Parens
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence · Benjamin Vaughan Abbott · 1879
Dictionary of Terms and Phrases Used in American or English Jurisprudence
A parent, q. v.
Parens patriae
Father of the country. This phrase expresses that relation of the sovereign to the subject by virtue of which he has a kind of guardianship over various classes of persons, who, from their legal disability, stand in need of protection, such as infants, idiots, and lunatics. In the United States, the people constitute the parens patrice. cestors; kindred in the direct line ascending. " Parents " is generally confined to the immediate father and mother, " ancestors " being used when more remote relatives are intended. But parentage is often used of the whole line of descent.