Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Adoption (social history)
(1,485 words)

1. Basic principles

Adoption is one of the oldest legal institutions and indicates the artificial creation of a parent-child relationship, which is described as Annahme an Kindesstatt (“accepting in the place of a child”) in the Prussian Allgemeines Landrecht. The legal history of adoption is relatively well known, thanks to the sources available, but a social and cultural history of adoption remains to be written, although adoption has been deeply root…

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Stuchtey, Benedikt, “Adoption (social history)”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 20 March 2023 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_030955>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20160321



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