Succession of Thompson

The error of the majority, in my opinion, is in deciding this case according to what they consider the law ought to be, rather than according to what the writers of our Code intended to be the law. As noted in the majority opinion, this court observed at an early date that the redactors of our Code had not followed the French view as to the place of a surviving spouse in an irregular succession. The French in- their Code of 1804 provided that natural children would exclude a surviving spouse. Art. 767, French Civil Code. In our Code of 1808 the surviving wife excluded a natural child, and a…