Paternity - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition paternity

Definition :

Paternity. The general rule is that 'pater vero is est quem nupti' demonstrant' (Dig. Lib. 2, tit. 4, 1. 5). For a discussion of the law on the subject of paternity and the cases in which it may be shown that the child is not that of the husband, see Russell v. Russell, 1924 AC 687; Hubback on Succession, pp. 378 et seq.; Sir Harris Nicolas on Adulterine Bastardy. A husband may give evidence that he had never had intercourse with his wife before the marriage (The Poulett Peerage, 1903, AC 395). It becomes a question, when a widow marries immediately after the death of her husband, and she is delivered of a child at the expiration of ten months from the death of the first husband, as to the paternity of the child. Blackstone and Coke say, that if a man dies, and his widow soon after marries again, and a child is born within such a time as that by the course of nature it might have been the child of either husband in this case he is said to be more than ordinarily legitimate; for he may, when he arrives at years of discretion, choose which of the fathers he pleases. But Hargrave suggests that the circumstances of the case, instead of the choice of the issue, should determine who is the father. The Romans forbade a woman to marry until after the expiration of ten months from her husband's decease, which term was prolonged to twelve by Gratian and Valentinian. The French code has adopted the same rule, viz., after ten months. It was also established under the Saxon and Danish governments. It was the law in this country until the Conquest, Beck's Med. Jurisp. See ACCESS.