1.2 Sources of Family Law

The Constitution of Nepal, 2072 (2015): the supreme source — equality (Art 18), women's rights (Art 38), children's rights (Art 39), the family-justice frame (Art 217's judicial committees); any family-law rule inconsistent with it is void; The Muluki Civil (National) Code, 2074 (2017), in force 2075: the principal statute — its chapters on Marriage (conditions, void/voidable marriage, court marriage, registration), Matrimonial relations (rights and duties of husband and wife, judicial separation, divorce, maintenance), Relations (parents and children, guardianship and curatorship, adoption), Partition and Inheritance supply almost the whole substantive course; The Muluki Criminal Code, 2074: the punitive face — child marriage, bigamy, incest, and offences within the family; The Muluki Civil Procedure Code, 2074: family litigation's procedure — reconciliation-first design, privacy of hearings, the family-bench system; The Children's Act, 2075 (2018): custody, guardianship, adoption and child maintenance from the child-rights perspective — the "best interest of the child" standard; The Domestic Violence (Offence and Punishment) Act, 2066: protection orders, compensation and the domestic-violence floor beneath family relations; Case law: the Supreme Court's constitutional jurisprudence — from the equal-inheritance directive in Meera Kumari Dhungana (2052) to the same-sex marriage-registration ruling in Sudhansu Koirala v. Snidha Mainali (NKP 2077, D.N. 10482); Custom and usages: recognized where the Code defers to community practice (e.g., marriage ceremonies, customary adoption among some communities); International instruments: CEDAW (ratified 1991), the CRC, ICCPR/ICESCR — applied as per the Treaty Act, 2047's hierarchy (LAW 303, Unit 5: treaties prevail over municipal statute), a persistent strand in the Court's family-law judgments.