Paternity law and cars -- early 20th century, British

aruna

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OK, first cars -- what kind of car would be common around 1922? Would it have gears, would it need to be cranked up? easy to drive? Could you post links to pix, please?

Second is a bit more complicated.

A white married couple, not having sex, the woman (A) wants a child. The husband agrees that she can sleep with another man in order to have a child (OK, I know this is daring stuff for back then but this was a daring woman who did not follow the rules at all). He is willing to pass the child off as his and be the father.

Her sister (B) is married to a black man and she (A) has a one night stand with him, while also having an affair with a white man for a child. She gets pregnant and believes it's from the white man because-- well because. Only one night etc. But the baby is black, and a girl (A wanted a son). So she gives the child to her sister, who always wanted a girl, having had only boys.
After two years she wants the girl back.

In my desired scenario, A's husband is the legal father and nothing can be done, not by the biological father B, not even though everyone can see the child is black. I want B and husband to be unable to get the child back legally.

This scenario would work in Germany as the mother's husband is ALWAYS the legal father, even if the biological father can prove paternity (back then there was no DNA testing but you could see that the child was black and it was common knowledge that they had sex). This is to safeguard the child's rights. The only person who can contest the legal paternity is the legal father. Not even the mother can contest it, not even if she swears she has not had sex with the legal father.

So that's Germany. I want this scenario for a British colony around 1922. Would it work?
In my scenario A doesn't have to do anything, as she and her husband are the legal parents. They never gave the child up for adoption. They claim it was a foster situation.
 
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mirandashell

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Are the A family fairly well off in this scenario? Money can buy quite a lot of legal privilege. Other than that, I don't really know.... interesting set up though.
 

Twick

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I believe it's still a legal maxim that the mother's husband is the presumptive father - that is, if there's no evidence to prove he's not, he is. The issue of course is the physical traits of the child would, to most of us, be proof. However, could it be that A's husband is dark for a Caucasian, the child's features are ambiguous, and it's not absolutely clear that he couldn't possibly be the father?
 

jclarkdawe

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I can give you American law, which probably matches English law.

Shortly after birth, a birth certificate is made out, which if the couple is married, will list both the father and mother. Father has some ability to refuse being listed on the birth certificate. But once the birth certificate is filed, it is considered prima facia evidence of paternity. It can be contested legally in some rather limited circumstances.

So if the birth certificate is made out to A and her husband, then unless B adopts and paternal rights are terminated against A, A and her husband are the child's parents. The living with B would be some form of guardianship. A could terminate the guardianship at any time.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

aruna

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Are the A family fairly well off in this scenario? Money can buy quite a lot of legal privilege. Other than that, I don't really know.... interesting set up though.

Indeed, they are very wealthy. But I prerefr not to have their wealth being relevant; or only so if it did not work legally.

I believe it's still a legal maxim that the mother's husband is the presumptive father - that is, if there's no evidence to prove he's not, he is. The issue of course is the physical traits of the child would, to most of us, be proof. However, could it be that A's husband is dark for a Caucasian, the child's features are ambiguous, and it's not absolutely clear that he couldn't possibly be the father?

The child is brown; very obviously mixed race!
There's a best-selling book in the UK called The Tea Planet's Wife in which (SPOILER ALERT) a white couple gives birth to twins, one white, one black. The wife thinks she has been secretly raped by afamily friend but in fact her husband has a recessive gene, having had some African ancestors.

Also, there's a lovely vintage film, available on YouTube in full, Island in the Sun with a young and handsome Harry Belafonte in which the Joan Rivers character discovers that though she is white, she has "a touch of the tarbrush". This was quite common in the Caribbean and could produce dark skinned kids to white parents. However, A's husband is straight out of England so it wouldn't work. I suppose she could have such a recessive gene, though...
 

aruna

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OK, back to cars! The paternity questions have been solved.

The year is around 1920. The family has a car in British Guiana. How far would a tank of petrol get you? I need someone to drive about 150 km -- would a full tank be enough? And how fast would a car drive in those days? What would be considered speeding?

Thanks for any help!
 
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aruna

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King Neptune

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They would have gotten between 10 and 15 miles per gallon and they probably had 15 to 20 gallon tanks, so they could have gone 150 to 300 on a tank. So figuring 13 MPG it could have almost made the round trip on one tank. The average fuel consumption in 1923 was 14 MPG.
 

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Aruna, I have a dear friend whose father owns and races vintage cars. I can put you in touch, if you'd like, through Facebook (I'll message you there): but I think you might well find that if you contact the Vintage Car Club in the UK you'll find someone who can answer your questions.
 

jclarkdawe

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As far as gas goes, you'd carry jerry cans. Unless you know where there is gas, you carry extra.

As far as a car goes, Studebaker was a popular vehicle in the American West for its ruggedness and reliability. Austin is a possibility for a British manufacturer.

The roads would dictate what you wanted in a vehicle. Model T was popular for low cost and ability to pick the car up and move it out of the mud hole it was stuck in. Rumble seats were popular in hilly areas, as you loaded them up going uphill to get some weight on the rear wheels. Winch is a good tool to bring along to pull you out of mud holes.

Heavy and dainty cars were for the cities.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

aruna

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They would have gotten between 10 and 15 miles per gallon and they probably had 15 to 20 gallon tanks, so they could have gone 150 to 300 on a tank. So figuring 13 MPG it could have almost made the round trip on one tank. The average fuel consumption in 1923 was 14 MPG.

Thanks! Very helpful. I need someone to run out of petrol so now I can plan it better...
As far as gas goes, you'd carry jerry cans. Unless you know where there is gas, you carry extra.

As far as a car goes, Studebaker was a popular vehicle in the American West for its ruggedness and reliability. Austin is a possibility for a British manufacturer.

The roads would dictate what you wanted in a vehicle. Model T was popular for low cost and ability to pick the car up and move it out of the mud hole it was stuck in. Rumble seats were popular in hilly areas, as you loaded them up going uphill to get some weight on the rear wheels. Winch is a good tool to bring along to pull you out of mud holes.

Heavy and dainty cars were for the cities.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Ouch. I forgot about the roads. Another thing I'll have to research. The cars are needed for country driving up the coast in BG, so I expect the roads were fairly good. And the winch thing has to be accounted for.
 

jclarkdawe

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The US highway system wasn't organized until 1925-26. Even then, some of the major roads included as highways were dirt. Depending upon the rainfall depends upon how much mud you have on a dirt road. Further, many rural roads were only one lane.

There's a good possibility taking a coastal steamer was faster than driving.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe
 

Bolero

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Speeding - were there any speed limits?
Or do you mean making good time/being a fast car?
I think the stuff on road conditions probably make it impossible anyway....:)

You could btw try reading "The Flame Trees of Thika" by Elspeth Huxley. Dates from before WW1 and in Kenya but there is info in there about cars in a British colony. Including the hazard of having the leather of the seats eaten by hyenas.
 

T Robinson

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Also, here are some pictures of the kind of cars I would like to use. Can anyone identify them? I would then be able to find out when they were used in BG.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-x1QRXIYYY...tel-Georgetown-British-Guiana-Circa-1900s.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q2eqkyZZ0QU/VhEkD4uY62I/AAAAAAAAC8Y/Ut2qcY5NVFM/s640/car+at+Park+Hotel.jpg

The first one looks like a Ford Model A and is possible. The second one I can't identify, but it is perhaps the 1940s, that style (second one) would not have been available in the 20s, IMO.
 

aruna

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Another car question -- how ling did it take to crank a car? WHat noises did it make -- spluttering, coughing, etc? Did one also have an ignition key? Thanks!
 

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Another car question -- how ling did it take to crank a car? WHat noises did it make -- spluttering, coughing, etc? Did one also have an ignition key? Thanks!

Starting a car by cranking took as long as it did. It might catch on the first turn, or it might take twnety minutes. There would be sputtering, popping, coughing, and whatever noise; although some just ran.

Ignition locks didn't come in until the 1920's (there might have been a few with them earlier but not many). Generally, one got in and set the choke and made sure the transmission was in neutral. Then one went set the crank in place (cranks were stored in various ways and places) and started turning. When the engine caught, one stowed the crank and got behind the wheel, just in time for the engine to die. Then one would go through the procedure again. Tuning was important, as was the idle mixture.
 

aruna

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Thanks so much! Now a last question, hopefully -- if there was no key, were cars simply left unlocked? There would be a key to the door I presume but could anyone just come and crank your car and drive away, if they managed to get inside? (I just want to know if there was ANY key at all -- like people wanting to drive away, and someone asking "have you got the car key", as they do these days.
 

King Neptune

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Thanks so much! Now a last question, hopefully -- if there was no key, were cars simply left unlocked? There would be a key to the door I presume but could anyone just come and crank your car and drive away, if they managed to get inside? (I just want to know if there was ANY key at all -- like people wanting to drive away, and someone asking "have you got the car key", as they do these days.

There were door locks, but cars were generally left unlocked. People didn't commonly steal cars 70, 80, or 90 years ago. There was nothing to be gained, because there were few cars on the road, making it easy to catch thieves, and the level of crime was much lower. Here in the U.S.A. most people didn't bother locking their houses until the 1960's or later; the only people who were likely to come in were neighbors and relatives, who would be welcome. I'd have to look it up, but locks on houses were rare until less than 100 years ago; they were almost unheard of 200 years ago. That would be houses where ordinary people lived; there were locks on pats of mansions and palaces, but there were watchmen in those also. Consider what people had in their houses 150 years ago, very little. Even fairly well-off people like lawyers just had some furniture of poor to mediocre quality, some beds, and some household tools and utensils. There were no TV's, and most people didn't have more than a few books.