Observations on the Effect of “the General Policies of the System” on Legislation with an Emphasis on “the General Family Policies of the 1395 1 (Solar Hijrah) Notification”

The status of the novel category of “the general policies of the system” and its impact on the field of legislation in general, and in the realm of family in particular, in the system of the legal system of our country has many underresearched dimensions and implications. In this paper, based on the legal methodology, first, the general lines and the central issues of “the general policies of the system” have been monitored as an emerging subject in the constitutional law system of the country. Then, based on an unbiased approach, in relation to the aforementioned axes, the latest general policy announcement introduced in Shahrivar 1395 (September 2016) until the writing of the present text (July 1397), which refers to the “family” is discussed, and the effect of “the general family policies”, especially on the process of legislation in the Islamic Consultative Assembly in the category of the family has been reviewed since the date of the mentioned announcement. Additionally, with reference to several laws passed by the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the degree of conformity of the Assembly approvals to the general family policies has been discussed through taking advantages of two approaches: “adaptation” and noncontradiction. In order to clarify the guarantee of the implementation of the policies mentioned, It was concluded that the implementation of these policies, with a fairly specific mechanism, is monitored and reported by The Expediency Discernment Council of the System and is enforced by the Guardian Council in pursuance of the Council’s innate supervision of the Assembly’s approvals. This is while, so far, this important issue, i.e. the topic of family has been done with an inactive approach and within the framework of the recognition of “noncontradiction” rather than that of “conformity”.