Illegitimacy

Illegitimacy was a term in common usage for the condition of being born of parents who are not validly married to one another; the legal term is bastardy. That status could be changed (in either direction) by civil law or canon law (see Princes in the Tower for an example of the former). In some locations, marriage of an illegitimate child's parents after his or her birth results in his or her legitimation (changing the legal status to special bastardy).

Related Topics:
Married - Civil law - Canon law - Princes in the Tower - Legitimation

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In many societies the law did not (or does not) give illegitimate persons the same rights of inheritance as legitimate ones, and in some, not even the same freedoms. In England as late as the 1960s, for example, illegitimacy carried a strong social stigma among both middle and working class people, as it also did in the United States. As recently as the 1960s, unwed mothers were strongly encouraged, and at times even forced, to give their children up for adoption. Often, an illegitimate child would be raised by grandparents or married relatives as the "sister" or "nephew" of the unwed mother, just as in medieval and Renaissance Europe priests' children (especially bishops' and popes' children) were usually called their "nephews," giving us the term "nepotism". In those cultures the fathers of bastard children did not incur the same censure nor, generally, much legal responsibility, due both to social attitudes about sex and the difficulty of determining the father of a child with any degree of accuracy.

Related Topics:
Social stigma - Adoption - Priest - Nepotism

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By the latter third of the 20th century in the U.S., all the states had adopted uniform laws that codify the responsibility of both parents to provide support and care for a child regardless of their parents' marital status and giving illegitimate (and adopted) persons the same rights to inherit their parents' property as anyone else. Generally speaking in the United States illegitimacy has been supplanted by the concept "born out of wedlock". One does not speak of a child being illegitimate; all children are equally legitimate.

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Stating that a child is less entitled to civil rights, or in a state of sin, due to the marital status of his/her parents would be seen as highly controversial by even the most conservative people in the West today. Many religions still view extramarital or premarital sexual intercourse as a sin, but they generally feel that any resultant child is not in any state of sin. However some religious fraternities, notably Opus Dei, still prohibit those born out of wedlock from becoming members.

Related Topics:
Sin - West - Religions - Extramarital - Premarital - Sexual intercourse - Opus Dei

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Today the word "bastard" remains:

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• a pejorative epithet (commonly used as the masculine analog of "bitch"). The word is often used as an epithet, but without its pejorative sense; in Australian English it is sometimes called the great Australian endearment (e.g. "he's a lucky bastard"). Bastard Nation, an advocacy group for the rights of adopted children, has attempted to "reclaim" it as a neutral or self-respecting term.
• an acceptable adjective for describing odd-sized objects or parts, such as bolts with non-standard threads. There is a particular type of engineer's coarse file known in the trade as having a bastard cut, and referred to as a bastard.

Due to the common use of the word as a mildly profane generic insult for any man, regardless of birth status, many students are surprised to find that the use of the word, when referring to a child of unmarried parents (for example Shakespeare's John the Bastard) is seen as entirely appropriate by their teachers.

Related Topics:
Insult - Shakespeare - John the Bastard

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Illegitimacy: Parental responsibility ►