혼인에 있어서 근친혼에 관한 민법의 개정 방향

Freedom of marriage is a constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right that must be specifically protected and ensured under the Civil Act. Nevertheless, the legal framework governing consanguineous marriage—which is closely related to this freedom—has experienced two major changes in the relatively short legislative history of Korea’s Civil Act. The first was the abolition of the prohibition on same-surname and same-origin marriage, which had been in effect since the enactment of the Civil Act in 1958, following the Constitutional Court’s 1997 decision of unconstitutionality. The second arose after the abolition of that system, when a revised provision prohibiting certain consanguineous marriages as null and void was again declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court in 2022. Although the Court has set a legislative deadline of December 31, 2024, no amendment has yet been adopted, as conflicting views persist over how broadly the scope of prohibited consanguineous marriages should be defined. This study proposes that the key direction for revising the Civil Act lies in clarifying the scope of nullity regarding consanguineous marriages and examines two legislative bills that have been submitted to date. While the enactment of a prompt amendment would be ideal, Korea’s past experience—where approximately seven years elapsed between the 1997 ruling and the implementation of the revised Civil Act—suggests that a considerable period of legal uncertainty may again follow. Accordingly, this study also considers the need for an interim special statute, modeled on the former Special Act on Marriage, as a temporary measure in the absence of immediate legislative consensus.