Do the Parents have strong rights? : The Ground and Standard that State intervene in the Family

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Some people say that parents have strong rights against the child in Japanese law because many children can't be protected from child abuse. This study tried to make dear what the parental rights are. I researched the parental rights from the point of view of the triangles between state, parents and child. The arguments of the family law of the United States are very helpful to research the parental rights. We should consider the parental rights not only against the child but also against the state. In the United State, state always has intended to intervene in the family and restrict the parental rights in order to protect the child's interests. To the contrary, parents have intended to take powers against the state in order to protect their family privacy and their child's interests. Parental rights have big power as well as the state have and there is the balance between their powers. Another core is child's interests, however ; we should look at the subject of the power which is not only the child's interests but also the child's rights. The balance of the triangle's powers should be the parental rights, state's right and the child's rights.In Japan, parental rights have never opposed against the state. In Meiji era, state controlled family but didn't intrude into the family because one parent - Kosyu - controlled family members on behalf of the state. There was not discrimination between the parental rights and the state's right against the child. I don't deny that parents use their rights in order to protect their child against state when state wrongfully intrudes into the family. In the same way, state should oppose the parental rights for the sake of child's interests and rights.