“ But there can be no such legitimacy without the agreement or recognition of the father. Agreement and recognition are not synonymous terms. Recognition implies no more than a simple admission of a fact ”

“ Then comes an act of the legislature, the special object of which is, 'to protect and provide for the innocent offspring of indiscreet parents, who had already made all the atonement in their power for their misconduct, by putting the children whom the father recognized as his own, on the same footing as if born in lawful wedlock.' If birth and marriage are the facts upon which the act operates, and recognition nothing but evidence of those facts, the decisions already cited are decisive in our favour. ”

“ A bastard, being the son of nobody, could have no heritable blood, consequently none of the blood of the first purchaser. The feudal doctrine of carrying the estate through the blood of the first purchaser, inevitably excluded inheritance among bastards. In this sense the disability of bastards was the consequence of feudal policy, and totally inconsistent with the liberal and equitable canons of descent, introduced by the act of 1785. The preference of the male ascending line, preserved by the statute of 1786, is not founded upon feudal doctrines. ”

“ The civilians held, that 'this legitimation is a privilege or incident inseparably annexed to the marriage, so that, though both the children and parents should wave it, the children would, nevertheless, be legitimate.' The foundation of this doctrine is thus explained: 'Ratio est quia matrimonium subsequens ex fictione legis retrahitur ad tempus susceptionis liberorum ut legitimati habeantur legitime suscepti (i. e.) post contractum.'z
If legitimacy is an incident inseparably annexed to the marriage, it must be the marriage, and not the agreement of the father, that legitimates the child. ”

“ The capacity of transmitting inheritance, conferred by the act, can have no operation, if the terms, on the part of, be interpreted to mean, immediately from the mother. The bastard must transmit the inheritance to or through, whether it pass to ascendants or callaterals.
The common law disabilities of bastards are, like the canons of descent, of feudal origin: for it must be remembered that this disability relates entirely to inheritance. ”

“ All the laws of Virginia, granting military land bounties, were passed after the death of Hugh Stephenson. The act which extends the bounty to those who had died before any bounty was provided, is that under which the warrant issued. It assigns the bounty to the 'legal representatives' of the person upon account of whose services it was granted. We maintain, that the term, representatives, is used purposely not to exclude the heir, but to embrace others than the legal heir, under the then existing laws. ”

“ A descent cast by the death of an intestate, cannot be disturbed by subsequent laws; but that is no reason why the legislature should not change the law, or give to individuals new capacities of inheritance. ”

“ As bastards, they were incapable of inheriting the estate of their mother notwithstanding they were the innocent offspring of her incontinence, and were, therefore, in the view of the legislature, and consonant to the feelings of nature, justly entitled to be provided for out of such property as she might leave undisposed of at her death, or which would have vested in her, as heir to any of her ancestors, had she lived to take as such. ”

“ The appellants claim as heirs at law to Richard, under the 19th and 18th sections of the act directing the cause of descents. The 19th section is in these words: 'Where a man having, by a woman, one or more children, shall afterwards intermarry with such woman, such child or children, if recognized by him, shall be thereby legitimated.' The issue also in marriages deemed null in law, shall, nevertheless, be legitimate. ”

“ We insist, that the terms 'if recognized by him,' are inserted for the single purpose of defining the proof upon which the material facts should be established, and are to be regarded only as prescribing a rule of evidence for the particular case. ”

“ In the view we take of the case, the death of the father, before the passage of the act, is a circumstance of no importance. It is upon the children, and not upon the father, that the act operates. It attaches upon existing cases, and gives a character to transactions already past. ”

“ Efford, that the Chancellor considered it a material point, that the recognition of the illegitimate children took place after the act of 1785 was in operation. And Judge Roane expressly says, that the interpretation adopted, 'applies to cases only, where the father has died
The possible interest which children have in the father's property, during his lifetime, is not of that absolute character which the legislature cannot control. If it were, every change of the law of descents, would be an invasion of the rights of expectants under the existing law. ”

“ Bastards are within the marriage act, which requires the consent of parents or guardians to the marriage of persons within age.ff In this case, Mr. Justice Buller declares that the rule that a bastard is nullius filius, applies only to cases of inheritance, and says it was so considered by Lord Coke. ”

“ The second proposition of this argument is, that all the disabilities of bastardy are of feudal origin. With us it is of Saxon origin. The term bastard being derived from a Saxon word, importing a bad, or base, original. ”

“ It is not likely that the expression, 'legal representatives,' in the act, was meant to apply to devisees of deceased officers and soldiers for whom the bounty was intended, if they had lived, because, at the time this law was passed, there could not be a devisor of those lands under the general law. ”

“ The appellants object to the decree of the Court below, upon the following grounds: 1. That the land warrants ought to have been granted to them as the representatives of Hugh Stephenson, designated as such by his last will. ”