Morals of the Church
Library › Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis › Volume II › Treatise XI. On The Virtue Of Justice And The Opposed Vices › Section I. On Right And On The Virtue Of Justice Itself › Question I. On Right Itself › Chapter III. On The Subject Of Right Or Dominion › Article II. On The Dominion Of Children Of Families

Section — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis

§ 5. On The Dominion Of Children Of Families According To The Law Of North America

32.

32. 1. In North America a uniform law concerning the rights of parents does not exist. Nevertheless, the following things are rather commonly established.

  1. Parents indeed are not held to pay debts contracted by children (unless, however, by the explicit or implicit authority of the parents the children contracted those debts); but they must suitably support the children.

  2. Parents have the right that minor-aged children, i.e., up to the twenty-first year,122 dwell and labor under their service and custody.

  3. Parents permitting children to devote themselves to labors or business outside the paternal house are judged by that very fact to permit them to have disposition over the wage received. In this case, however, the obligation of the parents to support their children also ceases.

  4. Parents are obliged to repair damages which are committed by the children while they are in the paternal house, when the parents know of them and do not prevent them.

122 "In the United States some statutes have reduced the age required for majority." Thus Tanquerey, Suppl. pro Stat. Americ. Septentr. p. 9.

Property Rights of Minors