When husband or wife may bring action for the exclusive control of children. Decree in such cases, Custody of an illegiti mate child. Allowance to parent. Parent cannct control SEC. 199. Without application for a divorce, the husband or the wife may bring an action for the exclusive control of the children of the marriage; and the Court may, during the pending of such action, or at the final hearing thereof, or afterwards, make sucb order or decrce in regard to the support, care, custody, education and control of the children of the marriage, as may be just and in accordance with the natural rights of the parents and the best interests of the children, and may at any time thereafter amend, vary or modify such order or decree, as the natural rights and the interests of the parties, including the children, may require. SEC. 200. The mother of an illegitimate unmarried minor is entitled to its custody, services and earnings. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 91. SEC. 201. The proper Court may direct an allowance to be made to the parent of a child, out of its property, for its past or future support and education, on such conditions as may be proper, whenever such direction is for its benefit. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 92. SEC. 202. The parent, as such, has no control over the the property property of the child. of child. Remedy for parental abuse. When pa rental authority ceases. Remedy when a parent dies without providing for the sup port of his child. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 93. SEC. 203. The abuse of parental authority is the subject of judicial cognizance in a civil action brought by the child, or by its relative within the third degree, or by the Supervisors of the county where the child resides; and when the abuse is established, the child may be freed from the dominion of the parent, the parent punished, and the duty of support and education enforced. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 94. SEC. 204. The authority of a parent ceases 1. Upon the appointment by a Court of a guardian of the person of a child; 2. Upon the marriage of the child; or, 3. Upon its attaining majority. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 95. SEC. 205. If a parent chargeable with the support of a child dies, leaving it chargeable to the county, and leav ing an estate sufficient for its support, the Supervisors of Reciprocal duties of children in maintaining each other. SEC. 206. It is the duty of the father, the mother and the children of any poor person who is unable to main- parents and tain himself by work, to maintain such person to the extent of their ability. The promise of an adult child to pay for necessaries previously furnished to such parent is binding. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 97. SEC. 207. If a parent neglects to provide articles necessary for his child who is under his charge, according to his circumstances, a third person may in good faith supply such necessaries, and recover the reasonable value thereof from the parent. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 98. SEC. 208. A parent is not bound to compensate the other parent, or a relative, for the voluntary support of his child, without an agreement for compensation, nor to compensate a stranger for the support of a child who has abandoned the parent without just cause. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 99. SEC. 209. A husband is not bound to maintain his wife's children by a former husband; but if he receives them into his family and supports them, it is presumed that he does so as a parent, and where such is the case, they are not liable to him for their support, nor he to them for their services. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 100. SEC. 210. Where a child, after attaining majority, continues to serve and to be supported by the parent, neither party is entitled to compensation, in the absence of an agreement therefor. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 101. SEC. 211. The parent, whether solvent or insolvent, may relinquish to the child the right of controlling him Wages of min.rs. Right of parent to determine the residence of child. Parent not liable for and receiving his earnings. Abandonment by the parent is presumptive evidence of such relinquishment. ⚫N. Y. C. C., Sec. 102. SEC. 212. The wages of a minor employed in service may be paid to him, unless, within thirty days after the commencement of the service, the parent or guardian entitled thereto gives the employer notice that he claims such wages. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 103. SEC. 213. A parent entitled to the custody of a child has a right to change his residence, subject to the power of the proper Court to restrain a removal which would prejudice the rights or welfare of the child. SEC. 214. acts of child. such, for the Wife in certain cases custody of minor children. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 104. Neither parent nor child is answerable, as acts of the other. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 105. SEC. 215. When a busband and wife live in a state of may obtain separation, without being divorced, any Court or officer of competent jurisdiction, upon application of the wife, if she is an inhabitant of this State, may grant the proper writ to inquire into the custody of any minor unmarried child of the marriage, and may award the custody of the child to either party for such time, and under such regulations, as the case may require. The decision of the tribunal is to be guided by the rules prescribed in Sec. 246. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 106. CHAPTER II. ADOPTION. SECTION 221. Child may be adopted. 222. Who may adopt. 223. Consent of wife necessary. 224. Consent of child's parents. 225. Consent of child. 226. Proceedings on adoption. 227. Judge's order. 228. Effect of adoption. 229. Effect on former relations of child. 230. Adoption of illegitimate child. be adopted. SEC. 221. Any minor child may be adopted by any Child may adult person, in the cases and subject to the rules prescribed in this chapter. The total absence of any provision for the adoption of children is one of the most remarkable defects of our law. Thousands of children are actually, though not legally, adopted every year; yet there is no method by which the adopting parents can secure the children to themselves, except by a fictitious apprenticeship, a form which, when applied to children in the cradle, becomes absurd and repulsive. It is, indeed, so inappropriate in every case that it is rarely resorted to. The consequence is, almost invariably, that if the real parents of the child live to see it grow to an age of usefulness and intelligence they are certain to attempt to reclaim it, sometimes through the mere selfishness of natural affection, but more commonly from base and sordid motives. The chances of an adopting parent for the retention of the child upon which, perhaps, his whole heart is centred, are therefore in the inverse ratio to the degree of his benevolence in its selection, and of his care and affection in its training. Benevolence dictates a choice from among children whose parents are least able or willing to take care of them. To relieve a child from a cruel and heartless parent is a greater mercy than to take even an orphan. Yet these are the parents who are, of all others, most likely to reclaim the child as soon as any money can be made out of it. Affection will give the child such a training as will develop its beauty and intelligence to the highest degree. Yet every grace of the child is but a premium upon the extortion of its heartless parents. This is not mere theory. Facts within the knowledge of almost every one justify these statements. There are very many childless parents who would gladly adopt children, but for their well-founded fears that they could never hold thei securely. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 107; Stats. 1870, 530, Sec. 1. Who may SEC. 222. The person adopting a child must be at least fifteen years older than the person adopted, and must adopt. have been married, and if a woman, must be a widow, or be lawfully divorced from her husband, without her fault. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 108; Stats. 1870, 530, Sec. 1. wife necessary. SEC. 223. A married man, not lawfully separated from Consent of his wife, cannot adopt a child without the consent of his wife. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 109; Stats. 1870, 530, Sec. 2. SEC. 221. A legitimate child cannot be adopted without the consent of its parents, if living, nor an illegitimate child without the consent of its mother, if living, except that consent is not necessary from a father or mother deprived of civil rights, or adjudged guilty of adultery, or of cruelty, and for either cause divorced, or adjudged to be a habitual drunkard, or who has been Consent of child's par. ents. Consent of child. Proceedings on adoption. Judge's order. Effect of adoption. Effect on former rela judicially deprived of the custody of the child, on account of cruelty or neglect. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 110; Stats. 1870, 530, Sec. 3. SEC. 225. The consent of a child, if over the age of twelve years, is necessary to its adoption. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 111; Stats. 1870, 530, Sec. 3. SEC. 226. The person adopting a child, and the child adopted, and the other persons whose consent is necessary, must appear before the County Judge of the county where the person adopting resides, and the necessary consent must thereupon be signed, and an agreement be executed by the person adopting, to the effect that the child shall be adopted, and treated in all respects as his own lawful child should be treated. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 112; Stats. 1870, 530, Sec. 4. SEC. 227. The Judge must examine all persons appearing before him pursuant to the last section, each separately, and if satisfied that the interests of the child will be promoted by the adoption, he must make an order declaring that the child shall thenceforth be regarded and treated in all respects as the child of the person adopting. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 113; Stats. 1870, 530, Sec. 5. SEC. 228. A child, when adopted, takes the name of the person adopting, and the two thenceforth sustain towards each other the legal relation of parent and child, and have all the right and are subject to all the duties of that relation. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 114; Stats. 1870, 530, Sec. 6. SEC. 229. The parents of an adopted child are, from tions of child the time of the adoptior, relieved of all parental duties towards, and all responsibility for, the child so adopted, and have no right over it. Adoption of illegitimate child. N. Y. C. C., Sec. 115; Stats. 1870, 530, Sec. 7. SEC. 230. The father of an illegitimate child, by publicly acknowledging it as his own, receiving it as such, with the consent of his wife if he is married, into his family, and otherwise treating it as if it were a legitimate child, thereby adopts it as such; and such child is thereupon deemed for all purposes legitimate from the time |