Full Citation
Title: Morality, Miscegenation, and Limitations on Marital Status: The 1907 Louisiana Supreme Court Case Succession of Gabisso
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2016
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Abstract: In the summer of 1907, Louise Cuevas listened intently to her attorney's arguments before the Louisiana Supreme Court's presiding judge. The Civil District Court had found in Louise's favor, but this review of her case did not seem to be going well. First one, then a second argument her attorney presented to the court was dismissed as being misguided and irrelevant, making her already maligned case for her children's inheritance rights to their paternal grandmother's estate all the weaker. Her children's father, Joseph Frigerio, could be of no help - he had been dead for more than a decade. Joseph's siblings were now calling into question the legality of Louise's marriage to Joseph. If they prevailed on all points, then Louise's marriage would be adjudged as never having existed. Her two children would by implication be considered illegitimate and would therefore not be entitled to any portion of their grandmother's estate. Despite the lower court's findings in favor of Louise and her children, which preserved recognition of Louise's marriage and confirmed her children's inheritance rights, this court did not read the law in the same way. With the Louisiana Supreme Court's decision, both Louise's marriage and her children's interest in the Gabisso estate disappeared into nothingness, at least according to the law.
Url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43858296.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
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Authors: Pitman, Bambra (Barb)
Periodical (Full): Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association
Issue: 2
Volume: 57
Pages: 133-183
Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Family and Marriage, Race and Ethnicity
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