La circoncision rituelle en droit belge

Christians, Louis-Léon [UCL] Delgrange, Xavier [FUSL] Lerouxel, Hélène [FUSL]

The chapter analyses, in a comparative law and interdisciplinary way,the status of jewish and muslim circumcision in Belgian Law. Differing from Sweden or Germany, Belgium has no specific legal norms about religious circumcisions. Nevertheless, a proportionnaly high number of cases have adressed this ritual, as a right or as a problem. The chapter analyses this case law, and develops a more conceptual analysis through the study of some conceptual analogies used by judges (like tatoo or percing)and also their uncertainty towards medical appraisal of ritual medical acts. Finally, the chapter concludes that the main permanent approach is a pragmatical one : training, dialogue, compromise instead of prohibition.