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Full-Text Articles in Law

Rethink The Laws Relating To Fathers (Change: With The Decline In Married Mothers And Traditional Families, The Legal Image Of Dads Needs Re-Examination), Jane C. Murphy Jun 2001

Rethink The Laws Relating To Fathers (Change: With The Decline In Married Mothers And Traditional Families, The Legal Image Of Dads Needs Re-Examination), Jane C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

This "marital presumption" permitted courts to assume a set of biological facts in the name of preserving the sanctity and stability of what was assumed to be the cornerstone of a healthy society — the traditional family of husband, wife and children. In the last decades of the 20th century, science developed paternity testing with results approaching certainty. Despite the availability of DNA testing, the marital presumption is still used in many courtrooms to answer the question of who is the legal father. What one scholar has called "the law's struggle to preserve the fiction of an older moral order" …


Restitching The American Quilt: Untangling Marriage From The Nuclear Family, Lisa Milot May 2001

Restitching The American Quilt: Untangling Marriage From The Nuclear Family, Lisa Milot

Scholarly Works

Part I of this Note will trace the various threads of American marriage law, particularly the perception that marriage is unraveling today due to an unprecedented divorce crisis. Part II will disentangle the conflicting patterns of contract law and status regimes that variously govern marriage, focusing on the uneven enforcement of antenuptial contracts and the implications of such. Part III will argue that the true focus of regulation is the status of the nuclear family, not of marriage per se. Finally, Part IV will propose a bifurcation of the legal regimes governing marriage and the family, recognizing the ability of …


The Influence Of Marvin V. Marvin On Housework During Marriage, Margaret F. Brinig Jan 2001

The Influence Of Marvin V. Marvin On Housework During Marriage, Margaret F. Brinig

Journal Articles

When Michelle Marvin was forced to leave the home she shared with what today we would call her partner, Lee Marvin, she had a number of problems. The first ones, of course, were legal: she had no marriage with Lee and no written contract that could distinguish their relationship from "mere cohabitation." Nor had she contributed directly to his career or other assets. What she alleged was his express promise to "take care of her" (for some time period that was not altogether clear) and, less obviously, a promise implied by all she had done with and for him during …


Why Marriage?, Martha Albertson Fineman Jan 2001

Why Marriage?, Martha Albertson Fineman

Faculty Articles

Reflection on the prospect of varied, individualized possibilities for the meaning of marriage suggests, that in order to answer the question "why marriage?" we must first consider "what marriage?" or more succinctly, "what is marriage?" Questioning what marriage actually is calls attention to the institution's individualized and malleable nature. By contrast, a focus on "why marriage" highlights the societal function and rationale for the institution. I will discuss each question-the "what" as well as the "why" of marriage.


Vermont Civil Unions, Full Faith And Credit, And Marital Status, Lewis A. Silverman Jan 2001

Vermont Civil Unions, Full Faith And Credit, And Marital Status, Lewis A. Silverman

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.


For The Best Of Friends And For Lovers Of All Sorts, A Status Other Than Marriage (Symposium: Unmarried Partners And The Legacy Of Marvin V. Marvin)" , David L. Chambers Jan 2001

For The Best Of Friends And For Lovers Of All Sorts, A Status Other Than Marriage (Symposium: Unmarried Partners And The Legacy Of Marvin V. Marvin)" , David L. Chambers

Articles

American governments have recently begun to experiment with new familial statuses for gay male and lesbian couples, who have demanded the right to marry but have been appeased with more modest forms of recognition.4 What I propose here is quite different. It is a status for people who have close bonds but do not want to be married to each other. I call this status "designated friends." Once registered, "designated friends" would obtain a limited number of privileges and undertake a limited number of responsibilities relating to the care for the other when ill or incapacitated or upon death, but …