Abstract: The subject of this research is the relations between parents and children in the early XIX – XX centuries. The material allows grasping the significant differences in legal position of the children 100-185 years ago. The object of this research is the legal norms consolidated by the legislation of the Russian Empire – Digest of Civil Laws that regulation the relationship between children and other actors of family law in the stated period. The author meticulously analyzes the relevant to that time legislation (Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire and Digest of Laws of the Russian Empire). Special attention is turned to the norms that provide social support for children from the government. The author conducts a qualitative analysis of the legal grounds of social support for children in the area of family relations of the early XIX – XX centuries, adequately implementing the ways and rules of the method of interpretation of legal acts alongside the formal logical approaches, which allows testifying to the use of the traditional for dogmatic jurisprudence formal legal method. In addition, the author refers to the diachronic comparison and formulates the conclusions on the transformation of legislative regulation of one or another question with the course of historical time. The scientific novelty lies in the detailed description of the legal norms that regulate various aspect of relations in the area of family and marriage in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation in the early XIX – XX centuries.