PhD student: Mrs G.L. de Bie

Promotor: Mrs Prof M.V. Antokolskaia

Duration: 1/9/2024 - 31/8/2028

Abstract:

Family law, and more specifically the process of legal finding within this field, is characterized by the significant ethical complexity of its issues and its strong connection to worldview-based values. This complicates the otherwise desirable approach of treating the legal domain purely in objective or technical terms and instead calls for an exploration of the (inter)subjective aspects involved in judicial interpretation in family law. The influence of ideological, philosophical, or political ideas about family on family law has been widely studied and reflects a recognition of the (inter)subjective dimensions of this legal domain. At times, this influence is confined to the legal system as suchleaving individual judges ostensibly unaffected by viewing them as ideally impartial executors of the legal method. At other times, the focus also includes the impact of judges personal convictions on family law. Yet, many of these analyses still rest on the assumption that a value-neutral approach is possible and that legal interpretation can exist without (inter)subjectivity, or that subjectivity can be reduced to the uniform application of a certain idealized notion of family. However, what generally remains absent is a recognition of the fixed, inherent, and potentially even valuable place of (inter)subjectivity in this field. Excluding this dimension results in an incomplete legal-theoretical and legal-philosophical understanding of family law interpretation. This dissertation investigates a possible root cause of this neglected subjectivity and explores the value of personalism as a potential pathway for understanding and engaging with this (inter)subjective dimension. Furthermore, it seeks to address contemporary technological challenges within legal scholarship and judicial interpretation.