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{{Globalize|article|Europe and North America|date=April 2023}}
{{Family law}}
'''Legitimacy''', in traditional Western [[common law]], is the status of a child born to parents who are legally [[marriage|married]] to each other, and of a child [[Fertilisation|conceived]] before the parents obtain a legal [[divorce]]. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''bastardy'', has been the status of a child born outside marriage, such a child being known as a '''bastard''', a '''love child''', a '''natural child''', or '''illegitimate'''. In [[Scots law]], the terms '''natural son''' and '''natural daughter''' carry the same implications.
The importance of legitimacy has decreased substantially in Western developed countries since the [[sexual revolution]] of the 1960s and 1970s and the declining influence of [[Christianity|Christian]] churches,
==Law==
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==Contemporary situation==
Despite the decreasing legal relevance of illegitimacy, an important exception may be found in the [[nationality law]]s of many countries, which do not apply ''[[jus sanguinis]]'' (nationality by citizenship of a parent) to children born out of wedlock, particularly in cases where the child's connection to the country lies only through the father. This is true, for example, of the United States,<ref>{{cite web|title=Instructions for N-600, Application for Certificate of Citizenship|url=http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/n-600instr.pdf|publisher=U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services|access-date=1 October 2010|archive-date=19 October 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019040945/http://www.uscis.gov/files/form/n-600instr.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> and its constitutionality was upheld in 2001 by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]] in ''[[Nguyen v. INS]]''.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Tuan Anh Nguyen et al. ''v.'' Immigration and Naturalization Service |vol=533 |reporter=U.S. |opinion=53 |date=2001 |url=http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=533&invol=53}}</ref> In the UK, the policy was changed so that children born after 1 July 2006 could receive British citizenship from their father if their parents were unmarried at the time of the child's birth; illegitimate children born before this date cannot receive British citizenship through their father.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/756515/Nationality-policy-children-of-unmarried-parents-v2.0EXT.pdf |url-status=deviated |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181124162225/https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/756515/Nationality-policy-children-of-unmarried-parents-v2.0EXT.pdf |archive-date=2018-11-24 |title=Nationality policy: children of unmarried parents|date=6 November 2018|version=v2.0|website=[[Home Office]]}}</ref>
[[File:Elizabeth I Unknown Artist.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Elizabeth I]]]]
Legitimacy also continues to be relevant to hereditary titles, with only legitimate children being admitted to the [[line of succession]]. Some monarchs, however, have succeeded to the throne despite the controversial status of their legitimacy. For example, [[Elizabeth I]] succeeded to the throne though she was legally held illegitimate as a result of her parents' marriage having been annulled after her birth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://stuarts.exeter.ac.uk/education/biographies/elizabeth-i/|title=Elizabeth I|website=The Stuart Successions Project}}</ref> Her older half-sister [[Mary I]] had acceded to the throne before her in a similar circumstance: her parents' marriage had been annulled in order to allow her father to marry [[Anne Boleyn|Elizabeth's mother]].
[[Annulment]] of marriage does not currently change the status of legitimacy of children born to the couple during their [[putative marriage]], ''i.e.'', between their marriage ceremony and the legal annulment of their marriage. For example, canon 1137 of the [[Roman Catholic Church]]'s [[1983 Code of Canon Law|Code of Canon Law]] specifically affirms the legitimacy of a child born to a marriage that is [[Annulment#Annulment in the Catholic Church|declared null]] following the child's birth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib4-cann998-1165_en.html#CHAPTER_VIII |title=Canon 1137|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=|website=[[1983 Code of Canon Law|Code of Canon Law]] |publisher=[[Vatican Publishing House|Libreria Editrice Vaticana]]|access-date=2021-12-15|quote="The children conceived or born of a valid or putative marriage are legitimate."}}</ref>
The Catholic Church is also changing its attitude toward unwed mothers and baptism of the children. In criticizing the priests who refused to baptize out-of-wedlock children, [[Pope Francis]] argued that the mothers had done the right thing by giving life to the child and should not be shunned by the church:<ref>{{cite news|last=The Guardian|title=Pope Francis on gay marriage, unmarried mothers … and journalists|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/13/pope-francis-quotations-by-him-about-him | location=London|date=13 March 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Fox|title=Francis is first pope from the Americas|url=
|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/francis-latin-american-pope/story?id=18722276|website=Abcnews.go.com|access-date=2017-03-26}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|In our ecclesiastical region there are priests who don't baptise the children of single mothers because they weren't conceived in the sanctity of marriage. These are today's hypocrites. Those who clericalise the church. Those who separate the people of God from salvation. And 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 baptised!}}
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The percentage of first-born children born out of wedlock is considerably higher (by roughly 10%, for the EU), as marriage often takes place after the first baby has arrived. For example, for the Czech Republic, whereas the total nonmarital births are less than half, 47.7%, (third quarter of 2015) the percentage of first-born outside marriage is more than half, 58.2%.<ref name="czso.cz">{{cite web|url=https://www.czso.cz/csu/czso/ari/population-change-3-quarter-of-2015|title=Population change - 1st - 3rd quarter of 2015 | CZSO|website=Czso.cz|access-date=2017-03-26}}</ref>
In [[Australia]], in 1971, only 7% of births were outside of marriage, compared to 36% in 2020.<ref name="auto1">{{
[[Latin America]] has the highest rates of non-marital childbearing in the world (55–74% of all children in this region are born to unmarried parents).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sustaindemographicdividend.org/articles/international-family-indicators/global-childrens-trends |title=Global Children's Trends | The Sustainable Demographic Dividend |publisher=Sustaindemographicdividend.org |access-date=2013-02-11}}</ref> In most countries in this traditionally Catholic region, children born outside marriage are now the norm. Recent figures from Latin America show non-marital births to be 74% in [[Colombia]], 70% in [[Paraguay]], 69% in [[Peru]], 63% in the [[Dominican Republic]], 58% in [[Argentina]], 55% in [[Mexico]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://worldfamilymap.org/2014/e-ppendix/figure5|title=Births outside marriage|publisher=Childtrends.org|access-date=2014-12-06|archive-date=2015-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206070035/http://worldfamilymap.org/2014/e-ppendix/figure5|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="sustaindemographicdividend.org">{{cite web|url=http://sustaindemographicdividend.org/articles/international-family-indicators/global-childrens-trends|title=Global Children's Trends - The Sustainable Demographic Dividend|access-date=20 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cis.org/illegitimate_nation.html|title=Illegitimate Nation: An Examination of Out-of-Wedlock Births Among Immigrants and Natives|date=June 2007}}</ref> In [[Brazil]], non-marital births increased to 65.8% in 2009, up from 56.2% in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://paa2013.princeton.edu/papers/131703 |format=PDF |title=The Evolution of Births Outside of Marriage, Paternal Recognition and Children's Rights in Brazil |website=Paa2013.princeton.edu |access-date=2017-03-26 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084714/http://paa2013.princeton.edu/papers/131703 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In [[Chile]], non-marital births increased to 70.7% in 2013, up from 48.3% in 2000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.latercera.com/noticia/nacional/2014/07/680-586611-9-alza-de-hijos-fuera-del-matrimonio-muestra-evolucion-de-la-familia-en-chile.shtml|title=Alza de hijos fuera del matrimonio muestra evolución de la familia en Chile|author=Grupo Copesa|date=13 July 2014|access-date=20 April 2016|archive-date=15 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715042243/http://www.latercera.com/noticia/nacional/2014/07/680-586611-9-alza-de-hijos-fuera-del-matrimonio-muestra-evolucion-de-la-familia-en-chile.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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The detection of unsuspected illegitimacy can occur in the context of medical genetic screening,<ref name=2005bellis>{{cite journal |vauthors=Bellis MA, Hughes K, Hughes S, Ashton JR |title=Measuring paternal discrepancy and its public health consequences |journal=J Epidemiol Community Health |volume=59 |issue=9 |pages=749–54 |date=September 2005 |pmid=16100312 |pmc=1733152 |doi=10.1136/jech.2005.036517 }}</ref> in genetic family name research,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Sykes | first1 = B | last2 = Irven | first2 = C | year = 2000 | title = Surnames and the Y chromosome | journal = Am J Hum Genet | volume = 66 | issue = 4| pages = 1417–1419 | doi=10.1086/302850 | pmid=10739766 | pmc=1288207}}</ref><ref name=2009king>{{citation|last1=King|first1=Turi E.|last2=Jobling|first2=Mark A.|title=Founders, Drift, and Infidelity: The Relationship between Y Chromosome Diversity and Patrilineal Surnames|pmc=2668828|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=26|issue=5|year=2009|pmid=19204044|doi=10.1093/molbev/msp022|pages=1093–102}}</ref> and in immigration testing.<ref name="ForsterEtAl">{{cite journal | last1 = Forster | first1 = P | last2 = Hohoff | first2 = C | last3 = Dunkelmann | first3 = B | last4 = Schürenkamp | first4 = M | last5 = Pfeiffer | first5 = H | last6 = Neuhuber | first6 = F | last7 = Brinkmann | first7 = B | year = 2015 | title = Elevated germline mutation rate in teenage fathers | journal = Proc Biol Sci | volume = 282 | issue = 1803| page = 20142898 | doi=10.1098/rspb.2014.2898 | pmid=25694621 | pmc=4345458}}</ref> Such studies show that covert illegitimacy is in fact less than 10% among the sampled African populations, less than 5% among the sampled Native American and Polynesian populations, less than 2% of the sampled Middle Eastern population, and generally 1%–2% among European samples.<ref name="2005bellis"/>
==Causes for rise in
{{Further|Reproductive rights}}
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In English [[common law]], Justice [[Edward Coke]] in 1626 promulgated the "Four Seas Rule" (''extra quatuor maria'') asserting that, absent impossibility of the father being fertile, there was a [[presumption of paternity]] that a married woman's child was her husband's child. That presumption could be questioned, though courts generally sided with the presumption, thus expanding the range of the presumption to a "Seven Seas Rule". But it was only with the [[Marriage Act 1753]] that a formal and public marriage ceremony at civil law was required, whereas previously marriage had a [[wikt:safe haven|safe haven]] if celebrated in an [[Anglican]] church. Still, many "clandestine" marriages occurred.
In many societies, people born out of wedlock did not have the same rights of [[inheritance]] as those within it, and in some societies, even the same [[civil right]]s. {{which|date=May 2012}} In the United Kingdom and the United States, as late as the 1960s and in certain social strata even up to today, nonmarital birth has carried a [[social stigma]].<ref name="Flora Armitage p. 42">Flora Armitage, ''The Desert and the Stars: A Biography of Lawrence of Arabia'', p. 42.</ref><ref>[[John E. Mack]], ''A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Lawrence'', pp. 28–29, 32.</ref> In previous centuries unwed mothers were
In most national [[jurisdiction]]s, the status of a child as a legitimate or illegitimate heir could be changed—in either direction—under the [[Civil law (common law)|civil law]]: A legislative act could deprive a child of legitimacy; conversely, a marriage between the previously unmarried parents, usually within a specified time, such as a year, could retroactively [[Legitimation|legitimate]] a child's birth.
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[[File:Hernando Colón.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Fernando Columbus|Fernando (Hernando) Columbus]]]]
[[Christopher Columbus]]' first son, [[Diego Columbus]] (born between 1474 and 1480; died 1526), by Columbus' wife, [[Filipa Moniz Perestrelo]], followed in his father's footsteps to become the 2nd Admiral of the Indies, 2nd Viceroy of the Indies, and 4th Governor of the Indies.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]|title=Diego Columbus|date=23 February 2024 | url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/126154/Diego-Columbu}}</ref> Columbus' second son, [[Fernando Columbus]] (also known as Hernando; 1488–1539), was his out-of-wedlock son by [[Beatriz Enríquez de Arana]] and—while he grew up with a fair amount of power and privilege—due to the circumstances of his birth he never quite gained the prominence his father did. Hernando Columbus' biographer [[Edward Wilson-Lee]]<ref>[[Edward Wilson-Lee]], ''The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Young Columbus and the Quest for a Universal Library'', William Collins, 2018.</ref> says Hernando "always wanted to prove himself his father's son in spirit. [S]o he undertook th[e] extraordinary project [of] building a universal [[library]] that would [hold] every book in the world... [H]e very much saw this as a counterpart to his father's desire to circumnavigate the world.... Hernando was going to build a universal library that would circumnavigate the world of knowledge."<ref name="auto2">[[Ari Shapiro]], "Christopher Columbus' Son Had an Enormous Library. Its Catalog Was Just Found", [[All Things Considered]], [[NPR]] newscast, 24 April 2019 [https://www.npr.org/2019/04/24/716600905/christopher-columbus-son-had-an-enormous-library-its-catalog-was-just-found]</ref>
However, realizing that such a large collection of books would not be very useful without a way of organizing and distilling them, he employed an army of readers to read every book and distill it down to a short summary, or "[[epitome]]". The result was the [[Libro de los Epítomes|''Libro de los Epitomes'' (Book of Epitomes)]]. Soon after Hernando's death in 1539 at age 50, this volume went missing for nearly 500 years—until in 2019 it was serendipitously discovered in a [[University of Copenhagen]] special collection. Many of the early printed publications that the ''Book of Epitomes'' summarizes are now lost; but thanks to the out-of-wedlock [[bibliophile]] Hernando Columbus, eager to emulate in his own way his father and "legitimate" half-brother, invaluable insights are becoming available into the knowledge and thought of the early [[Modern Period]].<ref
[[File:Gira internacional USA - Steve Jobs (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Steve Jobs]]]]
In
==Violence and honor killings==
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==Notables==
Some pre-20th-century modern individuals whose unconventional "illegitimate" origins did not prevent them from making (and in some cases helped inspire them to make) notable contributions to humanity's art or learning have included [[Leone Battista Alberti]]<ref>[[Joan Kelly-Gadol]], "Leon Battista Alberti" (last updated 21 April 2021), ''[[Encyclopaedia Britannica]]'' [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leon-Battista-Alberti]</ref> (1404–1472), [[Leonardo da Vinci]]<ref>"Leonardo da Vinci", ''[[The Encyclopedia Americana]]'', vol. 17, pp. 228-236, Danbury, CT, Grolier Incorporated, 1986, {{ISBN|0-7172-0117-1}}, p. 228.</ref> (1452–1519), [[Erasmus of Rotterdam]]<ref>"Erasmus", ''[[The Encyclopedia Americana]]'', vol. 10, pp. 541–542, Danbury, CT, Grolier Incorporated, 1986, {{ISBN|0-7172-0117-1}}, p. 541.</ref> 1466–1536), [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert]]<ref>"Alembert, Jean le Rond d'", ''[[The Encyclopedia Americana]]'', vol. 1, Danbury, CT, Grolier Incorporated, 1986, {{ISBN|0-7172-0117-1}}, p. 526.</ref> (1717–1783), [[Alexander Hamilton]] (1755 or 1757–1804), [[James Smithson]]<ref>"Smithson, James", ''[[The Encyclopedia Americana]]'', vol. 25, Danbury, CT, Grolier Incorporated, 1986, {{ISBN|0-7172-0117-1}}, p. 65.</ref> (1764–1829), [[John James Audubon]]<ref>"Audubon, John James", ''[[The Encyclopedia Americana]]'', vol. 2, Danbury, CT, Grolier Incorporated, 1986, {{ISBN|0-7172-0117-1}}, p. 677.</ref> (1785–1851), [[Alexander Herzen]]<ref>"Herzen, Aleksandr Ivanovich", ''[[The Encyclopedia Americana]]'', vol. 14, Danbury, CT, Grolier Incorporated, 1986, {{ISBN|0-7172-0117-1}}, pp. 161-162.</ref> (
==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Abortion in the United States]]
* [[Affiliation (family law)]]
* [[Anne Orthwood's bastard trial]]
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==External links==
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