Custody of Infants Act 1839
Encyclopedia
Custody of Infants Act of 1839 was an Act
of the Parliament
of the United Kingdom
.
The bill was greatly influenced by the reformist opinions of Caroline Norton. Mrs. Norton had a failed marriage with a violent husband. Her pamphlets arguing for the natural right of mothers to have custody of their children won much sympathy among parliamentarians. The need for the reform in the custody of children area had already been the subject of parliamentary actions before 1839. However because of Caroline's intense campaigning, Parliament passed the Custody of Infants Act 1839 and included there many of her reformist ideas. This changed dramatically the way how the custody of the children after divorce was granted. If previously in the majority of the cases the child custody was awarded to the fathers, the Custody of Infants Act of 1839 permitted a mother to petition the courts for custody of her children up to the age of seven, and for access in respect of older children. This was the starting point of a new doctrine in the area of child custody, called Tender years doctrine
.
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
of the Parliament
Parliament
A parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modeled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French , the action of parler : a parlement is a discussion. The term came to mean a meeting at which...
of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
The bill was greatly influenced by the reformist opinions of Caroline Norton. Mrs. Norton had a failed marriage with a violent husband. Her pamphlets arguing for the natural right of mothers to have custody of their children won much sympathy among parliamentarians. The need for the reform in the custody of children area had already been the subject of parliamentary actions before 1839. However because of Caroline's intense campaigning, Parliament passed the Custody of Infants Act 1839 and included there many of her reformist ideas. This changed dramatically the way how the custody of the children after divorce was granted. If previously in the majority of the cases the child custody was awarded to the fathers, the Custody of Infants Act of 1839 permitted a mother to petition the courts for custody of her children up to the age of seven, and for access in respect of older children. This was the starting point of a new doctrine in the area of child custody, called Tender years doctrine
Tender Years Doctrine
The tender years doctrine is a legal principle which has existed in family law since the late nineteenth century. This common law doctrine presumes that during a child's "tender" years , the mother should have custody of the child...
.
Links
- http://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/relationships/overview/custodyrights/
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wcustody39.htm
- http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1839/jul/18/custody-of-infants#s3v0049p0_18390718_hol_62