Personal family law systems – a comparative and international human rights analysis

Abstract

This article analyses the structures and substances of personal systems of family law based on religious affiliation within their social, political and historical contexts, and explores the varied ways in which they implicate the human rights of those governed by these systems, and the way international law and jurisprudence of human rights respond to these challenges. This analysis suggests that looking at the specific manifestations of personal family law systems in concrete contexts illuminates significant human rights implications which have not received sufficient attention in mainstream human rights discourse, for various legal, cultural and political reasons. The contexts which this article will draw on are personal family law systems in Israel, India, Lebanon and Morocco, which comprise a varied sample of family law structures and legal, cultural, social and political contexts.

The Absence of the Right to Culture of Minorities within Minorities in Israel: A Tale of a Cultural Dissent Case

“…In Israel there are no women serving as Kadis. In the Palestine Authority, two women have been recently appointed as Kadis ( [124], p. 240, footnote15).…”