|
Legitimacy, in Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other; and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy '' (or ''bastardy'') is the status of a child born outside marriage. The consequences of illegitimacy have pertained mainly to a child's rights of inheritance to the putative father's estate and the child's right to bear the father's surname or title. Illegitimacy has also had consequences for the mother and child's right to support from the putative father. See Affiliation (family law). As of 2012, the proportions of children born outside marriage, taking the median across countries, range from some 66% in Latin America to 40% in the United States and the European Union, and some 5% in East Asia. In addition, the illegitimacy rate in Western societies is increased slightly by 1-2% of children who were ostensibly born to couples but were in fact covertly conceived by a different biological father. ==Law== In medieval Wales, a "bastard" was defined simply as a child not acknowledged by its father. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, that were acknowledged by the father enjoyed the same legal rights, including the right to share in the father's estate. England's Statute of Merton (1235) stated, regarding illegitimacy: "He is a bastard that is born before the marriage of his parents."〔(Resources - 1788 - Before European Settlement ).〕 This 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. The Poor Law of 1576 formed the basis of English bastardy law. Its purpose was to punish a bastard child's mother and putative father, and to relieve the parish from the cost of supporting mother and child. "By an act of 1576 (18 Elizabeth C. 3), it was ordered that bastards should be supported by their putative fathers, though bastardy orders in the quarter sessions date from before this date. If the genitor could be found, then he was put under very great pressure to accept responsibility and to maintain the child."〔Alan Macfarlane, "(Illegitimacy and illegitimates in English history )." (2002)〕 Under English law, a bastard was unable to be an heir to real property, in contrast to the situation under civil law, and could not be legitimized by the subsequent marriage of father to his mother. There was one exception: when his father subsequently married his mother, and an older illegitimate son (a "bastard eignè") 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 retroactively converted into true ownership. A younger non-bastard brother (a "mulier puisnè") would have no claim to the land.〔William Blackstone (1753), ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'', Book II, Chapter XV "Of Title by Purchase and I. Escheat", Section 5.〕 The ''Legitimacy Act 1926''〔Legitimacy Act 1926 (16 & 17 Geo. 5 c. 60)〕 of England and Wales legitimized the birth of a child if the parents subsequently married each other, provided that they had not been married to someone else in the meantime. The ''Legitimacy Act 1959'' extended the legitimization even if the parents had married others in the meantime and applied it to putative marriages which the parents incorrectly believed were valid. Neither the 1926 nor 1959 Acts changed the laws of succession to the British throne and succession to peerage titles. The ''Family Law Reform Act'' 1969 (c. 46) allowed a bastard to inherit on the intestacy of his parents. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have also been considered legitimate.〔(New Advent )〕 Since 2003 in England and Wales, 2002 in Northern Ireland and 2006 in Scotland, an unmarried father has parental responsibility if he is listed on the birth certificate.〔https://www.gov.uk/parental-rights-responsibilities/who-has-parental-responsibility〕 In the United States, in the early 1970s a series of Supreme Court decisions held that most common-law disabilities imposed upon illegitimacy were invalid as violations of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://supreme.justia.com/constitution/amendment-14/90-illegitimacy.html )〕 Still, children born out of wedlock may not be eligible for certain federal benefits (e.g., automatic naturalization when the father becomes a US citizen) unless the child has been legitimized in the appropriate jurisdiction.〔(8 CFR Section 320.3(b) )〕〔(Watson ''vs.'' the United States ), specifically the USCIS denial letter in Exhibit S〕 Many other countries have abolished by legislation any legal disabilities of a child born out of wedlock. In France, legal reforms regarding illegitimacy began in the 1970s, but it was only in the 21st century that the principle of equality was fully upheld (through Act no. 2002-305 of 4 March 2002, removing mention of "illegitimacy" — ''filiation légitime'' and ''filiation naturelle''; and through law no. 2009-61 of 16 January 2009).〔http://www.dictionnaire-juridique.com/definition/autorite-parentale.php〕〔http://ceflonline.net/wp-content/uploads/France-Parental-Responsibilities.pdf〕〔http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000020104273&dateTexte=&categorieLien=id〕 In 2001, France was forced by the European Court of Human Rights to change several laws that were deemed discriminatory, and in 2013 the Court ruled that these changes must also be applied to children born before 2001.〔http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-116716#〕 In some countries, the family law itself explicitly states that there must be equality between the children born outside and inside marriage: in Bulgaria, for example, the new 2009 Family Code lists "equality of the born during the matrimony, out of matrimony and of the adopted children" as one of the principles of family law.〔http://kenarova.com/law/Family%20Code.pdf〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Legitimacy (family law)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|