Parental Authority Regarding the Minor’s Person in the Regulation of the French Civil Code

In the French Civil Code, the parental authority regarding the minor’s person is defined as a set of rights and obligations whose exercise and fulfilment concerns the minor’s interest (art. 371-1 par. 1 of the French Civil Code). As far as the minor’s person is concerned, parents have the duty of protecting it, the duty of supporting it, the duty and right of educating it as well as the right to establish the child’s place of living, the right to agree to the child’s marriage, the right to agree to the child’s adoption, the right to require the child’s emancipation. Also, the parent that has not been given the exercise of parental authority has visitation and hosting rights, as well as surveillance right and obligation. As a principle, parents exercise parental authority over the child until the latter turns 18 and reaches legal adulthood and becomes fully capable of exercising its rights (art. 371-1 par. 2 and art. 414 of the French Civil Code). Before turning this age, parental authority can terminate through the child’s emancipation, whether it occurs by right as the effect of marriage (art. 413-1 of the French Civil Code) or by guardianship judge’s decision (art. 413-2 and the following).