89 Pa. 358 | Pa. | 1879
delivered the opinion of the court, March 24th 1879.
Adoption in the Roman law was an act by which a person undertook to rear the child of another, and appoint such child as his heir. The Eleventh Title of the first book of the Institutes of Justinian is “De Adoptionibus,” and the first placitum of that title declares that “ adoption is made two ways, either by imperial rescript or authority of the magistrate. The imperial rescript empowers us to adopt persons of either sex who are sui juris, and this species of adoption is called arrogation. But it is by the authority of the magistrate that we adopt persons actually under the power of their parents or grandparents.” Before the times of the empire, arrogation was authorized only by a vote of the people, and ordinary adoption by an edict of the praetor: Encycl. Univ. ad verbum.
It is evident that, even according to this system, some special authority of law was necessary to-constitute an adoption. So also by the Code Napoleon, it can only be effected by the intervention
As to the alleged parol gift by Mr. Ward to Mrs. Ballard, there Avas nothing to,take it out of the Statute of Frauds. Possession delivered or taken in pursuance of it was clearly insufficient under all the cases. Besides such possession, there must be improvements not capable of compensation in damages: Stewart v. Stewart, 3 Watts 253; Moore v. Small, 7 Harris 461; Miller v. Hartle, 3 P. F. Smith 108. The letter of Mr. Ward to Mr. Hoffman, dated August 25th, was no memorandum in Avriting of a gift, but merely declared that he had no objection to Mrs. Ballard’s taking possession at any time Apart from the parol evidence, it tended to prove nothing beyond its terms.
Judgment affirmed.