+1 862 207 3288 In English law, there is a distinction between those born inside marriage, classed as legitimate, and those born outside marriage, classed as illegitimate. Legitimate child would enjoy full legal rights with respect to their family members and those who were classified as illegitimate were given little legal recognition. However, after the piecemeal reform, the legal position of illegitimate children gradually improved, until the FLRA 1987 removed most of the adverse consequences of illegitimate status.
At common law, the childs parent was recognized as having certain rights and authority with respect to the child such as to make decisions about the childs residence, education and movements. Originally, these rights vested entirely in the father and were subject to control by the courts in extreme cases only. Eventually, the mother came to share the rights and authority of the fa…(short extract)
