health; and if their acknowledgment of thefe during their ficknefs
were not valid, people would be cautious of dealing with them during
their health, and their affairs would of confequence fuffer.— Such an
acknowledgment, therefore, is preferable to the claims of the heirs.—-
It is to be obferved that the connexion here mentioned does not operate
to the deftruftion o f a Tick man’s acknowledgment of parentage,
by which an additional heir is occafioned ; becaufe the lick man alfo is
neCeffitous in this particular, as parentage exifts after death, and a man
is held to continue in exiftence, after death, in the perfon of his off-
lpring; whence parentage is one of the wants of the dead.
and io alfo o f
an acknowledgment
in
favour o f a
■ part o f the
heirs.
I f a fick man make an acknowledgment in favour of part of his
heirs, and the others verify the fame, fuch acknowledgment is valid,
becaufe of the removal of the only obftacle, namely, the connexion
of the right of the other heirs with his property, which they them-
felves relinquifh.
The acknow- If a fick perfon make an acknowledgment in favour of a ftranger,
d)ing perfoiT it is valid, although it be tantamount to the whole of his property,—
m favour o f ]-,ecaufe Qmar has faid “ the acknowledgment of debt by a fick perfon is a f ranger is ° -j ^ s j r j ,
valid, to the “ valid; and the debt is due from the whole of his e jia te—(as before
•whole ejtan: quoted.)—Analogy would fuggeft that the acknowledgment does not
operate in a degree beyond the third of his property; as it is in that
degree only that the l a w admits of the deeds of a fick man with regard
to his property.—Our doctors, however, remark upon this that
as the affs of a fick perfon are valid with refpeft to a third of his property,
it follows that the acknowledgment of a fick perfon is valid in the
fame proportion; and it then becomes valid with refpedt to the remaining
thirds alfo; becaufe, upon the fick perfon acknowledging one
third of his property to belong to another, it becomes from that moment
the property of that other; and as the remaining two thirds then
form the whole of the property of the acknowledger, he may lawfully
8 make
make an acknowledgment of one third of it, and fo on, until nothing
remain.
O b j e c t i o n .— It would hence appear that bequeft to the extent
of the whole property is alfo valid.
R e p l y .’— In bequeft, the third of the eftate does not become the
property of the legatees, until after the death of the teftator; and accordingly,
they cannot claim their legacies before that event. It is
otherwife with refpedt to an acknowledgment of debt, as the perlon
in whofe favour the acknowledgment is made becomes immediate
proprietor.— There is therefore an evident diftindtion between the
cafes.
If a fick perfon make an acknowledgment in favour o f a ftranger,
and afterwards declare that “ he is his fon,” the parentage is efta-
blifhed accordingly, and the acknowledgment is null.— If, on the
contrary, a fick perfon make an acknowledgment in favour of a
firange woman, and afterwards marry her, the acknowledgment does
not become null. The difference between thefe two cafes is that, in
the former, upon the fick perfon declaring the other to be his fon, his
parentage is eftablifhed in the acknowledger from the inftant of conception
in the mother’s womb; whence it is evident that the perfon
in whofe favour the acknowledgment was made was the heir of the acknowledger
at the period of his acknowledgment; and confequently,
that he has made an acknowledgment in favour of his own fon, which
is invalid of courfe.— It is otherwife with refpedt to marriage;
for, as the relationfhip produced by that takes place only from the
time o f contra fling it, it follows that the woman was not the acknowledger
s heir at the time of the acknowledgment; and confequently,
that his acknowledgment in her favour remains, valid.
Ie a fick perfon repudiate his wife by three divorces, and then
make an acknowledgment of debt due to her, and die * , fhe is in that
but it is annulled
by a
fubfequent
acknowledgment
o f
the ftranger
being his fon.
Cafe o f acknowledgement
in fa-
* Before the expiration of her edit.
cafe