A Critique on the Scope of Child Custody in Iranian Law with an Emphasis on Jurisprudence

Under the rule stipulated in Article 1210 of the Civil Code, minors who have reached puberty can be allowed to leave the custody of their parents and guardians and continue their lives independently before mentally mature. It is clear that such a rule will involve a lot of damage for minors. Now the question is if in the light of principle of harm, a step can be taken to protect children more and so limit the scope of this legal ruling? In this article, the author is trying to provide an appropriate answer to this question by relying on some jurisprudential opinions and rules and legal ideas so that the interests of minors were better considered.

This research has been done using documents and library resources and descriptive-analytical method.

Leaving a child out of parental custody before reaching mentally mature is against the goals of care and education and can cause irreparable damage to the child first and then to the society. But unfortunately, due to the interpretation of Article 1210 of the Civil Code, there is a possibility of minors leaving custody early and causing such injuries to them. Therefore, before the legislative reform, it should be thinked about the interpretation and implementation of the law in order to prevent such a situation in the family and society.

Currently, based on some jurisprudential opinions as well as the principle of harm, it is necessary to consider the continuation of custody of children until they reach the mentally mature stage.