Saunders v. Fredette

The record presents the question of the competency and sufficiency of the evidence received in proof of the plaintiff’s illegitimacy.

Under the older common law, every child born of a married woman was presumed to be legitimate, unless the husband was impotent or had been beyond the “four seas” during the possible period of gestation. 5 Wig., Ev. 2527. This presumption was conclusive and evidence to the contrary was inadmissible. Ib; 33 Harv. Law Rev. 306. This adamant rule early gave way to a more liberal doctrine which permitted other proof of the want of access of the husband to the mother…