Families: beyond the dictates of the court

Abstract

The work traces the contemporary family profile, depicting its functional and promotional role, seeking above all the free development of its members. The study examines some decisions of the Superior Court of Justice, which on the grounds of lack of fidelity – considered requisite for a civil union – remove from legal protection parallel households. The work presents the notion of moral panic, a phenomenon that possibly explains the conservative stance of certain legal institutions. It discusses the concept of monogamy as a structuring principle of family law, suggesting that family, as a core of dynamic peculiarity, may take multiple contours. As a group of people committed to a stable, voluntary and cooperative union, whose function is to promote and protect its members, family is not to be taken only as an element given by the legislature, also resulting from choices in interpersonal relations that can transcend the legal model.