Page:The White Slave, or Memoirs of a Fugitive.djvu/412

 was his sole heir. There was, indeed, a provision by which slaves under thirty years of age might be emancipated, provided the owner, upon explaining his motives for it to the judge of the parish and the police jury, could obtain the assent of the judge, and of three fourths of the jury, to the sufficiency of those motives; but as this could only be done in case of slaves born in the state, even if Mr Curtis had taken advantage of it in Eliza's case, it could not have afforded any benefit to Montgomery.

The law of Louisiana, following the civil law, from which it is mainly derived, and more humane in this respect than the English common law, which prevails in the rest of the states, in case a father, by acts or words, recognizes and acknowledges as such children of his born out of wedlock, gives to them, under the name of "natural children," a claim upon him for sustenance, support, and education in some means of earning a livelihood. But on the other hand, the right of a person, having lawful relations, to dispose of his property by gift, either during his life or after his death, is very much restricted. In England, and in all the United States except Louisiana, a man may give or will his property to whom he pleases; but there, if he have lawful children, he can give or will nothing to his natural children, though acknowledged to be such, beyond a bare subsistence; and though he have no lawful children, yet if he have parents, brothers, or sisters, he cannot alienate by gift or will above one fourth of his property at the utmost; the palpable object of which departure from the civil and Spanish law formerly in force is to prevent the mixed race from acquiring property by inheritance through paternal affection; while the provision restricting emancipation is evidently intended to keep as many of them as possible in the condition of slavery.

Tt might be, the lawyer told us, that Mr Curtis, in sending the two children to a free state, had, in so doing, made them free; and perhaps that was one of his objects in sending them. Had they remained atwas his sole heir. There was, indeed, a provision by which slaves under thirty years of age might be emancipated, provided the owner, upon explaining his motives for it to the judge of the parish and the police jury, could obtain the assent of the judge, and of three fourths of the jury, to the sufficiency of those motives; but as this could only be done in case of slaves born in the state, even if Mr Curtis had taken advantage of it in Eliza's case, it could not have afforded any benefit to Montgomery.

The law of Louisiana, following the civil law, from which it is mainly derived, and more humane in this respect than the English common law, which prevails in the rest of the states, in case a father, by acts or words, recognizes and acknowledges as such children of his born out of wedlock, gives to them, under the name of "natural children," a claim upon him for sustenance, support, and education in some means of earning a livelihood. But on the other hand, the right of a person, having lawful relations, to dispose of his property by gift, either during his life or after his death, is very much restricted. In England, and in all the United States except Louisiana, a man may give or will his property to whom he pleases; but there, if he have lawful children, he can give or will nothing to his natural children, though acknowledged to be such, beyond a bare subsistence; and though he have no lawful children, yet if he have parents, brothers, or sisters, he cannot alienate by gift or will above one fourth of his property at the utmost; the palpable object of which departure from the civil and Spanish law formerly in force is to prevent the mixed race from acquiring property by inheritance through paternal affection; while the provision restricting emancipation is evidently intended to keep as many of them as possible in the condition of slavery.

It might be, the lawyer told us, that Mr Curtis, in sending the two children to a free state, had, in so doing, made them free; and perhaps that was one of his objects in sending them. Had they remained at