The Legal Bases Of The Family – Being Parents

The family is undoubtedly an institution of great social importance. Although it is a private institution, as the very basis of society it also has great legal significance. This is why the family is regulated and protected by several laws. Indeed, they are intended, among other things, to resolve conflicts that may arise between its members.

Likewise, the public administration has the responsibility to promote policies guaranteeing the well-being of the family and of each of its members. Although the family has undergone many transformations in recent years, it remains the backbone of our society.

Likewise, the laws governing it have also had to adapt to these changes. In this article, we will see some elements to better understand the legal bases of the family.

The legal bases of the family

Definition of family

The family is an institution originally based on marriage (or union) and which links spouses and their descendants in a unit. The ultimate goal of the family is the conservation, propagation and development of the human species. Obviously, in a framework of love, respect and protection.

This institution is of greater importance for the general interest. In this context, the conditions allowing everyone to exercise their rights and freedoms fully and harmoniously, as well as to fulfill their duties, are more easily fulfilled. This is why it has great constitutional relevance.

The family is, in many cases, the only space of safety and protection for its members. It contains the key functions of socialization, the transmission of values ​​and the emotional and intellectual development that accompanies the human being throughout his life.

Despite these concepts and the legal and social importance of the family, their definition is not entirely clear in the Spanish Constitution or in ordinary legislation. The concept is quite broad and has also evolved in recent years.

Thus, the family could be defined, by consensus, as a group of natural persons linked to each other by matrimonial or kinship ties.

The different types of families

Depending on the legal bases of the family and for legal and administrative purposes, different types of family are distinguished. The main ones are the nuclear family, the extended family and the polynuclear family. The nuclear family is made up of parents and children.

When the French civil code refers to the family, for example, to talk about the advantages of large families, it always refers to the nuclear family.

The extended family is made up of several people who have a common core, more or less narrow, and maintain close relationships. The polynuclear family, for its part, is the result of the union of several nuclear families.

There is also the extended nuclear family, to which are added other family members, and the single-parent or incomplete family, consisting of a single member of the marriage and their children.

The legal bases of the family: family law

Family law is a set of legal norms that regulate the family in different aspects in order to guarantee its legal bases. It is mainly a series of standards relating to relationships, parentage and legal guardianship of children, parental rights and guardianship.

Each of these categories includes special regulations. So, for couples, it mainly regulates for marriage, their celebration, their personal and economic aspects and crisis situations. This is particularly the case with separation, divorce or annulment.

In the case of parentage, family law governs marriage, non-marriage and adoptive parentage. With regard to affiliation, the custody and guardianship of minors is regulated, mainly in the event of parental separation. It also regulates everything relating to parental rights and the legal representation of minors.

It should be noted that the legal bases of family and family law in Spain, as in many other countries, have an important ethical content. In no other legal domain do religion and morality influence so much as this.

Despite all the above, the factors linked to public order are increasingly present in the law, with the family code, and the increasing intervention of the public authorities in family life.