Dorothée, a free woman of color, petitions the court to enforce provisions of the last will and testament of her former owner, the widow Radigué, with regards to her daughter, Azélie. Dorothée represents that she was freed by the will of the late Radigué. The same will also stipulated that Azélie be freed at the age of twenty-one. Until that time, Azélie's services were "bequeathed" to "Mlle" Léocadie, a minor under the guardianship of her mother, "Mme" Coquillon. Mrs. Coquillon was directed to educate Azélie and train her in a trade suitable for earning a livelihood upon emancipation. Dorothée charges that the Coquillons have not fulfilled the will's provisions: not only have they not educated her daughter, but they have instead "forced her by the most cruel Treatments to every kind of labour the most injurious to her health." Dorothée therefore asks the court to put an end to the Coquillons' "care" of Azélie until she is freed at age twenty-one and to order the sheriff to hire her out to a seamstress, so that she can learn the only trade she is suited for due to a "cold" or "rheumatism" in her left arm.
Result: Denied; appealed; affirmed.
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Repository: University of New Orleans
