Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.3935/zpfz.76.4.2
Historical and Legal Regulation of Property Relations Between Spouses and Unmarried Partners
Dubravka Hrabar
; Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Although marriage is primarily perceived as a social and legal relationship characterized by a strong emotional dimension, the cohabitation of spouses or unmarried partners inevitably gives rise to property relations and economic interests. The legal regulation of such property relations is as old as marriage itself as a legal institution. Initially, however, these relations reflected the unequal status of women and men and were structured largely to the disadvantage of women. Even less progress can be observed with regard to unmarried partners, whose unions were, throughout much of legal history, either prohibited or disregarded by the legal system. Meaningful improvements in the legal position of spouses did not emerge until changing perceptions of women became part of broader social transformations, commonly associated with the various waves of feminism or, more generally, with the development of the principle of gender equality.
This paper examines the fundamental features of the property regimes governing marital relations, beginning with Roman law, which was predominantly patriarchal in nature, albeit containing certain legal mechanisms that afforded limited protection to a woman’s status and property. Medieval law in the territory of present-day Croatia provided only modest improvements aimed at strengthening women’s proprietary rights, both in relation to their husbands and vis-à-vis third parties. During the period in which the Austrian General Civil Code (Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch – ABGB) was also in force in Croatia, three statutory property regimes existed. Although these regimes largely reflected the prevailing patriarchal model, they nevertheless granted women certain limited rights, including the right to bring legal claims against their husbands and to revoke their authority to administer the wife’s property.
During the socialist period, several family law statutes were enacted, including the Basic Marriage Act and the Marriage and Family Relations Act. These statutes abandoned patriarchal principles and were founded upon the legal equality of spouses, including equality in matters of property. Their regulation was based on a dual property regime, distinguishing between marital property and separate property, while also providing a modest yet satisfactory legal framework for the property relations of unmarried partners.
Following the establishment of Croatia’s independent political and legal system, several family law statutes were adopted. Among them, the Family Act of 1998 introduced the most significant reforms by replacing the concept of joint property with the institution of marital acquisitions and by establishing a framework for contractual regulation of property relations between spouses.
A particularly complex issue concerned the relationship between civil law and family law regulation, namely whether these legal frameworks should be regarded as complementary or competing systems. In contemporary circumstances, the growing complexity of commercial and economic relations presents new challenges de lege ferenda and raises further questions regarding the future development of matrimonial property law.
Keywords
marriage; extramarital union; property relations
Hrčak ID:
351658
URI
Publication date:
30.9.2026.
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