countries(such as Moldova, Romania and Serbia) have a fairly modern family law, due to the rad ical break with the canonical concepts that was imposed by the communists. The axis of the difference in the modernity of family law does not lie east-West, as is the case with other parts of civil law that are more directly linked with the economy, but instead in a general North-South d irection. 81 Looking at the history of family law in Europe, it is possible to see that ever since the Middle Ages, when canon family law was uniform, all European countries were developing in the same direction. The substance, the tendencies and the driving forces of the reform of family law were essentially the same everywhere. The only true differences are the timing. There are no unbridgeable historical and cultural differences that make family law eternally unsuitable for harmonisation and unification. That is not to say that a difference in timing is not a serious obstacle for unification -it obviously is-but I think that the expectation is justified that further harmonisation and unification will prove to be possible in the future Literature Agell, A, "Should and Can Family Law Influence Social Behaviour?, in: J Eekelaar and N Thandabutu, The Changing Family: International Pe Law(Oxford: Hart Publishing, 1998), pp 125-12 erspectives on the Family and Family Family Relations, Review of Central and East European Law 22: 6(1996), pp. 635-660or Antokolskaia, M.V., The 1995 Russian Family Code: A New Approach to the regulation Antokolskaia, M.V., W.A. de Hondt and G.J. W. Steenhoff, Een zoektocht naar Europee familierecht(pread vies voor de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Rechtsvergelijking)(Deventer Kluwer, 1999) Bradley, D, Family Law and Political Culture(London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1996 Scand inavian Laws in Comparative Perspective) Burguiere, A, C. Klapisch-Zuber, M. Segalen and O. Zonabend(eds ) A History of the Family. Vol. 1. Distant Worlds, Ancient Worlds(Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996) De Ruiter, J, "Drie trends in het familierecht, RM Themis 5(1990), pp. 194-208 Duby, G, Ridder, vrouw en priester, 2nd edn. (Amsterdam: H.w. Becht, 1985) Freeman, M, 'Austin Lecture: The Private and the Public, in: D Morgan and g. douglas (eds ) Constituting Families: A Study in Governance(Stuttgart: Steiner, 1994), pp. 22-39 Gaunt, D and L Nystrom, " The Scandinavian Model, in: A Burguiere, C. Klapisch-Zuber, M. Segalen and O. Zonabend(eds ) A History of the Family. Vol. II. The Impact of & The general line of development of fam ily law in East Europe is exactly the same as in the rest of the continent. enough time to implement their ideas about family law(see Glendon(1989),p. 175). The concept of"socials,c Even the temporary contra-reform under Stalin is not completely without precedent. The Nazis just did not ha family law is, in my view, not more than a remnant of the propaganda of the Soviet era(see Antokolskaia (1996),p.640)countries (such as Moldova, Romania and Serbia) have a fairly modern family law, due to the radical break with the canonical concepts that was imposed by the communists. The axis of the difference in the modernity of family law does not lie East-West, as is the case with other parts of civil law that are more directly linked with the economy, but instead in a general North-South direction.81 - Looking at the history of family law in Europe, it is possible to see that ever since the Middle Ages, when canon family law was uniform, all European countries were developing in the same direction. The substance, the tendencies and the driving forces of the reform of family law were essentially the same everywhere. The only true differences are in the timing. There are no unbridgeable historical and cultural differences that make family law eternally unsuitable for harmonisation and unification. That is not to say that a difference in timing is not a serious obstacle for unification - it obviously is - but I think that the expectation is justified that further harmonisation and unification will prove to be possible in the future. Literature Agell, A., ‘Should and Can Family Law Influence Social Behaviour?’, in: J. Eekelaar and N. Thandabutu, The Changing Family: International Perspectives on the Family and Family Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 1998), pp. 125-137. Antokolskaia, M.V., ‘The 1995 Russian Family Code: A New Approach to the Regulation of Family Relations’, Review of Central and East European Law 22:6 (1996), pp. 635-660. Antokolskaia, M.V., W.A. de Hondt and G.J.W. Steenhoff, Een zoektocht naar Europees familierecht (preadvies voor de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Rechtsvergelijking) (Deventer: Kluwer, 1999). Bradley, D., Family Law and Political Culture (London: Sweet and Maxwell, 1996; Scandinavian Laws in Comparative Perspective). Burguière, A., C. Klapisch-Zuber, M. Segalen and O. Zonabend (eds.), A History of the Family. Vol. I. Distant Worlds, Ancient Worlds (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1996). De Ruiter, J., ‘Drie trends in het familierecht’, RM Themis 5 (1990), pp. 194-208. Duby, G., Ridder, vrouw en priester, 2nd edn. (Amsterdam: H.J.W. Becht, 1985). Freeman, M., ‘Austin Lecture: The Private and the Public’, in: D. Morgan and G. Douglas (eds.), Constituting Families: A Study in Governance (Stuttgart: Steiner, 1994), pp. 22-39. Gaunt, D. and L. Nystrom, ‘The Scandinavian Model’, in: A. Burguière, C. Klapisch-Zuber, M. Segalen and O. Zonabend (eds.), A History of the Family. Vol. II. The Impact of 81The general line of development of family law in East Europe is exactly the same as in the rest of the continent. Even the temporary contra -reform under Stalin is not completely without precedent. The Nazis just did not have enough time to implement their ideas about family law (see Glendon (1989), p. 175). The concept of ‘socialist’ family law is, in my view, not more than a remnant of the propaganda of the Soviet era (see Antokolskaia (1996), p. 640)