A History of Conservatorships and the Transformation of Legal Disability in Cook County, 1905-1945

This dissertation examines the years 1905-1945 and shows how historical flashpoints changed the relationship between individuals, between individuals and their governments, and between local, state, and national governments. These structural changes altered the meaning of independence, dependence, and disability in the United States. Conservatorships were part of the common law system of legal disabilities used primarily to organize households into independents and dependents connected through various and uneven systems of legal rights and legal obligations. Over the past two hundred years, many of these systems were streamlined or altogether removed. For example, women considering marriage no longer have to add “loss of contractual rights” to their list of matrimonial cons. However, the legal disabilities that bind conservators to conservatees remain intact. Disabilities created by the law have generally produced a care entitlement. However, the changing organization of households as well as the changing relationship between people, households, and their local, state, and national governments affected the nature of the care entitlement as well as who was responsible for providing and regulating said care. People disabled through formal legal relationships—wives, children, conservatees —were entitled to the care of their husbands, parents, and conservators. Various levels of government were responsible for ensuring and enforcing these entitlements. Throughout the last century, governments obligated themselves to legally incompetent residents in novel ways and, in so doing, took on a variety of these care responsibilities for a variety of reasons. This dissertation analyzes the proliferation and formalization of disability care entitlements in 20th Century Chicago and shows how increasingly complicated systems of care and increasingly disparate sources of care turned the probate court into one of the primary regulators of disability care in Cook County.

本论文考察了1905至1945年的历史时期，揭示了关键历史节点如何改变个体间、个体与政府间以及地方、州与联邦政府间的关系。这些结构性变革重塑了美国社会中‘独立’‘依赖’与‘法律上无行为能力’的内涵。监护制度是普通法（common law）体系下法律无行为能力制度的一部分，其核心功能在于通过多元且不均衡的法律权利与义务体系，将家庭划分为独立个体与受抚养者两类群体。过去两百年间，此类制度中的多数已被简化或彻底废除。例如，如今女性在考虑结婚时，无需再将‘丧失契约权利’列为婚姻的弊端之一。然而，约束监护人（conservators）与被监护人（conservatees）的法律无行为能力制度仍保持不变。法律创设的无行为能力状态通常会衍生出受照料的权利。然而，家庭组织形态的变迁，以及个体、家庭与地方、州及联邦政府间关系的演变，不仅影响了受照料权利的性质，也改变了照料责任的承担者与监管主体。通过正式法律关系被认定为无行为能力的群体（如妻子、儿童、被监护人），有权获得其丈夫、父母或监护人的照料。各级政府负责保障并执行这些权利。整个二十世纪，政府以全新方式对法律上无行为能力的居民承担义务，并出于多种原因接管了各类照料责任。本论文分析了二十世纪芝加哥地区无行为能力者照料权利的扩散与制度化进程，揭示了日益复杂的照料体系及日益分散的照料来源，如何使probate court（遗嘱认证法院）成为库克县无行为能力者照料事务的核心监管机构之一。