The Legitimacy Act 1959 was an
Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...
. It was repealed by the
Family Law Reform Act 1987
Law Reform Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom relating to law reform. The Bill for an Act with this short title will have been known as a Law Reform Bill ...
.
Act
Prior to the passing of the Act, legitimacy was governed by the
Legitimacy Act 1926
The Legitimacy Act 1926 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It mee ...
. Under that act, the marriage of a child's parents after its birth did not legitimise it when one of the parents was married to a third person at the birth of the child.
Although the
Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a ci ...
recommended keeping this on the statute books by a vote of twelve to seven, Section 1 repealed this and allowed a child to be legitimised when his parents married, regardless of their past status. This was retroactive; if a child's parents were married when the Act came into force, the child was legitimised.
Section 2 legitimised the children born of void marriages, provided that both or either parents reasonably believed that the marriages were valid and entered into in good faith (such as a marriage below the age of consent, where both wife and husband believed they are above it).
[Section 2 of the Legitimacy Act 1959] Section 2(3) of the Legitimacy Act 1959 provided also that section 2 applied only where the father of the child was domiciliated in England.
References
Bibliography
*{{cite journal, year=1960, title=Legitimacy Act, 1959, journal=
Modern Law Review
The ''Modern Law Review'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of Modern Law Review Ltd. and which has traditionally maintained close academic ties with the Law Department of the London School of Economics. ...
, publisher=
Blackwell Publishing
Wiley-Blackwell is an international scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly publishing business of John Wiley & Sons. It was formed by the merger of John Wiley & Sons Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business with Blackwell Publish ...
, first=O, last=Kahn-Freud, volume=23, issue=1, issn=0026-7961
United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1959
Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament
Legitimacy law
Family law in the United Kingdom