Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JAN. 14. 1896. The Legitimation Act.

Manawatu Herald, 14 January 1896, Page 2

Manawatu Herald. TUESDAY, JAN. 14. 1896. The Legitimation Act.

There are few, we expect, who are aware of the contents and meaning of " The Legitimation Act 1894," and thus many will be surprised at its curious provisions. It was, possibly, suggested by the unfor tunate position of bastards, but the attempt to improve their position has opened the door to endless roguery and will thus entail sorrow and misfortune on many. The Act enacts that it shall be the duty of the Registrar or his deputy " upon any man who claims to be the father of an illegitimate child whose mother he has married since the birth of such child producing to such Registrar or deputy Registrar a declaration . . . . to register any such child (whether dead or alive) as the lawful issue of such man and his wife." The child is then deemed to have been legiti mated by the marriage from birth and entitled to all the rights of a child born in wedlock. The Act further declares that the issue of any | such legitimated child who has died or may hereafter die before the marriage of his or her parents shall take by operation of law the same real and personal property which*

would have accrued to such issue if the parent had been born in wedlock. Nothing shall however have the effect of legitimating any child if at the time of the birth of such child there existed any legal impediment to the intermarriage of the parents of such child. The declaration to be made by tbe man, the father of the child, is very brief. He states ha is the father of a certain illegitimate child bom on a certain day. That on aoother date he was married to the mother of the child and that now he is desirous of the child being registered as the lawful issue of himself and so and so, his wife. He further declares that no legal impediment to the marriage existed at the time of the birth of the said child. The objections fco the Act we conceive are many — It removes one of the social penalties attaching to illicit intercourse between the sexes, and thereby encourages such inter* course and discourages marriage : the declaration is not the declaration of both parents and may be made without the knowledge of the mother : the declaration need not even be made in the lifetime of the mother : a certificate of the birth of the child is not required, or any independent evidence of the maternity of the child : there is no limit as to the time within which the registration is to take plac#. The effect of the registration on the devolution of real or personal property is not confined to the property of the alleged father or mother but extends to property coming from any other source. We have only briefly reviewed the provisions so that the'actual facts may be seized, The Act opens the door to all kinds of fraud as there is no protection against a false declaration.