A man was not allowed to register his biological son under his name as a judge felt the child should continue to use the surname of the family where he was brought up.
He had appealed against a civil court judgment rejecting his request to declare him as the natural father and to list his name on the child’s birth certificate.
The man said he’d had an affair with a married woman who became pregnant and gave birth to a son in September 2007. Her husband was listed as the father.
The natural father wanted to have the baby registered under his name, insisting that it was also in the child’s interest. He pointed out that paternity could easily be established through DNA testing.
The appeals court, presided over by Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri, Mr Justice Tonio Mallia and Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi, agreed with the first court.
They noted that although the man had presented an “enormous” amount of evidence – including witnesses – to show he was the father, what was crucial was not whether he was the biological father but whether the boy had been raised as a legitimate child.
The law laid down that the status of a legitimate child was established through a series of facts: that the child always had the surname of the mother’s husband and that the husband had always treated the child as his own and maintained and educated him.
Other key conditions were that the child was always known to third parties as being the offspring of the mother’s husband and that the whole family considered the husband to be the child’s father.
The appeals court said there was no doubt that the child lived with the mother’s family and was brought up as a son.
This was reflected in his birth certificate and, from the very start, the mother’s husband assumed the role of the father.
The judges referred to case law and noted that the child had a “legitimate status” since he was born.
They deemed the first judgment to be “fair” and added that the civil court was justified in refusing the request of the biological father to have medical tests done.