First Page
1587
Abstract
This Note assumes that the judicial trend of using HLA test results as affirmative evidence" will continue, and accepts the proposal that these results are scientifically reliable.' The Note will focus on the policy considerations and arguments that should affect the admissibility of the HLA blood test as affirmative evidence in various disputed parentage cases.This Note first examines the use of HLA test results to determine the paternity of illegitimate children who do not have a legal father, and concludes that courts should admit the results unconditionally in these circumstances. Second, the Note analyzes the use of the HLA blood test to settle paternity disputes that arise in a divorce context. Because of the important policy considerations that exist, the Note recommends that courts admit the results subject to a legislatively developed statute of limitations of two or three years. Finally, the Note advocates that public policy factors indicate the need for a two-year statute of limitations to govern the admissibility of HLA test results in situations in which an unmarried father attempts to introduce them to assert paternity rights concerning a presumably legitimate child who has a legal father.
Recommended Citation
Patricia B. Blumberg,
Human Leukocyte Antigen Testing: Technology Versus Policy in Cases of Disputed Parentage,
36 Vanderbilt Law Review
1587
(1983)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol36/iss6/5