The High Court in London has ruled that Freddy McConnell, who is recognised as “male” on his civil documents, must be recorded as the child’s “mother”.

Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the family division, ruled that the “status of being a ‘mother’ arises from the role that a person has undertaken in the biological process of conception, pregnancy and birth”.

The status of a person as the father or mother of a child is not affected by the acquisition of gender under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, even where the relevant birth has taken place after the issue of a gender recognition certificate, he said.

The judgment sets out the first legal definition of a mother in English common law, The Guardian reports.

In his ruling, Sir Andrew wrote: “Being a ‘mother’ or a ‘father’ with respect to the conception, pregnancy and birth of a child is not necessarily gender specific, although until recent decades it invariably was so.

“It is now possible, and recognised by the law, for a ‘mother’ to have an acquired gender of male, and for a ‘father’ to have an acquired gender of female.”

Mr McConnell, a journalist at The Guardian, was represented by A City Law Firm in his proceedings against the Registrar General for England and Wales. In a statement after the ruling, he said he would seek to appeal.