Women and Justice: Keywords

Legislation

中华人民共和国民法典(第五编 婚姻家庭编) (The Civil Code, Book Five (Marriage and Family)) (2020)


Divorce and dissolution of marriage, Forced and early marriage, Trafficking in persons

Book Five (Marriage and Family) of the Civil Code consolidates previous private-law legislations on marriage, adoption, and families. It distinguishes between void and annullable marriages, with void marriages include bigamy, prohibited blood kinship, and underage marriages. While marriage resulting from human trafficking are not typically considered void, it can be annulled on the ground of coercion. An application to annul the marriage must be filed within one year from the termination of the coercive activity or regaining personal freedom. Additionally, the general five-year time limit for the right of revocation in Article 152 does not apply to marriages annulled due to coercion or unlawful curtailment of physical freedom. Regarding divorce, the Civil Code provides two distinct channels: divorce through contract for couples with agreements on divorce, assets, and children, and divorce through court proceedings (litigation) for those without such agreements. Courts must attempt to mediation in the later, granting divorce in specific circumstances, like bigamy, domestic violence, maltreatment, unbearable additive acts, or loss of “mutual affection.” Divorce through contract introduces a new 30-day “calm period,” where divorce can proceed only if the divorce credentials are collected from the Civil Affairs Department within another 30-day time window. Unilateral withdrawal of divorce applications is allowed within the “calm period.” This creates obstacles for those seeking immediate and irrevocable divorce through contract.

《中国人民共和国民法典》第五卷(婚姻和家庭)囊括了以前关于婚姻、收养和家庭的法律。它区分了无效婚姻和可撤销婚姻,其中无效婚姻包括重婚、禁止的血亲关系和未成年婚姻。虽然人口贩运导致的婚姻通常不被视为无效婚姻,但可以以胁迫为由宣布婚姻无效。废除婚姻的申请必须在胁迫活动终止或恢复人身自由后一年内提出。此外,第一百五十二条中关于撤销权的一般五年时限不适用于因胁迫或非法限制人身自由而被宣布无效的婚姻。关于离婚,《民法典》规定了两种不同的渠道:对有离婚、财产和子女协议的夫妻,通过合同离婚;对没有此类协议的夫妻,通过法院诉讼(诉讼)离婚。在后一种情况下,法院必须尝试调解,在特定情况下,如重婚、家庭暴力、虐待、无法忍受的附加行为或情感破碎,法院才会准予离婚。此外,通过合同离婚引入了一个新的 30 天“离婚冷静期”,只有在30天后从亲自到民政部门领取离婚证书,离婚才能进行。而且,在“冷静期”内允许单方面撤回离婚申请。这给那些通过合同寻求立即和不可撤销离婚的女性造成了障碍。