Abstract
The legal regulation of the maintenance obligation between spouses (cf. § 697) needs to be set in the broader framework of the spouses' personal-property rights and obligations, which together constitute the content of the marriage. As is also clear from the applicable law, the main purpose of marriage is, among others, mutual support and assistance (§ 655 in fine).
The systematic classification of the maintenance obligation between spouses in the Civil Code (i.e. Part Two, Title I, Chapter 4, on the duties and rights of spouses) reflects the specific nature of this obligation arising precisely from the economic and social function of marriage, as a socially and legally institutionalised cohabitation of two persons.
The maintenance obligation between spouses thus takes precedence over other maintenance obligations, thus, it precedes the maintenance obligation of children (as it is also preceded by maintenance obligation between registered partners, cf. § 10(3) of the Act on Registered Partnership), as well as of parents. However, this obligation does not arise (even by analogy) between unmarried partners (couples).