Regulation Of Non-marital Cohabitation Law Is A Comparative Study

Cohabitation is an interdisciplinary subject, which concerns several courses such as jurisprudence, sociology and demography etc. The main character of current legislation in different jurisdiction around the world is "reflective law", which offers a solution to the law's inability under modem conditions to restore consensual, moral and political values. The concurrent rise of unmarried heterosexual cohabitation strongly challenges the appropriateness of the traditional patriarchal nature of marriage for life reflected in our laws. The only way for us to settle the difficulty resulting from the absence of relative legislation is to establish a comprehensive legal system as foreign countries. The article is divided into three parts except for the preface and conclusion.The preface puts forward the purpose of writing and decides the standpoints of the whole thesis from traditional and modern perspectives.Part â…  is named after "the interpretation of unmarried cohabitation." This part includes three sections. The first one studies the original implication of this word in foreign law by combining the traditional viewpoint and social custom with the results of current research. In the second one, the emphasis of this part, the author holds that nature of cohabitation should be classified into three ones: alternative of single, preface of marriage and alternative of marriage. In the final one, cohabitation is divided into four kinds.Part â…¡is titled as "social trends and legal policy in different jurisdictions." This part is written from the following route from introducing demographic trends and legislative change about cohabitation in North American and European countries to dividing the regulation of cohabitation of different jurisdictions into four kinds as following: incompact legislative mode, domestic partnership legislative mode, registered partnership legislative mode, equal-marriage legislative mode. In the end of this section, the author concludes the two basic theory of legislation (contract theory and legal status theory) should be consolidated as the basis of Chinese legislation.Part â…¢, the final part of the whole text, sets forth the conception of legalsystem of cohabitation in China. The first step in author's opinion is to illustrate basic theory. The author thinks that the system should be designed on basis of the characters of relation of paternity. And we put emphasis on the difference of cohabitation and marriage. The big family consisting of untraditional family and traditional family should be formulated in accordance with the current structure. The second section discusses the possibility of legislative mode and principles to regulate cohabitation. It proposes that design should aim at settling the problem occurred when the cohabitation breaks down, meanwhile, it should pay attention to the regulation of ongoing cohabitation. The whole system should involve personal relation, property relation and parentage etc. For example, in the field of property relation between the cohabitants, we may learn the Sweden mode that property acquired for joint use should be equally divided at the absence of arrangement.The conclusion reviews the process of studying and distinguishing feature, restates the purpose of this article, and expresses the hope to establish the legal system of cohabitation.