Juridical Intelligibility: The Limits of Anti-Discrimination Law in Family Relations

Anti-discrimination law addresses unjustified differential treatment but assumes that the subjects and relationships under review are already legally intelligible. This article argues that the framework cannot fully address forms of inequality produced by the legal conditions that determine which family relationships are recognized in the first place. It distinguishes downstream discrimination from upstream inequality and shows how dominant family norms, binary registration systems, and discretionary decision-making can sustain exclusion within formally non-discriminatory frameworks. In response, it develops a post-comparative model of relational justice grounded in self-determination, relational pluralism, care, and co-responsibility, shifting the focus from unequal treatment to the conditions of legal recognition.