_A Unified System of Laws for Child-Protection._--Can the State institute a unified system of laws for child-protection, one comprising the entire legal material of child-protection? In former times such provision as there was for child-protection existed only in a dispersed form, as part of laws with other primary objects; not until later, when the question of child-protection had become one of considerable importance, did laws come into being dealing specifically with this subject. Provision for the enforcement in certain cases of a coercive reformatory education was originally a mere supplementary provision of the criminal law or of certain borough by-laws; but to-day, in many countries, special laws dealing with coercive reformatory education have been passed by the central government. The earliest special laws on the subject of child-protection dealt with the care of foundlings and illegitimate children, this being the first subdivision of our subject to attain specific importance. The tendency of evolution is to codify, in a unified system of laws, all the legal material bearing upon any particular question. But a unified system of laws dealing with the subject of child-protection is not at present attainable. For child-protection is subject to change, almost from day to day and from hour to hour. If the legislator wished to keep pace with its development, he would have to alter and patch his system of laws year by year; but if this were done, the unified character of the legal system would soon become illusory, and numerous legal technical difficulties would inevitably arise. The question of child-protection finds a place in every department of law. There are many legal regulations regarding children which, owing in part to the technique of legislation, and in part to other causes, are, for practical reasons, best embodied in other laws. For example, laws relating to guardianship and to the care of illegitimate children cannot well be dealt with apart from the general laws bearing on family relationships.