Family Law Applicable to Egyptian Christians After the 2014 Constitution

This article discusses the recent development regarding the family law applied to the Egyptian Christians after the new 2014 constitution, which its third article stipulates that "the principles of the laws of Egyptian Christians and Jews are the main source of laws regulating their personal status…”.
This unprecedented text created for the first time an explicit constitutional support for the multiplicity of family laws according to religion, which was previously established, but with texts issued by the ordinary legislator and not by the constitutional legislator.
The research of this issue requires to explain the situation in Egyptian law before this text, especially since 1955, when Egyptian legislator repealed family law religious courts, but maintained the multiplicity of family laws according to religion.
It is a situation that has stabilized for many years, and which the Supreme Constitutional Court tried to narrow down its shortcomings by establishing fundamental principle that the equality of citizens before the law is the fundamental principle, while the exception is the multiplicity of family laws in cases that relate to the substance of the Christian belief.
Then we discuss the situation after this new constitutional text through the discussion of the term “the principles of the laws of Egyptian Christians and Jews", the idea of the principles or substance of Christian law and the possibility of direct application of this new text. Finally, we will explain the impact of this new text on the multiplicity of family laws according to the multiplicity of religions.