Relationships between parents and children and the child’s affiliation in the provisions of the family codes in the former and contemporary Republic of Poland

Abstract

Contemporary legislation which regards the legal relations between parents and children has been undergoing transformation. At the beginning of the People’s Republic of Poland the legislation regarding the regulations was unified during the years 1945-1946, then there were codifications from 1950 and 1964 and the law amendments from 1975 and 2008. Moral and customary elements were particularly significant in the family law as they exerted crucial influence on the contents of the regulations. It should be emphasised that Father Michal Sopoćko devoted a lot of his work and attention to these very regulations. Contemporarily we cannot disregard the whole range of nuances of the term “contemporary family”. This term significantly differs from the meaning which functioned in the period of creating the Family and Guardianship Code from 1964. In that period the concept of the family was based on the foundation of marriage. Currently the alternative forms of family life are being developed and civil unions are becoming more and more popular. Thus the family outside marriage is also recognized in different relationships.