New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-02
IN SEARCH OF FATHER
New French Law Cause of Much
UnhappineSS and Humiliation.

| Copyright. 1872 by the Brentwood Company
France is on the eve of an era Of do.
nestle scandals which threaten wide.
spread sorrow, family dissension and pro-
found humiliation. This is owing to a
law which has just been enacted in the
face of much opposition and which sug-
gests Captain Marryats famous novel,
''Japhet in Search of Father"
Hitherto searches of this kind have
been sternly forbidden i'm France by a
decree which states ia recherche de IA
paternite est interdite." That is to say.
any child born out of wedlock had no
legal means of tracing the identity Of
his father, while the unmarried mother
had no way of compelling the father to
make provision for the child, its support
deyolviRg wholly on her or on the state.
The father, il he did not wish to wed
the mother, could legally admit his pa
| ternity which was noted in the registry
of it's birth, by means of which he as
sumed certain financial responsibilities
with regard to its maintenance. But this
act OF recognition was in each case purely
voluntary affair on the part OF the
pelling him to do any such thing. The
consequence is that the number of illesit-
innate children-that is to say, chilcren
without acknowledged fathers-in France
is very large. indeed.
The French Senate and Chamber OK
Deputies have now, with the approval OF
the government, repealed the law In ths
Code Napoleon, dating from over nun
dred years ago, forbidding la recherche
de la paternite" Henceforth women who
give birth to infants out OF wedlock VIII
be enabled legally to compel the father
to contribute to the child's support and
| to accept responsibility for its welfare;
while in the event Of the mothers death
her nearest relatives, or falling these the
state, will have the power to force the
father to fulfil his obligations.
Nor is this by any means all. In
France, as in certain states OF the Ameri-
can Union, and also In Belgium, the child
has a legal right to certain share IN
/ the fortune Of his father, which the lat
ter cannot ALLEVIATE from him. In France
the father has no power 10 cut off his
son with the proverbial shilling. 1t is not
the one born out of wedlock, provided
he has been legally recognized" at the
time of his birth or subsequent thereto,
who has lawful right to share In MS
fathers property-though not to the lat
ter's nobiliary honors. The only children
who have been excluded therefrom are
those unfortunate beings who have not
been recognized" Now that they can
compel recognition, they can, II success
full, exact their share OF the paternal es-
tate, since the new law Is retroactive.
This means that large numbers of now
elderly men, patterns of respectaoility
and enjoying the honor and esteem OF
their fellow citizens, as we'll as the con-
fidence of their wives, Will have tneir
past raked up in efforts TO fasten on
them the paternity of claimants, male
and female, as offspring of ante-nuptlai
indscretions. 1t is estimated that there
will be many thousands of such cases
and that the court calendars will be
crowded Herewith for some time to come.
The new law, however, provides against
Matchmaking conspiracies and false
claims by trebling the penalty OF i'm
prisonment with hard labor hitherto
awarded for such offences. Whether this
will act as a sufficient deterrent remains
to be seen.
In spite of the misery, the shame and
the humiliation which the new law Is
bound to bring in its train as regards the
past, Il cannot be denied that II Is GER
tain to have a very wholesome effect 97
far as the future is concerned in causing
men to appreciate the full legal and fiscal
responsibilities Of their moral shortcom-
ippS