Washington & Lee University School of Law Scholarly Commons
Abstract
This Article explores the path of possibilities offered in the case of Moroccans-in particular women-residing in (continental) Europe to determine, up to a point, the legal regime that will apply to their family life. The vast majority of Moroccans currently living in Europe have retained their original nationality, often combining it with that of the country of habitual residence. Adhesion to Islam often explains the attachment to the family law, which is a religious law, of the country of origin. Family reunifications in many cases mean enduring rootedness in the normative system of the country of origin. With mobility rendered easier by obtaining the nationality of the country of residence (which removes the obligation to obtain visas), an image of a complete and truly transnational community develops, and one which, although deriving part of its identity from European society, often remains very attached to its original culture and legal system. The years spent in Europe do not alter this need to identify in family relations with the culture of origin. The situation is clearly not identical in all cases, and some feel no need to retain roots in the family law of the home country, but prefer instead to apply the law of the land of their habitual residence (in Europe). The situation, in legal terms, is all the more interesting in the case of those who express a desire to remain, in regard to their family life, in alignment with the law of their country of origin. The techniques offered by private international law make it possible, in a number of countries in continental Europe, to fulfill this desire. Without claiming to be exhaustive, this Article explores several possibilities permitting Moroccan men and women residing in continental Europe to marry, as harmoniously as possible, the application of the provisions of Moroccan family law with the demands made by the norms and methods of private international law in the country of their habitual residence. I explore three issues in particular: celebration of marriage, the modelization of the effects of marriage, and the dissolution of marriage
