A CASE OF HEREDITARY BRACHY- 
PHALANGY UTILIZED AS EVIDENCE 
IN- FORENS 17C 2M BE Dio 
BY OTTO L. MOHR 
ANATOMICAL INSTITUTE, CHRISTIANIA UNIVERSITY, NORWAY 
re to a new law (»Law regarding children whose pa- 
rents have not married each other»; April 10, 1915) the illegi- 
timate children are in Norway »entitled to the fathers as well as to 
the mothers family name» and have »the same right of inheritance 
as a legitimate child». 
| This law has, as may be easily understood, led to several legal 
actions in cases where the man upon whom the child is fathered 
denies the parentage. The following relates to such a case. Since it 
is, so far as known, the first instance in which a hereditary malforma- 
tion has been utilized as paternity evidence in forensic medicine, it 
might perhaps be of some interest to have it published in a genetic 
periodical. 
At the suggestion of professor, Dr. med. Fr. Harsirz, chairman 
of the Commission of Forensic Medicine, the author was asked by 
the court to give an opinion as medical expert. The declaration given 
contains the main data upon which the conclusion was based and the 
account may therefore here be restricted to a presentation of this de- 
claration. It should, however, be mentioned that the statement is 
intended for a jury of laymen and has been formed in accordance 
with this special purpose. For a review of the literature and a general 
discussion of the genetic facts upon which the conclusion is based we 
may refer to an earlier publication dealing with a corresponding he- 
reditary malformation in man (Orro L. Mour and Cur. WRIEDT: 
»A new type of hereditary brachyphalangy in man». Carnegie Inst. 
of Washington, Publ. No 295, 1919). 
The declaration reads as follows: 
Paternity case Mr. Hans Olsen against Karen Hansen of Reistad. 
The undersigned received in February, 1920, a letter from Mr. 
F. R., justice of the law circuit of X., of which letter the following 
might be quoted: »in the paternity case mentioned above the mother, 
