A Family and Family Values: Approaches to Understanding in the Context of Modern Law

A family as an institution has a long history. A traditional family is formed by spouses and their offspring. Family values usually include: love, marriage, having many children, continuity of generations. The purpose of the study was to reflect approaches to understanding the content of the terms «family» and «family values» in modern society, to determine the expediency of reflecting existing «innovations» in the approach to understanding their essence in Russian law. With the help of historical-legal, comparative-legal, legal-sociological research methods, the paper reflects the dynamics of family and state relations, compares the interpretations of the definitions of «family» and «family values» in different historical epochs of the Russian state. The paper argues that modern Russian law refers an unreasonably wide range of persons to family members, which disorients a modern person, leads to the devaluation of the institution of the family and the deformation of ideas in society about family values. It is concluded that the more traditional the composition of the family, the more functional it is and less dependent on support and protection from the state. The paper substantiates the need to preserve a traditional approach to understanding the content of the terms «family» and «family values» in order to exclude substitution of the essence of these concepts and the protection of the institution of the family, the importance of fixing in legislation as a principle of legal regulation of family relations the priority of protecting the interests of the family and preserving traditional family values.

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