Marriage and Cohabitation in Israeli Law

תקציר

In Israel, in the field of the law of personal status, at the center of which stand the laws of marriage, the law is not territorial but personal, and the law applying to an individual changes in accordance with his religious affiliation. Consequently, any discussion of the comprehensive position of Israeli law on the institution of marriage would seem to be impossible, for Israeli law lacks its own, independent regulations on matters of marriage. The law of the State on these matters has been likened to a mirror, having no image of its own and serving only to reflect the religious law. In this mirror, various laws are reflected, and it is difficult to find in them a common denominator of the differing and contradictory conceptions they express towards the institution of marriage.