The time element in relations under the family law

The time element is of great importance in civil law and in family law system in particular. Effluxion of time is rated among so – called natural acts of civil law. The term indicates that these acts create new legal relationships and what ought to be emphasized it occurs completely independently on human’s will. Natural acts of civil law also constitute a very important element in family law for creating new legal relationships in this area (like matrimony, consanguinity, affinity, adoption, guardianship, parental authority, alimentation) as well as relations connected with those states (like capacity to legal transactions, limited capacity to legal transactions, majority and minority). The time element affects legal construction of those states in various ways. It enables to determine their time frame, for example, kinship lasts from the moment of human birth till the moment of his death, while parental authority (exercised till a child comes of age) exemplifi es the infl uence of this legal relationship on elements that create new relationships in family law, such as age required to contract a marriage. It is acknowledged that time factor is usually expressed by using time unit measures (for instance, a day, a month, a year), which specify the time to vindicate of a claim or to realize other inalienable rights regulated by family law. It is also defined with the help of so–called ‘undefi ned phrase’ (for example, a transient obstacle, a period more or less long) in order to point, for example, duration of minority or parental authority.m.goettel@uwb.edu.plUniwersytet w Białymstoku, Wydział Praw