General Considerations on Personal Relations between Spouses under the Provisions of the New Civil Code (English version)

The effects of marriage are brought under regulation in the Civil Code in Title II entitled “Marriage” Chapter V is dedicated to personal rights and duties of spouses (art.307-311) and Chapter VI is dedicated to property rights and obligations of spouses (art.312-372). Also, the Civil Code establishes the effects of marriage in other articles from different chapters. Also, we find some rights and obligations of spouses brought under regulation by rules belonging to other branches of law as follows: the Civil Code contains for example provisions relating to the irrevocability of donations between spouses (Article 937 Civil Code), Law no. 319/1944 in art. 1-5 sets the hereditary vocation of the surviving spouse and his/her right to habitation, etc. Moreover, the effects of marriage are set to rights in some international laws to which Romania is party or has ratified or acceded to, namely: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 16), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 23 paragraph 4 and art. 24),) International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 10 paragraph 1), etc.2. In relation to the area of people, between whom these effects are produced,3, we distinguish the following types of relations: a. relationship between spouses; b. relations between spouses and their children; c. relations between a spouse and the relatives of the other spouse (affinity relations); d. relations between family members and other natural persons or legal persons. Relations between spouses refer to: a. personal relationships; b. economic relations; c. capacity of exercise.