ILLEGITIMACY (from "illegitimate," Lat. _illegitimus_, not in accordance with law, hence born out of lawful wedlock), the state of being of illegitimate birth. The law dealing with the legitimation of children born out of wedlock will be found under LEGITIMACY AND LEGITIMATION. How far the prevalence of illegitimacy in any community can be taken as a guide to the morality of that community is a much disputed question. The phenomenon itself varies so much in different localities, even in localities where the same factors seem to prevail, that affirmative conclusions are for the most part impossible to draw. In the United Kingdom, where the figures differ considerably for the three countries--England, Scotland, Ireland--the reasons that might be assigned for the differences are negatived if applied on the same lines, as they might well be, to certain other countries. Then again, racial, climatic and social differences must be allowed for, and the influence of legislation is to be taken into account. The fact that in some countries marriage is forbidden until a man has completed his military service, in another, that consent of parents is requisite, in another, that "once a bastard always a bastard" is the rule, while in yet another that the merest of subsequent formalities will legitimize the offspring, must account in some degree for variations in figures. TABLE I.--_Illegitimate Births per 1000 Births (excluding still-born)._ +------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |1876-|1881-|1886-|1891-|1896-|1901-| | |1880.|1885.|1890.|1895.|1900.|1905.| +------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | England and Wales| 48 | 48 | 46 | 42 | 41 | 40 | | Scotland | 85 | 83 | 81 | 74 | 68 | 64 | | Ireland | 24 | 27 | 28 | 36 | 36 | 26 | | Denmark | 101 | 100 | 95 | 94 | 96 | 101 | | Norway | 84 | 81 | 75 | 71 | 74 | .. | | Sweden | 100 | 102 | 103 | 105 | 113 | .. | | Finland | 73 | 70 | 65 | 65 | 66 | .. | | Russia | 28 | 27 | 27 | 27 | 27 | .. | | Austria | 138 | 145 | 147 | 146 | 141 | .. | | Hungary | 73 | 79 | 82 | 85 | 90 | 94 | | Switzerland | 47 | 48 | 47 | 46 | 45 | .. | | Germany | 87 | 92 | 92 | 91 | 90 | 84 | | Netherlands | 31 | 30 | 32 | 31 | 27 | 23 | | Belgium | 74 | 82 | 87 | 88 | 80 | 68 | | France | 72 | 78 | 83 | 87 | 88 | 88 | | Portugal | .. | .. | 123 | 122 | 121 | .. | | Spain | .. | .. | .. | .. | 49 | 44 | | Italy | 72 | 76 | 74 | 69 | 62 | 56 | | New South Wales | 42 | 44 | 49 | 60 | 69 | 70 | | Victoria | 43 | 46 | 49 | 60 | 69 | 70 | | Queensland | 39 | 41 | 44 | 48 | 59 | 65 | | South Australia | .. | 22 | 25 | 30 | 38 | 41 |