Population Dynamics and the Law

One of the basic functions of human society is that of assuring the continuation of the human race. "According to the materialist view," wrote Engels, "the production and reproduction of life itself is, in the final analysis, the determining factor in history." (1) At various stages in the development of human society, this function has found realization in differing social forms. (2) At present it is implemented almost everywhere through the contemporary monogamous family. The family is the nucleus of society; through it, the state's population policy is carried out. The other functions of the family (educational, economic) are, as a rule, consequences of its primary function. They supplement it and flow from it.