Page:An introduction to Roman-Dutch law.djvu/68



BIRTH, SEX, LEGITIMACY

capacity begins with the completion of birth, subject however to the qualification that a child in the womb is deemed already born whenever such a fiction is for its advantage. Thus an unborn child may inherit ab intestato

Sex, as such, is not a factor of importance in the sphere of private law. There is a difference, however, in the age of puberty, which for males is fixed at fourteen years, for females at twelve. Further, there is a special rule of law by which a woman cannot bind herself as surety unless she expressly renounces the benefits which the law allows her.

By the law of all civilized countries a distinction is made between legitimate and illegitimate issue. Legitimate children are those born from parents united in wedlock. In the case of issue born from the beginning of the seventh month after marriage to the beginning of the eleventh month after its termination by death