ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the rise of the children's court in Europe in a context of major social, economic and political transformations. It also focuses more sharply on the Belgian model through a diversity of sources including parliamentary sources and judicial statistics and archives. Although Children's Courts emerged in different ways in Europe, due to national particularities and differing legal traditions, some generic concepts transcended national frontiers. Four foundational principles are especially noteworthy pertaining, in turn, to: the notion of 'child saving'; the formal separation of institutional jurisdictional arrangements between adult and child; the nature of judicial powers; and, emerging networks of professional collaborators. The Child Protection Act 1912 provided for a new and close collaboration between children's judges and private organisations. The chapter discusses the basis of the historical mapping, critically contextualises some contemporary debates that centre juvenile courts, juvenile justice and children's rights in Europe.
