day from the decease of the testator, if he died in the State, or from the day on which his death was first known, if he died out of the State.

If the testator has not granted the seisin to the testamentary executor, the latter cannot require it.

ART. 1653.—The testator may express his intention to grant the seisin of his estate to the testamentary executor, either in express terms, by authorizing him to take possession of the whole, or a part of the estate of his succession after his death, or by merely appointing him testamentary executor and detainer of his estate, the word detainer sufficiently announcing that the executor is to be seized of the property of the succession.

But if the executor testamentary be merely appointed testamentary executor, without any other power, his functions are confined to see to the execution of the legacies contained in the will, and to cause the inventory and other conservatory acts of the property of the succession to be made.

ART. 1654.-When of the testator's heirs some are absent and not represented in the State, the judge shall appoint for them a counsel, whose duty it shall be to assist for them at the inventory of the effects left by the testator, to take care of their interests, and to oppose every thing which may prejudice the same.

ART. 1655.-It shall also be the duty of this counsel to inform, with all possible diligence, those whom he represents, of the opening of the succession, and to correspond with them; and when he has once accepted this charge, he cannot divest himself of it, until the heirs have sent their power of attorney, or until the succession is liquidated.

ART. 1656.-He who cannot obligate himself, cannot be a testamentary executor.

ART. 1657.-A married woman cannot accept a lesta

mentary executorship without the consent of her husband.

If there is between them a separation of property, she may accept it with the consent of her husband, or, on his refusal, she may be authorized by the court, conformably to what is prescribed by the title of husband and wife.

ART. 1658.-A minor cannot be testamentary executor, even with the authorization of his tutor or curator.

ART. 1659.-The testamentary executor shall cause the seals to be affixed, if there be any minor, interdicted or absent heirs; he shall cause an inventory of the property of the succession to be made, in the different parishes in which the testator has left property, by the parish judge or by any notary public duly authorized to that effect by the judge.

ART. 1660.-The presumptive heirs present, and the counsel of the absent heirs, must be notified to attend at the taking of the inventory.

ART. 1661. In default of funds sufficient to discharge the debts and legacies of sums of money, the testamentary executor shall cause himself to be authorized by the court to sell the moveables and the slaves not employed on plantations, and if they are insufficient, the immoveables, to a sufficient amount to satisfy those debts and legacies.

ART. 1662.-Except in the cases provided for in the preceding article, he cannot cause the immoveables, nor the slaves employed thereon, to be sold, unless he is authorized by the will to do so.

ART. 1663.-The testamentary executor shall proceed to the sale above mentioned and to the payment of the debts of the succession, in the same manner as is prescribed for curators of vacant successions.

ART. 1664.-The heirs can, at any time, take the

seisin from the testamentary executor, on offering him a sum sufficient to pay the moveable legacies.

ART. 1665.-The testamentary executor is bound, even after the expiration of his seisin, to see the testament faithfully executed.

ART. 1666.-He must render an account of his administration at the expiration of the year, commencing from the moment in which he had the seisin.

ART. 1667.-But after the rendition of this account, the judge may continue him in his functions, if the absent heirs have not appeared or have not claimed their rights, on obliging him to give security for the sum or effects remaining in his hands.

ART. 1668.—If the testamentary executor is not continued in his functions, he must pay into the treasury of the State the balance in favour of the succession, in ten days after the approval and final settlement of his account, if he lives within fifty miles of the treasurer's office, and if he reside at a further distance, he shall be allowed one day for every twenty miles in addition to the above time. ART. 1669.—The testamentary executor, even after the expiration of his administration, is bound to continue to defend the suits commenced by or against him on account of the succession, until the heirs appear or cause themselves to be represented.

ART. 1670.-The testamentary executor is not bound to accept the executorship, nor to give security, when he does accept it.

ART. 1671.—If the testator has omitted to name a testamentary executor, or if the one named refuses to accept, the judge shall appoint one ex officio.

ART. 1672.-The testamentary executor, thus appointed by the judge, and called the dative testamentary executor, is bound to give security in the same manner as curators of vacant successions.

ART. 1673.-The powers of the testamentary executor do not go to his heirs.

ART. 1674.-If there be several executors who have accepted, any one of them may act for them all, but they shall all be jointly and severally accountable for the property subject to the executorship, unless the testator has divided their functions, and each of them has confined himself to that which to him was allotted.

ART. 1675.-The expenses incurred by the executo r for affixing the seals, for the inventory, for the accounts and the other charges relative to his functions, shall be defrayed out of the succession.

to

ART. 1676.-An executor who has had the seisin of all the estate of the succession, whether he were charged to sell it or not, shall be entitled, for his trouble and care, a commission of two and a half per cent on the whole amount of the estimate of the inventory, making a deduction for what is not productive, and for what is due by insolvent debtors.

ART. 1677.-If the executor has not had a general seisin, his commission shall only be on the estimated value of the object which he has had in his possession, and on the sums put into his hands for the purpose of paying the legacies and other charges of the will.

ART. 1678.-The commission shall be shared among the executors, if there be several, and if their functions. are not divided by the testator.

In this latter case, they shall be entitled to a commission on what has fallen to the administration of each respectively.

ART. 1679.-Testamentary executors, to whom the testator has bequeathed any legacies or other gifts by his will, shall not be entitled to any commission, unless the testator has formally expressed the intention that they should have the legacies over and above their commission. ART. 1680.-In no case shall the commission allowed

to the testamentary executors affect the legitime reserved to the forced heirs of the testators.

ART. 1681.-Testaments made in foreign countries and other states of the Union, cannot be carried into effect on property in this State, without being registered in the court within the jurisdiction of which the property is situated, and the execution thereof ordered by the judge.

ART. 1682.-This order of execution shall be granted without any other form than that of registering the testament, if it be established that the testament has been duly proved before a competent judge of the place where it was received. In the contrary case, the testament cannot be carried into effect, without its being first proved before the judge of whom the execution is demanded.

SECTION V.

Of the Revocation of Testaments and of their Caducity. ART. 1683.-Testaments are revocable at the will of the testator until his decease.

The testator cannot renounce this right of revocation nor obligate himself to exercise it only under certain words and restrictions, and if he does so, such declaration shall be considered as not written.

ART. 1684.-The revocation of testaments by the act of the testator is express or tacit, general or particular. It is express when the testator has formally declared in writing that he revokes his testament, or that he revokes such a legacy or a particular disposition.

It is tacit, when it results from some other disposition of the testator, or from some act which supposes a change of will.

It is general, when all the dispositions of a testament are revoked.

It is particular, when it falls on some of the disposi'ions only, without touching the rest.