Skip Nav Destination
Families in War and Peace: Chile from Colony to Nation
Copyright:
This content is made freely available by the publisher. It may not be redistributed or altered. All rights reserved.
Duke University Press
ISBN electronic:
978-0-8223-7556-2
Publication date:
2015
Book Chapter
Enforcing Paternal Responsibilities: Legal Disputes over Family Maintenance and Custody
-
Published:April 2015
Chapter 6 argues that the adjudication of family law after independence had political implications. Until the 1850s Chilean judges required fathers (and occasionally other family members) to provide for their dependents. Faced with an increase in lawsuits for maintenance, especially from offspring, judges enforced medieval Spanish laws on paternal responsibilities even toward those living outside their households: to wives who were suing for or had won ecclesiastical separations, to children born out of wedlock, and to adult legitimate offspring who were not self-supporting at a level befitting their status in society. Lawsuits over custody were more complicated, as they not...
This content is only available as PDF.
You do not currently have access to this chapter.
Advertisement