Law Commons^™

Getting The Whole Truth And Nothing But The Truth: The Limits Of Liability For Wrongful Adoption, Marianne Blair

Marianne Blair

No abstract provided.

Removing Violent Parents From The Home: A Test Case For The Public Health Approach, Robin Fretwell Wilson

Robin Fretwell Wilson

Child services caseworkers adhere to the belief that, in the absence of prosecution, the only remedy for protecting a child harmed by a parent is to remove the child from her home. The effect of this often is to leave the alleged perpetrator in the household with the victim's siblings. Using sexual violence as an example, this Comment contends the evidence of potential risk for the remaining children is so overwhelming that, as a matter of policy, an adult who violates one child should be removed from the household. Parents who commit incest rarely stop with one child. Ignoring such …

The Overlooked Costs Of Religious Deference, Robin Fretwell Wilson

Robin Fretwell Wilson

Citing the Qur'an, a German divorce court judge this year denied a fast track divorce to a Muslim woman who had been the victim of domestic violence and death threats from her husband. The judge rejected her application because the husband's exercise of his "right to castigate does not fulfill the hardship criteria" for an expedited divorce. The decision, which sparked a firestorm of controversy, comes at an important time in the movement to embrace pluralistic understandings of family relationships. Scholars and policymakers around the world are advancing various schemes for sharing state control over domestic disputes with religious groups-ranging …

The Overlooked Costs Of Religious Deference, Robin Fretwell Wilson

Robin Fretwell Wilson

Citing the Qur'an, a German divorce court judge this year denied a fast track divorce to a Muslim woman who had been the victim of domestic violence and death threats from her husband. The judge rejected her application because the husband's exercise of his "right to castigate does not fulfill the hardship criteria" for an expedited divorce. The decision, which sparked a firestorm of controversy, comes at an important time in the movement to embrace pluralistic understandings of family relationships. Scholars and policymakers around the world are advancing various schemes for sharing state control over domestic disputes with religious groups-ranging …

Derecho Civil Constitucional Y Violencia Familiar, Silvia Roxana Sotomarino

Silvia Roxana Sotomarino

This article refers to a case in which the alleged victim family is not the woman, being evidenced in the appeal N ° 2350 - 2012-LIMA how forced the system to establish a psychological abuse that is not based on fundamental tests, criticizing the author has extended this process even though it lacked of evidences, affecting other serious cases in which there is no doubt the physical and psychological abuse, and they tend to be resolved with more delay and faulty way.

Theorizing History: Separate Spheres, The Public/Private Binary And A New Analytic For Family Law History, Danaya C. Wright

Danaya C. Wright

There is an extensive scholarship on separate spheres, the public/private binary, and family history that reveals a nuanced understanding of the interconnections and constructedness of these metaphors and rubrics traditionally used in family law history. In exploring the current understandings and limitations of these subjects as analytics for doing my own history of English family law, I turn to Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo’s critique that we limit our subjects and reinforce power differentials when we use a lens of difference in our scholarship. I first explore the lessons learned about the enduring nature of separate spheres and the power imbalances of …

Amicus Brief In "Obergefell V. Hodges", Tanya M. Washington, Catherine Smith, Lauren Fontana, Susannah Pollvogt

Tanya Monique Washington

Supreme Court precedent establishes that the government may not punish children for matters beyond their control. Same-sex marriage bans and non-recognition laws (“marriage bans”) do precisely this. The states argue that marriage is good for children, yet marriage bans categorically exclude an entire class of children – children of same-sex couples – from the legal, economic and social benefits of marriage.

This amicus brief recounts a powerful body of equal protection jurisprudence that prohibits punishing children to reflect moral disapproval of parental conduct or to incentivize adult behavior. We then explain that marriage bans punish children of same-sex couples because …

The Productivity Of Wh- Prompts In Child Forensic Interviews, Elizabeth C, Ahern, Samantha J. Andrews, Stacia N. Stolzenberg, Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

Child witnesses are often asked wh- prompts (what, how, why, who, when, where) in forensic interviews. However, little research has examined the ways in which children respond to different wh- prompts and no previous research has investigated productivity differences among wh- prompts in investigative interviews. This study examined the use and productivity of wh- prompts in 95 transcripts of 4- to 13-year-olds alleging sexual abuse in child investigative interviews. What-how questions about actions elicited the most productive responses during both the rapport building and substantive phases. Future research and practitioner training should consider distinguishing among different wh- prompts.

Federal Visions Of Private Family Support, Laura A. Rosenbury

Laura A. Rosenbury

This Article offers a new perspective on the relationship between family and federalism by analyzing why the government — whether state or federal — recognizes family at all. The Article examines the current balance between state and federal authority over family by reviewing the Supreme Court’s recent decisions in Astrue v. Capato, upholding the Social Security Administration’s deference to states’ intestacy laws when distributing benefits to posthumously conceived children, and United States v. Windsor, in which the Court struck down a provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. Although each decision affirmed the states’ primary role in defining family …

Rights And Realities, Laura A. Rosenbury

Laura A. Rosenbury

The author responds to Melissa Murray's article, The Networked Family: Reframing the Legal Understanding of Caregiving and Caregivers, 94 Va. L. Rev. 385 (2008).

Two Ways To End A Marriage: Divorce Or Death, Laura A. Rosenbury

Laura A. Rosenbury

Default rules governing property distribution at divorce and death are often identified as one of the primary benefits of marriage. This Article examines these default rules in all fifty states, exposing the ways property distribution differs depending on whether the marriage ends by divorce or death. The result is often counter-intuitive: in most states, a spouse is likely to receive more property if her marriage ends by divorce than if the marriage lasts until "death do us part." This difference can be explained in part by the choices of feminist activists over the past thirty-five years: feminists played a large …

Friends With Benefits, Laura A. Rosenbury

Laura A. Rosenbury

Family law has long been intensely interested in certain adult intimate relationships, namely marriage and marriage-like relationships, and silent about other adult intimate relationships, namely friendship. This Article examines the effects of that focus, illustrating how it frustrates one of the goals embraced by most family law scholars over the past forty years: the achievement of gender equality, within the family and without. Part I examines the current scope of family law doctrine and scholarship, highlighting the ways that the home is still the organizing structure for family. Despite calls for increased legal recognition of diverse families, few scholars have …

Breaking Forever Families, Andrea B. Carroll

Andrea Beauchamp Carroll

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Effects Of Feminist Legal Research: Looking Critically At "Failure" And "Success", Lisa Philipps

Lisa Philipps

No abstract provided.

Choices And Commitments For Women: Challenging The Supreme Court Of Canada In The Context Of Social Assitance, Mary Jane Mossman

Mary Jane Mossman

No abstract provided.

The Process Geography Of Law (As Approached Through Andalucian Gitano Family Law), Susan G. Drummond

Susan G. Drummond

Comparative law and legal anthropology have for long theorized on the basis of a traditional geography which saw states, regions, locales and social fields as having durable boundaries containing stable and homogenous cultures. This idea of place is now undergoing a massive transformation in response to the effects of and theories about globalization. The emerging ‘process geography’ rejects these traditional ideas, arguing that they are not, and indeed have never been aspects of reality, which is better represented by an imagery of processes. However, it is argued here that globalization is not a synonym for homogenization, nor has place suddenly …

Polygam's Inscrutable Criminal Mischief, Susan G. Drummond

Susan G. Drummond

The polygamy charges laid in the settlement of Bountiful, British Columbia, in January 2009, give rise to questions about the particular mischief of the polygamy offence in section 293 of Canada's Criminal Code. This article argues that, as a result of developments within related areas of law, polygamy's mischief under the current wording of the section is virtually inscrutable. When used, this section has principally served as a mechanism to discipline socially and politically marginalized groups. Developments in family law over the last forty years have generated a host of exceptions to the application of the polygamy section, including religious …

¿Puede Un Infiel «Agraviado» Demandar Por Violencia Familiar Psicológica Porque Su Mujer Le Gritó Y Lo Echó Del Hogar Conyugal Al Encontrarlo In Fraganti Con Su Amante?, Marco Andrei Torres Maldonado

Marco Andrei Torres Maldonado

No abstract provided.

Openness In International Adoption, Malinda L. Seymore

Malinda L. Seymore

After a long history of secrecy in domestic adoption in the United States, there is a robust trend toward openness. That is, however, not the case with international adoption. The recent growth in international adoption has been spurred, at least in part, by the desire of adoptive parents to return to closed, confidential adoptions where the identity of the birth mother is secret and there is no ongoing contact with her. There is, however, an emergent interest in increased openness in international adoption, spurred by the success of domestic open adoptions, health concerns when an adoptee's genetic history is important, …

Sexual Orientation Of Fatherhood, Dara Purvis

Dara Purvis

In this Article, I examine how same-sex fathers affect the perception of heterosexual caretaking fathers - and by extension, could affect the perception of heterosexual non-caretaking mothers. I conclude that gay stay-at-home fathers offer a provocative opportunity to broaden societal views of men and caregiving more generally, and argue that greater recognition of parents who counteract gender stereotypes - even where the recognition might arguably lessen women's rights in family law - ultimately helps women as well as children and nontraditional parents. Part I discusses fathers, particularly stay-at-home fathers, the practical problems fathers face combining work and caregiving responsibilities, and …

Intended Parents And The Problem Of Perspective, Dara Purvis

Dara Purvis

When asked to identify the legal parents of a child, traditional family law principles look backwards in time, primarily to biology and to marriage. People using assisted reproductive technologies such as surrogacy, however, seek to manifest their intent to become parents with a forward-looking temporal perspective, before a child is conceived and born. Of the existing doctrines used to identify parentage – marital presumption, biology, functional theories, and intent – only intent facilitates a forward-looking perspective. Intent through time, however, is not treated consistently. A woman, for example, may donate an egg, and may place a baby up for adoption, …

The Origin Of Parental Rights: Labor, Intent, And Fathers, Dara Purvis

Dara Purvis

Most theories of parentage fail to explain the genesis of the right to parent - for example, why does a biological relationship generate parental rights? This Article shows that the law of parental rights mirrors theories of acquiring property, and that the law has shifted over time, from favoring a property right based in genetics to a Lockean theory of property rights earned through labor. The growth of Lockean labor-based theories is epitomized in reforms to parentage laws that incorporate functional theories of parenting, meaning that adults who perform caretaking work that creates a significant relationship with children are recognized …

Uncontested Divorces In New York: Tips For Attorneys And The Self-Represented, Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits

No abstract provided.

The Hague Convention And Domestic Violence: Proposals For Balancing The Policies Of Discouraging Child Abduction And Protecting Children From Domestic Violence, Shani M. King

Shani M. King

The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Convention) was enacted in response to a pattern of parental abduction across international borders to thwart or preempt custody arrangements in one country and seek a more advantageous setting for litigating custody issues in another. Consequently, the Convention was designed to discourage the abduction of children across international borders and to encourage respect for custody and access arrangements in countries from which children were abducted. To implement the Convention, the United States enacted the International Child Abduction Remedies Act (ICARA) on April 29, 1988. Much has been written …

Book Review: Fifty Years In Family Law: Essays For Stephen Cretney (Rebecca Probert & Chris Barton Eds. 2012), Nancy E. Dowd

Nancy Dowd

This collection honors the life and work of Stephen Cretney, the preeminent British scholar of family law. For those wanting an entry point into British family law, this is a wonderful volume. For those who know it well and admire the work of Stephen Cretney, as well as the work of this preeminent group of scholars, it will also be of much value as a remarkable group of essays. As an example of life's work that we all might hope to achieve, in many manifestations, but with dedication to the common good, it is a model to which we all …

Fathers And The Supreme Court: Founding Fathers And Nuturing Fathers, Nancy E. Dowd

Nancy Dowd

This article critiques the Supreme Court's negative, stereotypic views of fatherhood, especially unmarried fatherhood, and argues that the Court should reconsider and refine its definition of fatherhood around nurture. The corrective for the Court's current view is not to revert to a status-based definition of fatherhood, but rather to reinforce and recast its prior fathers' rights decisions to establish a definition grounded on relationship and care. What should be discarded are outdated stereotypes about men as incapable, incompetent caregivers, as well as patriarchal norms of status and ownership based in genetic and economic fatherhood recognized exclusively within marriage. Instead, fatherhood …

¿Amores En Crisis O Crisis En El Amor? La Tutela Al Conviviente Perjudicado Tras La Ruptura De Una Unión De Hecho, Marco Andrei Torres Maldonado

Marco Andrei Torres Maldonado

No abstract provided.

A Postcolonial Theory Of Spousal Rape: The Carribean And Beyond, Stacy-Ann Elvy

Stacy-Ann Elvy

Many postcolonial states in the Caribbean continue to struggle to comply with their international treaty obligations to protect women from sexual violence. Reports from various United Nations programs, including UNICEF, and the annual U.S. State Department Country Reports on Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, and Saint Lucia (“Commonwealth Countries”), indicate that sexual violence against women, including spousal abuse, is a significant problem in the Caribbean. Despite ratification of various international instruments intended to eliminate sexual violence against women, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Commonwealth Countries have retained the …

Currency Of Love: Customary International Law And The Battle For Same-Sex Marriage In The United States, 14 U. Pa. J.L. & Soc. Change 53 (2011), Sonia Bychkov Green

Sonia Bychkov Green

No abstract provided.

Twilight: The Unveiling Of Victims, Stalking, And Domestic Violence, 21 Cardozo J. L. & Gender 39 (2014), Susan L. Brody

Susan L. Brody

No abstract provided.