Starcke has devoted the first half of his book to a detailed investigation of the problem of female descent, and comes to the conclusion that it depends mainly on local and economic causes. He first shows that the clan is of later origin than the family; and holds that these are by nature very different institutions. The family is juridical, established by contract, and only "in a subsidiary sense" founded on the "tie of blood between parents and children;" but the clan is a natural and homogeneous group of kindred among whom degrees of relationship are not counted. It is an exclusive group into which the child is born; and "it is absolutely impossible for one person to belong to two distinct clans."[346] In the primitive stage, before the formation of clans, the family must always be a more or less isolated group. The man usually chooses the place of abode, and hence paternal kinship may be easily recognized. A considerable number of rude peoples exist who take kinship from the father;[347] and Starcke is inclined to believe, though he presents rather slender evidence, that as a general rule the paternal precedes the maternal system. With the rise of the clan organization, it became absolutely necessary for the local groups to take one system or the other. So the "definition of kinship results from the conflict between clans, and teaches us nothing further with respect to the child's relation to its parent. The choice between the two possible lines is decided by the economic organization of the community and by the local grouping of individuals, but there is not the slightest trace of the fact that considerations with respect to the sexual relations had any influence in the matter."[348] [346] STARCKE, _op. cit._, 10-16, 25. [347] _Ibid._, 26, 27, 30, 58 ff., 101; WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 98 ff. [348] STARCKE, _op. cit._, 118; _cf. ibid._, 54. FRIEDRICHS agrees with Starcke on the essential point. The uterine system arises with the formation of families and _gentes_. In a very primitive state, the natural means of subsistence sufficing, the children leave the parents and look out for themselves; as it becomes more and more difficult to find food and shelter, family groups are formed, and the children remain a longer time with the mother. Hence naturally the name and kinship are taken from her: "Ueber den Ursprung des Matriarchats," _ZVR._, VIII, 378 ff. Compare _idem_, "Familienstufen und Eheformen," _ibid._, X, 197 ff., 201. DARGUN, _Mutterrecht und Vaterrecht_, 43-66, discusses the original mother-right, but rejects Starcke's theory of local causes, accepting uncertainty of fatherhood as a primary influence. Starcke is also criticised by HELLWALD, _Die mensch. Familie_, 456-58, 465, 484 ff.