A Jurisprudential Analysis of the Necessity to Revise Clause 3 of Article 18 of the Passport Law Concerning Elite Women

Document Type : Original/ Research Article

Author
mahdiyeh ghanizadeh
Assistant Professor, Department of Jurisprudence and Foundations of Islamic Law, University of Qom, Qom, Iran
10.30497/flj.2025.247715.2137
Abstract
Clause 3 of Article 18 of the Iranian Passport Law mandates that all married women require their husband's consent in order to receive a passport and to leave the country. While this legal provision applies generally, it has disproportionately impacted a particular segment of society—namely, elite women—by imposing undue restrictions which have had adverse for society as a whole. In light of the need to assess the feasibility of amending this law with respect to elite women, and given the jurisprudential basis of statutory laws in the Islamic Republic of Iran, this paper adopts a descriptive-analytical approach to examine the social imperatives for revisiting Clause 3 of Article 18. The findings reveal the necessity to revised the aforementioned law regarding elite women from several jurisprudential and social perspectives: first from the perspective of the obligation of travel, second, from the perspective of conditions and changing the requirements of the time; third, from the application of secondary jurisprudential principles (ʿunwānāt al-thānawiyya); Fourth from the precedence of public welfare over individual procedural formalities. Based on these considerations, the paper proposes that, for elite women, a temporary travel permit can be issued as an alternative to a standard passport. Such a permit would eliminate the requirement for spousal consent and limit the scope of travel strictly to participation in designated international events, thereby ensuring both legal compliance and practical flexibility.



Considering the necessity of assessing the feasibility of amending and revising this law in relation to elite women, and given the jurisprudential basis of statutory laws in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the present article, using a descriptive-analytical method, addresses the social imperatives of revisiting Paragraph 3 of Article 18 of the Passport Law as it pertains to elite women.



The findings of this research indicate that the necessity of revising the mentioned law with regard to elite women can be examined from several perspectives: first, from the perspective of travel as a religious obligation; second, from the viewpoint of changing circumstances over time; third, considering the application of secondary legal principles; and fourth, in terms of prioritizing public interest.



Therefore, with respect to this group of women, it seems more appropriate that instead of a passport, a temporary travel document be issued—one that, on the one hand, does not require the formalities of passport issuance such as spousal consent, and on the other hand, due to its short-term validity, merely enables participation in the specific international event in question.
Keywords
Elite women
international travel
passport law
husband's consent
Islamic jurisprudence
Subjects
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Biannual Journal of Family Law And Jurisprudence
Volume 31, Issue 84
March 2026
Pages 195-213