The Legal Time of Conception - Its Influence on the Child's Paternity and his/her Recognized Rights

• Author: Matefi, R.
• Position: Law Departament, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 139-146

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 7 (56) No. 1 - 2014

THE LEGAL TIME OF CONCEPTION –

ITS INFLUENCE ON THE CHILD’S

PATERNITY AND HIS/HER

RECOGNIZED RIGHTS

Roxana MATEFI1

Abstract: Establishing the legal time of concept ion is important both for

establishing the paternity of a child inside marriage and outside of marriage

and for the child rights to be recognised from the moment of his conception,

as a component of his early capacity of use. This is the reason why the

legislator’s intervention is essential in securing the legal time of conception.

It is admitted that, by scientific evidence, the presumption of paternity, which

has a relative character, can be inverted, meaning to prove the child’s

conception within a certain period of the time stipulated by the legal text, or

even outside this interval.

Key words: paternity, conception, presumption, legal time.

1 Law Departament, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. Introduction. The legal time of

conception - regulation, concept and

term.

Article 412 of the new Civil Code [19]

defines the legal time of conception as “the

interval between three hundred and a

hundred and eighty days before the child’s

birth is the legal time of conception. It is

calculated day by day ”.

From the text of law cited above we can

detach the maximum length of gestation

(300 days) and its minimum duration (180

days), interval within which the legal time

of conception is situated.

Starting from the point that the term is

calculated day by day, the conclusion that

emerges is that this period shall be

calculated from the day of the child’s birth,

a day which is not included in the

calculation, but instead it will be

included in computing the day it turns,

consequently the legal time of conception

is 121 days.

The legal time of conception was

adopted by the legislator as a result of the

study of biological statistics [8], and they

proved that the shortest gestation was 186

days and the longest 286 days.

Fixing a broader term of between three

hundred and one hundred and eighty days,

as the legal period of conception, is meant

to avoid errors that could prejudice the

child’s interests.

2. The legal time of conception and the

presumption of paternity.

Regarding the presumption of paternity

of a child inside marriage, article 414 of

the new Civil Code provides that the father