What is Family Law?
The Wikipedia defines “family law as an part of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including, but not limited to: the character of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships; issues arising during marriage, including spousal abuse, legitimacy, adoption, surrogacy, child abuse, and child abduction; the termination from the relationship and ancillary matters including divorce, annulment, property settlements, alimony, and parental responsibility orders “.
While broadly family law encompasses every aspect of a family as seen as a ‘unit of people living together for many reasons’, there are lots of finer aspects relating to ‘family’ in many different contexts in different parts of the planet.
Family denotes a group of people affiliated with a consanguinity, affinity or co-residence.
Consanguinity — ‘con’ means together and ‘sanguine’ means blood; therefore it simply describes people descended from a common ancestor. It is an important legal aspect to find out if two people can marry or to determine who inherits property left with a individual who has not made a Will.
Affinity in the family sense means attraction of feeling or kinship or relation by marriage.
Co-residence refers to individuals or a group of people living in exactly the same residence and carrying out responsibilities of a family or a household. This might incorporate a parent and child or children along with other members sharing blood ties or living together for other reasons.
Family law therefore can’t be confined within social, economic or governmental regulations. There are simply far too many aspects and complexities involving human relations that laws in many countries have diverse legalities referring to each country’s intrinsic social and familial guidelines.
Stark and startling contrasts govern legislation in certain areas of the world. In some societies, patriarchal laws govern while in some others matriarchal. In lots of parts of Europe, before the creation of the legal system with it today, the Church was seen as the law enforcer.
Historically, family law continues to be based on European feudalism. Within the 1970s, family law underwent rapid changes and became redefined, as it had become a part of the wider national debate regarding family values, gender bias, and morality. Particular areas of family law relating to divorce, custody, family property etc. experienced many changes. Such rapid changes enabling quick fix solutions in marriage, divorce, alimony, custody and child support drew widespread criticism from many quarters that viewed rising cases of marital discord and disharmony all over the world as a dangerous trend.
Family law is an increasingly important section of legal studies, with many law schools offering numerous elective courses on the subject and also the bar exam testing understanding of el born area of law. Furthermore, family law is beginning to change because the national debate encompassing family continues. One notable change is how family law continues to be broadened to encompass couples who do not choose to marry.
Today’s family unit has changed over the generations and may be a concise or shortened version of the co-resident families of the past. Relationships too have evolved and newer legal issues to divorce are now being formulated to deal with the complexities of modern life and emerging trends.