가족관계등록법의 문제점과 과제

Problems and Recommendations on the Act on the Registration, Etc. of Family Relationship

Since the legislation of the Civil Law, the “head of a family” system in the Law had been criticized in several aspects, and finally it was promulgated to be unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court of Korea on February 2005. According to the decision, that system was abolished next month, and the New Act, the Act on the Registration, Etc. of Family Relationship(hereinafter referred to as a “Family Registration Act”), was legislated and enforced as a substitute of the old One. Therefore, this paper examines on the problems concerning the several contents of the Family Registration Act, which is a new identification registration law. In the Chapter Ⅱ, the comparative study is carried on with the identification systems of other countries including Germany, the Great Britain, and the United States. In the Chapter Ⅲ, the outline of the history of legislation of the Family Registration and the differences between the New and the Old is examined. In the Chapter Ⅳ, the problems of the Family Registration Act are examined, and the Recommendations are shown on these subjects. We can find the intentions to realize the purposes of the Constitution such as the dignity of the individuals, the gender equality, and the protection of privacy in that Law, especially by way of the Individual Filing System of the registry. However, there are still a few problems left that should be improved. Therefore, that Law should be revised to be a desirable one to realize the spirit of the Constitution.