Family law reforms at the beginning of the XX century in Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden : an innovative attemp in the face of societal evolution

Marie Digoix, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Patrick Festy, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)
Nathalie Le Bouteillec, Institut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)

Our research seeks the determinants of families by studying the differences and similarities between four Nordic countries in depth, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden through the massive family law reforms that took place in the ‘20s. We investigate the differences between the norm and the law and how national contexts shape the laws. To be able to study these differences, we have aimed to study the new marriage laws and the laws concerning births out of wedlock in regards with all the evolutions that touched the society by this time. We thus show how the new laws reflected the conception the Nordic societies had on all features related to family issues. We also look at how the countries differed on these points. For this purpose, we analyse the juridical texts and the debates around their adoption and put this material in parallel with numerical trends in marriages and births.