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tious proceedings, which were resorted to and sanctioned for the furtherance of justice. By going through the ceremony of three pretended sales and three emancipations, the son, according to the laws of the twelve tables, became sui juris.

"This fictitious proceeding was doubtless sanctioned, because the public sentiment had got the start of positive legislation, and demanded an abrogation of the ancient law in certain cases. It does not seem to have occurred to anybody, that the whole thing was really a sham; but it does not become us to reproach the Romans with the use of fictions; whilst plaintiffs, in our courts of justice, are every day gravely informing the court, that they have casually lost divers and sundry commodities of which they never even had possession."

These imaginary sales might all occur on the same day before the same witnesses (five), or on three different days before different wit

nesses.

An instance is given in the VII Book of Livy of the prosecution of a father for holding in partnership with his son a thousand acres of land, and for attempting, by emancipating his son, to elude the

law.

Note.-Maintenance-The obligation of the father to maintain the child is, and always has been, recognized, in some way and in some degree, in all civilized coun. tries. The infant cannot support himself; others must therefore supply him with the means of subsistence, and the only question is, whether the public (that is, the

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State) shall do this, or his parent. The prevailing rules in American jurisprudence are, that when goods are supplied to an infant which are not necessaries, the father's authority must be proved to make him liable; where they are necessaries, the father's authority is presumed, unless he supplies them himself, or was ready to supply them; when the infant lives with the father, or under his control, his judgment as to what are necessaries will be so far respected, that he will be held liable only for things furnished to the infant to relieve him from absolute want; when the infant does not live with the father, but has vol. untarily left him, the authority of the father must be strictly proved, unless, perhaps, in cases of absolute necessity; and when he has been deserted by the father, or driven away from him, either by command or by cruel treatment, then the infant carries with him the credit and authority of the father for succession. 1. Parsons on Contracts, 299–305.

"Our law does not prevent a father from disinheriting his child; a circumstance which has been invaluable to our dramatists, who have been able to draw a series of delightful stage old men, who have a strong hold on the filial obedience of the walking ladies and gentlemen, who dare not rush into each other's arms, for fear of the old gentleman in a court coat and large shoe-buckles being unfavorable to the youth in ducks, or the maiden in muslin. Heirs are especial favorites of our courts of justice-much as the lamb is the especial favorite of the wolf

-for an heir with mint sauce, that is to say, with lots of money, is a dainty dish indeed to tempt the legal appetite." Abbott a Beckett's Comic Blackstone, page 83.

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Note.-Custody of children.As a general rule, the father dur ing his lifetime, and after his death the mother, is entitled to the custody of the person of their minor child. * The right of the father or mother to the custody of their minor child is not an absolute right to be accorded to him under all circumstances; for it may be denied to either of them if it appears to the court that the parent, otherwise entitled to this right "is unfit for the trust." -(1889) General Digest of U. S. Vol. 4, page 1403.

A case of peculiar hardship, but of special interest to the cause of humanity, came under the attention of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, a few years ago, of which the following is a brief abstract: A step-mother had been in the habit of inflicting such cruelty on her little stepdaughter that the above society took charge of the child, and informed the father that he could only obtain possession and custody by an order of court. A writ of habeas corpus was served on the society. At the hearing the Judge who had given the case close attention had the child brought up to him for personal inspection of its injuries. The counsel for the father who was endeavoring to get control of the child, made the strong plea for his client's rights as a father on the ground that not a word had been said against him. The Judge replied, "If a man chose to marry a Bengal tigress, he had no right to take his child into the cage with him," and at once committed the child to a home for children. Re

ported in "Our Jewels" (by the late Benj. J. Crew), page 137: From the last annual report (1890) of this very worthy charity the following record is presented:

Cases Arrests.

Children involved

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768

165

1,762

Children removed 460 Inclusive of the years 1877 to date 22,581 children have been looked after by this society.

Parent." The lawful father and mother of the party spoken of." The term, parent, differs from that of ancestor, the latter embracing not only the father and mother, but every person in an ascending line. It differs also from predecessor, which is applied to corporators.-Bouvier's Dic.

Children.-"The term children does not, ordinarily and properly speaking, comprehend grand-children, or issue generally; yet sometimes that meaning is affixed to it in cases of necessity, and it has been held to signify the same as issue, in cases where the testator, by using the term children and issue indiscrimately, showed his intention to use the former term in the sence of issue, so as to entitle grand children, etc., to take under it."-Ibid.

"Parent

A leading article on and Child," appeared in Vol. 1, O. S., pages 641 and 705 of The American Law Register. But for the more modern doctrine on this subject, the student will find the recent statutes and decisions of his own State, on the subject of minors, and the employment of minors, and on the law of neglicence he will find numerous decisions as to the respective rights of parent and child for damages at hands of third parties for injuries to the child.

T. ELLIOTT PATTERSON.

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