"Activation"of Support Obligations and Limited Recoverability of"Past-Time Maintenance"
The Roman Emperor Gordian's Decree created the issue of the legal status of past-time maintenance,downgrading it and allowing it to be the subject of a settlement.Gothofredus transformed the issue into one of temporal dislocation,forming the reasoning that the non-suing for the past-time maintenance constitutes prima facie evidence that no such financial support is needed,thus protecting the maintenance obligor and encouraging the right-holder to become self-reliant.The principle of the non-actionability of past-time maintenance was explicitly established by Pontano and has been adopted by many modern civil codes,as evidenced in this paper by the adoption of this rule in at least 10 civil codes.Of these,the German Civil Code is the most explicit and detailed on this issue,as it does not allow for the recovery of past time maintenance in principle,but allows for certain exceptions.The German translator of the Italian Civil Code excludes the maintenance relationship between parents and their minor children as the object of application of the non-recovery of past-time maintenance,which emphasizes the difference between fostering and maintenance and alimony,which is very reasonable.In China,this rule has also been adopted in the draft civil code scholar's proposal drafted by Professor Wang Liming'team.With this as a basis,China should establish the rule that past-time maintenance is not subject to unlimited recourse through judicial interpretation.
maintenancepast time maintenanceremandthird-party supportestoppel
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