Revision as of 18:08, 2 February 2010

Births are sometimes classified by legitimacy¹. In general the classification depends upon the marital status of the mother at the time of the conception or confinement. Strictly speaking a legitimate child² may be defined as one whose father and mother were married to one another at the time of conception and a legitimate birth³ as the delivery of such a child; other births or children are illegitimate⁴. It is general practice, however, to consider as legitimate the children who result from pre-marital conceptions⁵, pre-nuptial conceptions⁵ or ante-nuptial conceptions⁵ (i.e., conceptions occurring before marriage) provided that the parents are married to each other at the time of the birth. An illegitimate child⁶ or child born out of wedlock⁶, sometimes called a natural child⁶, (the legal term bastard⁶ has acquired a derogatory meaning) may be legitimized⁸ or legitimated⁸ by the subsequent marriage of his parents. The process of legitimation⁹, which varies in different countries, may confer on the illegitimate child some or all of the rights of legitimate children. In some legal systems, it is possible for a father to grant recognition⁷ to his illegitimate child, i.e., to admit in legal form that he is the child’s father.

• 6. According to the law of some countries a child is illegitimate if it results from an adulterous relationship, adulterous connexion or extra-marital connexion, i.e., a connexion between a married woman and a man other than her husband, but such a birth is not always registered as illegitimate.

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