Jersey Law 3/1973
LEGITIMACY (JERSEY) LAW, 1973.
____________
1 Interpretation
2 Children
who are Legitimate by Birth
3 Children
who are Illegitimate
4 Legitimation
“Per Subsequens Matrimonium”
5 Determination
of Questions of Legitimacy
6 Declaration
of Legitimacy etc
7 Declarations
of Illegitimacy
8 Evidence
9 Regulation
of Reports
10 Re-Registration
of Births
11 Right
of Illegitimate Child and Mother of Illegitimate Child to Succeed on Death
12 Limitation
on Application
13 Consequential
Effect on the “Loi (1842) sur L’etat Civil”
14 Repeal
and Savings
15 Short
Title and Commencement
A LAW to
enunciate and revise the Law regarding the legitimacy of children, to make
provision for the determination of questions of the legitimacy or illegitimacy
of children, and the validity of marriages, to confer rights on illegitimate
children and their mothers to succeed to each other’s estate, and to make
provision for related matters, sanctioned by Order of Her Majesty in Council of
the
16th day of FEBRUARY, 1973.
____________
(Registered on the 13th day of
April, 1973).
____________
STATES OF JERSEY.
____________
The 14th day of
November, 1972.
____________
THE STATES, subject to the sanction of
Her Most Excellent Majesty in Council, have adopted the following Law: -
ARTICLE 1
INTERPRETATION
(1) In
this Law, unless the context otherwise requires –
“the Court” means the Inferior Number of the Royal
Court;
“legitimated child” means a child legitimated per subsequens matrimonium;
“Superintendent-Registrar” means the Superintendent-Registrar
of births, marriages and deaths appointed in pursuance of the “Loi (1842)
sur l’Etat Civil”.
(2) References
in this Law to children are references to children as issue of their parents
and references to children and persons are not to be interpreted by reference
to age.
(3) References
in this Law to any enactment are references to that enactment as amended by any
subsequent enactment.
ARTICLE 2
CHILDREN WHO ARE LEGITIMATE BY BIRTH
(1) A
child who is legitimate by birth is a child born or conceived during the
subsistence of a lawful marriage of whom the father is the husband of the
mother.
(2) The
fact that a child is born or conceived during the subsistence of a lawful
marriage raises a presumption that the husband is the father of the child which
may be rebutted only by strong and satisfactory evidence to the effect –
(a) that the husband was
physically incapable, by reason of absence, accident or otherwise, of
cohabiting with the mother at the time of the conception of the child; or
(b) that the husband was
sexually impotent at the time of the conception of the child; or
(c) that the husband was
living apart from the mother at the time of the conception of the child and
that the husband did not have opportunities for marital intercourse at that time;
or
(d) that the mother has
been guilty of adultery and that the father did not have marital intercourse
with the mother at the time of the conception of the child; or
(e) in the case of a child
born within the first one hundred and eighty days of the marriage of the
husband and the mother, that the husband did not have opportunities for
pre-marital intercourse with the mother at the time of the conception of the
child:
Provided that no evidence in support of the grounds specified in
this sub-paragraph shall be admissible where it is proved that the husband was
aware, at the time of the marriage, that the mother was pregnant or that he was
a party to the registration of the birth of the child.
ARTICLE 3
CHILDREN WHO ARE ILLEGITIMATE
An illegitimate child is a child who is not legitimate by birth as
defined in paragraph (1) of Article 2 of this Law or who has not become a
legitimate child in the circumstances described in paragraph (1) of Article 4
of this Law.
ARTICLE 4
LEGITIMATION “PER SUBSEQUENS MATRIMONIUM”
(1) An
illegitimate child becomes a legitimate child if, during the lifetime of the
child, the father and the mother are lawfully married and the father, either
before, at the time of or after the marriage, acknowledges himself to be the
father of the child.
(2) A
child who becomes a legitimate child in the circumstances described in
paragraph (1) of this Article is a child legitimated “per subsequens matrimonium”.
ARTICLE 5
DETERMINATION OF QUESTIONS OF LEGITIMACY
The question whether a child is legitimate or illegitimate may be
raised as an issue in any proceedings in which it may be relevant, or
proceedings may be taken for the express purpose of determining it in
accordance with Article 6 or 7 of this Law.
ARTICLE 6
DECLARATION OF LEGITIMACY ETC
(1) Any
person who is domiciled in the Island or claims any immoveable or moveable
estate situate in the Island may apply by petition to the Court for a decree
declaring that he is the legitimate child of his parents, or that the marriage
of his father and mother or of his grandfather and grandmother was a valid
marriage, or that his own marriage was a valid marriage.
(2) Any
person claiming that he or his parent or any remoter ancestor became or has
become a legitimated child may apply by petition to the Court for a decree
declaring that he or his parent or remoter ancestor, as the case may be, became
or has become a legitimated child.
(3) Notwithstanding
the limitation imposed by Article 7 of this Law on the classes of person who
may apply for a decree under that Article, a person who applies to the Court
under paragraph (2) of this Article for a decree declaring that he became or
has become a legitimated child may apply by the same petition for a decree
under the said Article 7 declaring that he was born illegitimate.
(4) Applications
to the Court under the foregoing provisions of this Article may be included in
the same petition, and on any such application the Court shall make such decree
as it thinks just, and the decree shall be binding on all persons whatsoever,
so however that the decree shall not prejudice any person –
(a) if it is subsequently
proved to have been obtained by fraud or collusion; or
(b) unless that person has
been given notice of the application in the manner prescribed by rules of court
or made a party to the proceedings or claims through a person so given notice
or made a party.
(6) A
copy of every application under this Article and of any affidavit accompanying
it shall be delivered to the Attorney General at least one month before the
application is made, and the Attorney General shall be made a respondent on the
hearing of the application and on any subsequent proceedings relating thereto.
(7) Where
any application is made under this Article, such persons as the Court thinks
fit shall, subject to rules of court, be given notice of the application in the
manner prescribed by rules of court, and any such persons may be permitted to
become parties to the proceedings and to oppose the application.
(8) No
proceedings under this Article shall affect any final judgment or decree
already pronounced or made by any court of competent jurisdiction.
ARTICLE 7
DECLARATIONS OF ILLEGITIMACY
(1) A
person who, in accordance with the provisions of Article 2 of this Law, is
presumed to be the father of a child born in the Island or born abroad of a
woman who was domiciled in the Island at the time of the birth, or any person
whose right to any immoveable or moveable estate situate in the Island is
affected by the legitimacy of a child, whether born in the Island or elsewhere,
may apply by petition to the Court for a decree declaring that the child is
illegitimate.
(2) On
any application under this Article the Court shall make such decree as it
thinks just:
Provided that the Court may dismiss the petition if in its opinion
the petitioner has been guilty of unreasonable delay in presenting or
prosecuting the petition.
(3) A
decree under this Article shall be binding on all persons whatsoever, so
however that the decree shall not prejudice any person –
(a) if it is subsequently
proved to have been obtained by fraud or collusion; or
(b) unless that person has
been given notice of the application in the manner prescribed by rules of court
or made a party to the proceedings or claims through a person so given notice
or made a party.
(4) A
copy of every application under this Article and of any affidavit accompanying
it shall be delivered to the Attorney General at least one month before the
application is made, and the Attorney General shall be made a respondent on the
hearing of the application and on any subsequent proceedings relating thereto.
(5) Where
any application is made under this Article, such persons as the Court thinks
fit shall, subject to rules of court, be given notice of the application in the
manner prescribed by rules of court, and any such persons may be permitted to
become parties to the proceedings and to oppose the application.
(6) Where
in any proceedings under this Article the petitioner dies or abandons the
proceedings, the Court, on the application of any other person entitled to
institute those proceedings, may make such order as it thinks fit so that the
proceedings may be continued in the name of that other person as petitioner.
(7) No
proceedings under this Article shall affect any final judgment or decree
already pronounced or made by any court of competent jurisdiction.
ARTICLE 8
EVIDENCE
(1) In
any proceedings in which it is sought to prove that a child is illegitimate or
legitimate, no witness, whether a party to the proceedings or not, shall be
liable to be asked or be bound to answer any question tending to show that he
has been guilty of adultery unless he has already given evidence in the same
proceedings in disproof of the alleged adultery.
(2) In
any proceedings under this Law in which any evidence of an indecent character
is about to be tendered, the Court may, if it thinks it necessary in the
administration of justice or of public decency, direct that all or any persons,
not being members or officers of the Court or parties to the proceedings or
other persons directly concerned in the proceedings, shall be excluded from the
Court during the taking of that evidence.
ARTICLE 9
REGULATION OF REPORTS
(1) It
shall not be lawful to print or publish or cause or procure to be printed or
published, in relation to any proceedings in which it is sought to prove that a
child is illegitimate, any particulars other than the following –
(a) a concise statement of
the charges, defences and countercharges in support of which evidence has been given;
(b) submissions on any
point of law arising in the course of the proceedings and the decision of the
Court thereon;
(c) the judgment of the
Court and observations made by members of the Court in giving judgment:
Provided that nothing in this paragraph shall be held to permit the
publication of any details or other matter likely to injure public morals.
(2) If
any person acts in contravention of the provisions of this Article, he shall be
liable in respect of each offence to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds
or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding four months or to both such fine
and such imprisonment:
Provided that no person, other than a proprietor, editor, master
printer or publisher of the newspaper or other vehicle of publication of the
matter in respect of which a prosecution is instituted shall be liable to be
convicted under this Article.
(3) No
prosecution for an offence under this Article shall be instituted without the
consent of the Attorney General.
(4) Nothing
in this Article shall apply to the printing of any pleading, transcript of
evidence or other document for use in connexion with any judicial proceedings
or the communication thereof to persons concerned in the proceedings, or to the
printing or publishing of any notice or report in pursuance of the directions
of the Court or of the Court of Appeal or of Her Majesty or of the Lords of Her
Privy Council, or to the printing or publication of any matter in any separate
volume or part of any bona fide
series of law reports which does not form part of any other publication and
consists solely of reports of proceedings in courts of law, or in any
publication of a technical character bona
fide intended for circulation among members of the legal or medical
professions.
ARTICLE 10
RE-REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS
(1) Where
a decree has been pronounced under Article 6 or 7 of this Law in relation to a
child whose birth has been registered under the “Loi (1842) sur
l’Etat Civil” and as a
result the registration is erroneous, the Judicial Greffier shall, at the
expiration of the period (if any) in which proceedings may be taken for the
recission of the decree, transmit a certified copy of the decree to the
Superintendent-Registrar, and the Superintendent-Registrar shall re-register
the birth of the child in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations.
(2) No
fee shall be charged for the re-registration of a birth in pursuance of this
Article.
(3) Regulations
for the purposes of this Article may be made by the States and may contain
provisions relating to the supply of certified copies of the original entry of
the birth of any child whose birth has been re-registered in pursuance of this
Article or of Article 16 of the Declarations of Illegitimacy (Jersey) Law,
1947, and prohibiting the supply of any such certified
copy except under such authority as may be prescribed by the regulations.
ARTICLE 11
RIGHT OF ILLEGITIMATE CHILD AND MOTHER OF
ILLEGITIMATE CHILD TO SUCCEED ON DEATH
(1) Where,
after the commencement of this Law, the mother of an illegitimate child dies
intestate as respects all or any of her immoveable or moveable estate the
illegitimate child, or, if he is dead, his issue, shall be entitled to take any
interest therein to which he or such issue would have been entitled if he had
been legitimate.
(2) Where,
after the commencement of this Law, the mother of an illegitimate child dies
testate as respects all or any of her moveable estate, the illegitimate child
or, if he is dead, his issue, shall be entitled to the same share therein to which
he or such issue would have been entitled if he had been legitimate.
(3) Where,
after the commencement of this Law, an illegitimate child dies intestate as
respects all or any of his immoveable or moveable estate, his mother, if
surviving, shall be entitled to take any interest therein to which she would
have been entitled if the child had been legitimate and she had been the only
surviving parent.
ARTICLE 12
LIMITATION ON APPLICATION
Nothing in this Law shall operate to render illegitimate a child born
before the first day of January, nineteen hundred and forty-one, who, in
accordance with the law in force at the time of his birth, is a legitimate
child.
ARTICLE 13
CONSEQUENTIAL EFFECT ON THE “LOI
(1842) SUR L’ETAT CIVIL”
(1) References
in the “Loi (1842) sur l’Etat Civil” to an
illegitimate child (“enfant illégitime”) are to be construed
as references to a child who is not legitimate by birth as defined in paragraph
(1) of Article 2 of this Law.
(2) In
so far as an entry, or a certified copy of an entry, in a register of births
kept in pursuance of the “Loi (1842) sur l’Etat Civil” is, by virtue of that Law, evidence of the facts
contained in the entry, such evidence is prima
facie evidence and not conclusive evidence of those facts.
ARTICLE 14
REPEAL AND SAVINGS
(1) Subject
to the provisions of paragraph (2) of this Article, the Declarations of
Illegitimacy (Jersey) Law, 1947, is hereby
repealed.
(2) Any
proceedings begun under the Law hereby repealed before the commencement of this
Law may be continued and determined as if this Law had not been passed.
(3) The
provisions of this Law are without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph (2)
of Article 18 of the Matrimonial Causes (Jersey) Law, 1949, of the
Legitimacy (Jersey) Law, 1963, and of
any other enactment which provides that a child who but for those provisions
would be an illegitimate child shall be deemed to be a legitimate child.
ARTICLE 15
SHORT TITLE AND COMMENCEMENT
(1) This
Law may be cited as the Legitimacy (Jersey) Law, 1973.
(2) This
Law shall come into force forthwith upon promulgation for the purposes only of
making Regulations under Article 10 of this Law and, for every other purpose,
shall come into force on the day on which the first such Regulations come into
force.
R.S. GRAY,
Deputy Greffier of the States.