The San Francisco call., 1897-01-27
A BIG BATTLE FOR
LAVEAGA'S MONEY
1t Was Begun in Judge
Cofey's Court Yes
terday.
Attorneys Lyons and DWyer
Quote Antagonistic Code
Provisions.
Thousands of Dollars Involved in the
Question of Collateral Inheritance
by a Legitimate Child.

Argument in the ]. Vicente de Laveaga
estate was opened in Judge Coffey's court
Yesterday morning by Attorneys Lyons
and McEnerney, representing the recog-
nized heirs of the deceased, while Altor-
ney ]. J. Dwyer spoke for Anselmo de
Laveaga, who claims to be the natural
son of J. NJ. de Laveaga.
The estate amounts to about 5000 900,
and there are five claimants, including
young Anselmo.
Anselmo was recognized and adopted
by his father and Iegitimated in the most
solemn manner. 1t is acknowledged ON
all hands that the adoption of Anselmo
by his father is complete and indisputable
under the laws of this State, so far as the
rights of the young man to inherit from
his fathers estate is concerned, yet
Messrs. Lyons and McEnerney argue that
he has no right to inherit collaterally
from his uncle Vincente.
Addressing the court, Mr.. Lyons said {:
"It requires no argument to show that
this is true. A mere reading of the stat
ute is sufficient TO establish our position
Thereupon Mr.. Lyons read section 1881
of the Civil Code OF the State of California,
which so far as it pertains to the ma tiers
involved in this litigation, provides:
Every illegitimate child is an heir OF any
person who in writing, signed in the presence
of q competent witness, acknowledges himself
TO be the father OF such child.
Mr. Dwyer returned a Roland for is
Oliver, and read section 230 of the Civil
Code, which says:
The father OF an illegitimate child by pub
licly acknowledging it as his own, re ceiving il
as such with the consent OF his wife, if he is
iad int nj traa +.
ing it as if it were legitimate child, thereby
adopts ii as such, and such child is thereupon
for all purposes legitimate from the time OF its
birth.
Mr.. Dwyer was not so positive in his as
sertion of his position as Mr.. Lyons had
been, but he intimated that he thought
that the lawyers on the other side would
have hard time sweeping away that pro-
vision of the code which makes the child
thus recognized Legitimate for all pur-
uoses."
The court intimated that it regarded the
question presented to be of great i'm por-
tance. aside from the amount of property
involved, which is considerable. The
point in controversy is whether a child
thus acknowledged has a right to inherit
from his fathers brother, the boys father
having died before his uncle. IN view of
all the circumstances, the court desired to
give full scope for argument by counsel.
i he court Hau no KQOWl6ORe OF the QueS-
tion here presented ever being decided in
this State.
1t was agreed that briefs shall be sub
mitted and that there shall also be oral
argument.
To strengthen the claim of the youn g
man Ansemo as an heir to share of his
uncle's estate the allegation will be
pressed that great share of Vincente' s
estate was actually inherited from An
selmo's father, and 10 back up Anselmo's s
right for an Inheritance it is pointed out
that be was recognized in his uncle
will and accorded a liberal bequest but
not as much as he would receive if de-
clared an equal heir with the other
legatees under the Will.
Intimatlon has been made that the
legal fight against Anselmo will include q
question of identity, ana he will be called
on to establish the fact that he is. really
the child OF Vincente de Laveaga's brother
Dispositions of residents OF Mexico will
be taken, as Anselmo was born in that
country, where his mother died several
years ago.
1t is evident that a prolonged struggle
for the thousands Of dollars has been be-
gun, and it may be years before any of the
heirs will be in a position to enjoy the
fruits of victory.