Louisiana Reports; ... Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Louisiana Volume 4 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1819 edition. Excerpt: ... as a slave, shall not have the effect of revoking the freedom; and this will be the case also in the testaments' of other persons, end. tit 52. When freedom is given under a condition, if it be not in the power of the slave to perform it, altho' he be not prevented-bythe heir, he ought to have his freedom, eod. tit. 55. Jlforeau for the defendant. The district court did not err, and the witnesses were properly r_ejected; It is in evidence, from the will of Farrar, introduced by the plainti_fl', that she was his slave, was born of a negro woman, his property, and that he bequeathed her freedom to her upon certain conditions: she claims it under it. It would be therefore, a departure in the pleadings, to allege and seek to prove thatyshe was born free. How can she sayrthat she was born free and emancipated? e e If she was not born free, no parol evidence of her emancipation can be received. By the 50th article of the Code.N'0ir, enacted by Louis XV, in 172/-1, and especially put in force by Governor O'ReilIy, in 1769, it is expressly provided thltt emancipation can only be granted by f a written instrument: an act inter vivos or cause"; mo-rtis. We contend that she is What is in the Roman law called a statuliber, and not a free woman. On'this we are at issue. A little closerexamination of the title of the di gest de manumissis testamento, commented upon by the plaintifi"s counsel, would have convinced him that the general principle of the' Roman law, in respect to conditional enfranchisements, is quite the "reverse of What he argues' it to be, and the laws which the has cited, are exceptions onlyto the general rule, which are not susceptible of extention. Freedom may be given absolutelycr...