Definition
In legal usage, "begotten" means procreated — brought into existence as the biological offspring of a particular person. The term appears almost exclusively in the construction of wills, trusts, and instruments of descent, where it identifies the class of persons who qualify as the natural children or descendants of a named individual. "Begotten" refers to all children whom the parent shall have procreated during his or her lifetime, encompassing the full scope of biological issue without limitation to children living at any particular moment.
The phrase "to be begotten" carries the same legal force as "begotten" standing alone, extending the class to include all offspring the parent may yet produce, not merely those already born at the time the instrument is executed or takes effect.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Brought into being by one's begetter(s).
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Past participle of "beget" — to procreate, as a father.
The common meaning and the legal meaning are closely aligned in substance, but the gap that matters is one of precision. In ordinary speech, "begotten" is loosely synonymous with "born of" or "descended from." In legal instruments, the term carries a specific technical boundary: it is limited to direct biological procreation by the named individual, not to adoption, step-relations, or collateral kin. A researcher reading a testamentary instrument must treat "begotten" as a term of art that excludes classes of persons who might colloquially be considered part of a family.
Common Confusion
"Begotten" is sometimes read interchangeably with "born" or "issue" in older instruments, but the terms are not always synonymous. "Issue" in English law historically carried its own technical meaning that could, depending on context and jurisdiction, include or exclude adopted children, illegitimate children, or remoter descendants. "Begotten" is more narrowly focused on biological procreation by the named parent. Researchers should not assume that "lawfully begotten" and "lawful issue" are always coextensive without examining how the instrument defines its terms and what construction the governing jurisdiction applied at the time of drafting.
Why It Matters in Research
The primary research risk with "begotten" lies in its appearance in historical wills, deeds, and settlement instruments, where it defines class gifts — bequests or devises made to a group rather than a named individual. Whether a class gift to "children begotten of" a named person closes at the testator's death, at the time of distribution, or at some other moment is a question of construction that courts have resolved inconsistently across jurisdictions and centuries. A researcher working in probate records or equity proceedings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries will encounter "begotten" as a live term of art, not mere formality.
The Latin equivalent, quos procreaverit ("whom he shall have procreated"), appears in English and early American legal sources alongside the English term. Bouvier cites this equivalence directly. Researchers encountering Latin instruments or civil law-influenced sources should recognize the correspondence.
The phrase "lawfully begotten" — meaning procreated within a valid marriage — adds a legitimacy dimension that was legally consequential for inheritance purposes before statutory reforms eliminated or reduced the legal distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children. Historical sources will frequently use "lawfully begotten" as a restrictive qualifier, and its presence in an instrument limits the class to marital offspring only.
Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary treats "begotten" and "to be begotten" as synonymous, both meaning procreated, and anchors the definition in the Latin quos procreaverit. Bouvier cites 1 Maule & Selwyn 185 and an additional reporter citation in support of the proposition that the phrase embraces all those whom the parent shall have begotten during his life. This formulation resolves a potential ambiguity: the class is not limited to children already in existence when the instrument speaks, but extends forward to all biological offspring produced by the named individual throughout his or her life.
No significant divergence exists among historical dictionary sources on this term's core meaning. The concept is narrow and the sources are consistent. What historical dictionaries do not address is the downstream question of how courts construed class-closing rules when instruments used this language — that question belongs to case law and equity jurisprudence rather than definitional sources.
Jurisdictional Note
American statutory reform of inheritance law, particularly the Uniform Parentage Act and subsequent adoptions of the Uniform Probate Code in various states, has substantially reduced the legal significance of the legitimate/illegitimate distinction that made "lawfully begotten" a meaningful limiting phrase. Researchers should be attentive to whether the instrument they are examining predates or postdates applicable reforms in the governing jurisdiction, as the legal effect of the term on class membership may have changed.