Law Commons^™

Family Law Disputes Between International Couples In U.S. Courts, Rhonda Wasserman

Articles

Increasing mobility, migration, and growing numbers of international couples give rise to a host of family law issues. For instance, when marital partners are citizens of different countries, or live outside the country of which they are citizens, or move between countries, courts must first determine if they have jurisdiction to hear divorce or child custody actions. Given that countries around the world are governed by different legal regimes, such as the common law system, civil codes, religious law, and customary law, choice of law questions also complicate family litigation. This short article addresses the jurisdictional and other conflicts issues …

Equity In American And Jewish Law, Itzchak E. Kornfeld , Ph.D.

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

In The Right Direction, Family Diversity In The Inter-American System Of Human Rights, Macarena Sáez

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This Article argues that the Inter-American System of Human Rights has contributed to a family system that embraces gender equality and non-heterosexual and gender non-conforming families. It argues that the system had, from its inception, an expansive idea of the family that included associations outside marriage. This was the basis for a robust development of the concepts of equality and non-discrimination by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Although the IACtHR has only decided a handful of cases related to the non-heterosexual family, its rich case law on equality and the right to …

In The Right Direction, Family Diversity In The Inter-American System Of Human Rights, Macarena Sáez

Macarena Saez

Shari'ah Law As National Security Threat?, Cyra Akila Choudhury

Akron Law Review

The Article proceeds in three parts: in Part II, the Article describes three anti-shari’ah measures. It describes Oklahoma’s Save Our State amendment to show how these laws target Islam. It also reviews the recent decision by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the grant of a preliminary injunction against the certification of Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment. It then describes Arizona’s law that targets shari’ah as well as other legal traditions. It also examines the original version of the Tennessee bill to illustrate the motivations behind the revised, watered down version that was eventually passed by the legislature. Part II concludes …

Same-Sex Couples - Comparative Insights On Marriage And Cohabitation, Macarena Sáez

Books

This book shows six different realities of same-sex families. They range from full recognition of same-sex marriage to full invisibility of gay and lesbian individuals and their families. The broad spectrum of experiences presented in this book share some commonalities: in all of them legal scholars and civil society are moving legal boundaries or thinking of spaces within rigid legal systems for same-sex families to function. In all of them there have been legal claims to recognize the existence of same-sex families. The difference between them lies in the response of courts. Regardless of the type of legal system, when …

What Do You Do When They Don't Say "I Do"? Cross-Border Regulation For Alternative Spousal Relationships, Sharon Shakargy

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Marriage is a local arrangement with international effects. Throughout the Western world, a marriage recognized as valid by the parties' home country is usually considered valid and binding in any other country. This recognition carries substantial benefits. In sharp contrast, unwed couples and some married couples, namely same-sex couples, are denied these benefits due to lack of (sufficient) inter-state and international recognition of their relationships, making their relationships unstable at best. This Article discusses the cross-border recognition of such relationships--or lack thereof--and its effects, and it suggests a way to better the situation using private law tools, thus avoiding much …

The Right To No: The Crime Of Marital Rape, Women's Human Rights, And International Law, Melanie Randall, Vasanthi Venkatesh

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

More than half of the world’s countries do not explicitly criminalize sexual assault in marriage. While sexual assault in general is criminalized in these countries, sexual assault perpetrated by a spouse is entirely legal. The human rights violations inhere in acts of violence against women are now well recognized. Yet somehow marital rape is a particular form of gendered violence that has escaped both criminal law sanctions and human rights approbation in a great number of the world’s nations.

This silence in the law creates legal impunity for men who sexually assault or rape the women who are their wives …

Saving Face: Acid Attack Laws After The U.N. Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women, Lisa M. Taylor

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

National Report: Spain, Carlos Martínez De Aguirre Aldaz, Pedro De Pablo Contreras

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Citizenship And Marriage In A Globalizing World: Multicultural Families And Monocultural Nationality Laws In Korea And Japan, Erin Aeran Chung, Daisy Kim

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This Article analyzes how individual and local attempts to address low fertility rates in Korea and Japan have prompted unprecedented reforms in monocultural nationality laws. Korea and Japan confront rapidly declining working-age population projections; yet, they have prohibited the immigration of unskilled workers, until recently in Korea's case, on the claim that their admission would threaten social cohesion. Over the past two decades, both countries have made only incremental reforms to their immigration policies that fall short of alleviating labor shortages and the fiscal burdens of maintaining a large elderly population. Instead, prompted by the growth of so-called multicultural families …

Of Wife And The Domestic Servant In The Arab World, Lama Abu-Odeh

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The author asserts to avoid common misunderstandings on the relevance of Sharia to modern women in the Arab World that a) Shari’s relevance to the lives of modern women in the Arab World has been largely confined to the area of family law, b) in the modern nation state Sharia has been codified, i.e., certain rules derived from Islamic jurisprudence on the family have been selected and passed as laws, each nation state having its own unique combination of such rules, c) the courts and the judges who adjudicate disputes on family law are either secular courts/judges, or judges trained …

National Report: Canada, Marie-France Bureau

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

International Human Rights Law And Co-Parent Adoption, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Children would benefit substantially if governments legally recognized same sex marriages and parenting. This article analyzes international human rights law, co-parent adoption, and the recognition of gay and lesbian families. It addresses civil marriage and adoption challenges for same sex families and assesses European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence relating to same-sex adoption. This article considers the international community's efforts to implement the best interest of the child standard concluding that recognition of same sex families is in the best interest of the child and should be facilitated in a timely manner by jurisdictions at all levels.

Transgender Theory: Reprogramming Our Automated Settings, Marybeth Herald

Marybeth Herald

Over the course of the last few decades, both law and society have struggled to deprogram unhelpful and downright destructive gender stereotypes that are ubiquitous in our everyday existence. It has not been an easy task, nor entirely successful on either the legal or cultural front. Laws that prohibit gender discrimination, such as Title VII, have helped end overt discrimination. The next phase involves the challenging problem of unconscious bias, which often effectively keeps us treading the same mental paths while bypassing any roads not traveled.

It is not surprising then that when the validity of even the basic categories …

Profitable Proposals: Explaining And Addressing The Mail-Order Bride Industry Through International Human Rights Law, Vanessa Brocato

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article looks at the MOBI in the United States through the lens of international human rights. Part II will describe the MOBI. Part III will evaluate the MOBI within an international human rights framework. Part IV will examine current U.S. legislation relating to the MOBI. Part V suggests strategies for addressing the MOBI. Nations will not be able to solve the problem independently because the MOBI is a transnational phenomenon. Conducting a critique of marriage brokers in a human rights context can help place problems caused by the MOBI at the forefront of international debate. Applying current human rights …

Post-Colonialism, Gender, And Customary Injustice: Widows In African Societies, Uche Ewelukwa

Uche Ewelukwa

By amending discriminatory laws and practices related to the treatment of widows in Africa, widows can gain new rights based on evolving international human rights standards on equality. In Nigeria, both common law and statutes perpetuate discrimination against widows by subjecting them to dehumanizing treatment. The current laws ignore the deep social changes that have been present in Africa since the onset of colonialism. Due to the piecemeal way in which African legal systems were constructed, patently discriminatory laws are routinely upheld by the courts. This is done despite constitutional provisions espousing the principles of equality and non-discrimination, thereby creating …

Save The Marriage Before (Not After) The Ceremony: The Marriage Preparation Act - Can We Have A Public Response To A Private Problem?, Lundy Langston

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

New Legislation In Germany Concerning Same-Sex Unions, Stephen Ross Levitt

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

Various forms of legal recognition have been given to same-sex spousal relations in many nations of the European Union.

The Road To Recognition And Application Of The Fundamental Constitutional Right To Marry Of Sexual Minorities In The United States, The Netherlands, And Hungary: A Comparative Legal Study, Marilyn Sanchez-Osorio

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

The scope of this work is to shed some light on the vigorously debated and delicate subject of same-sex marriages, as well as to review how some countries have reached the point of recognition and application of the legal rights that homosexual individuals have within this global society.

The Mail-Order Bride Industry And Immigration: Combating Immigration Fraud, Amy Elson

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

Marriage, Property &(And) The Affective Family, Lloyd Bonfield

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

The Revision Of The Treaties Of Montevideo On The Law Of Conflicts, Ernst Rabel

Michigan Law Review

In its issue of July 1940, the Revista Juridica Argentina of Buenos Aires has published the new "Tratados de Derecho Internacional Privado" of Montevideo concluded in 1939 and 1940. We are grateful to this review for apprising us of a significant event in the field of international codification.

Conflict Of Laws-Renvoi Doctrine

Michigan Law Review

H, an Englishman, married W in England. On separation H acquired a domicil in Germany. A child was thereafter born to Y, a woman with whom H was living in Germany. H subsequently divorced W in Germany and married Y. Whether the child was legitimate determined whether H had validly exercised a power of appointment in an English settlement. Held, legitimacy is to be determined by the law of the domicil, including its rules of private international law. Germany, referring the matter to English law, found a remittance which Germany accepted and applied German municipal law. The child, by …

Book Reviews

Michigan Law Review

A collection of book reviews by multiple authors.