Emily Berry v. D.W. Powell

This is a certified question. The certificate discloses that in the suit the title to a one-half interest • in a tract of land is involved and that the title depended upon the question whether Emily Berry could inherit from her brother, James McCulloch, both being illegitimate; The question is propounded in the following form: “Can an illegitimate sister inherit from an illegitimate brother, both being of the same mother, under the laws of Texas?”

The first act by our Legislature in reference to the power of inheritance by illegitimate person is found in the Act of Congress, approved 18th…