The question first posed concerned a will written in 1783.

Black’s Law Dictionary: "Illegitimate child: A child who is born at a time when his parents, though alive, are not married to each other. Such child however is legitimate if they were married after his conception and before his birth. While the laws with respect to inheritance are changing, the majority of states still provide that while a legitimate child has a right to inherit from its mother, such illegitimate child does not have a similar right to inherit from its natural father".

Henry Campbell Black, M.A., Black’s Law Dictionary, 5th ed., West Publishing Company, St Paul, 1979. See also Trimble v Gordon US 762.

Not only could illegitimate children not inherit from their father, but they were not considered a "person", in the legal sense of the word.  The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, while not expressly conferring rights to illegitimate children, was later interpreted to mean illegitimate children were "Persons" under the meaning of the Clause. [97 S Ct 1469, see also Black’s, "Person" entry]



There was no changing the status of a bastard. If you were born illegitimate, you remained illegitimate, even if the parents later married. [see definition above] Only adoption would grant the same rights and privileges as legitimate birth.

I confess I have forgotten if naming an illegitimate son as an heir makes a will void or voidable - there is a legal difference. [I haven’t taken a legal class since 1990] But at any rate, it would certainly give grounds for nullifying the will. A will could be thrown out solely for being vague as to the desires of the testator. [Michies Jurisprudence, 19 Va concerning Wills, available in all law libraries]

See John Major’s textbook, Institutes of Common and Statute Law, Vol I, Rights Which Relate to the Person, Chapter XVI, Section 2, " Illegitimate Children or Bastards", Richmond: West, Johnson & Co., 1882: pg 446-458.  Although he writes over 30 pages on the Duties and Powers of Parents toward Legitimate Children, he writes 2 pages on Rights and Incapacities of Bastards. Although I've read them, I don’t have these two pages at home, so I can’t quote from them [I’ll get them]

Some say you can give whatever you want to whomever you want. That was an American invention, not Colonial.



Langdon Hagen-Long


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