Order Of Filiation

The name of a judgment tendered by two justices, having jurisdiction in such case, in which a man therein named is adjudged to be the putative father of a bastard child; and it is farther adjudged that he pay a certain sum for its support.

The order must bear upon its face, 1st. That it was made upon the complaint of the township, parish, or other place, where the child was born and is chargeable. 2d. That it was made by justices of the peace having jurisdiction. 3d. The birth place of the child; 4th. The examination of the putative father and of the mother; but, it is said, the presence of the putative father is not requisite, if he has been summoned. 5th. The judgment that the defendant is the putative father of the child. 6th. That he shall maintain, the child as long as he shall be chargeable to the township, parish, or other place which must be named. But the order may be that the father shall pay a certain sum weekly as long as the child is chargeable to the public. 7th. It must be dated, signed, and sealed by the justices. Such order cannot be vacated by two other justices.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.