The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
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Legal term describing the state's power to act on behalf of certain individuals.
This term, which in Latin literally means "parent of the state," refers to a rule, derived from the English common law, empowering the monarch to act as guardian and protector of persons—e.g., children and mentally incompetent individuals—under what is known as "legal disability." In the United States, where the states hold parens patriae authority, state attorney generals in certain cases act on behalf of state residents in need of legal protection. Typically, parens patriae power is used to protect a child who has no legal guardian. However, since a significant 1839 Pennsylvania court ruling which upheld a mother's decision to have her daughter committed, despite the father's petition for her release, parens patriae power has been invoked, unjustly, according to some writers, to over-rule a parent's custodial rights.
Chesler, Phyllis. Mothers on Trial: The Battle for Children and Custody. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986.