PARENT AND CHILD 



PARIS 



761 



funds, are also not bound. It is true that if the 

 parent die intestate both the real and personal 

 property will go to the children ; but the parent is 

 entitled, if he choose, to disinherit the children, 

 and give away all his property to strangers, pro- 

 vided he execute his will in due form, which he 

 may competently do on death-bed if in possession 

 of his faculties. 



A father has the right to the custody of his child 

 until majority at least, as against third parties, 

 and no court will deprive him of such custody 

 except on strong grounds. Whenever the child is 

 entitled to property, the court so far controls the 

 parental right that, if the father is shown to act 

 with cruelty, or to be guilty of immorality, a 

 guardian will be appointed. The court has often 

 to decide in cases of children brought before it by 

 habeas corpus, when parties have had the custody 

 against the father's will. In such cases, if the 

 child is under fourteen, called the age of nurture, 

 and the father is not shown to be cruel or immoral, 

 the court will order the child to be delivered up to 

 him ; but if the child is above fourteen, or, as some 

 say, above sixteen, the court will allow the child 

 to choose where to go. If the parents separate by 

 agreement, no stipulation will be enforced which is 

 prejudicial to the child. In case of divorce or judi- 

 cial separation the Court of Divorce has power to 

 direct who is to have the custody of the children. 

 The law lays upon fathers the duty of providing 

 their children with an elementary education in 

 reading, writing, and arithmetic ; and a father has 

 the right, which the court will not interfere with 

 except on special grounds, to have his children 

 educated in his own religious faith. 



Scotland. The law of parent and child in Scot- 

 land differs in some respects from the law of 

 England and Ireland. In Scotland there is a legal 

 obligation on parents and children to maintain each 

 other if able to do so, and either may sue the other 

 for aliment at common law ; but this obligation 

 extends only to what may be called subsistence 

 money, although this does not mean merely relief 

 of the poor-law authorities, but is held to vary 

 according to the social position of the party. As 

 regards all maintenance beyond mere subsist- 

 ence, the law does not materially differ from that 

 of England, and a contract must be proved against 

 the father before he can be held liable to pay. 

 The legal liability as between parent and child is 

 qualified in this way by the common law, that if 

 a person has both a father and a child living and 

 able to support him, then the child is primarily 

 liable, and next the grandchild, after whom comes 

 the father, and next the grandfather. Not only 

 are parent and child liable to support each other 

 while the party supporting is alive, but if he dies 

 his executors are also liable ; and this liability is 

 not limited by the age of majority, but continues 

 during the life of the party supported. Another 

 advantage which a Scotch child has over an English 

 child is that the father cannot disinherit it at 

 least so far as concerns his movable property (see 

 LEOITIM). With regard to the custody of children 

 in Scotland, the rule is that the father is entitled 

 to the custody as between him and the mother. 

 His right, however, is not absolute, but subject 

 to the equitable jurisdiction of the Court of Session, 

 which makes such orders regarding custody as are 

 dictated by a regard for the health, interests, and 

 moral education of the child. In actions for separa- 

 tion or divorce this court has power to make such 

 orders as are just and proper regarding the custody 

 of the children of the spouses. 



By the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1886, in- 

 creased rights were given to the mothers of lawful 

 children noth in England and Scotland. The 

 general effect of the enactment is to place the 



mother of children whose father is dead in a similar 

 position to that which the father would have 

 occupied had he been alive in regard to the guar- 

 dianship. 



United States. The American law closely follows 

 that of England on this head, save in regard to the 

 age ( usually eighteen ) at which women cease to be 

 infants. See INFANT, AGE. 



Parhelion. See HALOS. 



Pariahs is the Tamil name now generally 

 given to the lowest class of the Hindu population 

 of Southern India the 'out-castes' who do not 

 belong to any of the four castes of the Brahminical 

 system (the Telugu name is Mala, the Kanarese 

 ffolia, the Malayalim Paliyar). In the Madras 

 Presidency they numbered, in 1881, 4,439,253, or 

 15-58 per cent, of the total population, or four 

 times as numerous as the Brahmans. Presumably 

 they represent the aboriginal race conquered by 

 the Sudras, themselves a stock vanquished by the 

 Vedic peoples. In the 18th century Pariahs were 

 slaves to the higher castes ; they must still dwell 

 in huts outside village bounds, but are frugal, 

 pleasure-loving, and laborious. See CASTE. For 

 the Pariah Dog, see Doo. 



Paris, the capital of France, and the largest 

 city in Europe after London, is situated in 48 50' 

 N. lat. and 2 20' E. long., on the river Seine, 

 about 110 miles from its mouth. It lies in the 

 midst of the fertile plain of the lle-de-France, at 

 a point to which converge the chief tributaries of 

 the river, the Yonne, the Marne, and the Oise. 

 These streams, navigable for the small vessels for- 

 merly used in commerce, gave it until recent times 

 the advantages of a seaport, while the great trade- 

 routes passing along their valleys connected it with 

 all parts of France. It is still the centre of a 

 great network of rivers, canals, roads, and rail- 

 ways ; hence its commercial importance. Paris 

 has occupied since Roman times a constantly 

 increasing series of concentric circles. The present 

 city is bounded by fortifications a rampart 

 upwards of 22 miles in length, begun in 1840 and 

 completed twenty years afterwards. The exten- 

 sion of the city boundary to this line explains 

 the increase of population from 1,174,346 in 1856 

 to 1,696,741 in 1861; subsequent pop. (1866) 

 1,825,274; (1881)2,269,023; and (1891) 2,447,957. 

 Paris has within the fortifications a mean eleva- 

 tion of about 120 feet, but it rises in low hills 

 north of the Seine, Montmartre (400 feet) and 

 Belleville (320 feet), and south of the Seine, the 

 Montagne Sainte Genevieve (190 feet). These 

 elevations are encircled at a distance of from two 

 to five miles by an outer range of heights, in- 

 cluding Villejuif, Meudon, St Cloud, and Mont- 

 Valerien (650 feet), the highest point in the 

 immediate vicinity of the city. The Seine, which 

 enters Paris in the south-east at Bercy, and 

 leaves it at Passy in the west, divides the city 

 into two parts, and forms the two islands of La 

 Cite and St Louis, which are both covered with 

 buildings. 



France lias long been the most highly centralised 

 country in Europe, and Paris as its heart contains 

 a great population of government functionaries. 

 Paris is a city of pleasure, and attracts the 

 wealthy from all parts of the world. These 

 wealthy inhabitants make it a city of capitalists 

 and a" great financial centre. The provincial 

 universities of France have been deprived of their 

 attraction by the schools of Paris, to which flock 

 the youth of France. The publishing trade has 

 followed the same course. Paris cannot be de- 

 scribed as a manufacturing town. Its chief and 

 peculiar industries produce articles which derive 

 their value not from the cost of the material, 



