Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:23:18.886Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Maintenance of the Aged by their Adult Children: The Family as a Residual Agency in the Solution of Poverty in Belgium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2024

Jean Van Houtte  and
Jef Breda
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Most Western European legal systems contain a rule obligating adult children to support their parents, which derives from a Roman statute promulgated at the time that the extended family system was disintegrating and the nuclear family emerging. Such maintenance does not appear to be inconsistent with contemporary social circumstances and kinship relationships. But those for whom it is invoked are highly vulnerable people excluded from the social security system. Although the amounts of maintenance ordered under this rule are small, such orders create problems for the aged, their children, the responsible agencies and their employees. The result is a social paradox: the rule purports to motivate families to care for their aged parents, but the families upon whom the obligation is imposed actually suffer from such imposition.

Type
Research Article
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 12 , Issue 4: Special Issue on European Sociology of Law , Summer 1978 , pp. 645 - 664
Copyright
Copyright © 1978 The Law and Society Association.

Footnotes

This contribution is based on Van Houtte and Breda (1976).

References

ALBERTARIO, Emilio (1925) Sul diritto agli alimenti. Milan: Società Editrice “Vita e Pensiero.”.Google Scholar
AUBERT, Vilhelm (1963) “The Structure of Legal Thinking,” in Legal Essays. Oslo: Scandinavian University Books.Google Scholar
CENTRUM voor BEVOLKINGS- en GEZINSSTUDIEN (1969) De bejaarden in België, III, Familiale en sociale relaties. Brussels.Google Scholar
DEFACQZ, Eugene Henri (1873) Ancien Droit Beige ou Précis analytique des lois et coutumes observées en Belgique avant le Code Civil. Brussels.Google Scholar
DOMAT, Jean (1695) Les lois civiles dans leur ordre naturel, Tome 1 (2d ed.). Paris.Google Scholar
DOOGHE, Gilbert (1970) De structuur van het gezin en de sociale relaties van de bejaarden. Antwerp: De Nederlandsche Boekhandel.Google Scholar
DURKHEIM, Émile (1947) The Division of Labor in Society. Translated by Simpson, George. Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press.Google Scholar
GAUDEMET, J. (1963) Les communautés familiales. Paris: M. Riviere.Google Scholar
HOFFMAN, G. (1970) “Familie nucléaire isolée ou famille elargie modifiée,” 1 Recherches sociologiques 91.Google Scholar
HILL, Reuben and KÖNIG, René (eds.) (1970) Families in East and West: International Family Research Seminar. The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JAMAR, Luden, Fernand, WALEFFE and P., DELAHAYE (eds.) (1814-1965) Répertoire général de la jurisprudence beige. Brussels.Google Scholar
JOHNSTON, Harold Whitstone (1969) “The Roman Family,” in Hadden, Jeffrey K. and Borgatta, Marie L. (eds.) Marriage and the Family. Itasca, Ill.: F.E. Peacock.Google Scholar
KASER, Max (1955) Das römische Privatrecht, Band 1. Munich: Beck.Google Scholar
KIRKPATRICK, Clifford (1963) The Family as Process and Institution. New York: Ronald Press.Google Scholar
KOOY, G.A. (1967) Het modern-Westers gezin. Hilversum-Antwerp: Paul Brand.Google Scholar
LEBRAS, G. (1959) “Capacité personelle et structures sociales dans le très ancien droit de Rome,” in Droits de l'Antiquité et sociologie juridique, Melanges Henry Lévy-Brühl. Paris: Sirey.Google Scholar
LOCRÉ de ROISSY, Jean Guillaumes, de, Baron (1836) La Législation civile, commerciale et criminelle de la France ou commentane et complément des codes français, Tome II. Brussels: Librarie de jurisprudence de H. Tarlier.Google Scholar
PIGANIOL, André (1954) Histoire de Rome. 4th Ed. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.Google Scholar
POTHIER, Robert Joseph (1830) “Traité de contrat de mariage,” in Oeuvres complètes de Pothier, Vol. 7. Paris: E. Crochard.Google Scholar
ROSENMAYR, Leopold (1968) “Family Relations of the Elderly,” 30 Journal of Marriage and the Family 672.Google Scholar
SACHERS, E. (1951) “Das Recht auf Unterhalt in der römishen Familie der klassischen Zeit,” in Festschrift Fritz Schulz, Vol. I. Weimar: N. Böhlaus Nachfolger.Google Scholar
SCHULZ, Fritz (1934) Principien des römischen Rechts. Berlin: Duncker & Humblat.Google Scholar
SCHWÄGLER, Georg (1970) Soziologie der Familie. Tübingen: Mohr.Google Scholar
SELZNICK, Philip (1969) Law, Society, and Industrial Justice. New York: Russell Sage.Google Scholar
SHANAS, Ethel, Peter, TOWNSEND, Dorothy, WEDDERBURN, Henning, FRIIS, MELHØJ, Poul and Jan, STEHOUWER (1968) Old People in Three Industrial Societies. New York: Atherton Press.Google Scholar
STREIB, Gordon F. (1963) “Family Patterns in Retirement,” in Sussman, Marvin E. (ed.) Sourcebook in Marriage and the Family. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
VAN HOUTTE, J. and J., BREDA (1976) Behoeftige bejaarden en onderhoudsplichtige kinderen: Een rechtssociologisch onderzoek in Commissie van Openbare Onderstand en Vredegerecht (Elderly Persons in Need and Children Liable for Their Maintenance: A Sociological Survey of Law Practices in Public Assistance Agencies and Justice of the Peace Courts). Deventen Van Loghum-Slaterus.Google Scholar
VAN HOUTTE, J. and E., LANGERWERF (1977) Sociografische gegevens voor een studie van het gerechtelijk systeem, Juristen-Activiteiten van Hoven en Rechtbanken (Sociographic Data for a Study of the Legal System: Lawyers' Activities of Tribunals and Courts). Antwerp: Kluwer.Google Scholar
VAN HOUTTE, J., C. DE, VOCHT, and R., VERHOEVEN (1978) Onderhoudsplichtige mannen en onderhoudsgerechtigde vrouwen (Husbands Liable for and Wives Entitled to Maintenance). Deventen Kluwer.Google Scholar
VAN REEPINGEN, C. (1949-70) Recueil annuel de jurisprudence beige. Brussels.Google Scholar
ZIMMERMAN, Carl Clark (1947) Family and Civilization. New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar