ABSTRACT
It is hard to find a starting point for some trends, which were eventually to be crystallised and codified by the Children Act of 1908. However, in Britain, as in the United States, the nineteenth century was the time during which the idea of special treatment for children developed, not only in the area of law, but in other areas as well. The Poor Law gave legal sanctions to an administrative system for relieving the destitute, and also included measures for protecting society against vagrants and beggars. In criminal justice, as in so many social institutions, a watershed was reached in the nineteenth century. The idea of a special court for young offenders had to wait, partly because the reformers chose instead to extend the scope of summary jurisdiction, especially for juveniles. Several societies were started in the eighteenth century to provide an alternative to prison for selected children.
