DEGREE

In the law of descent and family relations. A step or grade, i. e., the distance, or number of removes, which separates two persons who are related by consanguinity. Thus we speak ot cousins in the "second degree." In criminal law. The term "degree" denotes a division or cla ificatlon of one specific crime into several grades or stadia oi' guilt, according to the circumstances at ten fling its commi ion. Thus, in some states, there may be "murder in the second degree." [s. 353]