Book Description

Excerpt from The Law of Adoption in the United States, and Especially in Massachusetts The following collection of statutes relating to the adoption of children, was made primarily for the purpose of assisting a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature in considering the question of a proposed change in the laws of that state. In 1875 the bill printed in Appendix B had the approval of one branch, and was finally referred to the Legislature of 1876. It seemed therefore reasonable that the committee charged with a second consideration of the subject, should have collected for its use, a statement of such legislation as had been effected in other states. The compiler felt that time would also be saved to the committee by a commentary upon the deficiencies and incongruities of existing statutes. After a most careful and thorough investigation of the subject, the Legislature, repealing all former statutes, passed a new law, in which an attempt has been made to remedy the omissions of former acts, and to modify in some respects the sweeping changes in the rules of inheritance which had been the result of previous legislation. The necessity of such legislation will be seen when it is remembered that the whole idea of creating children by act of law, is unknown to the common law, and may even be said to be repugnant to it. Hence it is not sufficient merely to state that a man may adopt a child to be to all intents and purposes his own, but to prevent endless complications it is necessary to enact in what degree this child shall be substituted in other relations to persons other than the adopting parent. Especially is this of great importance in all questions of inheritance, since the adopting parent is often but the medium of transmission of property acquired by persons neither cognizant of nor consenting to the act of adoption. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.