ABSTRACT
In the light of statistics, and as in other regions of the world, the traditional model of the family in Latin America is experiencing a crisis. 1 While some authors see a steady increase in divorce rates as the main factor of this crisis, 2 available socio-legal studies have pointed out that the transformation of the traditional family model in the region has multiple causes, and that the spread of divorce is far from being the main one. 3
The wider variety of family forms in Latin America is expressed in a variety of constitutional conceptions of this social institution. Among these conceptions we fi nd those that are restrictive 4 (where only ‘natural’ men and women are recognised as having the right to marry or enter into de facto civil partnerships); intermediate 5 (where the Constitution provides protection for all forms of family, but only recognises marriage between a man and a woman) and; wide 6 (where the Constitution establishes a wide mandate for the ‘integral protection of the family’, leaving space for all forms of family, marriage or civil partnerships). 7 Accordingly,
1 D. Davison, Separación y Divorcio , Buenos Aires: Editorial Universidad, 2006, pp. 21-3; C. Caldani and M. Ángel, ‘Bases para la armonización del Derecho de Familia en el Mercosur’, in C. Crosman and M. Herrera (eds), Hacia una armonización del Derecho de Familia en el Mercosur y países asociados , Buenos Aires: LexisNexis, 2007, p. 19.
