Obedience paragraph

As obedience paragraph was § 1354 of the Civil Code referred to in the version prior to 18 June 1957 of the man in a marriage , the right to decide all matters concerning the Community zusprach married life. The paragraph that came into force in the Civil Code in 1900 read:

The man is entitled to make decisions in all matters relating to joint conjugal life; in particular, it determines the place of residence and residence. The woman is not obliged to obey the man's decision if the decision turns out to be an abuse of his rights.

Since the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, created in 1949, stipulated the equality of men and women in Article 3 , Paragraph 2 ( Equal Rights Act ), an amendment to the Civil Code and, above all, the obedience paragraph had become necessary. The Basic Law set a deadline of March 31, 1953 for the necessary reforms. However, this passed without any change in the applicable law. After a long struggle between the parties, § 1354 was finally deleted without replacement on June 18, 1957.

Web links

• Politeia. Internet presentation on German history after 1945 from a women's perspective: On the abolition of the obedience paragraph ( Memento of June 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ( University of Bonn )
• Christoph Sorge: The husband's right to make decisions (§ 1354 BGB) in the women's rights history project at Leibniz University Hanover , May 19, 2009