Family as a Constitutional Value

Abstract

Numerous constitutional references to “family” raise the question of how – at this level of sources of law – we should interpret this concept and what the consequences of adopting a specific interpretation of the constitutional foundations of family law are. The constitutional model of the family is an expression of a specific axiological choice that prefers the model of social relations based on the marriage between a woman and a man, and a stable and permanent community of parents and their children. The references to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Tribunal show that the family is perceived as an important constitutional value. Its protection is meant to take measures to strengthen mutual relations between family members and to create conditions enabling them to exercise their mutual rights and obligations. It is therefore problematic for the legislator to use such definitions of the family which, in the process of their interpretation, identify it solely on the basis of the criterion of common household or income community. The financial support of the family must take into account the principle of subsidiarity. Therefore, it cannot lead to the granting of public funds to communities in which the basic obligations of family members are not fulfilled.