The weekly standard. (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1865-1867, 1866-03-24
To Col. e. HOOKER,
Atty Genl Mississippi.
ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFIcr,

Jackson, Miss, March II, 1866.
SRI am in receipt of your favor
Of 9th inst, asking construction of the
act entitled "An act regulating the re-
lations of master and apprentice, as re-
lates to Freedmen, Free Negroes and
Mulattoes.
| You ask, "1st, Is negro minor la
bic to be apprentieed, by the Probate
Court, giving preference to former own
er, disregarding the wishes of its pa
rent or parents
I'd, Is the mother of a fatherless
child under q years Of age, entitled to
its custody and services
I answer to your first question in the
negative, your second in the afirma-
tive
The first and sixth sections of the
act makes it the duty of all civil Off
| GERS, in their respective counties, to re-
port to the Probate Court all freedmen
free negroes and mulattoes under the
age of eighteen, who are orphans, or
whose parent or parents have not the
means, or who refuse to provide for and
support SAID minors. Whenever these
reports are made, the jurisdiction of
the Probate Judges over the minor at
taches. Had the act used only the
term s'orphan," as this term has been
adjudicated by the High Court of Er-
rors and Appeals, to mean 'fatherless
child the act must have received such
construction as the law gives to the
term in its legal sense. But the sub
sequent use of the term parent or pa
rents, coupled with the conditions of
ability and willingness to support,
shows that it was the design of the Lee
gislature to use the term orphan in its
popular sense as synonomous with
minor, as is shown by the paragraph
quoted from the first section, where
orphan is referred to by the words
said minor, the term minor not hay-
ing been before used in the act. The
use of the term parent or parents
shows that it was the intent of the Lee
gisIature to give to either parent the
right to control the minor child when
they Lave the ability, coupled with the
willingness to support the minor.
The prime object of the Legislature
was to give protection and direction to
that large class of black minors who
have been recently freed; and secondly,
to prevent this class Of persons from
becoming tax on the public treasury.
The right of the former owner to APP
prentice rests upon the same ground as
that of any other person; that is, that
the party sought to be apprenticed is a
minor, who is able and Wiling to sup
port the minor. When these facts are
made to appear, the law gives the pref
erence to the former owner, coupled
with the proviso, that lie must be
suitable person, in the opinion Of the
Probate Judge, to take charge OF the
minor.
Were there any doubt about the
right of either parent to control the mi
nor, it would be settled by the 9th sec
ton of the act, which provides; "Be it
further enacted, That it shall be lawful
for any freedman, free negro or mulat-
to, having a minor child or childrsn, to
apprentice the said minor child or chill
dren as provided for BY this act,
The use of the general terms employ
ed in the title Of this act, freedmen.
free negro, or smulatto, must be CON
strued to mean either parent.
You ask in the third interrogatory:
sIn case Of uncertainty and doubt
as to the age Of the minor, is the MI
nor entitled to the benefit Of the doubt,