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Free illegitimate children of colour, may also be allowed to prove their descent from a father of colour only.

ART. 227. In the case where the proof of natural paternal descent is authorised by the preceding article, the proof may be made in either of the following ways: 1. By all kinds of private writings, in which the father may have acknowledged the bastard as his child, or may have called him so;

2. When the father, either in public or in private, has acknowledged him as his child, or has called him so in conversation, or has caused him to be educated as such;

3. When the mother of the child was known as living in a state of concubinage with the father, and resided as such in his house at the time when the child was conceived.

ART. 228. The oath of the mother, supported by proof of the co-habitation of the reputed father with her, out of his house, is not sufficient to establish natural paternal descent, if the mother be known as a woman of dissolute manners, or as having had an unlawful connexion with one or more men, other than the man whom she declares to be the father of the child, either before or since the birth of the child.

ART. 229.-In case of rape, whenever the time of such rape shall agree with the time of conception, the ravisher may, at the suit of the parties concerned, be declared to be the father of the child.

ART. 230. Illegitimate children of every description may make proof of their natural maternal descent, provided the mother be not a married woman.

But the child who will make such proof shall be bound to show that he is identically the same person, as the child whom the mother brought forth.

ART. 231.The foundling, whom persons from charity have received and brought up, cannot be claimed by

its father and mother, unless they prove that the child was taken from them by force, fraud or accident.

No other relation can claim a foundling without having first obtained the tutorship or curatorship of the foundling, and given security in a sum sufficient for the reimbursement of the expences which it has incurred.

ART. 232.

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CHAPTER IV.

Of Adoption.

Adoption which was authorised by the

laws heretofore in force, shall be and is hereby abolished.

CHAPTER V.

Of Paternal Authority.

SECTION. I.

Of the duties of Parents towards their legitimate Children, and of the duties of legitimate Children towards their Parents.

ART. 233.

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A child whatever be his age, owes honor and respect to his father and mother.

ART. 234. A child remains under the authority of his father and mother, until his majority or emancipation.

In case of difference between the parents, the authority of the father prevails.

ART. 235. As long as the child remains under the authority of his father and mother, he is bound to obey them in every thing which is not contrary to good morals and the laws.

ART. 236. A child under the age of puberty cannot quit the paternal house without the permission. of his father and mother, who have a right to correct him, provided it be done in a reasonable manner.

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ART. 237. The father and mother have a right to appoint tutors to their children, as is directed in the title of minors.

ART. 238.-Fathers and mothers may, during their life, delegate a part of their authority to teachers, schoolmasters and others to whom they entrust their children for their education, such as the power of restraint and correction, so far as may be necessary to answer the purposes for which they employ them.

They have also the right to bind their children as apprentices.

ART. 239. Fathers and mothers shall have during marriage, the enjoyment of the estate of their children, until their majority or emancipation.

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ART. 240. The obligations resulting from this enjoyment shall be:

1. The same obligations to which usufructuaries are subjected;

2. To support, to maintain and to educate their children according to their situation in life.

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ART. 241. The usufruct in case of separation from bed and board, shall take place in toto, in favor of either father or mother, who shall have sued for such separation, and shall be subjected to the conditions prescribed in the preceding article.

ART. 242.-This usufruct shall not extend to any estate, which the children may acquire by their own labor and industry, nor to such estate as is given or left them under the express condition that the father and mother shall not enjoy such usufruct.

ART. 243. Fathers and mothers, by the very act of marrying, contract together the obligation of supporting, maintaining, and educating their children.

ART. 244. A child has no right to sue either his father or mother for the purpose of obtaining a marriage settlement or other advancement.

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ART. 245. Children are bound to maintain their father and mother and other ascendants, who are in need;

and the relatives in the direct ascending line are likewise bound to maintain their needy descendants, this obligation being reciprocal.

They are also bound to render reciprocally all the services which their situation can require, if they should become insane.

ART. 246.-By alimony we understand what is necessary for the nourishment, lodging and support of the person who claims it.

It includes the education, when the person to whom the alimony is due, is a minor.

ART. 247.-Alimony shall be granted in proportion to the wants of the person requiring it, and the circumstances of those who are to pay it.

ART. 248.-When the person who gives or receives alimony is replaced in such a situation that the one can no longer give, or that the other is no longer in need of it, the circumstances of either party are materially changed; then the discharge from or reduction of the alimony may be sued for and granted.

ART. 249.-If the person, whose duty it is to furnish alimony, shall prove that he is unable to pay the same, the judge may, after examining into the case, order that such person shall receive in his house, and there support and maintain the person to whom he owes alimony.

ART. 250.-The judge shall pronounce likewise whether the father or mother who may offer to receive, support and maintain the child, to whom he or she may owe alimony, in his or her house, shall be dispensed in that case' from the obligation of paying for it elsewhere.

ART. 251.-Fathers and mothers owe protection to their children, and of course they may, as long as their children are under their authority, appear for them in court in every kind of civil suit, in which they may be

interested, and they may likewise accept any donation made to them.

ART. 252.-Fathers and mothers may justify themselves in an action begun against them for assault and battery, if they have acted in defence of the persons of their children.

ART. 253.-Fathers and mothers are answerable for the offences or quasi-offences committed by their children, in the cases prescribed under the title of quasicontracts and quasi-crimes or offences.

SECTION II.

Of the Duties of Parents towards their natural Children, and of the Duties of natural Children towards their Parents.

ART. 254.-Bastards, generally speaking, belong to no family, and have no relations; accordingly they are not submitted to the paternal authority, even when they have been legally acknowledged.

ART. 255.-Nevertheless nature and humanity establish certain reciprocal duties between fathers and mothers, and their natural children.

ART. 256.-Fathers and mothers owe alimony to their natural children, when they are in need;

And natural children owe likewise alimony to their father and mother, if they are in need, and if they themselves have the means of providing it.

ART. 257.-Natural children have a right to claim this alimony, not only from their father and mother, but even from their heirs after their death.

ART. 258. But in order that the may have a right to sue for this alimony, they must:

1. Have been legally acknowledged by both their father and mother, or by either of them from whom they claim alimony; or they must have been declared their natural

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