of whatever degree they be, it being understood that they are only counted for the child they represent.

ART. 1481.-Donations inter vivos or mortis causa cannot exceed two thirds of the property, if the disposer, having no children, leave a father, mother or both.

ART. 1482.-In the cases prescribed by the two last preceding articles, the heirs are called forced heirs, because the donor cannot deprive them of the portion of his estate reserved for them by law, except in cases where he has a just cause to disinherit them.

ART. 1483.-Where there are no legitimate descendants, and in case of the previous decease of the father and mother, donations inter vivos or mortis causa, may be made to the whole amount of the property of the disposer, saving the reservation made hereafter.

ART. 1484.-The donation inter vivos shall in no case/ divest the donor of all his property; he must reserve to himself enough for subsistence; if he does not do it, the donation is null for the whole.

ART. 1485.-The legitimate portion of which the testator is forbidden to dispose to the prejudice of his descendants, being once fixed by the number of children living or represented at the death of the testator, does not diminish by the renunciation of one or any of them. The part of those who renounce goes to those who accept.

ART. 1486.-If the disposition made by donation inter vivos or mortis causa, be of an usufruct, or of an annuity, the value of which exceeds the disposable portion, the forced heirs have the option, either to execute the disposition, or to abandon to the donee the ownership of such portion of the estate as the donor had a right to dispose of.

ART. 1487.-The value in full ownership of property which has been alienated, either for an annuity for life, or with reservation of an usufruct, to one of those who

succeed to the inheritance in the direct descending line, shall be imputed to the disposable portion, and the surplus, if any there be, shall be brought into the succession; but this imputation and this collation cannot be demanded by any of the heirs in the direct descending line who have consented to those alienations.

ART. 1488.-The disposable quantum may be given in whole or in part, by an act inter vivos or mortis causa, to one or more of the disposer's children or successible descendants, to the prejudice of his other children or successible descendants, without its being liable to be brought into the succession by the donee or legatee, provided it be expressly declared by the donor that this act is intended to be over and above the legitimate portion.

This declaration may be made, either by the act containing the disposition, or subsequently by an instrument executed before a notary public, in presence of two wit

nesses.

SECTION II.

Of the Reduction of Dispositions Inter Vivos or Mortis Causa; of the Manner in which it is made, and of its Effects.

ART. 1489.-Any disposal of property, whether inter vivos or mortis causa, exceeding the quantum of which a person may legally dispose to the prejudice of the forced heirs, is not null, but only reducible to that quantum.

ART. 1490.-A donation inter vivos, exceeding the disposable quantum, retains all its effect during the life of the donor.

ART. 1491.-On the death of the donor or testator, the reduction of the donation, whether inter vivos or mortis causa, can be sued for only by forced heirs, or by their heirs or assigns: neither the donees, legatees,

nor creditors of the deceased, can require that reduction nor avail themselves of it.

ART. 1492. To determine the reduction to which the donations, either inter vivos or mortis causa are liable, an aggregate is formed of all the property belonging to the donor or testator at the time of his decease; to that is fictitiously added the property disposed of by donation inter vivos, according to its value at the time of the donor's decease, in the state in which it was at the period of the donation.

The sums due by the estate are deducted from this aggregate amount, and the disposable quantum is calculated on the balance, taking into consideration the number of heirs and their qualities of ascendant or descendant, so as to regulate their legitimate portion by the rules above established.

ART. 1493.—In the fictitious collation of effects given by act inter vivos by the deceased, those which have perished by accident in the hands of the donee, are not included; those which have perished through his fault only are to be included.

ART. 1494.-Donations inter vivos can never be reduced, until the value of all the property comprised in donations mortis causa, be exhausted; and when that reduction is necessary, it shall be made by beginning with the last donations, and thus successively ascending from the last to the first.

ART. 1495.-When the last donee is insolvent, the heir can, after the previous discussion of his effects, claim from the donee, which precedes the last, his legitime, and so on to the one preceding him.

ART. 1496.-If the donation inter vivos, subject to reduction, was made to one of those who succeed to any part of the estate, the latter is authorized to retain of the property given the value of the portion that would be

long to him as heir in the property not disposable, if it be of the same nature.

ART. 1497.-When the value of donations inter vivos exceeds or equals the disposable quantum, all dispositions mortis causa are without effect.

ART. 1498.-When the dispositions mortis causa exceed, either the disposable quantum or the portion of that quantum that remains after the deduction of the value of the donations inter vivos, the reduction shall be made prorata, without any distinction between universal dispositions and particular ones.

ART. 1499.-Nevertheless, in case the testator has expressly declared that any particular legacy should be paid in preference to the others, that preference shall take place, and the legacy that is the object of it, shall not be reduced, if the value of the others does not fall short of the legal reservation.

ART. 1500.-Remunerative donations can never be reduced below the estimated value of the services rendered.

ART. 1501.-Donations, by which charges are imposed on the donee, can never be reduced below the expenses, which the donee has incurred to perform them.

ART. 1502.-The donee restores the proceeds of what exceeds the disposable portion, only from the day of the donor's decease, if the demand of the reduction was made within the year; otherwise from the day of the demand.

ART. 1503.-Immoveable property, that is brought in the succession through the effect of reduction, is brought in it without any charge of debts or mortgages created by the donee.

ART. 1504.-The action of reduction or revendication may be brought by the heirs against third persons holding the immoveable property, which has been alienated by the donee, in the same manner and order that

it may be brought against the donee himself, but after discussion of the property of the donee.

ART. 1505.-If the donee has successively sold several objects of real estate, liable to an action of revendication, that action must be brought against third persons holding the property, according to the order of their purchases, beginning with the last, and ascending in succession from the last to the first.

CHAPTER IV.

Of Dispositions reprobated by law in Donations inter vivos and mortis causa.

ART. 1506.-In all dispositions inter vivos and mortis causa, impossible conditions, those which are contrary to the laws or to morals, are reputed not written.

ART. 1507.-Substitutions and fidei commissa are and remain prohibited.

Every disposition, by which the donee, the heir or legatee, is charged to perserve for or to return a thing to a third person, is null, even with regard to the donee, the instituted heir or the legatee.

In consequence of this article, the trebellianic portion of the civil law, that is to say, the portion of the property of the testator, which the instituted heir had a right to retain, when he was charged with a fidei commissa or fiduciary bequest, is no longer a part of our law.

ART. 1508.-The disposition, by which a third person is called to take the gift, the inheritance or the legacy, in case the donee, the heir or the legatee does not take it, shall not be considered a substitution and shall be valid.

ART. 1509.-The same shall be observed as to the disposition inter vivos or mortis causa, by which, the usufruct is given to one, and the naked property to another.