Legitimacy (family law)
（重定向自Illegimate）
![Percentage of births to unmarried women, selected countries, 1980 and 2007.[22]](/uploads/202502/08/Non_marital_by_countries5730.gif)
Legitimacy, in Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other; and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, illegitimacy (or bastardy) is the status of a child born outside marriage.