rights of needy and incapacitated relatives to receive maintenance during their life are justly held more sacred than the rights of the creditors. The latter receive their share only after the claims of the relatives who are unable to work for their own support are satisfied. And, moreover, in satisfying the claims of the latter, regard is given not to the nearness of their relationship but to their respective neediness."
In the careful provisions of the guardianship law there will be found the fundamental conception of the social obligation for the care and security of children. These, too, are merely transitional measures which take into account the practical necessities of the immediate circumstances, and which, while working within the limitations of the present, hold clearly in view the social and psychological goal to be achieved.
In the present translation of the Code no attempt has been made to follow the formalities of English legal rhetoric and terminology. The purpose has been rather to make the text clear and understandable to the ordinary reader.
The Russian Soviet Government Bureau.
New York, December, 1920.
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