THE ELEMENTS OF CHILD-PROTECTION BY SIGMUND ENGEL DOCTOR OF LAWS AND OF POLITICS; OFFICIAL GUARDIAN AND ADVOCATE IN BUDA-PESTH TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY DR. EDEN PAUL NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1912 Printed by Ballantyne, Hanson & Co. At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh...

During the latter half of the nineteenth century, the importance of child-protection gained a far wider recognition. The nineteenth century has been well named “The Century of the Child.” But there are reasons no less cogent for describing this century as “The Century of Socialism,” or “The Century of Darwinism.” The intimate interdependence of child-protection with Socialism and with Darwinism must on no account be overlooked. It was my own assurance of this twofold interdependence which led me

Page 65, line 6 , for “wet-nurses” read “midwives.”...

Child-Protection and the Population Question. —In the struggle for existence among the nations, that nation is the victor which consists of the greatest number of individuals best endowed with bodily, mental, and moral health. No national entity can resist the attacks of others if its numerical strength is comparatively small. If a contest takes place between two nations whose numerical strength is approximately equal, the healthier of the two will gain the victory. Even in prehistoric times a m

Introductory. —The two chief purposes of human life are, first, the maintenance of the individuals of the species, and, secondly, the reproduction of the species. The laws relating to property subserve the former aim; those relating to the family subserve the latter. Property itself is the central feature of the former, and the family is the central feature of the latter. Parental Authority and Marriage. —The laws of family life are based upon a physiological or psychological foundation, the lov

Introductory. —The physical, mental, and moral health of human beings depends very largely upon the conditions in which they are brought up, upon the conditions which operate upon them while still within the mother’s womb, and upon the circumstances in which they were born. Was the child the offspring of a legitimate or of an illegitimate sexual relationship? At the time of procreation, were its parents mentally and physically healthy, or were they diseased? During pregnancy, was the mother obli

Introductory. —The foundations of the classical criminal law have been shattered. New ideas begin to prevail, new institutions appear and develop. The old criminal law will soon altogether disappear. In harmony with the general tendency of evolution, whereby our whole legal system tends to become an affair of local administration, criminal law tends to be transformed even more rapidly than other branches of law into a department of local administrative activity. We are to-day in the period of tr