CHAPTER 1INTRODUCTION

The question of legitimacy and legitimation are principally connected with status. It is therefore, important to determine the status of a child at any given moment as it has far reaching legal consequences. A child may be born legitimate or acquire that status by subsequent legitimation1. A legitimate child is one regarded by law as a child born with full rights and it confers on the child certain rights against the man whom the law regards as his father and generally against the society, but the bastards like the prostitute, thief and the beggars belong to the motley crowd of disreputable social types which the society had generally resented but endured. Legitimacy for lawyers is a concept whereby a couple’s child is entitled to full recognition as a family member and enjoys the legal right which the status involves. It implies that children born out of wedlock are referred to as illegitimate, as is generally believed that people are not supposed to have illegitimate children but when they do emergency machinery is put to operation to give the child a status which is an interior one. The position of the common law is that the incapacity of a bastard consists primarily in this, that he cannot be heir to any one, neither can he have heirs but of his own body for being nullius fullius, he is therefore likened to nobody and he has no ancestors from whom any inheritable blood can be derived. The belief is that by regulating illegitimate children to the background and by denying them the filial rights enjoyed by legitimate children the society will be able to purge themselves of their existence which is usually not so.

1. 1. This material content is developed to serve as a GUIDE for students to conduct academic research work
2. 2. As a source for additional understanding of the subject.
3. 3. As a source for ideas for your own research work (if properly referenced).
4. 4. For PROPER paraphrasing (see your university definition of plagiarism and acceptable paraphrase)
5. 5. Direct citing (if referenced properly)
Thank you so much for your respect to the authors copyright.