ABSTRACT
If we were to look for a ‘traditional value’ which best describes the historical relationship between children and parents we could do worse than start with the familiar fifth commandment. But just what does respect for parents entail in the late twentieth century? As far as English law is concerned the recent tendency has been to deny that parents have ‘rights’ as such and to reconceptualise their position solely in terms of ‘responsibility’.2 The emphasis is on their ‘duties’ and there has been a distinct downgrading of any proprietorial claims over children which they might be inclined to assert. This trend has been accompanied by much greater interest in the whole subject of children’s rights3 evidenced in particular by the extremely widespread ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.4 This view of children as the bearers of rights raises the question of how much respect is due to parents - this time from the children themselves. Put succinctly, in these days of liberation and self-determination5 how far do children have duties, both in relation to their parents and in relation to wider society?
