Genesis of legal regulation of parental rights and duties in family law

The author of the article has studied a family as a primary social institution ensuring the formation of the child’s personality, and the implementation of parental rights and duties has a decisive impact on the child’s future. The author has outlined three main stages in the development of legal regulation of parental rights and duties in Ukraine: the pre-revolutionary stage (from Kievan Rus up to 1917) – it is characterized by the dominance of parental power, patriarchal traditions and religious norms. A child in such conditions was considered as an object of law. The author has analyzed the role of “Russkaia Pravda” that, despite its relative humanism (absence of the death penalty), entrenched inequality in the rights of inheritance. The legal protection of a child, especially an orphan, was mainly implemented within the family community. The Soviet stage (1917–1991) – it is marked by the priority of collective education, the inclusion of family legislation of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic into the all-Union system. The regulation of parental rights and duties took place within the framework of ideological expediency. The current stage (from 1991 to the present time) is the period, when legislative renovation is taking place on the basis of international legal culture, with the dominance of the principle of priority of the best interests of the child. The transition to the partnership model between parents and the state is observed. It has been argued that the child’s parents in Kievan Rus, before the adoption of Christianity, had quite broad powers. Ancient literary sources indicate that parents’ authority was not very strict, children had a certain freedom, but it is not possible to determine the exact framework how parents and children exercised their rights and responsibilities. It has been emphasized that the historical development of parental rights and duties’ institution in family law demonstrates a shift in emphasis from parental authority to parental responsibility and the need for constant improvement of national family legislation in accordance with international standards. The institution of parental responsibility in the process of Ukrainian civil legislation’s recodification is offered to include into the Book «Family Law» of the updated Civil Code of Ukraine.