Molfessis, Nicolas

Domestic Laws - 2009.


48

Traditionally, the law does not enter the privacy of the home. Its function being the regulation of social relations, its natural location is outside the family sphere. Yet, in the name of welfare and security, the Welfare state has increasingly penetrated the spheres of education, health, leasure, rest or safety, which has made it possible for the law to penetrate the home. Indicating a growing mistrust of individuals, family law tends to make individual welfare a public issue. The state is put in a position to determine what is good for the individual and thus to substitute itself to the individual’s choices.