Legitimacy (law)

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Not to be confused with Legitimacy (political). "Illegitimate" redirects here. For other uses, see Illegitimate (disambiguation).

Family law

Family Marriage and other equivalent or similar unions and status

Marriage Types of marriages Prenuptial agreement Cohabitation Civil union Domestic partnership Validity of marriages

Void and Voidable marriages Annulment Dissolution of marriages

Divorce Adultery Grounds for divorce Matrimonial Causes Act Legal separation Alimony Parenting plan esidence !"# !$%&% and '()) Parental rights Custody $valuator !"%*%) Parenting coordinator !"%*%) Other issues

Paternity Legitimacy Child custody Legal guardian Adoption Child support Contact + Visitation CAFCA** !"# !$%&%)) Grandparent visitation "%'% ights of the Child Children,s rights $mancipation Foster care &ard Parental child abduction Private international law

Private international laDivorce Marriage (nternational child abduction .ague Convention !child abduction) The Family and the Criminal Code (or Criminal Law

Paternity fraud /igamy CP* !"%*%) Child abuse Domestic violence (ncest Child0selling

V T $

In Western common law, legitimacy is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other; and of a child concei ed before the parents recei e a legal di orce! "on ersely, illegitimacy (or bastardy) is the status of a child born outside marriage! #he conse$uences of illegitimacy ha e pertained mainly to a child%s rights of inheritance to the putati e father%s estate and the child%s right to bear the father%s surname or title! Illegitimacy has also had conse$uences for the mother%s and child%s right to support from the putati e father! (&ee 'ffiliation (family law)!)
Contents
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* Law + ,omenclature - "ontemporary position . /0tramarital births 1 2istory 3 &ocial implications 4 In popular culture 5 ,otable people 6 &ee also *7 References ** 8ibliography *+ /0ternal links

Law(edit)
In medie al Wales, a 9bastard9 was defined simply as a child not acknowledged by its father! 'll children, whether born in or out of wedlock, that were acknowledged by the father, en:oyed the same legal rights, including the right to share in the father%s estate! 'fter /ngland%s con$uest of Wales, /nglish law came to apply in Wales!

/ngland%s &tatute of ;erton (*+-1) stated, regarding illegitimacy< 92e is a bastard that is born before the marriage of his parents!9(*) #his definition also applied to situations when a child%s parents could not marry, as when one or both were already married or when the relationship was incestuous! #he =oor Law of *143 formed the basis of /nglish bastardy law! Its purpose was to punish a bastard child%s mother and putati e father, and also to relie e the parish from the cost of supporting mother and child! 98y an act of *143 (*5 /li>abeth "! -), it was ordered that bastards should be supported by their putati e fathers, though bastardy orders in the $uarter sessions date from before this date! If the genitor could be found, then he was put under ery great pressure to accept responsibility and to maintain the child!9 (+) ?nder /nglish law, a bastard was unable to be an heir to real property, in contrast to the situation under ci il law, and could not be legitimi>ed by the subse$uent marriage of father to his mother! #here was one e0ception< when his father subse$uently married his mother, and an older illegitimate son (a 9bastard eign@9) took possession of his father%s lands after his death, he would pass the land on to his own heirs on his death, as if his possession of the land had been retroacti ely con erted into true ownership! ' younger nonAbastard brother (a 9mulier puisn@9) would ha e no claim to the land!(-) #he Legitimacy 'ct *6+3(.) of /ngland and Wales legitimi>ed the birth of a child if the parents subse$uently married each other, pro ided that they had not been married to someone else in the meantime! #he Legitimacy 'ct *616 e0tended the legitimi>ation e en if the parents had married others in the meantime and to putati e marriages which the parents incorrectly belie ed were alid! ,either the *6+3 nor *613 'cts changed the Law of &uccession! #he Family Law Reform 'ct *636 (c! .3) allowed a bastard to inherit on the intestacy of his parents! In canon and in ci il law, the offspring of putati e marriages ha e also been considered legitimate! (1) In the ?nited &tates, in the early *647s a series of &upreme "ourt decisions held that most commonAlaw disabilities imposed upon illegitimacy were in alid as iolations of the /$ual =rotection "lause of the Fourteenth 'mendment to the ?nited &tates "onstitution!(3) ;any other countries ha e abolished by legislation any legal disabilities of a child born out of wedlock!

,omenclature(edit)
?se of the term 9illegitimate child9 is now rare, e en in legal conte0ts! #erms such as 9e0tramarital child9, 9lo e child9 and 9child born out of wedlock9 are more commonly used! 'lso used in 8ritain is 9bastard9, though e0pressions such as 9natural child9 are preferred in polite society!

"ontemporary position(edit)

/li>abeth I of /ngland

Bespite the decreasing legal rele ance of illegitimacy, an important e0ception may be found in the nationality laws of many countries, which discriminate against illegitimate children in the application of jus sanguinis, particularly in cases where the child%s connection to the country lies only through the father! #his is true of the ?nited &tates,(4) and its constitutionality was upheld by the &upreme "ourt in Nguyen . IN!!(5) Legitimacy also continues to be rele ant to hereditary titles, with only legitimate children being admitted to the line of succession! &ome monarchs, howe er, such as /li>abeth I of /ngland, ha e, by dint of special legislation, succeeded to the throne despite the contro ersial status of their legitimacy! 'nnulment of marriage does not change the status of illegitimacy of children born to the couple during their putati e marriage, i.e., between their marriage ceremony and the legal annulment of their marriage! For e0ample, canon **-4 of the Roman "atholic "hurch%s "ode of "anon Law specifically affirms the legitimacy of a child born to a marriage that is declared null following the child%s birth! #he "atholic "hurch is also changing its attitude toward unwed mothers and baptism of the children! In critici>ing the priests who refused to bapti>e outAofAwedlock children, =ope Francis argued that the mothers had done the right thing by gi ing life to the child and should not be shunned by the church< (6)(*7)(**) In our ecclesiastical region there are priests who don%t baptise the children of single mothers because they weren%t concei ed in the sanctity of marriage! #hese are today%s hypocrites! #hose who clericalise the church! #hose who separate the people of Cod from sal ation! 'nd this poor girl who, rather than returning the child to sender, had the courage to carry it into the world, must wander from parish to parish so that it%s baptisedD

/0tramarital births(edit)

=ercentage of births to unmarried women, selected countries, *657 and +774! (*+)

#he proportion of children born outside marriage is rising in all /? countries, ,orth 'merica, and 'ustralia! (*-) In /urope, besides the low le els of fertility rates and the delay of motherhood, another factor that now characteri>es fertility is the growing percentage of li e births outside marriage! In the /?, this phenomenon has been on the rise in recent years in almost e ery country; and in se en countries, mostly in northern /urope, it already accounts for the ma:ority of li e births!(*.) In +776, .*E of children born in the ?nited &tates were born to unmarried mothers (up from 1E a half century ago)! #hat includes 4-E of nonA2ispanic black children, 1-E of 2ispanic children (of all races), and +6E of nonA2ispanic white children!(*1)(*3) In 'pril +776, the ,ational "enter for 2ealth &tatistics announced that nearly .7 percent of 'merican infants born in +774 were born to an unwed mother; that of .!- million children, *!4 million were born to unmarried parents, a +1 percent increase from +77+!(*4) #he percentage born e0tramaritally increased +*E during +77+F4, reaching *,4*.,3.- in +774 (or nearly . in *7 ?!&! births)! (*+) ;ost births to teenagers in the ?&' (53E in +774) are nonmarital; in +774, 37E of births to women +7F+., and nearly oneA third of births to women +1F+6, were nonmarital!(*+) In +774, teenagers accounted for :ust +-E of nonmarital births, down steeply from 17E in *647!(*+) In +7**, -6!1E of all births in the +4 /? countries were e0tramarital! In that year, births outside marriage represented a ma:ority in Iceland (31!7E), /stonia (16!4E), &lo enia (13!5E), 8ulgaria (13!*E), France (11!5E),,orway (11!7E), &w eden (1.!-E), and 8elgium (17E)! #he proportion of e0tramarital births is also approaching half in Benmark (.6E), the ?nited Gingdom (.4!-E) and the ,etherlands(.1!-E)!(*5) Hther /uropean countries with a high rate of e0tramarital births for the year +7** are Lat ia (..!3E), 2ungary (.+!-E), ">ech

Republic (.*!5E), Finland (.7!6E), 'ustria (.7!.E),Lu0embourg (-.!*E), &lo akia (-.!7E), Cermany (--!1E)!
(*6)

#he lowest proportion of births outside marriage was found in Creece (4!.E) and "yprus (*3!6E)!(*5)

In the /?, the a erage percentage of e0tramarital births has risen steadily in recent years, from +4!.E in +777 to -6!1E in +7**!(*5) It is notable that traditionallyAconser ati e "atholic countries now also ha e substantial proportions of e0tramarital births< e!g!, =ortugal, .1!3E (in +7*+);(+7) &pain, -4!.E (in +7**); Ireland, --!4E (in +7**); Italy, +-!.E (in +7**)!(*5) #he percentage of firstAborn children born out of wedlock is considerably higher (by roughly *7E, for the /?), as marriage often takes place after the first baby has arri ed! Latin 'merica has the highest rates of nonAmarital childbearing in the world (11F4.E of all children in this region are born to unmarried parents)!(+*) In most countries in this traditionally "atholic region, children born outside marriage are now the norm! / en in the early *667s, the phenomenon was ery common< in *66-, outA ofAwedlock births in ;e0ico were .*!1E, in "hile .-!3E, in=uerto Rico .1!5E, in "osta Rica .5!+E! In other countries, they were the ma:ority< in 'rgentina 1+!4E, in 8eli>e 15!*E, in /l &al ador 4-E, in =anama 57E!(++)
(+-)

Hther traditionally "atholic countries ha e also been e0periencing ma:ority e0tramarital births< in +774, =araguay 47E, Bominican Republic 3-E!(+-) HutAofAwedlock births are less common in 'sia< in *66- the rate in Iapan was *!.E; in Israel, -!*E; in "hina, 1!3E; in ?>bekistan, 3!.E; in Ga>akhstan, +*E; in Gyrgy>stan, +.E!(++)

2istory(edit)
"ertainty of paternity has been considered important in a wide range of eras and cultures, especially when inheritance and citi>enship were at stake, making the tracking of a man%s estate and genealogy a central part of what defined a 9legitimate9 birth! #he ancient Latin dictum, 9"ater semper certa est9 (9#he mother is always certain9, while the father is not) emphasi>ed the dilemma! In /nglish common law, Iustice /dward "oke in *3+3 promulgated the 9Four &eas Rule9 (e#tra $uatuor maria) asserting that, absent impossibility of the father being fertile, there was apresumption of paternity that a married woman%s child was her husband%s child! #hat presumption could be $uestioned, though courts generally sided with the presumption, thus e0panding the range of the presumption to a &e en &eas Rule9! 8ut it was only with the ;arriage 'ct *41- that a formal and public marriage ceremony at ci il law was re$uired, whereas pre iously marriage had a safe ha en if celebrated in an 'nglican church! &till, many 9clandestine9 marriages occurred!

In many societies, people born out of wedlock did not ha e the same rights of inheritance as those within it, and in some societies, e en the same ci il rights!(which%) In the ?nited Gingdom and the ?nited &tates, as late as the *637s and in certain social strata e en up to today, e0tramarital birth has carried a social stigma!(+.)(+1) In pre ious centuries unwed mothers were forced by social pressure to gi e their children up for adoption! In other cases e0tramarital children ha e been reared by grandparents or married relati es as the 9sisters9, 9brothers9 or 9cousins9 of the unwed mothers!(+3) In most national :urisdictions, the status of a child as a legitimate or illegitimate heir could be changed A in either direction A under the ci il law< ' legislati e act could depri e a child of legitimacy (as in the cases of the sons of /dward IJ of /ngland); con ersely, a marriage between the pre iously unmarried parents, usually within a specified time, such as a year, could retroacti elylegitimate a child%s birth! Fathers of illegitimate children often did not incur comparable censure or legal responsibility, due to social attitudes about se0, the nature of se0ual reproduction, and the difficulty of determiningpaternity with certainty! 8y the final third of the +7th century, in the ?nited &tates, all the states had adopted uniform laws that codified the responsibility of both parents to pro ide support and care for a child, regardless of the parents% marital status, and ga e e0tramarital as well as adopted persons e$ual rights to inherit their parents% property! In the early *647s, a series of &upreme "ourt decisions abolished most, if not all, of the commonAlaw disabilities of e0tramarital birth, as being iolations of the e$ualAprotection clause of the Fourteenth 'mendment to the ?nited &tates "onstitution!(+4) Cenerally speaking, in the ?nited &tates, 9illegitimacy9 has been supplanted by the phrase 9born out of wedlock!9 ' contribution to the decline of the concept of illegitimacy had been made by increased ease of obtaining di orce! =rior to this, the mother and father of many children had been unable to marry each other because one or the other was already legally bound, by ci il or canon law, in a nonA iable earlier marriage that did not admit of di orce! #heir only recourse, often, had been to wait for the death of the earlier spouse(s)! #hus =olish political and military leader IK>ef =iLsudski (*534F*6-1) was unable to marry his second wife, 'leksandra, until his first wife, ;aria, died in *6+*; by which time =iLsudski and 'leksandra had two outA ofAwedlock daughters!(+5)

&ocial implications(edit)

/dwin 8ooth

/0tramarital birth has affected not only the indi iduals themsel es! #he stress that such circumstances of birth once regularly isited upon families, is illustrated in the case of 'lbert /instein and his wifeAtoAbe, ;ile a ;ariM, whoNwhen she became pregnant with the first of their three children, LieserlNfelt compelled to maintain separate domiciles in different cities! &ome persons of e0tramarital birth ha e been dri en to e0cel in their endea ors, for good or ill, by a desire to o ercome the social stigma and disad antage that attached to it! ,ora #itone, in her book "y &houghts 'e 'loody, recounts how the shame and ambition of actor Iunius 8rutus 8ooth%s two e0tramarital actor sons,/dwin 8ooth and Iohn Wilkes 8ooth, spurred them to stri e, as ri als, for achie ement and acclaimN /dwin, a ?nionist, and Iohn Wilkes, the assassin of 'braham Lincoln!(+6) 2istorian Iohn Ferling, in his book (efferson and )amilton* &he +i alry &hat Forged a Nation , makes the same point< that 'le0ander 2amilton%s e0tramarital birth spurred him to seek accomplishment and distinction! (-7) #he &wedish artist 'nders Oorn (*537F*6+7) was similarly moti ated by his e0tramarital birth to pro e himself and e0cel in his mPtier!(-*)

#!/! Lawrence

&imilarly, #! /! Lawrence%s biographer Flora 'rmitage writes about his e0tramarital birth< 9#he effect on (#!/!) Lawrence of this disco ery was profound; it added to the romantic urge for heroic conductNthe dream of the &angrealNthe seed of ambition, the desire for honor and distinction< the redemption of the blood from its taint!9(+.) 'nother biographer, Iohn /! ;ack, writes in a similar ein< 9(2)is mother re$uired of him that he redeem her fallen state by his own special achie ements, by being a person of unusual alue who accomplishes great deeds, preferably religious and ideally on an heroic scale! Lawrence did his best to fulfill heroic deeds! 8ut he was plagued, especially after the e ents of the war acti ated his inner conflicts, by a deep

sense of failure! 2a ing been decei ed as a child he was later to feel that he himself was a decei erNthat he had decei ed the 'rabs!!!9(-+) 9;rs! Lawrence%s original hope that her sons would pro ide her personal redemption by becoming "hristian missionaries was fulfilled only by (Lawrence%s brother) Robert!9 (--) ;ack elaborates further< 9=art of his creati ity and originality lies in his %irregularity,% in his capacity to remain outside con entional ways of thinking, a tendency which!!! deri es, at least in part, from his illegitimacy! Lawrence%s capacity for in ention and his ability to see unusual or humorous relationships in familiar situations come also!!! from his illegitimacy! 2e was not limited to established or %legitimate% solutions or ways of doing things, and thus his mind was open to a wider range of possibilities and opportunities! ('t the same time) Lawrence%s illegitimacy had important social conse$uences and placed limitations upon him, which rankled him deeply!!! 't times he felt socially isolated when erstwhile friends shunned him upon learning of his background! Lawrence%s delight in making fun of regular officers and other segments of %regular% society!!! deri ed!!! at least in part from his inner iew of his own irregular situation! 2is fickleness about names for himself (he changed his name twice to distance himself from his 9Lawrence of 'rabia9 persona) is directly related!!! to his iew of his parents and to his identification with them (his father had changed his name after running off with #!/! Lawrence%s future mother)!9(-.)

In popular culture(edit)
"ain article* Illegitimacy in fiction Illegitimacy has for centuries pro ided a motif and plot element to works of fiction by prominent authors, including William &hakespeare, 8en:amin Franklin, 2enry Fielding, Joltaire, Iane 'usten,'le0andre Bumas, p,re, ,athaniel 2awthorne, "harles Bickens, Wilkie "ollins, 'nthony #rollope, 'le0andre Bumas, fils, Ceorge /liot, Leo #olstoy, I an #urgene , Fyodor Bostoye sky, #homas 2ardy, "!&! Forester, ;arcel =agnol, Crace ;etalious, Iohn Ir ing and Ceorge R! R! ;artin!

,otable people(edit)
,otable people born outside of wedlock ha e included<

&t! Jladimir the Creat


655

"onfucius (ca! 11*F.46 8"/), "hinesethinker and socialphilosopher of the&pring and 'utumn =eriod(-1) &t! Jladimir the Creat, Crand =rince of Gie (657F*7*1) who con ertedGie an Rus% to "hristianity in
(-3)

William the "on$ueror (*7+5F54)

William the "on$ueror

Ging Ioao I of =ortugal (*-15F*.--) Leone 8attista 'lberti (*.7.F4+) 'ntoine, bastard of 8urgundy (*.+*F*17.) Leonardo da Jinci(*.1+F*1*6) F Italianpolymath,Renaissance man /rasmus of Rotterdam (*.33F*1-3) F Butch Renaissance humanist, "atholic priest, theologian! Ferdinand "olumbus (*.55F*1-6)

Leonardo da Jinci

Iean le Rond d%'lembert

Queen /li>abeth I of /ngland (*1--F*37-), declared illegitimate by the&econd &uccession 'ct, considered as such by both the"hurch of /nglandand Roman "atholic "hurch! Iean le Rond d%'lembert (*4*4F5-) 'le0ander 2amilton(*411F*57.), afounding father of the 'merican republic, military officer, political philosopher, and economist; first &ecretary of the #reasury for the ?nited &tates and creator of its financial system!

Iames &mithson (*43. F +4 Iune *5+6), 8ritish mineralogist and chemist whosebe$uest helped found the ?!&! nationalmuseum, the &mithsonian Institution

I an =nin, in an *57+ petition to #sar'le0ander I, famously deplored the status of illegitimate children in the Russian /mpire!(-4)

'le0ander 2amilton

Jasily Ohuko sky 2oward &taunton 'le0ander 2er>en Ienny Lind 'le0andre Bumas,fils (*5+. F 61), author of &he Lady of the -amellias and&he Illegitimate !on!

/dwin 8ooth 8ooker #! Washington 2elena ;od:eska &ir 2enry ;orton &tanley &arah 8ernhardt

'lec Cuinness

Ramsay ;acBonald /dward Cordon "raig Iack London &ergio HsmeRa Cuillaume 'pollinaire #!/! Lawrence, 8ritish coAorgani>er of the 'rab re oltagainst #urkey in World War I! &tefan 8anach, mathematician William 2artnell, actor Willy 8randt &ir 'lec Cuinness F /nglish actor!

/ a =erKn

/ a =erKn, first lady of 'rgentina! "harles ;anson, 'merican criminal who led the murderous 9;anson Family9, and himself fathered one son out of wedlock in *635, with another alleged to ha e been born in that year recently!

Ba id Warner, actor

Larry /llison

&te e Iobs

Larry /llison, 'merican business magnate, coAfounder and chief e0ecuti e officer of Hracle "orporation(-5) =aul ,urse, ,obel laureate &te e Iobs, coAfounder and chief e0ecuti e officer of'pple Inc!, born to an unmarried graduate student who ga e him for adoption with =aul and "lara Iobs; his first daughter Lisa 8rennanAIobs was also born out of wedlock, to Iobs and his former girlfriend!

;iley "yrus, singer and actress (although her parents married shortly after her birth)!

Iustin 8ieber, actor, musician and singerAsongwriter!