Law Commons^™

Are All Contracts Alike?, Margaret F. Brinig

Margaret F Brinig

No abstract provided.

Engagement Rings Are Barbaric, Margaret Brinig

Margaret F Brinig

Margaret Brinig was quoted in the Salon magazine article Engagement rings are barbaric

By Shannon Rupp

"The real reason for engagement rings wasn’t lost on people of that era, however, as legal scholar Margaret Brinig noted when she researched the history of breach of promise laws. With the abolition of those laws in the 1930s came an increase in the sales of engagement rings to the masses."

Penalty Defaults In Family Law: The Case Of Child Custody, Margaret F. Brinig

Margaret F Brinig

This paper considers whether an amendment to state divorce laws that strengthens its joint custody preference operates as a traditional default rule, specifying what most divorcing couples would choose or as a penalty default rule the parties will attempt to contract around.

While the Oregon statutes that frame our discussion here, like most state laws, do not state an explicit preference for joint custody, shared custody is certainly encouraged by Section 107.179, which refers cases in which the parties cannot agree on joint custody to mediation and by Section 107.105, which requires the court to consider awarding custody jointly. In …

Unhappy Contracts: The Case Of Divorce Settlements, Margaret F. Brinig

Margaret F Brinig

This paper examines a particular type of contracts that is, sadly, increasingly frequent: the agreements produced by divorcing couples. They are unhappy contracts, agreements produced as a necessary part of exit from what is now suboptimal marriage. They are virtually required by many states and are, in theory at least, closely monitored by courts since, when children are involved, they will be incorporated into court orders.What parties to unhappy contracts do is attempt to minimize losses, rather than maximize gain. How are contracts structured that will do this, and how does a difference in the size or power of the …