Mahr i svensk rätt : En undersökning om möjligheterna till att kvalificera eller erkänna främmande rätt i svensk internationell privaträtt.

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this paper was to investigate to what extent qualification or recognition of mahr can be done under the Swedish legal order, due to the new enacted EU Matrimonial Act. It has been found that mahr cannot be qualified in Swedish law because it does not mimic any branch of acceptable asset types in The Swedish Marriage Code. Thus, NJA 2017 s. 168 is still applicable regarding the qualification of mahr regardless of the new EU Matrimonial Act. The possibility for mahr to be qualified under Swedish law could only be made according to the reasoning the court pointed out, namely, if it can be ascertained that the purpose of the mahr was that it would serve as a one-time maintenance, provided such need exists. Another purpose with this paper, was to investigate whether the EU Matrimonial Act could enable recognition of mahr on any another ground, that is, when the foreign law was designated as the applicable law. Although the applicable law is now to be assessed according to the principle of invariability, in the absence of a law choice agreement, recognition of mahr has nevertheless proved to be impossible since Sweden in its supplementary rules, to the EU Matrimonial Act, adopted provisions restricting the applicability of foreign law in situations it would deviate from Swedish law. Even ordre public, especially negative ordre public, limits the possibility of recognition of mahr in Sweden. Thus, the conclusion is that mahr cannot be qualified under any branch of the Swedish family law system and it is also difficult to admit it on any other ground. The effect is that the gift-taking spouse risks losing a large part of his or her wealth that could have been effectual in his or her home country.