The constitutional court in Italy today ruled against legislation that automatically gives a child of a married couple their father’s last name.
The legislation which set out to automatically make every child take their paternal surname, however, lawyers argued setting this precedent was discriminatory towards women.
“The court has declared the unlawfulness of rules providing for the automatic attribution of the paternal surname to legitimate children, when the parents wish otherwise,” the court said in a statement.
The case began when a couple wanted to give their son both their last names but were rejected by Italian authorities.
The legislation was previously knocked by the European Court Of Human Rights saying it was incompatible with the principle of gender equality that the country embraced.
"The Constitutional Court has taken a decision of great importance for our society," said campaigner, MP Fabrizia Giuliani according the BBC.
"The senate no longer has any excuse for not abolishing this anachronism and giving women their right in this matter."
