Vaiko, kaip savarankiško teisės subjekto, problema

Abstract

Children form a very special part of the society defined by specific social, economic, psychological and legal status features. The importance of this part, which before long will form the potential of the whole society, is beyond doubt. The understanding of such importance, the inherent duty to take care of those weaker and to protect their interests necessitate to take measures in order to ensure appropriate protection of the rights of children. The principle tool provided for by the government for the protection of the less secure and more vulnerable members of the society is the law. With the ratification by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child on 3 July 1995, Lithuania committed itself to ensuring that the rights children were regulated in conformity with the Convention. The implementation of this commitment is reflected in the adoption of the laws which define the legal status of the child. The entry into force of the 2000 Civil Code resulted in an essential change in the regulation of the subjectivity of the legal status of the child. Practical application of the new legal provisions makes it possible to evaluate their effectiveness and assess their advantages and imperfections, it highlights problems and the necessity to look for the ways of their resolution. The author presents an overview of the changes undergone by the legal status of the child, the newly established aspects of the subjectivity of the legal status of the child, and the mutual rights and obligations of the subjects participating in the newly regulated relationships, as well as the important problems which have emerged during the first two years in the application of the Civil Code.
Legal capacity is acquired at birth. The Marriage and Family Code, which was in effect until 2000, did not provide for the rights of minor children. Children’s rights were considered derivative from the rights of their parents. The Civil Code establishes that a child may be the subject of legal property and non-property relations and stipulates that children acquire such rights pursuant to the law. Property rights of parents and children are separated. Parents perform the duty to educate, maintain their children and look after them, as well as to ensure the necessary conditions for their normal development by taking use of their personal property but not the property of their children; upon the maturity of their children, the parents not acquire the right of subrogation to the their children’s property. The Civil Code provides for the implementation of children’s property and nonproperty rights by their representatives exclusively upon the best interests of the child. In dealing with the issues of the protection of the rights of the child, the provisions of the law of real rights and the law of obligations are applied in conjunction with the provisions of the family law, with the priority being given to those norms which protect and safeguard the rights of the child.