We have in some cases stated that when an excepting proviso is found unconstitutional the substantive provisions which it qualifies cannot stand, for to hold otherwise would be to extend the scope of the law . . . so as to embrace [situations] which the legislature passing the statute had, by its very terms, expressly excluded.
We have said that when a proviso is unconstitutional, the provisions it qualifies can't stand.
Thus, kin- recognition mechanism is a doubly misleading term--first because, as we've seen, the mechanism doesn't positively identify kin, but just identifies factors correlated with kinship; and second because people aren't really aware of doing the identifying.