In Re Pickett

Bell, Chief Judge.

The appellant, a married man, seeks to legitimate his son born during his marriage but mothered by a woman not his wife. The natural mother consented. The trial court refused to enter an order legitimating on grounds that to permit a married man to legitimatize a child conceived during wedlock by a woman not his wife would be contrary to public policy and to the laws favoring monogamy. The court concluded that it was the intent of the legislature that legitimation proceedings under Code § 74-103 were only available to unmarried fathers. Held:

Under the common law of England…