Family
Islamic personal status under Law 10/1984, applied by courts in both territories
Law 10/1984 governs marriage, divorce and their effects on Islamic principles. Family courts have continued to function through the conflict more consistently than other parts of the system.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Family divisions of the courts of first instance in both western and eastern administrations.
Governing law
- Law 10/1984 on marriage, divorce and their effects
- Law 17/1992 amending personal status provisions
- Civil Code 1954 provisions on capacity and guardianship
In practice
Personal status is the area where Libyan law has been most continuous, because Law 10/1984 remained in force through the Gaddafi period and after it, and family courts have generally kept operating even where other institutions did not. Marriage requires the consent of a guardian in practice and polygamy is permitted, with a 2013 Supreme Court decision removing a requirement for the first wife's consent that had been imposed by earlier legislation — a change often missed. Divorce, custody and maintenance follow codified Islamic rules with custody of young children ordinarily with the mother and guardianship paternal. Registration of marriages and births has been disrupted by displacement, which creates downstream problems of proof for nationality and inheritance rather than doctrinal ones.