59

In Quebec’s family law, “family patrimony” is a measure enacted in 1989 according to which, regardless of the matrimonial regime or existing marriage contracts, a certain number of belongings must be equally shared between the spouses in case of divorce or death. This reform counters the general trend towards a de-institutionalization of family law. In this article, based upon an analysis of the political process, I show that the reform was made possible by the conjunction of two forms of feminist mobilizations, within civil society and within institutions. Thus, starting from a political sociology of law point of view, the analysis of this reform provides a wealth of information for a sociology of the state and challenges the state-society dichotomy.