Social and Legal Studios

Abstract

The legal status of children born outside marriage in Poland during the interwar period is analyzed in the article. Тhe main problem of legal regulation of that kind of relationships was the validity of several legal systems in the field of family law, examines the rights and obligations of each parent in relation to nonmarital children, the right of children to have the inheritance of each parent. The basic reasons for equalizing the rights of married and children born outside marriage are considered. The limits of the distribution of parental authority and the responsibility for evading parental responsibilities towards nonmarital children are characterized. All regulations which were in force at that time had not contained any rules that would protect the rights of nonmarital children and their mothers. Both of them depended on the male of mother’s family (grandfather, brother, curator) and from the recognition or non-recognition of their birth by a biological father. The state did not help such children in any way, and quite often, in the absence of proper care and money, such children did not survive even after birth. In the western and southern parts of Poland were providing of the possibility of recognizing the father of an illegitimate child in a court way. It was difficult for the child or his mother to achieve this in court, as filing a complaint and litigation required significant costs. For a long time it was impossible in the central parts of Poland until 1913 r., when the law of the improving the fate of extramarital children was passing. The said law not only limited parental authority by imposing parental responsibilities, but also determined responsibility for the father's willful acts against his child

Keywords: children born outside marriage, legal protection, education, right to maintenance, parental authority, metric registers, recognition of a child as legal

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