Protection of marital unity

Family is the basic structure of the community and the smallest social unit. The family?s continuity without breaking up is useful not only for the community it is in consequently, the family is preserved by both constitutional and general and special laws.The institution of protection of marital unity, deprived from the principle of protection of the family in Article 41 of the Constitution, is basically arranged between the Articles 195-201 and in some articles separately of the Turkish Civil Code enumerated in Law Number 4721. These articles are regulated to solve the problems appeared during the marriage and the intervention of the judge to the unity before getting divorce and to continue the marital unity in presence and welfare. However, the provisions on preserving the marital unity are not limited with these mentioned above. There are a great many provisions on preserving the marital unity in the Family Law book of the Turkish Civil Code. These provisions intend to save the marital unity by limiting the contract freedom of the spouses on the possible conflict before or during it appears.On the ground that the provisions of the Turkish Civil Code on protection of marital unity are not enough to impede the domestic violence, Law on the Protection of the Family enumerated in Law Number 4320 was accepted on 14.01.1998. Consequently, for the presence and welfare of the community it was intended to protect the family unity more effectively. Law on the Protection of the Family enumerated in Law Number 4320 had important changes with the Law on Amendments to the Law on the Protection of the Family enumerated in Law Number 5636, went into effect by being published in Official Gazette on 04.05.2007 and it was aimed to apply the law widely. With the Regulation on the Application of the Law on the Protection of the Family, published on 01.03.2008, the procedure and principal about the appliance of law are regulated and clarified widely.In this study about ?Protection of Marital Unity?, the provisions on protection of marital unity of Law on the Protection of the Family enumerated in Law Number 4320 and the Turkish Civil Code are examined. In our three-stage study, the subject and the basic concept are clarified in the entrance part. In the first part, the provisions on limiting the freedom of contract of the spouses in the Turkish Civil Code; in the second part, the provisions of the Turkish Civil Code on the intervention of the judge to the procedure of the marital unity are examined. In the third and the last part, the precautions the judge can take to protect both the spouses and the other members of the family from domestic violence according to Law on the Protection of the Family enumerated in Law Number 4320 are handled.Key Words1.Civil Law2.Family Law3.Marital Unity4.Protection of the Family5.Domestic Violence