woman is confidered as a caufe of pregnancy : contrary to -the cafe of
a girl under puberty, becaufe the natural ftate of fuch an one is an -in,
capacity to bear children, as an infant is not a fubjedt of impregnation
until fhe attain maturity,. and concerning the maturity of the infant
there is a doubt.
If a woman under .Edfa declare the fame to be accomplifhed, and
bom within be afterwards delivered of a child-w'thin lefs than fix months from the
JtX months
after the-wife time of her declaration, the parentag- .'of the child is eftablifhed, as it is
Edlt^hzwe' evident that her declaration was unfounded, and is confequently null:
expired, but if fhe be delivered after fix months from the time of her déclara--
tion, the parentage is not eftablifhed, becaufe nothing appears in this
cafe to annul her declaration, as i t is poffible that her-pregnancy may
ypftrrSvT have occurred1 after that.— This reafoning- applies to every woman
of.the£«ïr. under Editj whatever the occafion may be, whether divorce reven-
fible or irreverfible, or the deceafe-of her hufband; or of whatever
defcription or nature, whether it- be counted- by months, or by- the
returns o f the courfes,.
The birth W hen a woman undèr Edit is dèlivered of a child, the parentage
mod be . * r
proved by is not eftablifhed, (according to Haneefa,') unlefs the birth be proved by
evidence. the evidence of two male witnefles, or of one malè-and'/wo- female.—
This is a rule where there is no apparent pregnancy, or. where the
fame is not acknowledged by the hufband': but i f the pregnancy be
“apparent, or the hufband have acknowledged it, the parentage is eftablifhed
independant of the teftimony of- witnefles. The two difciples
maintain that , in all cafes, the parentage is eftablifhed upon the teftimony
of one woman,— becaufe. the hufband’S right o f cohabitation ftill
continues durin g Edit -, and it is this right which occafions the fixing
of the parentage of a child upon the hufband; wherefore nothing more
is required than that fome perfon prove the birth, and the identity,
by teftifying “ This is the child of which fuch a woman was dèliver-
“ ed,”— and thus much may be fufficiently proved by the teftimony of
a fingle
a fingle woman, in the fame manner as it is during marriage, in a cafe
where the hufband difputes the child’s identity.— Haneefa, on the
ether hand, argues that the Edit is- accomplifhed by the woman’s declaration
of delivery; but the mere completion of Edit is not proof
and the defcent ftill remains to be firft eftablifhed, for which reafon it
is that complete proof (that, is, the. teftimony of two men,, or of one
man and two women,) is made a condition : but it would be other-
wife if the pregnancy were apparent, or acknowledged by the hufband,
as in this cafe the parentage is eftablifhed prior to the birth; and the
child’s identity is there afcertained by the teftimony o f one woman,—
the midwife, for inftance.
IF a woman under Edit from the death of her hufband bring forth The parenta
child, and declare it to be his, and the heirs confirm her affertion, born°of
though no perfon bear evidence to the birth, the child is held to be widow, when
- . / • i i V i i n - i \ 8 uncontrovertuelcended
of the hufband, according to all our doftors *. This, with ed.iseftarefpeft
to inheritance, is evident, as inheritance is-a foie right of the deceafed^iufheirs,
and confequently their teftimony or acknowledgment is to be banf ’ mda"
credited in every matter which affefts it.— A queftion, however, may evidence.
arife in this cafe whether the parentage of the child be by fuch teftimony
eftablifhed with refpedt -to others than thofe heirs: and upon this the
learned in the law obferve, that if thofe heirs be perfons o f a defeription
capable of being admitted as witnefles, the parentage is eftablifhed
with refpedf to aft others as well as themfelves, becaufe their teftimony
amounts1 to proof, for which reafon fome dodfors require that their
confirmation of the woman’s affertion be delivered in the form of
evidence; but the neceffity of this is denied by others, becaufe the
eftablifhment of parentage, with refpect to the reft of mankind, is a
neceffary confequonce o f its eftablifhment with refpeft to the immediate
heirs- of the deceafed hy their confirmation; and where a matter
is once fully eftablifhed-upon any particular ground, no neceffity
exifts-for, any further conditions with refpect to its eftablifhment.
f This means, at whatever time the child he horn, after the hufband’$ deceafe.
Ü
I f