Illegitimacy is a label once commonly assigned to individuals whose parents were not married. In most European nation-states (Scotland being the most notable exception), the child of unmarried parents wasn't a legitimate heir in law to its father's estate – hence, the child was "[an] illegitimate [heir]." In social and sometimes legal terms, the individual child so born was termed a . In most national jurisdictions, the status of a child as a legitimate or illegitimate heir could be chan… (More on Illegitimate)