Abstract

ZARIAS, Alexandre. Lawful family and family in the law: legitimacy in the social relation between law and justice. Rev. bras. Ci. Soc. [online]. 2010, vol.25, n.74, pp. 61-76. ISSN 0102-6909.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-69092010000300004.

In the Brazilian family law, the legitimacy of certain aspects on family relations has shifted towards the scope of judicial decisions. Currently, matters surrounding marriage, separation, divorce, child custody, among other issues previously prescribed by the Civil Code, have found in the judiciary an institutionalized space of what in fact is the definition of family. This fact has made the so-called social issue, which had before been engrained in legal texts referring to the family, to be given a new framing in face of the demand and supply of court services. In this article, the consequences of such transformation of the family law will be analyzed from two standpoints. The first one is about our civil law structure regarding the rules governing family relations. The second one is related to the social organization of justice, i.e., the configuration of lawsuit demand in the city of Sao Paulo according to the socioeconomic characteristics of the public seeking the courts to resolve family conflicts of a civil nature

Keywords : Family; Legitimacy; Access to justice; The Civil Code; Sao Paulo.