Does State Law Pluralism Inhibit Legal Reform?

Abstract information

In one third of countries worldwide, family law is created, administered and applied not by the state but by individual religious communities. In this video, DÖRTHE ENGELCKE explores how this system operates in Jordan and considers the impact that it has on potential reform. Focusing on the Byzantine family code (the family law applied by the Greek Orthodox community, Jordan’s largest and oldest Christian community), Engelcke shows that reforms have been very minimal despite obvious inherent inequalities in long standing laws. Engelcke demonstrates that state law pluralism makes it more difficult to implement reforms and she urges a greater focus on how family laws beyond Islamic family law require updating in order to protect the rights of women and other minorities.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10960

Researcher

In one third of countries worldwide, family law is created, administered and applied not by the state but by individual religious communities. In this video, DÖRTHE ENGELCKE explores how this system operates in Jordan and considers the impact that it has on potential reform. Focusing on the Byzantine family code (the family law applied by the Greek Orthodox community, Jordan’s largest and oldest Christian community), Engelcke shows that reforms have been very minimal despite obvious inherent inequalities in long standing laws. Engelcke demonstrates that state law pluralism makes it more difficult to implement reforms and she urges a greater focus on how family laws beyond Islamic family law require updating in order to protect the rights of women and other minorities

Institution information

Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law

Different countries, different cultures – and usually also a different basis for legal systems. The development of the European single market, the global integration of multinational business and commercial companies as well as the increasing internationalisation of our daily lives require that areas of private and commercial law provide solutions that cannot only be derived from the legal systems of individual countries. Academics at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg apply analysis of the differences and similarities between different legal systems to develop a foundation for an international understanding of law and its application to cross-border circumstances. This also includes addressing the methodological issues of comparative law and unification of law. The central research tool of the Institute is its library, which contains one of the world’s most extensive collections of literature on civil law. ( Source )

Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law

Original Publication

Between Church and State: The Challenges of Reforming the Church Courts and Family Law in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem

Dörthe Engelcke

Published in 2022