The Medicalization of Social Law: The Nursery in the Bill for the Protection of Motherhood, Infancy and Childhood 1913–1916

The author studies the legal provisions on nurseries in the bill «on the protection of motherhood, infancy and childhood», published in 1916. The document was developed by doctors. They understood the importance of nurseries in the fight against high infant mortality– an acute social problem in Russia in the end of the 19th century and in the beginning of 20th century. In the text of the document, for the first time, a definition of a children's institution is given, a mechanism for subsidizing nurseries by the state is developed, measures of state control over children's nurseries and the participation of physicians in these events are outlined. The nursery was to be attended only by infants, and these institutions were to function all year round, not just in the summer. The legitimation of nurseries in domestic law has become an important milestone in the development of social law in Russia.