وقوله لعبده وهو معروف النسب من غيره: «هذا ابني»
A man says to someone he historically owns, whose parentage is already known to belong to another person: 'This is my son.'
Because established lineage rules out the literal attribution of paternity in the situation presented, the words cannot operate literally as a new genealogical fact. Some juristic analysis therefore recognizes their figurative operation in the law of emancipation.
Actual lineage and freedom from bondage are different legal effects. The inability of one subject to receive literal kinship language leads the interpreter to consider whether a legally recognized alternative effect is intended.
The result belongs to this qualified historical example; it should not be extended indiscriminately to every ambiguous family expression.