The abandoned minor and the coder. A reflection on the performativity of family law

Abstract

Coming from the field of the philosophy
of language, the notion of performativity
has, in the field of law, a critical
push, by problematizing the notion
of the determination of the subjects of
rights. Codification, a paradigmatically
performative stage in itself, reaches its
maximum creative expression in the field
of family law, around this new paterfamilias
endowed with almost unlimited
power in the cognatic family that is his
own. The institutions of adoption and
guardianship, at the crossroads of these
tensions, provide an exceptional starting
point to explore these operations of performance
of legal subjects, objects and
rights. The situation of the helpless minor,
in which a double marginalized condition
intersects, both in terms of assets
and blood ties, will be radically modified.