What Are the Components of a Marriage and Family Legal Relationship?

The components of a marriage and family legal relationship consist of a subject, an object and content

The subject of a marriage and family legal relationship

The subject of a marriage and family legal relationship is solely the individual. Individuals who wish to participate in a marriage and family legal relationship must have subject capacity. Subject capacity includes legal capacity and capacity to act.

The legal capacity of an individual is the capability to possess marriage and family rights and obligations. All individuals have the same legal capacity. The legal capacity of an individual exists from the time he/she is born and terminates when he/she dies. Legal capacity is objective capacity prescribed by law.

The capacity to act of an individual is his/her capacity to exercise the rights and perform the obligations of marriage and family.

The capacity to act on marriage and family matters depends on the legal relationship that the subjects engage in, and the conditions required by the law are different.

Other than common capacity to act (age and cognitive ability), marriage and family capacity to act also requires other conditions such as a blood relationship, moral status, or other elements.

The object of a marriage and family legal relationship

Objects of marriage and family relationships include personal and property benefits that the subjects engaging in marriage and family relationships try to obtain. Specifically, the benefits are:

• Personal – spiritual benefits: the love, care, esteem and assistance between subjects that satisfy spiritual needs;
• Benefits resulting from behavior: The performance of obligations in marriage and family relationships by subjects that meet the needs of family members and benefit family members. The result of an act of exertion or restraint that is beneficial for other subjects in the family;
• Property benefits: The possession, use and disposition of property of family members in order to help the family survive and develop or to meet the needs of all aspects of the family and of each member;

The contents of a marriage and family legal relationship

All personal and property rights and obligations. These are the obligations and rights between husband and wife, parents and children (from birth, to nurturing and living together), between brothers and sisters, and between grandparents and grandchildren. Regulations on marriage, divorce, support and guardianship also form the content of the marriage and family legal relationship.

The similarities and differences between marriage and family legal relationships and civil legal relationships

Similarities

Both areas of law govern personal relationships and property relationships.

Differences

In marriage and family legal relationships, personal relationships play the leading role, while in civil relationships, property relationships predominate.

• Property in civil relationships tends to be goods, currency, and exchanged-for-goods, while in marriage and family legal relationships, the property is mainly concerned with meeting family needs;
• Marriage and family legal relationships are stable and of long duration with the indefinite term, while civil legal relationships exist for a certain period committed to by the parties or prescribed by law;
• The subjects of marriage and family legal relationships can only be individuals, while civil legal relationships include individuals, legal entities, households and cooperatives;
• Objects of marriage and family legal relationships include personal and property interests and actions, while civil legal relationships include property, actions, services, results of creative activities, personal values and land use rights;
• The content of the marriage and family legal relationships include the rights and obligations of family members, while civil legal relationships include the rights and obligations of the subjects engaging in the civil legal relationship.

In addition, the Law on Marriage and Family and the Civil Law have a close association with each other. Some provisions of the Law on Marriage and Family were formed on the basis of the Civil Law and vice versa. For example, the provisions on property ownership, guardianship, representation and inheritance in the Civil Law are the source of the provisions related to these subjects in the Law on Marriage and Family. Regulations on relationship between husband and wife and parents and children in the Law on Marriage and Family are the basis for settling inheritance disputes in the Civil Law.