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6 - The Process of Family Law Reform in Morocco

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2019

Dörthe Engelcke
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht, Germany
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Summary

This chapter examines the reform process in Morocco from 1999 until 2004, highlighting the differences between the two reform attempts. It also briefly analyses the renewed debates about family law reform in 2012. In contrast to Jordan, the 2004 family law reform in Morocco primarily increased the power of the king. Muhammad VI was very engaged in the family law reform process, because family law had been the monarch’s domain since independence. The reform of the Islamic family law in the 2000s was part of a wider process of religious sector reform that saw religious institutions come under tighter state control and the monarchy being confirmed as the main religious and political actor in Moroccan politics. The monarch managed to establish religion as the only legitimate framework for family law reform while invoking his position as amīr al-mu’minīn (Commander of the Faithful). Even though the process became more inclusive and an increasing number of actors who had no religious training were allowed to contribute to the debate over family law, the inclusion of new actors did not mean that the law was secularized. Rather, secular actors were forced to adopt, at least officially, a religious framework atop which the king sat as the ultimate arbiter.
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Chapter
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Reforming Family Law
Social and Political Change in Jordan and Morocco
, pp. 133 - 155
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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