The Reform of Family Law in Europe: The Equality of the Spouses - Divorce - Illegitimate Children

In the last few years European Family Law has undergone considerable changes. Although in the past law reform was slow, since 1969 the impetus for reform has gathered momentum. It is no exaggeration to say that the changes that have occurred in Europe in the last six or seven years have radically altered the very concept of the family in Europe. As a distinguished scholar and former editor of the Family Law volume of the International Encyclopaedia of Com­ parative Law, Professor Max Rheinstein, has put it: 'These transformations are not fully completed anywhere. They have gone farthest in the countries of highest industrialization and in those of socialist rule. But they have set in wherever industrialization has obtained a foothold. The degree of 'modernization' offamily law may indeed be used as an index of a society's degree of Westernization. 'l Yet, such is the force of traditional patterns of thought that, although we are aware of distinct changes in various legal systems, the underlying and implied assumption is that family law can still move within the traditional framework. This is not surprising for, until comparatively recently at least family law was not thought of as a suitable subject of unification. It was claimed that there is a peculiar and distinct element which derives from the mores and innermost beliefs of each people, from a sort of family Volksgeist that renders impossible the approximation or unification of family law. Front Matter....Pages i-ix General Introduction....Pages 1-17 The Reform of Family Law in the Netherlands....Pages 19-41 The Reform of Family Law in England....Pages 43-74 The Reform of Family Law in France....Pages 75-109 The Reform of Family Law in Germany....Pages 111-138 Reform of Family Law in Greece....Pages 139-149 The Reform of Family Law in Italy....Pages 151-182 The Reform of Family Law in Luxembourg....Pages 183-200 The Reform of Family Law in the Scandinavian Countries....Pages 201-226 The Reform of Family Law in the Socialist States....Pages 227-254 Civil Procedure and the Reform of Family Law. The View of Socialist Law....Pages 255-281 Private International Family Law in Europe....Pages 283-322 Problems of Migrant Workers in Europe....Pages 323-338 Back Matter....Pages 339-349