News from the Research Group on law in Islamic countries

Do Middle Eastern countries have structures for the protection and care of parentless children that are comparable with adoption? In their recently published anthology “Filiation and the Protection of Parentless Children”, the volume editors PD Dr. Nadjma Yassari, Leader of the Research Group on law in Islamic countries at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law; Dr. Lena-Maria Möller, Senior Research Fellow in the research group; and Marie-Claude Najm, Professor at Saint Joseph University in Beirut, Lebanon, pursue this question. more

In Algerian law the term Kafāla refers to a court-ordered assignment of child custody and guardianship. In its decision from 26 March 2019, the European Court of Justice assessed this legal institution with respect to the EU Directive on the freedom of movement. more

In her article “Family Law in the GCC and the Best Interests of the Child: The Multiple Meanings of a Vague Legal Concept”, Dr. Lena-Maria Möller, senior research fellow in the Institute’s research group on the law of Islamic countries, investigates the degree to which child law mirrors the social transformations witnessed in the Arab Gulf region. With the article Lena-Maria Möller presents findings from a research project that in 2015 received grant funding from the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. more

Two semi-authoritarian monarchies with structural similarities both reform their family codes around the same time – but end up with very different results. How can this be explained? In her newly published book “Reforming Family Law: Social and Political Change in Jordan and Morocco”, Dr. Dörthe Engelcke, Senior Research Fellow in the research group on family and succession law in Islamic countries, examines the cases of Jordan and Morocco, elucidating the historical and structural factors that influenced their reform processes. more