Erik Mägi
About Erik Mägi
About Erik Mägi
Erik Mägi is a PhD candidate in Private Law at the University of Gothenburg. He researches the legal framework of parenthood in the context of the diversity of family formations. His dissertation project examines how the establishment of legal parenthood, particularly motherhood, has evolved within norms and exceptions – meaning, how legislation regulates who is considered a parent so that certain types of parenthood are seen as the norm while others are seen as exceptions or even non-existent.
Erik teaches family law, labor law, and anti-discrimination law. He has published a textbook on family law as well as articles on the legal parenthood of transgender individuals and critical perspectives on legal education. Erik is an active participant in public discourse and has previously worked as a lawyer within the ideologically driven civil society.
Research
Erik Mägi's dissertation project explores how the law determines who is considered a parent, with a particular focus on motherhood. Legislation on parenthood has been expanded in recent decades to include more forms of parenthood and ways of becoming a parent. Despite this, the traditional main rules have been maintained, while reforms have been implemented as additions and exceptions. The starting point of the legislation is that parenthood arises between a married woman and man, assuming that the child has been conceived through intercourse within the marriage. Today, these rules only cover a minority of the children born.
Erik highlights how the majority of parenthoods are handled through more complex exception rules. This applies to children with unmarried parents, same-sex parents, adoptive parents, transgender individuals, and parenthood through assisted reproduction. Some forms of parenthood, such as more than two parents, are excluded from the legislation. This discrepancy contradicts the legislators' own perceptions of the best interests of the child.
The main rule for motherhood is still not legislated but is based on the so-called "mater est" principles from ancient Roman law: "It is always certain who is the mother" because "She who gives birth to the child is the mother." This principle has become increasingly incorrect and simplified compared to legal rules that deal with uncertain motherhood, egg donation, surrogacy arrangements, and fatherhood for men who give birth. By introducing new rules as exceptions, the norm about legal motherhood has continued to dominate. The law portrays motherhood as an obvious biological question, which provides a simplified view of motherhood.
Patterns of norms and exceptions mean that different family constellations are covered by different rules for similar situations. Despite extensive reforms, the legislation still maintains discrimination related to gender (gender, sexuality, and gender identity) and family relations (relationship status and family constellations). These factors interact and reinforce each other.
Despite complex legislation, parenthood today is based on a few actual foundations: birth, marriage, origin of sperm, assisted reproduction, and suitability for adoption—or, on a more general level, the basic principles of the cause of the child's conception, status, intention, and interests. The dissertation aims to contribute to a discussion about who should be considered parents and how this can be determined in a suitable way.
The dissertation project, titled "Legal Motherhood in the Interplay between Certainty and Exception," has the principal supervisor Ulf Petrusson, Professor of Jurisprudence, with associate supervisors Torbjörn Odlöw, Senior Lecturer in Private Law, and Sari Kouvo, Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer in International Law. The project is funded by the Stiftelsen Fru Mary von Sydows, född Wijk, donation fund. A summary of Erik Mägi's research from 2020 is available on film, in Swedish.
Erik Mägi, together with Elin Jonsson, has published a legal article in Swedish on changed legal gender and legal parenthood.
Teaching and Pedagogy
Erik Mägi teaches family law, labor law, and anti-discrimination law at the LL.M. programme in Gothenburg. He has also taught at Stockholm University as well as on the social work and labor studies programs in Gothenburg.
Erik is the main author of the textbook Stjärnfamiljejuridik [Legal Regulation of Diverse Families] (Gleerups 2015), now freely available digitally. The book was awarded the Jörn Svensson Award in 2016 for work on LGBTQ rights. See an article in English about the book in the School of Business, Economics and Law magazine 2017.
Erik has conducted a critical review of practice examples on the Law Program in Gothenburg on behalf of the Department of Law. He has also written an article in English that summarizes and develops the report on the critical review: Lessons from a Study of Diversity and Equality in Legal Education.
Collaboration
Erik Mägi has also written referral opinions and been consulted as an expert in several governmental inquiries on parenthood. He has been appointed as an expert in the Swedish Government Official Reports Alla tiders föräldraskap (SOU 2022:38) – a strengthened protection for children's family life.
Erik Mägi has extensively participated in communicating his research to the wider community. He has lectured for, among others, the Swedish Ministry of Justice (Justitiedepartementet), the Judicial Academy (Domstolsakademin), the Equality Ombudsman (DO), RFSL (The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Rights), the Swedish Association for Transgender Health, and the Family Law Days (SFSR). He has also repeatedly lectured at libraries, for student associations, at the Science Festival in Gothenburg, and at Pride festivals across the country.
Erik Mägi has been active in public debate for several years. Previously, he worked as a policy expert at the Government Offices of Sweden and as a practicing lawyer in labor law and anti-discrimination law, mainly in the idea driven civil society. He has also served as the chair of the Doctoral Student Council at the Department of Law and as the convenor of the Climate Network for the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers.
Other
Erik Mägi participates in the following networks:
- Nordic Centre for Comparative and International Family Law (NorFam)
- Swedish Network for Family and Kinship Studies
- Family Law, Practices and Policies (FaMLAPP)
- Forskarnätverket för hållbar utveckling
- Familjepolitiska nätverket
External profiles and social media: