Post a response:
|
Minors have ALWAYS been subject of LEGAL couverture. Indeed, the control of adults over children has heavily been used as the example for control of men over women, and masters over slaves, serfs and servants. The extent of men´s control over women, and which men´s, has varied a lot between regions and periods. So has the presence or absence of socially accepted statuses of "slave", "serf" or suchlike. But legal control of adults over children has been much more constant. What IS new is not LEGAL control over children, but the practicality and social and legal expectation of PRACTICAL control over children. With many children in family and parents busy at work, parents could not be expected to devote too much time to minding children old enough to mind themselves or each other, nor did they face social and legal expectation to do so. With diminishing numbers of children and some restrictions on work hours, the social and legal expectations to mind children who should have been old enough to mind themselves have been racked up. But the legal RIGHT of adults to control children was there all along, even when great majority of the adults lacked the means to do so even if they wanted. |