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their natural father or his heirs for alimony, the amount of which shall be determined, as is directed in the title of father and child.

ART. 914.-Bastard, adulterous or incestuous children shall not enjoy the right of inheriting the estates of their natural father or mother, in any of the cases above mentioned, the law allowing them nothing more than a mere alimony.

ART. 915.—The law does not grant any right of inheritance to natural children to the estate of the legitimate relations of their father or mother.

ART. 916.-The estate of a natural child deceased without posterity, belongs to the father or mother who has acknowledged him, or in equal portions to the father and mother, when he has been acknowledged by both of them.

ART. 917.-If the father and mother of the natural child died before him, the estate of such natural child shall pass to his natural brothers and sisters, or to their descendants.

ART. 918.-If a married man has left no lawful descendants nor ascendants, nor any collateral relations, but a surviving wife not separated from bed and board from him, the wife shall inherit from him to the exclusion of any natural child or children duly acknowledged.

If, on the contrary, it is the wife who died without leaving any lawful descendants, ascendants or collateral relations, her surviving husband not separated from bed and board from her, shall not inherit from her, except in case she should leave no natural child or children by her duly acknowledged.

ART. 919.-Children called to the succession of their natural father or mother, in the case mentioned in the preceding articles, are permitted to take possession of the succession, which has fallen to them, only by the order

of the judge of the parish in which the succession is opened.

ART. 920.-If the succession be that of the natural mother deceased without legitimate children, the putting into possession of the natural children shall not be pronounced without calling the relations of the deceased, who would have inherited in the default of the natural children, if they are present or represented in the state, or without appointing a person to defend them, if they are absent.

ART. 921.-If the succession be that of the natural father, the natural children by him acknowledged cannot be put into possession of the succession which they claim, until a faithful inventory has been made of the same by a notary appointed for that purpose by the judge, in the presence of a person appointed to defend the interest of the absent heirs of the deceased, and on giving good and sufficient security, as is prescribed in the following article.

ART. 922.-The security to be furnished by natural children put into possession of the effects of the succession of their father, shall be two-thirds of the amount of the inventory made thereof, and this security shall be given to insure the restitution of such portion of these effects, which they may be adjudged to restore, in case the legitimate heirs of the father should present themselves within three years from the putting into possession, after which time this security shall be discharged.

ART. 923.-In defect of lawful relations, or of a surviving husband or wife, or acknowledged natural children, the succession belongs to the State.

ART. 924.-The surviving husband or wife called to the succession of the other who is deceased, must cause the seals to be fixed on the effects thereof, and be authorized to take possession of the same by the judge of the place in which the succession is opened, after having

caused a true and faithful inventory to be made by a notary duly authorized to that effect by the judge, in the presence of a person appointed to defend the interest of the absent heirs of the deceased, in case there are ́any, and after having given good and sufficient security, as prescribed in the following article.

ART. 925.-The security to be given by the surviving husband or wife who shall demand to be put into possession of the effects of the deceased husband or wife, is to be of the estimated value of these effects, to the end of securing the restitution of the estate, in case any heir should come forward within the space of three years, after his or her having been put in possession, which term being expired, the security shall remain discharged from his obligation.

ART. 926.-During the three years that the security furnished by the surviving husband or wife, or natural children put into possession of the succession of their father continues, they cannot in any manner alienate the real estate by them thus possessed, nor sell the slaves, unless it be under the authority of the court, at public auction, and in cases in which their alienation is deemed necessary.

ART. 927.-The surviving husband or wife and natural children, who shall fail to fulfil any of the formafities or obligations prescribed in the preceding articles, shall be liable to damages towards the heir, if any should be incurred.

CHAPTER IV.

In what manner Successions are opened.

ART. 928.-The succession, either testamentary or legal, or irregular, becomes open by death or by presumption of death caused by long absence, in the cases established by law.

ART. 929. The place of the opening of successions is fixed as follows.

In the parish where the deceased resided, if he had a fixed domicil or residence in this State.

In the parish where the deceased owned real estate, if he had neither domicil nor residence in this State, or in the parish in which it appears by the inventory, his principal effects are, if he have effects in different parishes.

In the parish in which the deceased has died, if he had no fixed residence, nor any immoveable effects within this State, at the time of his death.

ART. 930.-If several persons respectively entitled to inherit from one another, happen to perish in the same event, such as a wreck, a battle, or a conflagration, without any possibility of ascertaining who died first, the presumption of survivorship is determined by the circumstances of the fact.

ART. 931.-In defect of circumstances of the fact, the determination must be guided by the probabilities resulting from the strength, age, and difference of sex, according to the following rules.

ART. 932.-If those who have perished together were under the age of fifteen years, the eldest shall be presumed to have survived.

If both were above the age of sixty years, the youngest shall be presumed to have survived.

If some were under fifteen years, and some above sixty, the first shall be presumed to have survived.

ART. 933.-If those who have perished together, were above the age of fifteen years and under sixty, the male must be presumed to have survived, where there was an equality of age, or a difference of less than one

year.

If they were of the same sex, the presumption of survivorship, by which the succession becomes open in the

order of nature, must be admitted, thus the younger must be presumed to have survived the elder.

ART. 934.-A succession is acquired by the lawful heir, who is called by law to the inheritance, immediately after the death of the deceased person to whom he succeeds.

This rule refers as well to testamentary heirs as to instituted heirs and universal legatees, but not to particular legatees.

ART. 935.-The right mentioned in the preceding article, is acquired by the heir by the operation of the law alone, before he has taken any step to put himself in possession, or has expressed any will to accept it.

Thus children, idiots, those who are ignorant of the death of the deceased, are not the less considered as being seized of the succession, though they be merely seized of right and not in fact.

ART. 936. The heir being considered seized of the succession from the moment of its being opened, the right of possession, which the deceased had, continues in the person of the heir, as if there had been no interruption, and independent of the fact of possession.

ART. 937.-The right of possession, which the deceased had, being continued in the person of his heir, it results that this possession is transmitted to the heir with all its defects, as well as all its advantages, the change in the proprietor producing no alteration in the nature of the possession.

Thus the extent of the rights of the deceased regulate those of the heir, who succeeds to all his rights which can be transmitted, that is, to all those which are not, like usufruct, attached to the person of the deceased.

ART. 938.-The heir being considered as having succeeded to the deceased from the instant of his death, the first effect of this right is that the heir transmits the succession to his own heirs, with the right of accepting or

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