Children and Law

Abstract

This Article offers a broad survey of the multiple ways law governs children’s lives. The legal regulation of children is neither a subset of family law nor a limited set of exceptions to the legal regulation of persons generally. Law instead creates a legal category of child and governs that category differently than it governs adults across many spheres, including the home, schools, child welfare systems, juvenile justice institutions, and the market. The Article analyzes the justifications and effects of this legal approach, highlighting the ways law determines whether parents or state actors may exercise authority over children.

Keywords: Child Abuse and Neglect, Child Labor, Child Development, Child Protection, Children’s Rights, Capacity, Delinquency, Dependency, Education, Family Privacy, Infancy Defenses, Juvenile Justice, Maturity, Parentage, Parental Rights, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child