France child law updated

France has updated a two-century-old law to remove a distinction in the legal status of children born out of wedlock and those born to married couples.

The change removes the distinction between a "legitimate" child and a "natural" child born to unmarried parents, which first appeared in the 1804 Napoleonic code.
The revision means that the relationship of an unmarried mother to her child will automatically be recognised. Until now, unmarried mothers had to go to city hall to register themselves as new parents.