Go to AfricaBib home

Go to AfricaBib home AfricaBib Go to database home

bibliographic database
Line
Previous page New search

The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here

Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Reform of Personal Status Laws in North Africa: A Problem of Islamic or Mediterranean Laws?
Author:Mayer, Ann ElizabethISNI
Year:1995
Periodical:Middle East Journal
Volume:49
Issue:3
Pages:432-446
Language:English
Geographic terms:Tunisia
Morocco
Algeria
Subjects:marriage law
Islamic law
Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights
Marital Relations and Nuptiality
Cultural Roles
Religion and Witchcraft
External link:http://search.proquest.com/pao/docview/1290854448
Abstract:There is a tendency in the West to exaggerate the gap between the evolution of Western family laws and the evolution of family laws in Muslim countries. A comparison of the changes in the legal definitions of marriage and the relationship between the spouses in French law, the secular laws of Turkey, and the laws of North African countries (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) reveals similar patterns in legal evolution on the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean. Faced with pressures for additional reforms, North African countries have adopted dissimilar strategies. Tunisia has adjusted its laws to approximate modern standards. Morocco's strategy has been to make gradual and cautious modernizing reforms. Algeria's strategy has been, first, to temporize, and then to choose the road of reaction, although without fully reviving a system based on Maliki law. Further progress toward adopting a modern model of family law seems likely in Tunisia and Morocco, but Algerian legal development is likely to be thrown off course by the explosive political situation there. Notes, ref.
Views
Cover