New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-07-03
FRENCH PATERNITY LAW
important Changes Likely TO be
Made by Parliament.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS WCTOhY
Father Must Provide for Cnlio
and Unmarried Mother, ous
Is Himself Protected.
Paris, June ~.

Parfsy JUNO 49,
r-nare Is every prospect that the prln-
cfnIe of women's rights Is ABOUT u 0O
+oin a great legislative victory. France
ard Rnssia are the only two countries III
I--,ro,a vbere the law forbids the
mother of a child born out OF Weoioch
from taking legal action to comPei INC
father to assume the Responsiveness Oh
Maternity and to contribute toward tno
s,,nport of the infant This IS ell the
more abnormal because the old FRENCH
law permitted what is called the search
for paternity" But the Code Napoleon
with its strange preamble that at is not
In the interest Of society that bastards
should be recognized absolutely for
bids, by the explicit terms Of Article
$40. what Is called ia recherche do la
paternite."
The reasons hitherto given by French
legislators for retaining this drastic Ar
ticIs $40 were that it prevented a vast
amount Of Scandal and closed the door
to wholesale Matchmaking; that 1t was
a. saIutary obstacle for unscrupulous
mothers, who for avaricious motives
might seek TO father their children upon
men Of ample means. Victor Hugo, IN
ct .es MiserabIes" and Alexandra Dumas
fills, in his famous pamphlet written in
1888 on the Recherche de Ia Paternite,
exerted all their influence to insure pro-
lection for Legitimate children and I'M
married mothers.
Nearly thirty years ago III. Berenger.
in the Senate, and NJ. Gustave Rivet, IN
the Chamber Of Deputies. called the at
tention Of parliament to the injustice OF
the Code Napoleon toward children born
out Of wedlock and TO their mothers
Bills were introduced in 1888 to modify
the obnoxious Article $40. u. Berenger
and NJ. Gustave Rivet are to the prin-
CHILE of Recherche de Ia paternite"
what Alfred Naqust was to divorce NJ
Gustave Rivet, now a Senator. ably de-
Tended hf~ I'll last week IN the Senate
a bill W f7ica has been sumbering In the
sleepy hollows of committee rooms for
many years, and which. largely by the
energy of Prime Minister BRAND. has at
last been brought forward TO the voting
stage.
By a large majority. and after vigor-
adopted by the Senate. where Ii will
shortly come up again on a second read
ing. with very slight and purely formal
notifications. It's final passage by the
Senate and by the Chamber is now re-
garded as certain. The new law will
enable an unmarried mother to take
legal action to compel the father Of her
child to assume the responsibilities OF
paternity and to provide, according to
his means, for the support OF the mother
and her infant.
The law contains full protection
against scandal and Matchmaking.
The unmarried mother must satisfy the
courts that in her conduct for one year
before the birth Of her child she has been
faithful to the putative father and that
IN other respects her conduct has been
irreproachable. She may establish by
evidence an avowal or admission OF
paternity. Capitalization, promise Of mar
rage or coercion by abuse OF authority,
as in the cases Of employer and working
alties for false declarations in this re-
spect vary from two years inprison-
ment to deportation.
Public opinion in France is distinctly
in favor Of this reform. Racial suicide
and infanticide, which have assumed
such alarming proportions in France,
owing to the great difficulty OF obtaining
convictions by jury. will. it Is believed.
be checked. Official figures show that
during 1908 out OF sixty-six women
charged before the Paris police courts
with causing miscarriage ffty-three were
acquitted. OF eighty-seven infanticides
fifty-two were acquitted. Moreover, it
is proved that % per cent of the births
in France are ilegitimate. and out Of
ten illegitimate children only one, on an
average, is acknowledged by the father
The French parliament has at last
been aroused by public opinion to the
alarming importance Of these facts. 1t
which proclaims and esta blishes the
rights of unmarried mothers and their
illegitimate offspring will prevent aban-
doned children from increasing the Grim
inal classes and make them useful mem
bers Of the community. All the leaders
Of the feministe movement In France
rejoice, and regard the new law as the
most important legislative victory OBJ
tanned by French women since the Revo-
luton. CIR