ABSTRACT
Childhood as a social construction is subject to differing definitions in different societies. This chapter defines childhood according to eighteenth-century civil law regulating rights and duties depending on age and sex. It focuses on a socio-historical approach in order to see the law in a wider perspective as well as to address a child’s identity in the contexts of social status and economy. The chapter explores Elizabeth Brownrigg case, which demonstrates the inadequacy of legal and social systems of control in mid-eighteenth-century London. England has always taken pride in the principle of the ‘rule of law’: without exception, everyone is subject to the same law. A legal treatise of 1697, the Infants’ Lawyer, explained why it was necessary to publish a book on the legal status of children: For it is most certain, that our Law hath a very great and tender Consideration for Persons naturally disabled, and especially for Minors.
