Regulating the American Family

In: Journal of family history: studies in family, kinship and demography, Band 14, Heft 4, S. 387-408

Abstract

The article offers an interpretive synthesis of recent scholarship on family law and government regulation of the family. It traces changes in family law from the colonial era to the present and concludes with an analysis of family law as a discourse involving four broad themes: the law's social functions; the social values upheld by law; the relative responsibility of private individuals and the larger society for enforcing values; and the ways in which the law intervenes in family affairs.