The LawsAndFamilies Database

Aspects of legal family formats for same-sex and different-sex couples

Same-sex families are gaining legal recognition. More and more countries are making marriage and partnership available to them. Or attaching (some) rights and benefits to their cohabitation. Just as rights and benefits are being attached to different-sex cohabitation. But laws of many countries continue to treat different types of couples differently. And their children too.

The LawsAndFamilies aims to document, highlight and analyse these developments and diversities. It does so from three perspectives: law, statistics, sociology. The database has three parts:

• The main component of LawsAndFamilies is an interactive database. It covers 50 years of legal development, on 69 issues, in 21 European countries. This legal database looks at marriage, registered partnership, and cohabitation. For same-sex and different-sex couples.
• The second component is a collection of statistical data on same-sex marriage and partnership in 12 countries: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
• The third component of the database is a sociological analysis of interviews held in Iceland, Italy, France and Spain: 108 people were interviewed about the legal and social recognition of their same-sex families.  

Comparative analysis

For a first comparative analysis of legal and other data in this database, see: K. Waaldijk (ed.) (2017). More and more together: Legal family formats for same-sex and different-sex couples in European countries – Comparative analysis of data in the LawsAndFamilies Database (with contributions by D. Damonzé, M. Digoix, M. Franchi, N. Nikolina, J.I. Pichardo Galán, G. Selmi, M. de Stéfano Barbero, M. Thibeaud, J.A.M. Vela, K. Waaldijk & G. Zago). FamiliesAndSocieties Working Paper 75(2017), www.familiesandsocieties.eu/?page_id=131.