Bastard \Bas"tard\, n. [OF. bastard, bastart, F. b?tard, prob.
fr. OF. bast, F. b?t, a packsaddle used as a bed by the
muleteers (fr. LL. bastum) + -ard. OF. fils de bast son of
the packsaddle; as the muleteers were accustomed to use their
saddles for beds in the inns. See Cervantes, "Don Quixote,"
chap. 16; and cf. G. bankert, fr. bank bench.]
1. A "natural" child; a child begotten and born out of
wedlock; an illegitimate child; one born of an illicit
union.
[1913 Webster]
Note: By the civil and canon laws, and by the laws of many of
the United States, a bastard becomes a legitimate child
by the intermarriage of the parents at any subsequent
time. But by those of England, and of some states of
the United States, a child, to be legitimate, must at
least be born after the lawful marriage. --Kent.
Blackstone.
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2. (Sugar Refining)
(a) An inferior quality of soft brown sugar, obtained from
the sirups that have already had several boilings.
(b) A large size of mold, in which sugar is drained.
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3. A sweet Spanish wine like muscatel in flavor.
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Brown bastard is your only drink. --Shak.
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4. A writing paper of a particular size. See Paper.
[1913 Webster]
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BASTARD. A word derived from bas or bast, signifying abject, low, base; and
aerd, nature. Minshew, Co. Lit. 244; a. Enfant de bas, a child of low birth.
Dupin. According to Blackstone, 1 Com. 454, a bastard in the law sense of
the word, is a person not only begotten, but born out of lawful matrimony.
This definition does not appear to be complete, inasmuch as it does not
embrace the case of a person who is the issue of an illicit connection,
during the coverture of his mother. The common law, says the Mirror, only
taketh him to be a son whom the marriage proveth to be so. Horne's Mirror,
c. 2, Sec. 7; see Glanv. lib 8, cap. 13 Bract. 63, a. b.; 2 Salk. 427;, 8
East, 204. A bastard may be perhaps defined to be one who is born of an
illicit union, and before the lawful marriage of his parents.
2. A man is a bastard if born, first) before the marriage of his
parents; but although he may have been begotten while his parents were
single, yet if they afterwards marry, and he is born during the coverture,
he is legitimate. 1 Bl. Com. 455, 6. Secondly, if born during the coverture,
under circumstances which render it impossible that the husband of his
mother can be his father. 6 Binn. 283; 1 Browne's R. Appx. xlvii.; 4 T. R.
356; Str. 940 Id. 51 8 East, 193; Hardin's R. 479. It seems by the Gardner
peerage case, reported by Dennis Le Marebant, esquire, that strong moral
improbability that the husband is not the father, is sufficient to
bastardize the issue. Bac. Ab. tit. Bastardy, A, last ed. Thirdly, if born
beyond a competent time after the coverture has determined. Stark. Ev. part
4, p. 221, n. a Co. Litt. 123, b, by Hargrave & Butler in the note. See
Gestation.
3. The principal right which bastard children have, is that of
maintenance from their parents. 1 Bl. Com. 458; Code Civ. of Lo. 254 to 262.
To protect the public from their support, the law compels the putative
father to maintain his bastard children. See Bastardy; Putative father.
4. Considered as nullius filius, a bastard has no inheritable blood in
him, and therefore no estate can descend. to him; but he may take by
testament, if properly described, after he has obtained a name by reputation.
1 Rop. Lew. 76, 266; Com. Dig. Descent, C, l2; Ie. Bastard, E; Co. Lit. 123,
a; Id. 3, a; 1 T. R. 96 Doug. 548 3 Dana, R. 233; 4 Pick. R. 93; 4 Desaus.
434. But this hard rule has been somewhat mitigated in some of the states,
where, by statute, various inheritable qualities have been conferred upon
bastards. See 5 Conn. 228; 1 Dev. Eq. R. 345; 2 Root, 280; 5 Wheat.. 207; 3
H. & M. 229, n; 5 Call. 143; 3 Dana, 233.
5. Bastards can acquire the rights of legitimate children only by an
act of the legislature. 1 Bl. Com. 460; 4 Inst. 36.
6. By the laws of Louisiana, a bastard is one who is born of an illicit
union. Civ. Code of Lo. art. 27, 199. There are two sorts of illegitimate
children; first, those who are born of two persons, who, at the moment such
children were conceived, might have legally contracted marriage with each
other; and, secondly, those who are born from persons, to whose marriage
there existed at the time, some legal impediment. Id. art. 200. An
adulterous bastard is one produced by an unlawful connexion between two
persons, who, at the time he was conceived, were, either of them, or both,
connected by marriage with some other person or persons. Id. art. 201.
Incestuous bastards are those who are produced by the illegal connexion of
two persons who are relations within the degrees prohibited by law. Id. art.
202.
7. Bastards, generally speaking, belong to no family, and have no
relations; accordingly they are not subject to paternal authority, even when
they have been acknowledged. See 11 East, 7, n. Nevertheless, fathers and
mothers owe alimony. to their children when they are in need. Id. art. 254,
256. Alimony is due to bastards, though they be adulterous or incestuous, by
the mother and her ascendants. Id. art. 262.
8. Children born out of marriage, except those who are born from an
incestuous or adulterous connexion, may be legitimated by the subsequent
marriage of their father and mother, whenever the latter have legally
acknowledged them for their children, either before the marriage or by the
contract of marriage itself. Every other mode of legitimating children is
abolished. Id. art. 217. Legitimation may even be extended to deceased
children who have left issue, and in that ease, it enures to the benefit of
that issue. Id. art. 218. Children legitimated by a subsequent marriage,
have the same rights as if born during the marriage. Id. art. 219. See,
generally, Vin. Abr. Bastards Bac. Abr. Bastard; Com. Dig. Bastard; Metc. &
Perk. Dig. h. t.; the various other American Digests, h. t.; Harr. Dig. h.
t.; 1 Bl. Com. 454 to 460; Co. Litt. 3, b.; Bouv. Inst. Index, h. t., And
Access; Bastardy; Gestation; Natural Children.
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