Understanding the Category of "Spouses"in National Law, the Law of Some Foreign States and in Judicial Practice

Background. The article examines the peculiarities of understanding the category of "spouses" in national legislation, EU law, and the regulatory legal acts of certain foreign states. It analyzes the conditions and limitations of this category's interpretation and application in the practice of the Court of Justice of the EU and the judicial practice of the ECHR. Based on the findings, the article formulates conclusions and proposes measures to improve the national system of legal regulation of marital relations. Methods. Both general philosophical and specific legal methods were employed to study and analyze the transformation of the regulatory framework governing marital relations in national legislation, legal doctrines, and judicial practice. These methods facilitated the examination of social patterns, legal phenomena, and legal categories. Results. It has been determined that currently, in Ukraine, due to the norms of public order, same-sex marriages or partnerships are not recognized. Accordingly, members of such families are deprived of the right to be recognized as spouses with the corresponding property and personal consequences (inheritance in the first place, the right to adopt (adopt) under national law, etc.). An analysis of the legislation and judicial practice of the countries of the Anglo-American legal system (USA, Great Britain, and Australia) confirms the recognition of the legal status of spouses regardless of the gender of the participants in the marriage, legally concluded in accordance with national law, regardless of the place of residence of the spouses. In the EU member states, states have the right to restrict access to marriage. At the same time, according to the provisions of the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU and the ECHR, if the state grants same-sex couples an alternative recognition to marriage (in particular, in the form of registered partnerships), it is not obliged to grant such couples a legal status identical to marriage, that is, to extend the category of "spouses" to them. Conclusions. Considering European trends in recognizing same-sex marriages and partnerships, as well as Ukraine's development of a draft law on registered partnerships, the article explores the possibility of future changes in the legislative approach to regulating these relationships. Such changes would align with broader European practices and trends in promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.