ESTATE OF W.
B. HARRISON.
No. 5343---Dec. 11, 1876
SUCCESSION.---ILLEGITIMACY.—A
HALF BROTHER BY THE SAME FATHER BEING ILLEGITIMATE, CANNOT INHERIT. HALF SISTERS BY THE SAME MOTHER ARE ENTITLED
TO TAKE.
CONFLICTING SECTIONS.—Sections 1387 and 1388, C. C., conflict. Therefore, Sec. 1388 prevails, under Sec.
4484, Pol. Code.
Construing sections, P. C., 4484; C. C., 1387-88.
J. Naphtaly, for administrator.
M. B. Blake, for half-sisters.
A. W. Roysdon, for Attorney General.
BLAKE:
The half-sisters take the entire estate, to the exclusion of the half
brother. Williams on
Descent, 416 to 419; 8 Leigh, (
ROYDSON:
Being alien illegitimate, they cannot inherit. Bing. on
Descent, chap. inheritance,
alien, illegitimacy; 4 Kent, 414 to 417; Potier on Suc., Art. Sec. 3.
By the COURT: The male applicant is a
half brother of deceased by the same father; the female applicants are
half-sisters by the same mother; all are illegitimate, and all are natives and
residents of Jamaica. The
Attorney-General claims an escheat. The
half-brother can take nothing, as the father of an illegitimate does not
inherit, nor can the father be a conduit.
As to the right of the half-sisters, there is a conflict in the
Code. Sec. 1387, C. C., provides that an
illegitimate child “does not represent his father or mother by inheriting any
part of the estate of his or her kindred”: while Sec. 1388 provides that if an
illegitimate child dies intestate without issue, the estate goes to his mother,
or in case of her decease, to her heirs-at-law.
An illegitimate child is the heir of its mother. By sec. 4484, Pol, Code, in case of
conflicting sections the provisions of the section last in numerical order must
prevail; therefore Sec. 1388 prevails, and the half-sisters, being heirs of the
mother, she being dead, are entitled to the estate of the deceased.
Transcribed
by Pat Seabolt.
© 2007 Pat Seabolt.
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