When there are "justified reasons" for the change of the last name, in the light of the Peruvian jurisprudential formant?BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES Comment on this news access to comment as a user

The name is the individualizing personalization of the human being (Peré Raluy, 1962, p. 511).According to Pereira (2004), the name is a designative element of the individual and factor of their identification in society, the name integrates personality, individualizes the person and indicates roughly their family origin (p. 243).

Conforme a lo previsto en el artículo 29 del Código Civil¹, el nombre se rige por un principio de inmutabilidad, admitiéndose la posibilidad de su variación, sólo cuando existan “motivos justificados”. Usualmente, dicho cambio ha sido analizado, desde el formante doctrinal y jurisprudencial, en el caso del “prenombre”; mas no se ha incidido sobre la posibilidad de efectuar la modificación de los apellidos, situación que nos encargamos de estudiarlo en un trabajo anterior².

The surname - together with the pre -map - is an important component of the name that indicates the affiliation of the person.It is, in the opinion of the Mazaud (1959), "the vocative with which all family members are designated" (p. 101).Surnames are not chosen, they are imposed by affiliation.This determines them and through it is transmitted to the descendants who carry it according to their origin, from generation to generation, and not as heirs (Orgaz, 1961, p. 199).

Naturally, as such, even when the last name is governed by a principle of immutability, its change or variation is viable.In our opinion, although article 29 of the Civil Code does not textually recognize the expression "surname", we have no doubt that it is included in the function that the aforementioned provision intends to fulfill, especially when the last name is a natural component of theCivil name.

This is corroborated when the same article establishes that "[the change or addition of the name reaches, if it is the case, to the spouse and the minor children."That is, the change of the surname of the interested party -sustained in a “justified reason” -could lead to the variation of his spouse, as well as his children.In that context, the fact that the last name has been displaced by the pseudonym, when the last name holds a burlesque character or when it had been dishonored.

Sin embargo, nuestra jurisprudencia ha advertido también como un supuesto a tener en consideración los casos en los que el apellido conlleva a discriminación y a causar insultos a su titular, afectando el rol de identificación que ostenta. Así, ha procedido el cambio de apellido de “Quipe” por “Vidal”³, de “Huamán” a “Valencia”⁴, de “Mamani P” a “P Mamani”⁵, entre otros.

The use of the last name must be oriented to identify and individualize a natural person.It cannot constitute an affectation of the fundamental rights to identity, physical, psychic and moral integrity, to the free development and well -being of the person, or the principle of best interest when they are minors.

In the case of an undetermined concept (“justified reasons”) corresponds to the judge to determine, in the light of the specific case, if a attendable cause concurs, as could be that situation in which the last name has become a symbol of humiliation or contempt against itsheadline.The judge's work is crucial, since it allows to build a criterion with respect to other cases, which can be “justified motifs”, in which the change of last name is also viable.

Certainly, since the integrity of the family is the subject of protection by the State, it must be understood that the homogeneity of the surnames in the family is, in principle, the desirable, notwithstanding that the right to the particular identity is recognizedof each of its members.The common thing is that all members of the family nucleus contain surnames that link them to each other (Howell Blanco, 2013, p. 147).

Therefore, it is understood that when any of the parents legally use the modification of their surnames, such a mutation will necessarily derive in an affectation of the surnames of their minor children, as can be seen from the provisions of article 29 of the Civil Code.

(*) Marco Andrei Torres Maldonado is a lawyer for the National University of San Marcos.Candidate for Master in Civil Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.Specialization course in contracts and damage at the University of Salamanca.Research stay at the Autonomous University of Madrid and Pontifical Javeriana University.Head of Civil Law Practices at the University of Lima and the National University of San Marcos.Associated with the Rodríguez Angobaldo Abogados studio.

¹Artículo 29.- Nadie puede cambiar su nombre ni hacerle adiciones, salvo por motivos justificados y mediante autorización judicial, debidamente publicada e inscrita. El cambio o adición del nombre alcanza, si fuere el caso, al cónyuge y a los hijos menores de edad.

²Cfr. Herrera Arana & Torres Maldonado (2017, p. 193-202).

³Sentencia recaída en el Expediente Nº 01476-2016-0-0401-JR-CI-02, de fecha 21 de noviembre de 2016, expedida por el Segundo Juzgado Especializado en lo Civil de la Corte Superior de Justicia de Arequipa.

⁴Sentencia recaída en el Expediente Nº 00100-2012-0-0401-JR-CI-03, de fecha 30 de julio del 2012, expedida por el Tercer Juzgado Especializado en lo Civil de la Corte Superior de Justicia de Arequipa.

⁵Sentencia recaída en el Expediente N° 00008-2012-0-2301-JM-CI-01, de fecha 03 de agosto del 2012, expedida por el Juzgado Mixto-MBJ Alto de la Alianza de la Corte Superior de Justicia de Arequipa.

Herrera Arana, P., & Torres Maldonado, M. (octubre de 2017). ¿Es viable el cambio de apellidos en el Perú. Gaceta Civil & Procesal Civil(52).

Howell Blanco, M. (2013).The change of surnames by the will of the holder and the determination of his order by decision of the parents.San José: University of Costa Rica.

Mazeaud, H., Mazeaud, L., & Mazeaud, J. (1959). Lecciones de Derecho Civil (Tomo I, Vol. 1). (L. Alcalá Zamora, Trad.) Buenos Aires: Ediciones Jurídicas Europa-América.

Orgaz, A. (1961).Individual people (2nd ed.).Córdoba: Assandri.

Peré Raluy, J. (1962).Civil Registry Law (Volume I).Madrid: Aguilar.

Pereira, C. M. (2004).Institutuições de Direito Civil (20th ed., Vol. 1).Rio de Janeiro: Forensic.