Court (in Scotland, to the Court of Session by action of declarator) for
a declaration of legitimacy and of the validity of a marriage. The
status of legitimacy in any country depending upon the fact of the child
having been born in wedlock, it may be concluded that any question as to
the legitimacy of a child turns either on the validity of the marriage
or on whether the child has been born in wedlock.
_Legitimation_ effected by the subsequent marriage of the parents of the
illegitimate child is technically known as legitimation _per subsequens
matrimonium_. This adoption of the Roman law principle is followed by
most of the states of the continent of Europe (with distinctions, of
course, as to _certain_ illegitimate children, or as to the forms of
acknowledgment by the parent or parents), in the Isle of Man, Guernsey,
Jersey, Lower Canada, St Lucia, Trinidad, Demerara, Berbice, Cape
Colony, Ceylon, Mauritius; it has been adopted in New Zealand
(Legitimation Act 1894), South Australia (Legitimation Act 1898, amended
1902), Queensland (Legitimation Act 1899), New South Wales (Legitimation
Act 1902), and Victoria (Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages