Brown v. Danley

George Rose Smith, Justice.

This appeal questions the constitutionality of our statutes and rules of evidence which create an almost unassailable presumption of legitimacy when a child is born in wedlock. The argument is that our laws deny equal protection to black persons. We find no merit in the appellant’s assertions of unconstitutionality.

The appellant, John W. Brown (Jr.), is a black man who was born in Phillips county on September 19, 1937. Four and a half months earlier his mother, Inez Hall, had married John W. Brown. The appellant’s birth certificate recited that his parents were John…