Japan's Supreme Court upholds laws requiring married couples to use same surname

The Supreme Court of Japan on June 24 ruled that married couples should stick to having the same surname. The top court observed that laws requiring married couples to have the same surname are constitutional. The court dismissed the requests filed by three couples in 2018 to keep their separate surnames after local governments refused to accept their marriage registration. The top court upheld the Supreme Court judgement from 2015.

Japan SC rules couples to have same surname

The three couples challenged provisions of the Civil Code and the family registration law after they were unable to register their marriages at local government offices using separate surnames, according to AP. The judgement of the Supreme Court's 15-member grand bench comes at a time when people in Japan are increasingly supporting an option that allows couples to keep separate surnames. As per local media reports, among the 15-member judges, five, including three women said that prohibiting separate surnames was unconstitutional. In Japan, according to Article 750 of the Civil Code, a couple must adopt "the surname of the husband or wife" at the time of marriage. Although the law does not specify the name it is usually the women who change their surnames after marriage.

The Supreme court upheld the judgement from 2015 which said that the practice of using the same surname was "well-established in society" and there is no gender inequality in the system. The 2015 Court ruling urged parliament to discuss the surname issue instead of issuing a legal judgement. The discussions in parliament have not progressed as the members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party are opposing the decision of separate surnames. Some of the members of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s LDP support traditional gender roles, arguing that allowing the option of separate surnames would destroy family unity.

IMAGE: Pixabay/PTI/RepresentativeImage

Inputs from AP