ABSTRACT
The discourse of accommodation of cultural and religious identity in family law notably focuses on the question of violation of gender equality by means of religious law. Proceduralisation is a more recent legal paradigm. Family-law practices which would run counter to human rights provisions, and thus violate the rights of an individual which are protected by international law, cannot be recognised or accepted, not even if they are supported by recourse to claims of religious or cultural identity. Contractual autonomy is a key principle of the private law codes of liberal societies and it plays a central role in family law as well. A primary characteristic of family-law frameworks should therefore be their protective function. Numerous projects being carried out in various countries are testimony to the growing use of procedural and deliberative approaches in family law. Authorisation of arbitration courts to issue judgments according to Islamic law principles did, however, attract vehement criticism.
