Draft:Personal Status Law in Lebanon

Tanzimat Reforms & Sectarianization of Lebanon

During the 19th century, the region of Mount Lebanon was nominally ruled by the Ottoman Empire, but was locally administered by several powerful families from Muslim, Druze, and Maronite backgrounds.^[4] This arrangement existed under the Millet system, which afforded communities degrees of autonomy on religious matters. The Ottoman Tanzimat reforms, alongside pressure from Western powers and local rivalries, upended the delicate balance that had existed, and as a result sectarianism became entrenched in the region: sect became a principle characteristic.^[4]

The sectarian conflict of 1860 further solidified the new sectarian reality of Mount Lebanon. Following the conflict, the Règlement Organique split Mount Lebanon into different administrative regions among sectarian lines.^[4] This entrenched sectarian boundaries into a legal and political system in Lebanon for the first time. However, only six religious communities were recognized by the Règlement Organique, including Maronite, Sunni, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Druze, and Shi'a.^[3]

For the rest of the 19th century, Lebanon operated under a mix of different and competing personal status laws. Ottoman secularization under the Tanzimat reforms ran parallel to the Règlement Organique. For example, secular courts such as the Nizamiye Courts were introduced in 1879, whilst religious courts still held influence on family rights and other personal status areas.^[5]

1917 Ottoman Law of Family Rights

Whilst not officially part of the Tanzimat Reforms, the 1917 Ottoman Law of Family Rights similarly enacted sweeping changes by attempting to create a uniform personal status law across the empire, including in Lebanon.^[6] This reform was instituted by the Committee of Union and Progress against the backdrop of a faltering Ottoman Empire at the end of WW1, in an aim to simplify and modernize the Ottoman legal system. In Lebanon, this was the first (and last) time that a unified civil personal status law existed. It was short-lived, however, as in 1919 it was repealed as the Ottoman Empire fell. For example, in Turkey Ataturk implemented a civil personal status law based on the Swiss Code.

French Mandate (1920-1943)

After the creation of Greater Lebanon as a French Mandate in 1920, the Ottoman Law of Family Rights was abandoned and replaced with an earlier sectarian model. As such, the French formalized 18 separate sectarian identities within Lebanon, each with their own court and legal system. This included 12 Christian, 4 Muslim, 1 Druze, and 1 Jewish communities.^[1] The 1926 constitution contained two relevant articles for the sectarian Personal Status Law:

Article 7: "All Lebanese shall be equal before the law. They shall equally enjoy civil and political rights and shall equally be bound by public obligations and duties without any distinction."^[7]

Article 9: "Freedom of conscience is absolute. In assuming the obligations of glorifying God, the Most High, the State respects all religions and creeds and safeguards the freedom of exercising the religious rites under its protection, without disturbing the public order. It also guarantees the respect of the system of personal status and religious interests of the people, regardless of their different creeds."^[7]

These articles created a precedent which promised equal treatment to all citizens whilst protecting communalism at the same time.^[8] In 1932, a census was taken to record Lebanon's population, which would end up being the only census of Lebanon's demographics.^[9] As such, it remains influential and has influenced both the number of sects recognized in Lebanon and the power-sharing agreement enshrined in the constitution. Multiple attempts were made during the Mandate period to reform Lebanon and introduce a civil code for all sects. However, these were all blocked by conservative sectarian powers.^[3]

Independence and Civil War

When Lebanon gained its independence in 1943, there were once again calls for reform of personal status laws.^[3] However, the national pact of 1943 further entrenched confessionalism and furthered the sectarianization of Lebanon. Furthermore, articles 7 and 9 of the 1926 Lebanese constitution remained in place, which enshrined the old system of personal status law in the now independent Lebanon.

During the Civil war (1975-1990), whilst most of the state became frozen in conflict, personal status courts seem to have more or less survived, and kept working in their respective communities throughout the war.^[10] Following the Taif Agreement, which brought an end to the civil war, whilst the political system of confessionalism was overhauled and rebalanced, the personal status laws remained unchanged.

Civil Marriage

Whilst civil marriage is not possible in Lebanon, in 2013 one couple managed to argue they had the right to one after removing their religious affiliations from civil records. This put them in a legal grayzone wherein their right to marriage outweighed them being 'outside' the personal status law. The Court of Cassation eventually recognized their civil marriage, unaffiliated with the personal status courts.^[16] However, many who wish for a civil marriage in Lebanon still do not take this path given the legal complications and difficulties of being religiously unaffiliated.

Gender Equality

^[17]

Secularism