Repere istorice europene privind puterea părintească în privinţa vieţii şi a sănătăţii copilului cu dizabilităţi
European historical waypoints about parental power in regard to the life and health of the disabled child

Summary/Abstract: When we speak about a presumptive right of the parents in regard to their disabled children’s life and health in European private law, it seems we are referring only to a distant past when the parent, especially the father, had what the Romans called the power of life and death over the child. Besides this direct and brutal form of exercising parental power over the life of the child, which already had numerous nuances and exceptions even during classical Roman antiquity, the passing of time and modernity have refined these prerogatives, which came to encompass an indirect form, related to ensuring the necessary means for survival and, especially in contemporary times, ensuring the child’s access to preventative and curative medical treatments. This study uses mainly the historical approach to examine a few historical waypoints in regard to the evolution of parental power over the life and health of the disabled child, in the legal cultural space of European private law, starting with the Roman antiquity an dup until the edge of contemporary law. In order to remain in the area of legal history, we will not approach the current debates about the conflict between the public interest of society and the private interests of the parents in regard to the medical care of the disabled child. Our study will not discuss the delicate issues of contraception and abortion, dealing only with parental rights in regard to a born child.

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