legitimate child - chakushutsushi

Japanese: 嫡出子 - ちゃくしゅつし

A child born to a legally married couple.

[Masanori Yamamoto]

Children born in wedlock and children born in wedlock by legitimacy

There are two types of legitimate children: those who are legitimate by birth and those who are legitimate by legitimation.

A natural legitimate child is a child born between a couple who are officially married. As long as the parents (couple) have a marital relationship for a short time from the time the child is conceived until the child is born (the gestation period),
(1) A child conceived by a wife after marriage and born during that marriage
(2) A child conceived by a wife before marriage, subsequently married, and born during that marriage.
(3) A child conceived by a wife after marriage and subsequently born after the marriage is dissolved or annuled due to the death of the husband or divorce from the husband.
(4) A child conceived by a wife before marriage, subsequently married, and subsequently born after the marriage is dissolved or annuled may be considered to be a legitimate child.

Among such legitimate children, a child born by the wife 200 days after the marriage or within 300 days counting from the day following the dissolution or annulment of the marriage is presumed to have been conceived by the wife during the marriage (Civil Code, Article 772, Paragraph 2), and such a child is presumed to be the husband's child (Civil Code, Article 772, Paragraph 1), and is called a "presumed legitimate child," while a child that does not fall under this category is called a "non-presumed legitimate child." This distinction is significant in the procedure to deny the father-child relationship. However, even if the above requirements are met formally, if it is clear that the child is not the husband's in substance, then, as an exception, the child should be considered to be non-presumed legitimate (a child not covered by the presumption).

A child born by legitimacy can be born either when the parents acknowledge a child born out of wedlock (a child born out of wedlock) and the parent-child relationship is established, and then the parents marry, or when the parents acknowledge paternity after getting married (Article 789, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the same law).

[Masanori Yamamoto]

Parent-child relationships under private international law

Laws regarding parent-child relationships vary from country to country, and unifying them is nearly impossible due to differences in religion, culture, etc. Therefore, in international families where the father, mother, and child have different nationalities and countries of habitual residence, order is provided by private international law, which determines which country's law governs the parent-child relationship. Article 28 of Japan's private international law code, the Act on General Rules for Application of Laws (Act No. 78 of 2006), stipulates the applicable law for the establishment of legitimate parent-child relationships, and Article 32 stipulates the applicable law for legal relations between parents and children, such as parental authority.

According to Article 28 of the General Rules for Application of Law, if a child is deemed legitimate under the national law of either spouse at the time of the child's birth, the child is deemed legitimate. In accordance with this, for example, because the laws of each country differ with regard to the period of presumption of legitimacy, even if the child is not deemed legitimate under the husband's national law, if the child is deemed legitimate under the wife's national law, the child will also be deemed legitimate between the husband and the wife. The reason for this treatment is that it is not unreasonable for those who have formed a special relationship as a husband and wife to end up following the rules of the other spouse's national law, and there is a legal policy that this should increase the chances of a child being legitimate. This method of determining the applicable law is called selective connection. Conversely, when denying legitimacy, the legitimacy must be denied under the national laws of both spouses.

Whether a child is legitimate or not is not only a matter of what is recorded in a public record book like the Japanese family register, but also has significance because some countries give more preferential treatment to legitimate children than illegitimate children when it comes to inheritance. Under private international law, the governing law of inheritance is the national law of the deceased (Article 36 of the Act on General Rules for Application of Laws), which may differ from the governing law of the establishment of a legitimate parent-child relationship. For this reason, when it comes to the issue of the application of the governing law of inheritance, the question arises as to whether a child is legitimate should be determined by the governing law of the establishment of a legitimate parent-child relationship as determined by Article 28 or the governing law of inheritance as determined by Article 36. Regarding this issue, there are views that, as this is a decision on the concept of applicable inheritance law, the applicable law should be applied, as well as the view that the applicable law should be determined by the private international law of the country to which the applicable inheritance law belongs. However, the majority of Japanese case law and academic theory is of the opinion that, since the issue of the establishment of a legitimate parent-child relationship is set as an independent unit of legal relationship, even if the issue of a child's legitimacy arises in the process of determining a separate issue of inheritance, as mentioned above, the applicable law should be determined by the law determined by Article 28.

In some countries, there are laws that do not distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate children, but Article 28 of the General Rules for Application of Law is a provision on the applicable law that determines whether a child is born to a married couple, and if there is no distinction between illegitimate and legitimate children under the selected law, the effect is that a simple parent-child relationship is established. In terms of the order of application of the General Rules for Application of Law, Article 28, which concerns the establishment of legitimate parent-child relationships, is applied before Article 29, which concerns the establishment of illegitimate parent-child relationships, and Article 29 is applied only when a legitimate parent-child relationship is not established under the law specified by Article 28.

The acquisition of status by legitimation may be recognized by the national law of either the father, mother or child at the time the facts required for legitimation were fulfilled (General Rules for Application of Law, Article 30).

[Masato Michigauchi May 19, 2016]

"Restatement of the Foreign Family Registry Law by Sato Yayoi and Michigauchi Masato (2007, Nihon Kajo Publishing)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

法律上、婚姻している夫婦の間に生まれた子。

［山本正憲］

生来の嫡出子と準正による嫡出子

嫡出子には、生来の嫡出子と準正による嫡出子とがある。

　生来の嫡出子とは、正式に婚姻している夫婦間に生まれた子をいう。子が懐胎されてから生まれるまでの間（妊娠期間）その父母（夫婦）の間にしばらくでも婚姻関係があればよいから、
(1)妻が婚姻後に懐胎しその婚姻中に生んだ子
(2)妻が婚姻前に懐胎し、やがて婚姻し、その婚姻中に生んだ子
(3)妻が婚姻後懐胎し、その後、夫の死亡、夫との離婚によって婚姻が解消しまたは婚姻が取り消されたのちに生んだ子
(4)妻が婚姻前に懐胎し、やがて婚姻し、ついでその婚姻が解消しまたは取り消されたのちに生んだ子
などもすべて嫡出子であると考えてよい。

　このような嫡出子のうち、婚姻後200日後、または婚姻が解消しあるいは取り消された日の翌日から数えて300日以内に妻が生んだ子は、妻が婚姻中に懐胎したものと推定され（民法772条2項）、そのような子は夫の子と推定されるから（同法772条1項）、これを「推定された嫡出子」といい、これに該当しない子を「推定されない嫡出子」という。この区別は父子関係を否認する手続において大きな意味をもつ。もっとも、形式的には以上の要件を満たしていても、実質上夫の子でないことが明らかな場合は、例外的に、推定されない嫡出子（推定の及ばない嫡出子）とみるべきである。

　準正による嫡出子には、嫡出でない子（婚外子）を認知して親子関係が確定されたのち父母が婚姻する場合と、父母が婚姻したのちに認知する場合とがある（同法789条1・2項）。

［山本正憲］

国際私法上の親子関係

親子関係をめぐる法律は国によって異なり、それを統一することは宗教、文化などの違いによりほとんど不可能である。そこで、父、母そして子の国籍や常居所地国が異なる国際的な家族においては、国際私法により、いずれの国の法律によって親子関係を規律するかを定めることによって、秩序が与えられている。日本の国際私法典である「法の適用に関する通則法」（平成18年法律第78号）では、第28条において嫡出親子関係の成立の準拠法を定め、第32条において親権等の親子間の法律関係の準拠法を定めている。

　法の適用に関する通則法第28条によれば、子の出生当時の夫婦のいずれか一方の本国法により嫡出子とされれば、その子は嫡出子とされる。これに従えば、たとえば、嫡出推定の期間に関して各国の法律は異なっているので、夫の本国法によれば嫡出子とはされないときであっても、妻の本国法によって嫡出子とされていれば、その子は夫との間でも嫡出子とされることになる。このような扱いが是認される理由は、夫婦という特別の関係を形成した者の間では、相手方の本国法による規律に従う結果となることは不合理とはいえず、また、こうすることによって子が嫡出子となる機会を増やすべきであるとの法政策があるからであるとされている。このような準拠法の定め方は、選択的連結とよばれる。なお、逆に、嫡出否認をするときには、夫婦の双方の本国法によってともに嫡出性が否定されなければならない。

　嫡出子か否かは、日本の戸籍のような公的記録簿の記載の問題だけではなく、相続分について嫡出子を非嫡出子よりも優遇している国もあることから意味をもつことになる。国際私法上、相続の準拠法は被相続人の本国法とされるところ（法の適用に関する通則法第36条）、これは嫡出親子関係の成立に関する準拠法とは異なることがある。このため、相続準拠法の適用上の問題となる場合に嫡出子を決めるのは、第28条により定まる嫡出親子関係成立の準拠法によるか第36条により定まる相続準拠法によるかという問題が生ずる。これについて、相続準拠法上の概念の決定であるので、相続準拠法によるべきであるとする見解や、相続準拠法所属国の国際私法によって定まる準拠法によるべきであるとの見解もあるが、日本の判例および学説の多数は、嫡出親子関係の成立という問題が独立の単位法律関係として設定されている以上、たとえば、前記のように相続という別の問題の判断過程で子の嫡出性の問題が生じようとも、あくまでも第28条によって定まる準拠法によるべきであるとしている。

　なお、国によっては、嫡出と非嫡出との区別がない法律もあるが、法の適用に関する通則法第28条は夫婦から生まれた子であるか否かを決定する準拠法に関する規定であり、選択された法律上、非嫡出との区別がなければ、単なる親子関係の成立という効果が生ずることになる。そして、法の適用に関する通則法上の適用順序として、嫡出親子関係の成立に関する第28条は、非嫡出親子関係の成立に関する第29条よりも先に適用され、第29条は第28条により指定された法律上、嫡出親子関係がないとされた場合にのみ適用されることになる。

　準正による嫡出子の身分の取得は、準正の要件である事実が完成した当時の父、母または子の本国法のいずれかで認められればよい（法の適用に関する通則法30条）。

［道垣内正人　2016年5月19日］

『佐藤やよひ・道垣内正人著『渉外戸籍法リステイトメント』（2007・日本加除出版）』