL LAW
The Italian Civil Code (arts. 404–12) uses the term to denote a new institution, a hybrid of adoption and guardianship, created to regulate a practice already widespread among our people: the assumption of orphaned or abandoned children as one's own, providing for their maintenance and education.
Affiliation shares with adoption the fact of incorporating a stranger into the family unit. Moreover, the *affilians* has the powers inherent in parental authority, must maintain and educate the *affiliate*, and administer their property. The *affiliate*, if so requested by the *affilians*, acquires the latter's surname, or, if a legitimate or recognized natural child, adds it to their own.
On the other hand, whereas the primary purpose of adoption is to ensure the continuity of the family by inserting a stranger into the position of a child, affiliation aims to provide assistance to children deprived of or abandoned by their parents, and is therefore regulated by law in the interest of public welfare concerning minors.
It is debated whether a parent married to someone other than the other parent should be permitted to affiliate their own children.
The Civil Code prohibits marriage between the *affilians* and the *affiliate*, the spouse or descendants of the latter; between *affiliates* of the same person; and between the *affiliate* and the children or spouse of the *affilians*. A marriage contracted in violation of this prohibition (which may be lifted by dispensation) is voidable, provided it is challenged within six months. It is unclear whether the same impediment applies in the *Codex Iuris Canonici* (cf. can. 1059 and 1080) in Italy, and, if so, whether it is an impediment or a diriment impediment (v. COGNATIONE LEGALE).