An adoption that occurs independently between the biological mother (and sometimes the biological father) and the adoptive parents without the involvement of an agency. • A private adoption is usu. arranged by an intermediary such as a lawyer, doctor, or counselor. Legal custody — though sometimes not physical custody — remains with the biological parent […]
concubine (kong-ky[schwa]-bIn). 1. Archaic. A woman who cohabits with a man to whom she is not married. • A concubine is often considered a wife without title. A concubine’s status arises from the permanent cohabitation of a man and a woman as husband and wife although without the benefit of marriage. Cf. common-law wife under
tutorship. Civil law. The office and power of a tutor; the power that an individual has, sui juris, to take care of one who cannot care for himself or herself. • The four types of tutorship are (1) tutorship by nature, (2) tutorship by will, (3) tutorship by the effect of the law, and (4)
destination du père de famille (des-tee-nah-syawn doo pair d[schwa] fa-mee). [French “destination of the father of the family”] 1. Civil law. The legal standing of the owner of two estates that would be subject to a servitude if they were not owned by the same person. • When the two estates cease to be owned
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contubernium (kon-t[y]uu-b[schwa]r-nee-[schwa]m). [Latin] Roman law. A marriage-like union between slaves. • Contubernium was recognized in the United States. Before slavery was abolished, only one Southern court gave a marriage between slaves legal effect upon manumission. See Girod v. Lewis, 6 Mart. (O.S.) 559, 559–60 (La. 1819). In 1825, the Louisiana legislature passed a law expressly
birth. The complete extrusion of a newborn baby from the mother’s body. • The quotation below states the traditional legal view of birth. In a few jurisdictions, the state of the law may be changing. In South Carolina, for example, a child does not have to be born alive to be a victim of murder;
Family law. A court’s determination of paternity, usu. including a direction to pay child support. • Governments usu. seek filiation orders so that some or all of the public funds spent on the child’s welfare can be recovered from a nonmarital child’s father. Until the early 20th century, municipalities, not the state, had the legal