Abstract
This chapter addresses cultural and religious diversity in Finnish family law. It reviews legislation, case law and existing research on the institution of marriage, divorce and some specific issues related to how the rights of the child and the best interests of child are understood in Finnish law. It is observed that although culture and religion are important factors in the organization of family life within cultural and religious communities and also hold relevance for relations between the state and communities, ‘cultural claims’ have not been common in the field of family law. It is argued that cases involving identity-based demands related to children may reach courts more easily than those that relate only to adults. The chapter draws on emerging research which has focused mainly on family practices of Muslims in Finland. All in all, Finnish courts seem to be rather skilful in striking a balance between cultural claims and universal rights.
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Notes
- 1.
However, see Taina Cooke’s work on culture and litigation, e.g. Cooke (2019).
- 2.
This chapter draws on studies conducted within the research project Transnational Muslim Marriages: Wellbeing, Law and Gender (2013–2018), which was led by Marja Tiilikainen and funded by the Academy of Finland. The project investigated how Muslims in Finland organize marriage and divorce in transnational space and how the different actors representing the Finnish state understand and facilitate their well-being. The research conducted within this research project was closely connected to Mulki Al-Sharmani’s research project entitled ‘Islamic Feminism: Tradition, Authority and Hermeneutics’, which was also funded by the Academy of Finland.
- 3.
- 4.
Cooke (2019).
- 5.
Kuokkanen (2015).
- 6.
Valkonen and Wallenius-Korkalo (2016).
- 7.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and the Orthodox Church of Finland have a special position in relation to the state. Both of these privileged churches are public entities, whereas other religious communities are private entities. According to the Constitution (§ 76), the provisions on the organisation and administration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland are laid down in the Church Act (Kirkkolaki, 1054/1993). Similar provisions are found in the Orthodox Church Act (Laki ortodoksisesta kirkosta, 985/2006). The status of other religious communities is regulated in the 2003 Freedom of Religion Act (Uskonnonvapauslaki, 453/2003).
- 8.
As such, the Muslim presence in Finland dates back to the nineteenth century, when the first Muslims arrived in Finland as soldiers of the Russian army. The first Muslims, Kazakhs and Tatars who settled in Finland, gained citizenship after the country’s independence from Russia in 1917. Today, the number of Tatars is approximately 600, while the majority of Muslims are immigrants or second-generation children. Prior to the 1990s the number of Muslim immigrants remained low, but it has grown due to the arrival of refugees and asylum seekers. See Pauha and Martikainen (2014).
- 9.
- 10.
Husa (2012).
- 11.
Länsineva (2012).
- 12.
Glendon (1977).
- 13.
Mustasaari (2017).
- 14.
- 15.
The Act is available in Finnish online at http://finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1929/19290234?search[type]=pika&search[pika]=avioliittolaki (last accessed 20 April 2021). An English translation of Marriage Act 1929/234 is available online at http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/kaannokset/1929/en19290234.pdf (last accessed 20 April 2021).
- 16.
See, however, the cutting-edge research project “Contrasting and Re-Imagining the Margins of Kinship”, which addresses, amongst other issues, rainbow families and queer care relations in Finland in order to investigate how intimacy works and how kinship norms shape non-conventional care relations. See www.corekin.fi.
- 17.
Finnish Government (2019).
- 18.
- 19.
- 20.
- 21.
- 22.
The 1929 Marriage Act replaced the 1734 law on marriage and thus modernized Finnish relationship regulation, introducing, for example, legal equality between husband and wife. The Act has been reformed on several occasions. For example, no-fault divorce was introduced in 1988 and same-sex marriage in 2017.
- 23.
It is thus legally irrelevant, for example, whether the marriage was consummated or whether the spouses share a home together, or whether there is intimacy or factual family life between them. Accordingly, the individuals may pursue whatever goals they like by concluding a marriage, such as securing the desired immigration status. This principle was confirmed in 2005 by the Finnish Supreme Court (26 May 2005, KKO, 2005:84).
- 24.
Historically, only Christian churches were in a position to solemnize marriages; the mandate was given to the state and other religious communities only in the early twentieth century. The 1929 Marriage Act gave all religious communities the right to solemnize marriages, provided that they had been granted a permit for this from the government.
- 25.
Of these 53 registered religious communities with marriage licenses, 14 were Muslim communities, which in total hold 27 licenses, Maistraatti (2017). In 2014, overall 33 new licenses to conclude legal marriages were issued. The license was revoked in seven cases, but the reason for this was not a sanction for an offence in any of the cases (personal communication).
- 26.
- 27.
According to the majority schools of Islamic jurisprudence, the marriage contract is concluded through the following constitutive elements: the consent of both parties actualized through the act of the bride’s offer (ijāb) to enter into the marriage and the groom’s acceptance (qubūl), the presence of the bride’s guardian (father), the two witnesses, and the agreed-upon dower.
- 28.
- 29.
Mustasaari and Al-Sharmani (2018).
- 30.
- 31.
- 32.
Grillo (2015).
- 33.
- 34.
See e.g. Finland Times (25 July 2015).
- 35.
Supreme Administrative Court, 5 December 2005, KHO:2005:87. Available in Finnish online at https://www.finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kho/vuosikirjat/2005/200503219 (last accessed 20 April 2021).
- 36.
The general rule in Finnish private international law is that a marriage concluded in a foreign state before an authority of that state shall be valid in Finland if it is valid in the state where it was concluded or in a state whose citizen either spouse was or where either spouse was habitually resident at the time the marriage.
- 37.
Mustasaari (2017).
- 38.
Mustasaari and Al-Sharmani (2018).
- 39.
- 40.
The divorce rules of the Marriage Act were reformed in 1987 in the Act of 16 April 1987/411, in which no-fault divorce was introduced. Savolainen (2002).
- 41.
- 42.
The institution of mahr has nevertheless received attention from Finnish legal scholars: Mikkola (2017), Helin (2013). Depending on the individual circumstances of the case, a Finnish court might recognize mahr as belonging to the statute governing the financial consequences of marriage, or the statute of personal consequences of marriage, or the statute of contractual obligations.
- 43.
In some jurisdictions, such as England and Wales, unofficial marriages have caused increasing problems in divorce proceedings, as the issue of whether a marriage is void, voidable or a non-marriage is central to what kind of financial remedies are available for the parties. For a comparison between the English and the Finnish context, see Mustasaari and Vora (2019).
- 44.
Sayed (2010).
- 45.
This study was published as a chapter in an edited volume, which focuses on gender and religious mediation and arbitration. The editor of the volume, Samia Bano, is one of the leading scholars in the field of critical feminist and socio-legal studies on religion, law and the family. See Al-Sharmani et al. (2017).
- 46.
The five mosques serve diverse Muslim populations. Two of the mosques are frequented by Somali immigrants. The third mosque is frequented by immigrants from a South Asian country, whereas the remaining two mosques are multi-ethnic and serve different Muslim communities, including Finnish converts. Al-Sharmani et al. (2017), p. 270.
- 47.
Currently family mediation practices are under development. Facilitative family mediation practices are being developed based on research done within the FASPER project (2009–2014) by the Finnish Forum for Mediation and the University of Helsinki. Haavisto (2018).
- 48.
It is possible that in the future the provision of family mediation services will require licensing or authorisation, Haavisto (2018), p. 53.
- 49.
Al-Sharmani et al. (2017), p. 277.
- 50.
Al-Sharmani et al. (2017), p. 277.
- 51.
Al-Sharmani et al. (2017), p. 278.
- 52.
Al-Sharmani et al. (2017), p. 281.
- 53.
Al-Sharmani et al. (2017), p. 280.
- 54.
This indicates that under the rules of Finnish private international law, the concept of divorce declared by a foreign authority will assume a much broader substance than, for example, under EU law, where it is taken to refer solely to divorces pronounced either by a national court or by or under the supervision of a public authority. See CJEU in the case of Sahyouni v. Mamisch, 20 December 2017, C-372/16, para 48.
- 55.
Helin (2013), pp. 211–212.
- 56.
Helin (2013), p. 214. Of the so-called Islamic states, Egypt is a party to this Convention.
- 57.
- 58.
Article 10 of the Rome III Regulation.
- 59.
Niekka (2010).
- 60.
The Act is available in Finnish online at http://finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2007/20070417?search[type]=pika&search[pika]=lastensuojelulaki (last accessed 20 April 2021). An English translation of the Child Welfare Act is available online at http://finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2007/en20070417 (last accessed 20 April 2021).
- 61.
The Decision of the Deputy Ombudsman, 20 October 2014, Dnro 3050/4/14 and 3119/4/14. The decision is available in Finnish online at http://www.eduskunta.fi/triphome/bin/thw.cgi/trip/?${APPL}=ereoapaa&${BASE}=ereoapaa&${THWIDS}=0.49/1468845949_8914&${TRIPPIFE}=PDF.pdf (last accessed 20 April 2021).
- 62.
Hofman and Sandberg (2016).
- 63.
For example, according to one of the members of the court of the lower instance, the Iraqi background of a family was to be considered a reason why the out-of-home placement of the child would not be in the child’s best interests. Dissenting opinion cited in KHO:2016:21.
- 64.
The Act is available in Finnish online at http://finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1992/19920785?search[type]=pika&search[pika]=potilas (last accessed 20 April 2021). An English translation of the Act is available online at http://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/1992/en19920785.pdf (last accessed 20 April 2021).
- 65.
The Supreme Administrative Court, 10 March 2000, 2000/530.
- 66.
Ministry of Social and Health Affairs (2012).
- 67.
The Criminal Code (Chapter 21, § 5) defines assault as an act in which physical violence is employed by the perpetrator on another person or, without such violence, the perpetrator injures the health of the other person, causes pain or renders the other unconscious or in a comparable condition.
- 68.
Ministry of Social and Health Affairs (2015).
- 69.
Ministry of Social and Health Affairs (2015).
- 70.
- 71.
Supreme Court, 23 September 2008, KKO:2008:93. The case is available in Finnish online at http://finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kko/kko/2008/20080093 (last accessed 20 April 2021). An unofficial English translation of the case is available on the website of the Court at http://korkeinoikeus.fi/fi/index/ennakkopaatokset/pohjoismaiseteu-jaihmisoikeusliitynnaisetratkaisut/2008/kko200893inenglish.html (last accessed 20 April 2021).
- 72.
Supreme Court, 31 March 2016, KKO:2016:24. The case is available in Finnish online at http://finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kko/kko/2016/20160024 (last accessed 20 April 2021).
- 73.
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, available online at https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168007cf98 (last accessed 20 April 2021).
- 74.
Supreme Court, 31 March 2016, KKO:2016:25. The case is available in Finnish online at http://finlex.fi/fi/oikeus/kko/kko/2016/20160025#idm1612256 (last accessed 20 April 2021).
- 75.
The issues have also been debated in lower courts, see for instance the decision of the Helsinki Court of Appeal, 30 March 2011, 2011/940.
- 76.
Mohsen and Puro (2013).
- 77.
Helin (2013), pp. 334–335.
- 78.
Hague Convention of 19 October 1996 on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children.
- 79.
Mohsen and Puro (2013).
- 80.
Cf Yassari (2015).
- 81.
Mohsen and Puro (2013).
- 82.
Mustasaari and Al-Sharmani (2018).
- 83.
Al-Sharmani et al. (2017), p. 280.
- 84.
Mustasaari and Al-Sharmani (2018).
- 85.
- 86.
Mustasaari (2016).
- 87.
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Mustasaari, S. (2022). Balancing Cultural Claims and Universal Rights in Finnish Family Law. In: Yassari, N., Foblets, MC. (eds) Normativity and Diversity in Family Law. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 57. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83106-6_13
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