在傳統社會中，家庭擔負著各種重要的機能與任務。為了讓家庭發揮其機能並達成任務，無論在父母子女、夫妻、或其他親屬之間都存在著嚴格的倫理與道德的要求，並且往往在實際上帶有強大的拘束力。 這些要求有一部分透過法律的規定，形成了特定的法秩序。翻開刑法典，第十七章妨害婚姻及家庭罪之規定，正牽涉到一夫一妻制、夫妻間之貞潔義務、家庭監督權等家庭秩序的基本議題；除此之外，從其他條文中也可以看出刑法為了確保家庭成員間之倫理關係所做的規定，例如272條殺直系血親尊親屬罪等等。 透過整體的檢討，我們發現刑法對於親屬間財產犯罪（如竊盜等）採取寬容的態度，以維護家庭和諧為優先考量；對於親屬間之暴力犯罪卻積極介入，單方面地加重對於行為人（卑親屬）之處罰，帶有濃厚的長尊幼卑色彩；對於婚姻關係，則偏重於強調夫妻間的性忠誠、以及形式上的一夫一妻制，且刑罰之介入經常有害於家庭和諧，對婚姻之維護欠缺實質的效果。刑罰在這三方面顯現出態度的不一致，且違背現代社會尊重個人尊嚴及平等的價值觀。 鑑於現代家庭關係之自由以及型態之多樣化，刑法維持家庭秩序的切入點，應該由以往對家庭內倫理道德的要求，落實為保護家庭中的弱者，而對於家庭關係的修復，應發展多元的解決方案，而非過度依賴刑罰。

The family morals are of vital importance in social order maintenance in the traditional society. Strict ethics and moral requests, regardless of in the parents and children, the husbands and wives, or between other relatives, in fact have formidable binding force. This paper discovers that the traditional family morals have been reflected in the Criminal Law. Chapter 17 of the Penal Code stipulates the penalty of hindrance to marriage and family, including crimes related to the violation of monogyny, the chaste duty, and the family supervisory authority. The Criminal Law has other articles approving the ethical relationship between the family members, such as section 272--the crime of killing elder linear relatives by blood. This paper analyses the regulation under the Criminal Law in terms of its underlying assumptions and possible effectiveness. The Criminal Law has a tolerant manner regarding the property crime among the family, taking family harmony as central to consider; to the contrary, crime of violence to the elder linear relatives by blood always leads to severe penalty. When regarding the marital relations maintenance, it appears to place a disproportionate emphasis on sexual relations, although punishment used to be counterproductive to marriage. To sum up, the system estabilished by the Criminal Law shows inconsistency in these three aspects, and is against the value of individual dignity and equality in modern society. This paper suggests that the Criminal Law should change its role from maintaining traditional morals to protecting weak persons in domestic relationships. Besides, we also suggest developing alternative dispute resolution (such as the intimate Abuse Circles) as a way of repairing familiar relationship, at the same time avoiding excessively relying on punishment.