On Tuesday, 21 March 2017, the Chamber of Deputies began the reading of a bill that would recognize that spouses in free unions have the same rights as marriages carried out by a civil judge or in a church. The amendment would be incorporated in the Civil Code of the Dominican Republic.
The amendments establish the right to a private life, the right to an opinion and the right to physical integrity for both spouses. It also stipulates that children born outside wedlock have the right to inherit, and includes the protection against spousal violence and mutual reparation between spouses.
The Civil Code has 2,500 articles in 379 pages. The amendments would incorporate around 300 new articles.
The bill has been reviewed in the National Congress on four previous times since 1997 during the first term in office of President Leonel Fernandez. At the time, Fernandez appointed a commission of judges to study the proposal and make recommendations.
The reviewing of the Civil Code has involved more than 1,000 hours of work of various commissions and legal authorities designated by presidents of both legislative chambers.
The code proposes that canonic marriage be equal to civil, and that non-Catholic religious marriages will also be officially recognized. In addition, it establishes that marriage should only be between a man and a woman as stipulated in the 2015 Constitution.
The Civil Code also includes the rights and duties of spouses based on the constitutional principle of equality.
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El Nacional
22 March 2017
