J v Director General, Department of Home Affairs
Encyclopedia
J and B v Director-General, Department of Home Affairs and Others is a 2003 decision of the Constitutional Court of South Africa
which dealt with the situation of children born via artificial insemination
to a lesbian couple in a permanent life-partnership. The court ruled that the partner who was not the biological parent was to be regarded as a natural parent and guardian and that the children were legitimate
in law, and ordered the Department of Home Affairs to register both partners as parents on the children's birth certificates.
Constitutional Court of South Africa
The Constitutional Court of South Africa was established in 1994 by South Africa's first democratic constitution: the Interim Constitution of 1993. In terms of the 1996 Constitution the Constitutional Court established in 1994 continues to hold office. The court began its first sessions in February...
which dealt with the situation of children born via artificial insemination
Artificial insemination
Artificial insemination, or AI, is the process by which sperm is placed into the reproductive tract of a female for the purpose of impregnating the female by using means other than sexual intercourse or natural insemination...
to a lesbian couple in a permanent life-partnership. The court ruled that the partner who was not the biological parent was to be regarded as a natural parent and guardian and that the children were legitimate
Legitimacy (law)
At common law, legitimacy is the status of a child who is born to parents who are legally married to one another; and of a child who is born shortly after the parents' divorce. In canon and in civil law, the offspring of putative marriages have been considered legitimate children...
in law, and ordered the Department of Home Affairs to register both partners as parents on the children's birth certificates.