_Smock Marriages_ (Vol. vii., p. 191.).--According to Scotch law, the
marriage of the father and mother legitimises all children _previously_
born, however old they may be. This is called legitimisation _per
subsequens matrimonium_, and is not unfrequently taken advantage of by
elderly gentlemen, who, after having passed the heyday of youth, wish to
give their children a position, and a legal right to inherit their
property. Like the rule as to marriage above explained, it is derived from
the Roman or civil law. There are very few, I should rather say _no_, legal
fictions in the Scotch law of the nature alluded to by your correspondent.