Abstract
The family is a fundamental institution with functions such as regulating sexual relations, fulfilling emotional needs, reproduction, and ensuring the continuity of human society. The establishment and sustainability of family life depend on an emotional relationship based on mutual consent between spouses. In this context, one spouse may, for various reasons, be dissatisfied with the physical appearance or bodily condition of the other and request the performance of a specific cosmetic surgery. The central question is whether such a request or demand can be realized under the Iranian legal system in light of legal, statutory, and contractual principles. This study, using a descriptive-analytical approach and examining the feasibility of requesting cosmetic surgery between spouses, demonstrates that, as a general rule, spouses cannot be legally compelled to undergo cosmetic surgery. The analysis of legal provisions such as marital obedience (tamkin), the husband’s authority (paterfamilias), and proper conduct (behaving reasonably in marital relationship) shows that these rules cannot serve as a legal basis for such a request by either spouse, unless a specific cosmetic surgery is explicitly stipulated as a conditional act (condition precedent) within the marriage contract or in an independent agreement. In such cases, provided that the conditions for validity—including possibility, legality, rational benefit, and absence of significant bodily harm—are met, enforcement can be pursued based on contractual principles and general rules of contract law.