TOKYO - A group of 12 individuals living in Tokyo and other regions has filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government, claiming that the Civil Code's provisions that do not recognize married couples' choice to retain separate surnames violate the Constitution.
Despite the Supreme Court's Grand Bench ruling twice that the provision is constitutional, the plaintiffs argue for a change in the "unreasonable system that forces one member of a couple to give up their surname in order to marry." The lawsuit was filed by five common-law couples and one married couple from Tokyo, Nagano, Hokkaido, and other locations.
On March 8th, they submitted a complaint to the district courts in Tokyo and Sapporo, demanding compensation and asserting that the Civil Code and Family Register Law's provisions violate the constitutional guarantee of freedom of marriage and are therefore invalid. The plaintiffs and their legal team contend that changing one's surname upon marriage can make it difficult to maintain the reputation and credit associated with the former name and that many people feel a loss of identity.
Couples who have opted for common-law marriage due to the reluctance to marry under the current system face disadvantages such as inheritance issues, leading to a constant state of unease.
The same provision has been examined twice by the Supreme Court's Grand Bench, which consists of all 15 justices, in 2015 and 2021, and on both occasions, the majority opinion was that it did not violate the Constitution. However, there were dissenting justices who believed it did violate the Constitution—five in 2015 and four in 2021.
One of the plaintiffs from Tokyo, who has been in a common-law marriage with his partner for 17 years and has a middle school-aged daughter, Mr. Mitsuru Nezu (pseudonym), said, "My daughter is unable to receive various legal benefits. I don't want to leave an unreasonable system that doesn't allow us to marry unless one of us gives up our surname to the next generation."
The head of the plaintiffs' legal team, attorney Makiko Terahara, stated, "We filed the lawsuit because, despite the Supreme Court indicating that the issue should be discussed in the Diet, there has been no movement. We are arguing that this is not a political issue but a human rights issue, and we hope that the judiciary will finally put an end to this violation of human rights."
Source: NHK
