2. To receive support from the same, in accordance with article 143. 3. To receive, in a proper case, the hereditary portion fixed in this code.

ART. 135. The father is obliged to acknowledge the natural child in the following cases:

1. When an indisputable paper written by him, expressly acknowledging his paternity, is in existence.

2. When the child is in uninterrupted enjoyment of the status of a natural child of the defendant father, justified by direct acts of the said father or of his family.

In cases of violation, ravishment, or rape, the provisions of the penal code shall be observed with regard to the acknowledgment of

the issue.

ART. 136. The mother is obliged to recognize the natural child:

1. When the child is, with regard to the mother, included in any of the cases stated in the preceding article.

2. When the fact of the birth and the identity of the child are duly

proven.

ART. 137. The actions for the acknowledgment of natural children can be instituted only during the life of the presumed parents, except in the following cases:

1. If the father or mother died during the minority of the child, in which case the latter may institute the action before the expiration. of the first four years of its majority.

2. If, after the death of the father or mother, some instrument, before unknown, should be discovered in which the child is expressly acknowledged.

In this case the action must be instituted within the six months following the discovery of such instrument.

ART. 138. The acknowledgment of a child which does not have the condition of the second paragraph of article 119, or in which the prescriptions of this section have not been complied with, may be contested by those it injures.

SECTION SECOND.-Other illegitimate children.

ART. 139. Illegitimate children not in the enjoyment of the legal status of natural children shall only have the right to claim support from their parents in accordance with article 143.

ART. 140. The right to support, referred to in the preceding article, can only be claimed—

1. If the paternity or maternity is inferred from a final judgment rendered in a criminal or civil action.

2. If the paternity or maternity is shown in an indisputable document, from the father or mother, in which the filiation is expressly acknowledged.

3. With regard to the mother, if the fact of the birth and the identity of the child are fully proven.

ART. 141. With the exception of the cases mentioned in Nos. 1 and 2 of the preceding article, no judicial complaint shall be admitted, the purpose of which may be to investigate either directly or indirectly the paternity of illegitimate children who have not the legal status of natural children.

TITLE VI.-THE SUPPORT OF RELATIONS.

ART. 142. By support is understood all that is requisite for maintenance, residence, clothing, and medical assistance, according to the social standing of the family.

Support includes also the education and instruction of the party receiving it when he or she is a minor.

ART. 143. The following are obliged to mutually support each other to the full extent fixed in the preceding article:

1. The spouses.

2. Legitimate ascendants and descendants.

3. Parents and children legitimized by royal concession and the legitimate descendants of the latter.

4. Parents and acknowledged natural children, and the legitimate descendants of the latter.

Parents and illegitimate children not having the legal status of natural children, owe each other, by way of support, all the help necessary for their subsistence. Parents, besides, are bound to bear the expenses of the elementary instruction of the children as well as the teaching of a profession, art, or trade.

Brothers and sisters also owe to legitimate brothers and sisters, even when only on the mother's or father's side, the necessary assistance for living, when by a physical or moral defect or for any other reason not chargeable to the recipient, the latter should not be able to support himself or herself. In this assistance is included, in a proper case, the necessary expenses to defray the costs of the elementary instruction and for the teaching of a profession, art, or trade.

ART. 144. The demand for support, when proper, and when two or more are obliged to give it, shall be made in the following order: 1. Of the spouse.

2. Of the descendants in the nearest degree.

3. Of the ascendants also in the nearest degree.

4. Of the brothers.

Between descendants and ascendants the graduation shall be regulated by the order in which they are called to the legitimate succession of the person entitled to support.

ART. 145. Whenever the obligation to support is charged on two or more persons, the payment of the pension shall be divided among them at a rate in proportion to their respective means.

However, in case of urgent necessity and in special circumstances the judge may force only one of them to pay it temporarily, without prejudice to his right to claim from the other parties obligated the portion that is due from them.

When two or more persons entitled thereto claim support at the same time, from the same person legally bound to give it, and such person has not sufficient means to pay for all, the order established in the preceding article shall be observed, unless the persons claiming the support are the spouse and a child subject to the parental authority, in which case, the latter shall be preferred to the former.

ART. 146. The amount of support, in the cases mentioned in the four numbers of article 143, shall be in proportion to the capital or means of the persons giving it and to the requirements of the recipient.

ART. 147. Support, in the cases to which the preceding article refers, shall be reduced or increased proportionately according to the increase or reduction of the necessities of the recipient and the means of the person obliged to give it.

ART. 148. The obligation to give support may be enforced from the moment the person having a right to claim it requires it for his or her maintenance, but it shall be paid only from the date of the claim.

Payment shall be made monthly in advance, and when the recipient dies, his or her heirs shall not be obliged to refund what the latter may have received in advance.

ART. 149. The person obliged to give support may, at his option, do so either by paying the pension that may be fixed, or by receiving and supporting in his or her own home the person having a right thereto. ART. 150. The obligation to support ceases with the death of the person obliged to give it, even if paying it in compliance with a final judgment.

ART. 151. The right to support can not be renounced or transferred to a third party. Neither can it be set off against what the recipient owes to the party obliged to give it.

But pensions for support in arrears may be set off and renounced, and the right to claim them may be transferred for a good or valuable consideration.

ART. 152. The obligation to give support shall cease:

1. By the death of the recipient.

2. If the means of the person obliged to pay it are reduced to such a point that he or she can not pay it without neglecting his or her own requirements and those of his or her family.

3. If the recipient is able to work at a trade, profession, or industry, or has obtained employment or improved his or her fortune in such a manner that the pension for support is not required for his or her support.

4. If the recipient, be he or be he not an heir by force of law, commits any offense which gives rise to disinheritance.

5. When the recipient is a descendant of the person obliged to give support, and the necessity of the former arises from bad conduct or from want of application to work, while such reason exists.

ART. 153. The foregoing provisions are applicable to the other cases in which, by this code, by will, or by agreement, a right to support may arise, excepting what is stipulated, ordered by the testator, or provided by law for the special case in question.

TITLE VII. THE PARENTAL AUTHORITY.

CHAPTER FIRST.-General provision.

ART. 154. The father, and, in his absence, the mother, has authority over their legitimate children, not emancipated, and the children are bound to obey them while they remain under their authority and always to show them respect and reverence.

Acknowledged natural children and adopted minors are under the authority of the father or of the mother who acknowledges or adopts them, and must also comply with the obligations referred to in the preceding paragraph.

CHAPTER SECOND.-Effects of parental authority with regard to the persons of the children.

ART. 155. The father, and, in his absence, the mother, has, with regard to their children not emancipated

1. The duty of supporting them, to keep them in their company, educate and instruct them in proportion to their means, and represent them in the exercise of all actions that may redound to their benefit. 2. The right to correct and punish them moderately.

ART. 156. The father, and, in a proper case, the mother, may request the assistance of the administrative authorities, which must be given to them in support of their own authority over their children, not emancipated, either within the domestic hearth or for the detention and even for the retention of the same in educational institutions or in institutions legally authorized to receive them.

They can also demand the intervention of the municipal judge for the purpose of imposing on their children, up to one month's detention in a correctional institution, devoted to that purpose, the order of the father or mother with the countersignature of the judge being sufficient for enforcing such detention.

The provisions of the two preceding paragraphs include children, either legitimate, legitimized, acknowledged, natural, or adopted.

ART. 157. When the father or mother has contracted a second marriage and the child should be born of a prior marriage, they must state to the judge the reasons for their decision to punish him or her. and the judge shall hear the child in person and decree or refuse to order the detention without appeal. The same thing shall be observed when the child, not emancipated, holds any position or works at any trade, even when the parents have not contracted a second marriage.

ART. 158. The father, and in a proper case the mother, shall pay for the support of the detained child; but they can not interfere in the management of the institution where it is detained, being only permitted to have it released when they deem proper.

CHAPTER THIRD.-Effect of parental authority with regard to the property of the children.

ART. 159. The father, or, in his absence, the mother, is the legal administrator of the property of the children who are under their authority.

ART. 160. The ownership of property which a child not emancipated may have acquired, or acquires by its work or industry or for any good consideration, is vested in the child, and the usufruct in the father or mother who has him or her under his or her authority and in his or her company; but if the child, with the consent of the parents, lives independently of them, he or she shall be considered as emancipated for all purposes with regard to said property and shall own it and enjoy the usufruct and administration thereof.

ART. 161. The ownership and usufruct of what the child acquires with the capital of his or her parents is vested in the latter; but should the parents expressly assign to him or her the whole or a part of the profits which he or she may obtain, such profits shall not be chargeable to the latter in the inheritance.

ART. 162. The ownership or usufruct of the property or income donated or left by will to a child not emancipated, to cover the cost of his or her education and instruction, is vested in him or her; but the father or the mother shall have the administration thereof if no other proviso has been made in the gifts or bequest, in which case the will of the donors shall be strictly observed.

ART. 163. The parents have, with regard to the property of the children, the usufruct or administration of which belongs to them, the obligations of every usufructuary or administrator and the special obligations established by section 3, title 5, of the mortgage law.

An inventory shall be made with the intervention of the department of public prosecution of the property of the children in which the parents have the administration only, and on the recommendation of the said department the judge may decree the deposit in public securities of the property belonging to the child.

ART. 164. The father, or the mother in a proper case, can not alienate the real property of the child, the usufruct or administration of which belongs to them, nor encumber the same, except for sufficient reasons of utility or necessity, and after authorization from the judge of the domicile, hearing the department of public prosecution, excepting the provisions which, with regard to the effects of transfers, the mortgage law establishes.

ART. 165. Whenever, in any matter, the father or mother may have an interest opposed to that of their children, not emancipated, a next friend shall be appointed for the latter, to represent them in court or otherwise.

The judge, on petition of the father or of the mother, of the said minor, of the department of public prosecution, or of any other person qualified to appear in court, shall appoint, as the next friend, the relative of the minor to whom the legitimate guardianship should belong in such cases, and, in the absence of the latter, another relative or any other person.

ART. 166. The parents who acknowledge or adopt children do not acquire the usufruct of their property, nor shall they have the administration of such property, unless they give bond for the results thereof to the satisfaction of the judge of the domicile of the minor or of the persons who must consent to the adoption.

CHAPTER FOURTH.-Manner of termination of the parental authority. ART. 167. Parental authority terminates

1. By the death of the parents or of the child.

2. By emancipation.

3. By the adoption of the child.

ART. 168. The mother who contracts a second marriage loses her parental authority over her children, unless the deceased husband, the father of the latter, should have in his will made express provision for the remarriage of his widow, and had ordered that in such case she was to preserve and exercise the parental authority over their children.

ART. 169. The father, and, in a proper case, the mother, loses the authority over their children

1. When, by a final sentence in a criminal case, the said authority is taken away as a penalty.