Jurisprudential and Legal Examination of Non-Pecuniary Rights of Spouses in Iranian and French Law

Abstract

Today, one of the fundamental branches of civil law in every country is family law. The stability and continuity of the family—as the smallest yet most essential social unit in any society—depend significantly on this area of law. A critical aspect of family law is the set of relationships and rights that exist between spouses. This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the non-pecuniary rights of spouses under Iranian and French family law. The research employed a descriptive-analytical methodology. Data were collected based on the family law of Iran and the civil code of France. The findings indicate that, in Iranian law—which is rooted in Islamic jurisprudence—non-pecuniary spousal rights are often granted in favor of the husband and reflect male authority. This is evident in areas such as the right to retain the family name, the wife’s right to employment, the right to determine the shared residence, nationality and household leadership, the right to divorce, the father’s authority in a child’s marriage, and paternal or paternal-grandfatherly guardianship. In contrast, French law, through its historical and developmental trajectory, has adopted a shared perspective on non-pecuniary spousal rights, granting both spouses equal legal status in these matters.