Legally binding agreements justifies not only one sight rights but also all the people in the society-illustrate & explain
INTRODUCTION
There are many different forms of social agreements around the world. Marriage or a family is a type of social agreement. In a society, a family is a fundamental unit. It is a natural unit of society and need a full protection of state. A person in the society has human rights to get married and found a family. Human rights law upholds the positive rights of all people to get married and make a family. It tries to guard against abuses on the family and other social matters. The family unit can be made vulnerable to social, economic, and political pressures. Human rights law seeks to strengthen the family unit by specifying state obligations to keep families together and to reunify them when they have become separated.
A contract is an agreement between two parties who get bound to do something specified. It is a lawful object and includes one or more legal obligation between or among those two parties. Contract is a kind of bridge between them. By getting married and having a family people made a contract with other side people. There are many kind of domestic and social matters can include under the legally binding contract, for example, relation and behaviour between children and parents. Legally binding simply means that one agrees with the terms under a written or spoken contract to behave in certain ways. The terms and conditions of such a contract can either prohibit or define appropriate behaviour under the agreement. Generally, in social matters such as signed a lease, gotten married, used a checking account or even use various internet sites, we made certain agreements which is also called legally binding contracts. Violation of terms in a legally binding agreement can either void the contract or cause legal consequence. It simply means that one agrees with the terms under a written or spoken contract to behave in certain ways. If the terms of the contract are uncertain or incomplete, the parties cannot have reached an agreement in the eyes of the law. An agreement to agree does not constitute a contract, and an inability to agree on key issues, which may include such things as safety, may cause the entire contract to fail. However, a court will attempt to give effect to commercial contracts where possible, by construing a reasonable construction of the contract.
In the context of Bangladesh, our society has less legally binding agreement in family and social matters. The people of Bangladesh are less uneducated and so they are not very much aware of legal agreements. Lots of problems can be solved if a legal binding contract is there. For example, if two brothers start a business together and they do not have a contract that which percent of share on the business each of them belongs to then when a brother wants his own share in the time of need it would be difficult for both of them to get their own share and it also hampers their relation within the family.
FOR THE EQUAL RIGHTS OF MAN AND WOMEN WITHIN THE FAMILY:
In Bangladesh, generally a girl is given marriage before the age of 18 and after their marriage they are not given their rights by their husband and other family members. If there is a legally binding contract between the two families of husband and wife that wife must be given their rights then a it can be better for her to complain when she get abused by her husband and his family members. Human right law says that there should be equal rights and responsibilities for man and woman but it is not implemented properly. So if a legally binding contract is there than it is easy for the people to implement the right and responsibilities of man and women differently.
TO ESTABLISH THE STATUS OF WOMEN:
The status of women is often determined by their relationship to male family members and may affect their rights and entitlements. A contract may also help the women in this case. In another point of view if husband and wife have a contract between them it would help them to make things easy and it also influence their behaviour in family. For example, Mr. Balfour had agreed to give his wife £30 a month as maintenance while he was living in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Once he left, they separated and Mr. Balfour stopped payments. Mrs. Balfour brought an action to enforce the payments. At the Court of Appeal, the Court held that there was no enforceable agreement as there was not enough evidence to suggest that they were intending to be legally bound by the promise.[1] The legal status of the Muslim women in Bangladesh is defined by the principles of Sharia through Muslim Personal Law along with the general law which is non-religious and secular in its character. The Muslim parsonal law covers the field of marriage, divorce, maintenance, guardianship of children and inheritance whereas the general law covers the rights under the Constitution, penal codes, the civil and criminal procedure codes, evidence act etc. It is necessary to examine the legal status of the Muslim women in Bangladesh in the context of these two sets of law as in both cases women are supposedly fortified with theoretical legal rights, but there is a gulf of difference existing between theory and its actual application. Most important of all, it must be seen that some of these laws though excellent in theory prove largely elusive in practice. The main hurdle that lies in the way of the practical application of the legal rights of women in Bangladesh is obviously the inherent contradiction of attitude that permeates the male oriented society considerably supported by religious beliefs. In this discussion, however, I shall mainly refer to those statutes or those provisions of a statute which treat men and women differently. Matters not covered herein after should be understood to have egalitarian principles giving women the same rights and obligations as the men.[2]
CHILDREN ACT AND CONTRACT BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE:
The children act of 1989 is like a legally binding contract between husband and wife. In this act parents are equal in the eyes of the law, in the eyes of the other parent and in the eyes of the children. It means the children live equally with each parent (though it does not necessarily mean an equal split of time spent with each parent) where the parent with residence is the parent that the child is with at the time. There was a sole order with Contact to the father. The children spent some 140 days each year with their father, which he calculated was 38% of their time. The father claimed to have experienced difficulties with schools and the hospital in obtaining information and to have felt like a second-class parent. There was some evidence that the mother might be using the Sole Order as a weapon against her husband.
LAW AND SOCIAL MATTERS:
Any useful theory about law and social norms cannot ignore the family. The traditional family is the cleanest example of the institution that maintains itself through non legal sanctions rather than legal enforcement, and it gives us a clear view of opportunity and danger that such institutions presents to government. To the extent that people do not rely on government enforcement of material obligations, they become highly vulnerable to opportunism within the family.
DOWRY SYSTEM IN BANGLADESH WITH NEW LAWS AND LEGAL CONTRACTS:
One of the essential parts of Muslim marriage is “dower” paid or promised to be paid by the husband to the wife. Dower must not, however be confused with “dowry” which consists of presents made by father and other relations of the bride and Muslim Law does not make any provision for payment of dowry. Dower is the sum of money or other property which the wife is entitled to receive from the husband in consideration of marriage. (D.F. Mulla, Principles of Mohamedan Law, 17th Ed.P.277). The amount of dower may be fixed either before or at the time of marriage of after marriage. The law does not say anything about the quantum of dower. The amount of dower is generally split into two parts- “prompt dower” which is payable immediately on demand by the wife and “deferred dower” which is payable only on dissolution of marriage by death or divorce. In view of the provisions of Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, the entire amount is now to be treated as “prompt”. The claim to dower is not lost even when the marriage is dissolved by Court at the instance of the wife or when the wife exercises the right to divorce. It is in the field of divorce that the most flagrant inequality between husband and wife exists. The husband has the right of unilateral divorce, for no cause at all. The wife has no such right, and when her husband exercises his right, the wife has no redress.[3] The women can have judicial separation on specified grounds through intervention of Court. The Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961 though has already provided for arbiters, the arbitration council cannot prevent the talak by the husband even if it be highly arbitrary and unjust and can only delay the action in the hope that some conciliation will result. The most common mode of divorce by man prevalent in Bangladesh is Bedai Talak (Irrevocable Divorce) which takes effect immediately without the requirement of communication to the wife for its validity. The husband pronounces three times that he divorces his wife and with the third pronouncement the Talak becomes irrevocable and takes effect on completion of a certain period. This may also be done by writing on a piece of paper. Once this right was exercised the parties could not re-marry without the intervention of another marriage, unless the wife was married to a thrid person and then divorced after consummation of the marriage. (D.F.Mulla, Principles of Mohammedan Law, 17th Ed.) With the introduction of the Muslim Family Law Ordinance 1961, the position has changed. Section 7 of the Ordinance provides that Divorce given by the husband shall not take effect until the husband has given notice of the Divorce to the chairman of local administrative unit, Union Parishad and ninety days have elapsed after issuance of the said notice and within the said period the husband can revoke the Divorce. The husband is also to give a copy of the said notice to the wife. The Chairman on receipt of the notice would constitute Arbitration Council for effecting a re-conciliation which, if successful, would render the divorce ineffective. It is an offence not to notify the Chairman about exercise of Divorce by the husband. The provisions of Sec. 7 of the Ordinance apply mutatis mutandis in case of divorce exercised by the wife and the divorce does not take effect unless notice thereof is given to the Chairman and 90 days have elapsed thereafter. The husband can delegate his power of divorce to his unconditionally or with condition and that is called Talak-e-Tawfeez. When any condition is stipulated the wife can divorce her husband in the happening of that condition. Now the divorced parties can remarry without the formality of the marriage with third party. (Sec7 (6), Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961.)[4]
CONCLUSION
In the context of Bangladesh, there are lots of laws to establish human rights. Women are given priority in some laws and also in some family and social matters laws are established. Legally binding contract in family and social matters make the problems solve more easily and it also helps to tighten the relationship between two parties. Legally binding agreements justifies not only women rights but also all the people in the society. It encourages the relationship with parents with their children. It tries to guard against abuses on the family and other social matters. Overall, family and social matters are very sensitive issues as it is related to our day to day activities and legally binding contract make those activities easier and give a guideline to how you should behave in the society or in a family.
REFERENCES
Contract.(n.d). Retrieved from http://www.dictionary.reference.com/browse/contract
Kamal, S. (n.d). Law for Muslim women in Bangladesh. Retrieved from
Legally Binding.(n.d). Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-legally-binding-mean.htm
Posner, E. A. (2002). Law and social norms. Harvard University Press, p68
The Right to Family. Retrieved from http://www.hrea.org/index.php?doc_id=425
Wikipedia. Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
[1] Wikipedia. Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
[2] Kamal, S. (n.d). Law for Muslim women in Bangladesh. Retrieved from
[3] Kamal, S. (n.d). Law for Muslim women in Bangladesh. Retrieved from
[4] Kamal, S. (n.d). Law for Muslim women in Bangladesh. Retrieved from