Law Commons^™

Divorce Planning In Antenuptial Agreements: Toward A New Objectivity, Peter N. Swisher

Law Faculty Publications

Within the past fifty years, there have been numerous articles written about the validity and enforceability of antenuptial agreements. Such agreements are generally favored by the law when prospective spouses privately contract to vary, limit, or relinquish certain rights which they would otherwise acquire in each other's property or in each other's estate by reason of their impending marriage. Traditionally, this antenuptial agreement is typically made by older people who are about to be remarried, and who have acquired considerable property from a prior marriage that they wish to control.

However, unless the antenuptial agreement provisions fall squarely within this …

Constitutional Implications Of Parental Support Laws, Martin R. Levy, Sara W. Gross

University of Richmond Law Review

This article addresses the constitutionality of those statutes known as "parental support laws" or "relative support statutes" in light of the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. These statutes impose upon a person the duty to support an indigent parent or other impoverished relatives. This article focuses only on the statutory duty of children-under threat of punishment-to support indigent parents. In order to pass Constitutional muster under the requirements of the equal protection clause, there must be established at least a rational relationship between the class designated by the statute and the objective of …

Children's Rights: A Movement In Search Of Meaning, Stephen W. Bricker

University of Richmond Law Review

The children's rights movement is a unique phenomenon among the various "rights" efforts today. Nonetheless, it shares some superficial similarities with the other antildiscrimination movements. Children's rights, like those of blacks and women, concern the role of an identifiable segment of our society which has traditionally been placed at a legal and social disadvantage. The children's rights movement also espouses the reallocation of legal power as a means to correct this perceived imbalance. Further, it grew out of the same social currents, first apparent in the 1950's and 1960's, which produced the kindred civil rights efforts.

Federal Youth Corrections Act: The Continuing Charade, Wilfred J. Ritz

University of Richmond Law Review

No one will ever know, at least with any certainty, whether more harm than good has been done by the Federal Youth Corrections Act. The Act was enacted by Congress in 1950 upon the recommendation of a committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. The youth offenders who have benefited under YCA are those who have committed the most serious crimes, such as murder, robbery, and rape, and those with the longest records of serious criminal conduct. Because of the YCA, some of these dangerous offenders have received less severe sentences, and some have been released on parole …

The Revision Of Virginia's Juvenile Court Law, Lelia Baum Hopper, Frank M. Slayton

University of Richmond Law Review

Since 1899, the year in which the state of Illinois established a separate statutory framework for addressing the problems of children before the courts, the juvenile justice system has been struggling to establish its identity in the jurisprudence of the United States. The juvenile court laws of this country, including those of the Commonwealth of Virginia, have historically been based on the doctrine of "parens patriae", which is formally defined as the "sovereign power of guardianship over persons under disability."' According to this doctrine, the state, through the court system, can be trusted to fulfill its obligation with respect to …

Post-Parham Remedies: The Involuntary Commitment Of Minors In Virginia After Parham V. J.R., Willis J. Spaulding

University of Richmond Law Review

This case raises the most important question of every child's constitutional right to liberty, not only the liberty that includes freedom from bodily restraint [citation omitted], but also the liberty that includes the freedom of an ordinary, every-day child in these United States of America-the freedom to live with mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters in whatever the family abode may be; the freedom to be loved and to be spanked; the freedom to go in and oat the door, to run and play, to laugh and cry, to fight and fuss, to stand up and fall down, to play childish …

A Family Court For Virginia, Frederick P. Aucamp

University of Richmond Law Review

The 1976 and 1977 sessions of the General Assembly of Virginia established a legislative study commission to consider the establishment of a family court system in Virginia. The study was conducted by the Family Court Subcommittee of the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council Committee to Study Services to Youthful Offenders, and its report was submitted to the Governor and to the General Assembly on January 6, 1978.

Divorce Planning In Antenuptial Agreements: Toward A New Objectivity, Peter Nash Swisher

University of Richmond Law Review

Within the past fifty years, there have been numerous articles written about the validity and enforceability of antenuptial agreements. Such agreements are generally favored by the law when prospective spouses privately contract to vary, limit, or relinquish certain rights which they would otherwise acquire in each other's property or in each other's estate by reason of their impending marriage. Traditionally, this antenuptial agreement is typically made by older people who are about to be remarried, and who have acquired considerable property from a prior marriage that they wish to control.

Children And The Law - Foreword, Birch Bayh

University of Richmond Law Review

As a parent, legislator, and former Chairman of the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, the problems of the youth of our nation are very close to my heart. I think that raising a young person is one of the most difficult and important challenges that a person can ever face. Our collective success or failure in raising young people actually determines the future of the country. Happy, secure and well-educated youth will be effective, productive and useful citizens. Young people who have been beaten, starved, or deprived of love have accounted for the major portion of …