TITLE VII.

Of Father and Child.

CHAPTER I.

Of Children in general.

ART. 197.-Children are either legitimate or illegitimate.

ART. 198.

Legitimate children are those who are

born during the marriage.

ART. 199.-Illegitimate children are those who are born out of marriage.

ART. 200. There are two sorts of illegitimate children.

Those who are born from two persons, who, at the moment when such children were conceived might have legally contracted marriage with each other; and those who are born from persons to whose marriage there existed at the time, some legal impediment.

ART. 201. Adulterous bastards are those produced by an unlawful connection between two persons, who, at the time when the child was conceived, were, either of them, or both, connected by marriage with some other person.

ART. 202. Incestuous bastards are those who are produced by the illegal connection of two persons who are relations within the degrees prohibited by law.

CHAPTER II.

Of Legitimate Children.

SECTION I.

Of Legitimacy resulting from Marriage.

ART. 203. -- The law considers the husband of the

mother as the father of all children conceived during the marriage.

ART. 204. The husband cannot by alledging his natural impotence disown the child, he cannot disown it even for cause of adultery, unless its birth has been concealed from him, in which case he will be permitted to prove that he is not its father.

ART. 205.The child capable of living, which is born before the one hundred and eightieth day after the marriage, is not presumed to be the child of the husband every child born alive more than six months after conception, is presumed to be capable of living.

ART. 206. The same rule applies with respect to the child born three hundred days after the dissolution of the marriage, or after the sentence of separation from bed and board.

ART. 207. The legitimacy of the child, born three hundred days after the separation from bed and board has been decreed, may be contested, unless it be proved that there had been co-habitation between the husband and wife since such decree, because it is always presumed that the parties have obeyed the sentence of separation.

But in case of voluntary separation,, co-habitation is always presumed, unless the contrary be proved.

ART. 208. —The presumption of paternity as an incident to the marriage is also at an end, when the remoteness of the husband from the wife has been such that co-habitation has been physically impossible.

ART. 209. The husband cannot contest the legitimacy of the child born previous to the one hundred and eightieth day of marriage, in the following cases :

1. If he was acquainted with the circumstance of his wife being pregnant previously to the marriage;

2. If he was present at the registering of the birth or baptism of the child and signed the same, or if not know

ing how to sign, he has put his ordinary mark to it, in presence of two witnesses.

ART. 210. In all the cases above enumerated, where the presumption of paternity ceases, the father, if he in tends to dispute the legitimacy of the child, must do it within one month, if he be in the place where the child is born, or within two months after his return, if he be absent at that time, or within two months after the discovery of the fraud, if the birth of the child was concealed from him, or he shall be barred from making any objection to the legitimacy of such child.

ART. 211. If the husband die without having made such objection, but before the expiration of the time directed by law, two months shall be granted to his heirs to contest the legitimacy of the child, to be counted from the time when the said child has taken possession of the estate of the husband, or when the heirs shall have been disturbed by the child, in their possession thereof.

SECTION II.

Of the manner of proving legitimate filiation.

ART. 212. The filiation of legitimate children may be proved by a transcript from the register of birth or baptism, kept agreably to law or to the usages of the country.

ART. 213.

If the register of births and baptisms is lost, or if no such register has been kept, it suffices for the child to show that he has been constantly considered as a child born during marriage.

ART. 214.-The being considered in this capacity is proved by a sufficient collection of facts demonstrating the connection of filiation and paternity which exists between an individual and the family to which he belongs.

The most material of these facts are:

That such individual has always been called by the surname of the father from whom he pretends to be born;

That the father treated him as his child, and that he provided as such for his education, maintenance and settlement in life;

That he has constantly been acknowledged as such in the world;

That he has been acknowledged as such within the family.

ART. 215. If there be neither register of birth or baptism, nor this general reputation, or if the child has been registered under a false name, or as born of unknown parents, also if the child has been exposed, or abandoned, or if his condition has been suppressed, the proof of his legitimate filiation may be made either by written or oral evidence.

ART. 216.-Proof against the legitimate filiation may be made by evidence that the plaintiff is not the child of the mother whom he pretends to be his, and the maternity being proved, that he is not the child of the husband of the mother.

ART. 217.

CHAPTER III.

Of Illegitimate Children.

SECTION I.

Of Legitimation.

Children born out of marriage, except those who are born from an incestuous or adulterous connexion, may be legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their father and mother, whenever the latter have legally acknowledged them for their children, either before their marriage or by their contract of marriage itself. Every other mode of legitimating children is abolished.

ART. 218. Legitimation may even be extended to deceased children who have left issue, and in that case it inures to the benefit of such issue.

ART. 219. Children legitimated by a subsequent marriage have the same rights as if they were born during marriage.

SECTION II.

Of the Acknowledgment of Illegitimate Children.

ART. 220.- Illegitimate children who have been acknowledged by their father, are called natural children; and those whose father is unknown, are contra-distinguished by the appellation of bastards.

ART. 221. The acknowledgment of an illegitimate child shall be made by a declaration executed before a notary public, in presence of two witnesses, whenever it shall not have been made in the registering of the birth or baptism of such child.

No other proof of acknowledgment shall be admitted in favor of children of color.

ART. 222.

Such acknowledgment shall not be made in favor of the children produced by an incestuous or adulterous connexion.

ART. 223. The acknowledgment made by the father without the concurrence or consent of the mother, shall have effect only with respect to the father.

ART. 224. Illegitimate children, though duly acknowledged, cannot claim the rights of legitimate children. The rights of natural children are regulated under the title of successions.

ART. 225.-Every claim, set up by natural children, may be contested by those who have any interest therein.

ART. 226. — Illegitimate children, who have not been legally acknowledged, may be allowed to prove their paternal descent, provided they be free and white.