IZVANBRAČNA ZAJEDNICA: ANALIZA MEĐUNARODNIH I EUROPSKIH NORMI U SVRHU STVARANJA NACIONALNIH STANDARDA
COHABITATION: THE SURVEY OF INTERNATIONAL AND EU LAW STANDARDS IN VIEW OF CREATING NATIONAL STANDARDS

Summary/Abstract: Cohabitation may imply various forms of joint life but, in the legal sense, cohabitation is an extramarital community of a couple living together without being legally married. Legal regulation of cohabitation, as a family law issue, is primarily a matter of national law. However, in the modern 21st century world of social changes, globalisation, international integrations and freedom of movement of people, international law has to give some response to the existence of a large number of cohabiting families. Since national legislators have different approaches to the legal protection of cohabitation, it is not very easy to provide clear legal standards for the protection of cohabitating families at the international level. In this paper, we will first provide the definition of the legal term of cohabitation. Then, we will focus on the legal status of cohabitating families under international (human rights) law. As European based scholars, we will further emphasise the relevance of the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union as the most relevant judicial institutions involved in the legal protection of the cohabitants’ right to family life in Europe. We will also offer some useful insights on the matter of international regulation of cohabitation on a broader, global scale. Finally, we will try to provide an answer to the question whether cohabitants have an adequate legal status in international law and EU law, and discuss the content and scope of cohabitants’ family protection in those legal regimes.

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