Maternal, Maternity Law and Legal Definition
The term maternal means relating to, that which belongs to or coming from one's mother such as, maternal authority, maternal relation, maternal estate, maternal line.
Maternity is the state or condition of being a mother, especially a biological one such as motherhood. It is either legitimate or natural. The former is the condition of the mother who has given birth to legitimate children, while the latter is the condition of her who has given birth to illegitimate children. Maternity is always certain, while the paternity is only presumed. In short, the presumption of maternity is that the woman who has given birth to a child is both the genetic mother and the legal mother of the child.
