Model Family Code : From a Global Perspective

This Model Family Code aims at contributing to future discussion on the harmonization, and hopefully even unification of family law. The Model Family Code has attempted to address all aspects of Partnerships and of Parents and Children, which constitute the core areas of any family law. It is elaborated from a global, rather than a European perspective.

In extensive areas of private law, namely in the law of obligations, endeavours to comprehensively harmonize and unify different legal systems were already commenced in the second half of the twentieth century. However, family law has only followed suit in very recent times. This Model Family Code aims at contributing to future discussion on the harmonization, and hopefully even unification of family law. The Model Family Code has attempted to address all aspects of Partnerships and of Parents and Children, which constitute the core areas of any family law. It is elaborated from a global, rather than a European perspective. In many cases, it was explicitly inspired by solutions offered under Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand legal systems. Furthermore, it goes beyond the common core of the solutions found in domestic laws in search of the best solution, and removes all discrepancies existing in these laws due to somewhat patchwork development, thereby creating a wholly autonomous and consistent system of family law based on modern solutions. The Model Family Code offers a mere framework for discussion, a "skeleton" that enables different family policies and realities, as well as cultural systems and values, to be incorporated. It expressly seeks to utilise new terminology, thereby consciously departing from the myriad of national legal terms, which are burdened with historical connotations in the respective countries.