Il divorzio come espressione di una libertà individuale: il caso cinese

Freedom of divorce is the expression of an individual will which can be considered as complementary to the freedom of marriage. Nevertheless, especially the first one has been limited in different ways according to the relevant socio-cultural environment. One of the possible restriction to the freedom of divorce is the fault-based system. In the People’s Republic of China unilateral and by mutual consent divorce has been granted for both woman and man since the Twenties of the last Century. While the divorce by mutual consent have no restriction as long as the spouses agree on some basic aspects (children custody, property division), it is unclear whether the unilateral one can be considered as fault or no fault-based divorce system. The aim of this paper is to point out the features of the judicial divorce in China in relation with the concept of freedom of divorce and its restrictions in a legal and historical perspective.