Johnson's Heirs v. Raphael

Citations

• 117 La. 967
• 42 So. 470
• 1906 La. LEXIS 804

Syllabus

<p>1. Marriage &emdash; Private Agreement &emdash;Validity.</p> <p>_ Marriages by private agreement, express or implied, have never been recognized by the laws of Louisiana, which, on the contrary, have always required that a contract of marriage shall he celebrated by a priest, minister, or some duly authorized public officer, in the presence of three witnesses.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.&emdash;For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 34, Marriage, §§ 12-14.]</p> <p>2. Same&emdash;Slaves&emdash;Validity.</p> <p>While the Civil Code of 1825 inferentially permitted the marriage of slaves, with the consent of their masters, it did not dispense with the celebration of nuptials in such cases.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.&emdash;For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 34, Marriage, § 7.]</p> <p>3. Same&emdash;Private Agreement&emdash;Validation.</p> <p>Act 1868, No. 210, p. 278, recognized the nullity of marriages by private agreement, whether express or implied, from cohabitation as man and wife, by providing for their validation, conditioned on the authentic acknowledgment of the marriage relation by the parties in interest.</p> <p>4. Same&emdash;Slave Marriages&emdash;Ratification.</p> <p>Slave marriages, while binding in morals, produced no civil effects until ratified by continued cohabitation after emancipation or by acknowledgment as required by the act of 1868, supra.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.&emdash;For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 34, Marriage, §§ 97, 108.]</p> <p>5. Same.</p> <p>Where a negro man and woman “took up with each other” during the time of slavery, without any celebration whatever of their union, the consent of their master to the continuance of their irregular relations did not have the effect of creating a marriage.</p> <p>[Ed. Note.&emdash;For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 34, Marriage, § 7.]</p> <p>6. Same.</p> <p>Where the same parties never lived together after April, 1864, and after the close of the Civil War in 1865 both of them were lawfully married to ot