ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to deal with legal practice and accommodation of unofficial laws in multicultural Europe from the perspective of general uniformising trends in European laws. In fact, if the tension between uniformity and diversity is real, as it seems to be, an investigation into these trends and, more generally, into the logic of uniformisation could help them to understand the nature and limits of accommodation. Family law can be seen as a series of interconnected rules ranging from the age for marriage to maintenance, from adoption to divorce. Placing the focus on family law, several questions arise concerning European law as a whole: regarding uniform family law in Europe at the official level. This research endeavour should take into account the interaction between several kinds of law in the European context at different levels aiming at highlighting processes of uniformisation and pluralisation on the ground. The chapter focuses on some issues that seem particularly worth considering.
