Parenthood and Parental Responsibility of the Underage Parents in the Era of Childrenʹs Rights

 Law in the process of globalisation (2018), (str. 473-493) 

AUTOR: Veljko Vlaskovic

E-ADRESA: vvlaskovic@jura.kg.ac.rs

Download Full Pdf   

DOI: 10.46793/LawPG.473V

SAŽETAK: 

Legal status of the underage parent comprises conflicting roles of a parent and a child in the same person. It triggers many legal issues primarily revolved around underage parents’ capability to exercise parental responsibility. Using their natural ability to bear the child, the underage parents actually step out of the boundaries of childhood moving into to world of adulthood despite of the fixed age limits accepted by the law in order to separate, somehow artificially, those two domains. Since life usually precedes the law, giving birth to a child by the underage parents creates a legal mess where the rights and interests of the various participants are at stake. However, the lawmakers are torn between two basic ideas to protect the rights of the newborn and to enable natural parents to acquire parental responsibility so they can perform their duties as parents. This has been shown to be quite complicated task involving the consideration of different concepts such as reproductive liberty, legal parenthood, active legal capacity and child’s rights. Those issues have been considered by the author having in mind the complex picture of child’s rights, comparative law and national substantive family law rules. The attention is also paid to the solutions proposed by the draftmakers of Serbian Civil Code which could be adopted in the near future.

KLJUČNE REČI:

underage parent, reproductive liberty, legal parenthood, active legal capacity, child’s rights.

LITERATURA:

  • Androulidakis-Dimitriadis, I., Family Law in Greece, Kluwer Law International, Alphen aan den Rijn, The Netherlands, 2010.
  • Archard, D., Children: Rights and Childhood, Routledge, London – New York, 2004;
  • Bainham, A., Parentage, Parenthood and Parental Responsibility: Subtle, Elusive Yet Important Distinctions, What is a Parent? A Socio – Legal Analysis (eds. A. Bainham, S. Day Sclater, M. Richards), Hart Publishing, Oxford – Portland, 1999.
  • Buss, E., The Parental Rights of Minors, Buffalo Law Review, No. 3, 2000.
  • Choudhry, S., Herring, J., European Human Rights and Family Law, Hart Publishing, Oxford – Portland, 2010.
  • Decisions of the Bundesverfassungsgericht – Federal Constitutional Court – Federal Republic of Germany, 5, Family-Related Decisions, Nomos, Karlsruhe, 2013.
  • Detrick, S., A Commentary on the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague – Boston – London, 1999.
  • Detrick, S.,‘Family Rights Under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’, Families Across Frontiers (eds. N. Lowe, G. Douglas), Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, 1996.
  • Ferrer – Riba, J., Parental responsibility in a European Perspective, European Family Law III: Family Law in a European Perspective (ed. J. M. Scherpe), Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham – Northampton, 2016.
  • Fortin, J., Children’s Rights and the Developing Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009.
  • Herring, J., Medical Law and Ethics, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008.
  • Hodgson, D., The child’s right to life, survival and development, The International Journal of Children’s Rights, No. 4, 1994.
  • Lefaucheur, N., The French ‘tradition’ of anonymous birth: the lines of argument, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, No. 3, 2004.
  • Marshall, J., Giving birth but refusing motherhood: inauthentic choice or self-determining identity?, International Journal of Law in Context, No. 2, 2008.
  • Martins, R., Parental responsibilities versus the progressive autonomy of the child and the adolescent, Perspectives for the Unification and Harmonisation of Family Law in Europe (ed. K. Boele-Woelki), Intersentia, Antwerpen – Oxford – New York, 2003.
  • Meulders-Klein, M., The Position of Father in European Legislation, International Journal of Law and the Family, No. 2, 1990.
  • O’Donnell, K., Parent-Child Relationships within European Convention, Families Across Frontiers (eds. N. Lowe, G. Douglas), Kluwer Academic Publishers, the Netherlands, 1996.
  • Oliphant, R., N. Ver Steegh, Family Law, Aspen Publishers, New York, 2007.
  • Rokas, K., National Reports on Surrogacy: Greece, International Surrogacy Arrangements: Legal Regulation at the International Level (eds. K. Trimmings, P. Beuamont), Hart Publishing, Oxford-Portland, 2013.
  • Scheiwe, K., Between autonomy and dependency: minor’s rights to decide on matters of sexuality, reproduction, marriage, and parenthood. Problems and the state of debate – an introduction, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, No. 3, 2004.
  • Schrama, W., Family function over family form in the law on parentage? The legal position of children born in informal relationships, Debates in Family Law around the Globe at the Dawn of the 21st Century (ed. K. Boele-Woelki), Intersentia, Antwerpen-Oxford-Portland, 2009.
  • Vodinelić, V., Građansko pravo: Uvod u građansko pravo i opšti deo građanskog prava, Pravni fakultet Univerziteta Union u Beogradu – JP Službeni glasnik, Beograd, 2014.
  • Vonk, M., Children and their parents: a comparative study of the legal position of children with regard to their intentional and biological parents in English and Dutch law, Intersentia, Antwerpen – Oxford, 2007.
  • Willekens, H., Rights and Duties of Underage Parents: A Comparative Approach, International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, No. 3, 2004.
  • Vladetić, C., Prijateljske usluge u rimskom porodičnom pravu, XXI vek – vek usluga i uslužnog prava (ur. M. Mićović), Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Kragujevcu, Institut za pravne i društvene nauke, Kragujevac, 2014.
  • Vlašković, B., Lekarska i farmaceutska usluga prekida trudnoće i načelo najboljeg interesa deteta, XXI vek – vek usluga i uslužnog prava, Zbornik referata sa VII majskog savetovanja (ur. M. Mićović), Pravni fakultet u Kragujevcu, Institut za pravne i društvene nauke Pravnog fakulteta u Kragujevcu, Kragujevac, 2011.
  • Vlašković, B., Najbolji interes deteta u kontekstu porodičnopravnog aspekta usluge surogacije, XXI vek – vek usluga i uslužnog prava (ur. M. Mićović), knj. 6, Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Kragujevcu, Institut za pravne i društvene nauke, Kragujevac, 2015.
  • Vlašković, B., Pravni i etički aspekti doniranja organa sa živih i punoletnih lica nesposobnih za rasuđivanje, Uslužno pravo, Zbornik radova sa IX majskog savetovanja (ur. M. Mićović), Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Kragujevcu, Institut za pravne i društvene nauke, Kragujevac, 2013.
  • Vlašković, B., Pravo na zaštitu od nasilja u porodici kao subjektivno građansko pravo, Anali Pravnog fakulteta u Beogradu, 1/2009.
  • Vlašković, B., Problem određivanja sadržine najboljeg interesa deteta“, Anali Pravnog fakulteta u Beogradu, Beograd, 1/2012.
  • Vlašković, B., Usluga hraniteljstva i pravni položaj roditelja deteta, Pravo i usluge, Zbornik radova sa VIII majskog savetovanja (ur. M. Mićović), Pravni fakultet u Kragujevcu, Institut za pravne i društvene nauke, Kragujevac, 2012.
  • Vlašković, B., Usluga hraniteljstva u kontekstu principa najboljeg interesa deteta, Uslužni poslovi, Zbornik radova sa X majskog savetovanja (ur. M. Mićović), Pravni fakultet u Kragujevcu, Institut za pravne i društvene nauke, Kragujevac, 2014.
  • Ponjavić, Z., Porodično pravo, JP Službeni glasnik, Beograd, 2014.
  • Cvejić Jančić, O., Porodično pravo, Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Novom Sadu, Novi Sad, 2009.