SHARING SURNAMES FOR COUPLES CONSTITUTIONAL: JAPAN’S TOP COURT

Japan's top court on Wednesday again ruled legal provisions forcing married couples to use the same surname are constitutional, upholding a Supreme Court judgment from 2015, Mainichi Japan reported.

The latest decision on a more than century-old provision based on the Civil Code and the family register law dismissed requests filed by three couples in 2018 to keep their separate surnames after local governments refused to accept their marriage registrations.

The decision handed down by Presiding Justice Naoto Otani at the Supreme Court's Grand Bench, populated by all 15 justices, came at a time when families have become more diverse and public opinion on surname sharing has shifted in Japan.

The three couples, all in common-law relationships, had appealed to the Supreme Court after the Tokyo Family Court and its Tachikawa branch dismissed their requests to legally marry while keeping their separate surnames in 2019.

The Tokyo High Court turned down their appeals in 2020.

Article 750 of the Civil Code stipulates "a husband and wife shall adopt the surname of the husband or wife in accordance with that which is decided at the time of marriage."

The provision applies only to Japanese couples as foreigners married under the country's system are able to keep their family names. Critics say the provision originating from the 1898 Civil Code reflects the traditional concept of marriage as an arrangement involving families rather than individuals.

Usually, a woman left her family to become part of her husband's family. As of 2015, 96 percent of married couples in Japan used the husband's surname, according to government data. The family register law stipulates a couple must determine a shared surname to have their marriage registration accepted.

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