The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-12-30
ELIGIBLE WIDOWERS.

the fair young adventures, is perfectly sale
in scooping In anything that is eligible In
matrimonial way that may chance TO come
along. Yet there are some few cases attended
with difficulties resulting from certain pecu-
liar provisions of our law. which we deem 1t
Our duty to this extremely worthy and dlsIH~
terested element Of society TO advise them Of
The privileges accorded 10 women and the
jealousy with which their rights of property
are guarded. especially In the perpetuation Of
their separate estates after marriage, have
been the special and peculiar boast and glory
OF the Jurisprudence and Legislation OF Lou
isiana. In this respect our laws have present
cd q marked contrast 10 those OF the other
States whose Jurisprudence has been derived
from the common law, and also an example
which. we rejoice to say, Is tending to the full
Ter recognition of the rights OF women. II
was a remark OF Aristotle that the superior
ity of the Greeks to the barbarians was shown
by the fact that they did not, like other ma
tions, regard their wives as slaves, but treat
o Roman writer, with greater justice, has
cited the same argument as proof Of the
superiority Of Roman to Greek civilization
He has observed that while the Greeks kept
their wives secluded and never permitted
them to sit ct banquets, or to 500 any male
except In the presence of relative, no
Roman ever hestated to lead his wife to the
feast, or to place the mother of the family ct
the head Of his table. With equal propriety
might we Of Louisiana institute the same
parallel between our social culture and that
NJ stfbar Gintnu xubpu, tstri ii ID Ta.
rived from that feudal Legislation which over
came the generous public opinion which in
Rome had frequently reyolted against the in
justice done to woman. Wherever the canon
law has been the basis of legislation we find
the laws Of succession sacrificing the in
terests OF daughters and wives, and 1t
was but at the close Of the last CEN
fury that any serious reform was at
tempted. The French revoutionists deserve
the credit OF the first effort in this direction
for, though they rejected the proposal of
Sieyes and Condorcet TO. accord political
emancipation TO women, they established at
least an equal succession of sons and daugh-
ters, and thus initiated great reformation
Of both law and opinion, which sooner or
later must traverse the world.
But we are wandering from our subject,
which was suggested by case decided the
other day in one of the courts In this State,
which was as follows A rich old widower.
who was entirely too good catch TO be left
10 his continued tears OF bereavement or his
own devices for comforting his widowed
senility, was allured to espousal by fair
young Delilah, with the able assistance of
10 female relative who developed into moth
ser-in-law that was the envy of her sex. In
Nhe course Of q year or more the old gentle
man suecumbed TO the new discipline TO
which he had submitted his declining years.
and died, leaving one child by his former
marriage, and his widow to mourn his loss
with the aid Of the aforesaid mother-in-law
by his will he left his large estate, In equal
proportion, to his child and his young
widow. This was oil right and proper, and
we are proud to relate 1t, as proof of the
base Injustice done nuch-abused class, that
H was entirely satisfactory te the aforesaid
mother-in-law. SO fer oil was we'll But alas
"the best laid plans Of mice and men aft
g ang aglee." The tutor Of the child stepped
In and objected to such O disposal Of the old
gentlemans estate, and demanded the annul-
ment of the will and the distribution of the
in accordance with the provisions of
law. Now the laws of Louisiana, which are
30 provident for women are not less careful
Of tho rights of orphaned children, while
they are not at all propitious to second mar
riages, as will be seen by reference to article
1859 OF the Revised Civil Code which reads as
follows "A man or woman who contracts a
second or subsequent marriage, having chill
dren by former one, can give to his wife, or
she to her husband, only the least child's por-
tion and that only as usufruct; and In no
case shall the portion Of which the donee is |
10 have the usufruct exceed tho fifth part of
The donors estate
This was hard, but the law WAS plain, and |
The court could but enforce It, The will was
yet aside, and the widow allowed but the rem
bal OF one-flfth of the estate, tho ownership of |
which remained in the child, and of this rem
sal even she was to be deprived in case of o
second marriage.
This Is q valuable piece Of information to
The designing female and. indeed, to the
many families we number among our sub
md we are prompted to give 1t by an earnest
determination to neglect the interests of none
4 our patrons. With them we are prepared
o agree that this law Is very outrageous
me, and ought to be amended. But that the
ull atrocity OF this prescription of the de-
igning female may ha duly appro
lated, we must quote another ar
icle OF our civil code, article 1893, we are
peciiic, fixes the disposable portion of an
state ut two-thrds In the case of one sur
living child, one-half when there are two,
nd one-third when there are three or more.
his portion may be left. in each instance. to
N entire stranger, to any one, in fact, except
he ID. i. aforesaid, who soothed his widow
ood the physician who holds privilege on
lis estate for not allowing the deceased to die
natural death and an Legitimate child.
let the other day We heard an old jurist,
eeply imbued with the spirit of our juris-
rudence, utter the atrocious sentiment that.
he protection to orphans ailored in this pro-
i1ipn IF pur law WAC ma IF tha pnhlaet ~