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Full-Text Articles in Comparative and Foreign Law
Special Adoption Act (2012) (Korea), Sook Kim, Dong-Jin Douglas Hwang
Special Adoption Act (2012) (Korea), Sook Kim, Dong-Jin Douglas Hwang
Washington International Law Journal
The purpose of this Act is to set forth the necessary requirements and procedures of adopting a child in need of protection, and other matters necessary to support such adoptions, which are all aimed at promoting the rights and welfare of the adopted child.
Abandoned Babies: The Backlash Of South Korea's Special Adoption Act, Sook K. Kim
Abandoned Babies: The Backlash Of South Korea's Special Adoption Act, Sook K. Kim
Washington International Law Journal
South Korea amended its adoption law to reduce the number of foreign adoptions and to keep children with their biological families. However, since the amendment took effect in August 2012, more babies have been abandoned. The amendment (hereinafter the “Special Adoption Act”) created three conditions on birthparents who wish to place their child up for adoption. First, birthparents must wait at least seven days after their child is born before they may consent to placing their child up for adoption. Second, birthparents must receive counseling on the various resources that would be available to them if they choose to raise …
Legislative History Of The Special Adoption Act (Legislative History) (2012) (Korea), Sook Kim, Dong-Jin Douglas Hwang
Legislative History Of The Special Adoption Act (Legislative History) (2012) (Korea), Sook Kim, Dong-Jin Douglas Hwang
Washington International Law Journal
In order to focus adoption procedures on the welfare of the child, national supervision must be strengthened, and a policy must be established around the basic paradigm that the best protection of a child is for the child to be raised by his/her birth family and in his/her birth country.
Divorce And The Best Interest Of The Child: Disputes Over Visitation And The Japanese Family Courts, Takao Tanase, Matthew J. Mccauley
Divorce And The Best Interest Of The Child: Disputes Over Visitation And The Japanese Family Courts, Takao Tanase, Matthew J. Mccauley
Washington International Law Journal
The following is a translation of an article written by Professor Takao Tanase for the December 2009 edition of Jiyū to Seigi, a Japanese legal periodical. Divorce and familial breakdown has become a major problem in modern Japanese society, yet the law does not provide any meaningful protection for the noncustodial parent. Professor Tanase analyzes this issue from a comparative and theoretical perspective, looking at the current Japanese visitation laws in place today, while contrasting those with the system in the United States. He also looks at how those laws affect actual families, and how the courts have implemented …
Divorce And The Welfare Of The Child In Japan, Matthew J. Mccauley
Divorce And The Welfare Of The Child In Japan, Matthew J. Mccauley
Washington International Law Journal
Current Japanese legal institutions are ill-equipped to resolve the complicated issues surrounding visitation, custody, and divorce. Japanese views toward family and society have changed greatly since the post-World War II family law was enacted in the 1950s, but the law has not evolved accordingly. This is especially clear in the methods used to determine custody and visitation, as well as the kyōgi rikon, or divorce by mutual consent system. Policy makers and activists are both working to resolve this problem, but their ongoing struggle has yet to produce any tangible results. This comment argues that the Japanese legal system …
An Alternative To Impact Litigation In China: The Procurator As A Legal Avenue For Cases In The "Private Family Sphere" Of Domestic Violence, Hai-Ching Yang
An Alternative To Impact Litigation In China: The Procurator As A Legal Avenue For Cases In The "Private Family Sphere" Of Domestic Violence, Hai-Ching Yang
Washington International Law Journal
Impact litigation, a popular technique among non-governmental organizations, while yielding numerous benefits, exercises limited influence over traditional family matters in China, like those of domestic violence. A closer examination of the factors attributed to the failure of the domestic violence case litigated by the Peking University’s Center for Women Law Studies and Legal Aid Services highlights the need to explore the potential of the procurator. As cases and events show “family matters” transgressing from the private to the public sphere and as setbacks continue to plague non-governmental organizations in their struggle to advance social causes, the institutionalized procurator can utilize …
Korean Divorce Law On Claims For Property Division: Dividing Retirement Allowance In Divorce, Faye Y. Park
Korean Divorce Law On Claims For Property Division: Dividing Retirement Allowance In Divorce, Faye Y. Park
Washington International Law Journal
As South Koreans divorce closer to the retirement age, the issue of whether retirement allowance should be divided upon divorce has become more prevalent. The applicable law in the division of the retirement allowance in a divorce is Article 839-2 of the Civil Code. This article provides that property realized through the cooperation of both spouses shall be divided in divorce by agreement. The Korean courts have historically undervalued the contribution of spouses who provide housework by giving them less property in the division of acquired marital property. Retirement allowances pose problems because a spouse can contribute in acquiring them …
The Marriage Amendment Act: Can Australia Prohibit Same-Sex Marriage?, Katy A. King
The Marriage Amendment Act: Can Australia Prohibit Same-Sex Marriage?, Katy A. King
Washington International Law Journal
Both the United States and Australia have federal legislation, the Defense of Marriage Act and the Marriage Amendment Act 2004, that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Australia has an express provision in its constitution granting Parliament the authority to pass laws on the subject of marriage. The United States, however, has no such constitutional provision. Consequently, Australia’s express constitutional provision may lead the High Court of Australia to rule that the Marriage Amendment Act 2004 is constitutional, which would likely preclude Australia’s states and territories from passing local same-sex marriage acts. This is fundamentally …
Gay Marriage: Analyzing Legal Strategies For Reform In Hong Kong And The United States, Robin A. Warren
Gay Marriage: Analyzing Legal Strategies For Reform In Hong Kong And The United States, Robin A. Warren
Washington International Law Journal
Like many countries, both the United States and Hong Kong face the question of whether to legalize gay marriage due to social, legal, and political forces within and beyond their borders. The legalization of same-sex marriage in one jurisdiction forces other jurisdictions to decide whether to recognize marriages celebrated there. Comparing the current state of U.S. and Hong Kong law reveals that only a direct challenge to discriminatory marriage laws will successfully effect change. Two U.S. state supreme court decisions provide examples of effective legal arguments in a direct challenge. Conflict of laws analysis for marriage and the public policy …
The Duty To Support An Aged Parent In Singapore, Wing-Cheong Chan
The Duty To Support An Aged Parent In Singapore, Wing-Cheong Chan
Washington International Law Journal
When the legislation to impose a financial obligation on adult children to provide for their aged parents was introduced in Singapore in 1994, it generated heated public debate which polarized the population. Several criticisms of this proposal emerged: it subsumed the Asian value of filial piety in a legalistic, Western framework; it was unnecessary given the small number of parents being neglected by their children; and it was an undesirable intrusion into family life. Nonetheless, the proposal managed to gain enough Parliamentary support to be referred to a Select Committee. Several adjustments to the proposed legislation were made to take …
The Protection Of Reproductive Rights Under International Law: The Bush Administration's Policy Shift And China's Family Planning Practices, Hannah A. Saona
The Protection Of Reproductive Rights Under International Law: The Bush Administration's Policy Shift And China's Family Planning Practices, Hannah A. Saona
Washington International Law Journal
On his first day in office, U.S. President George W. Bush reinstated a policy that restricts United States Agency for International Development funding of foreign non-governmental organizations. A year and a half later, President Bush attracted media attention by rejecting funding commitments to the United Nations Population Fund ("UNFPA") based on its alleged involvement with the People's Republic of China ("PRC"). The PRC, in an effort to curb rampant population growth, has adopted a one child per couple policy. This policy has, in some cases, led to the use of coercive family planning practices such as forced abortion and sterilization. …
Curbing Child-Trafficking In Intercountry Adoptions: Will International Treaties And Adoption Moratoriums Accomplish The Job In Cambodia?, Kelly M. Wittner
Curbing Child-Trafficking In Intercountry Adoptions: Will International Treaties And Adoption Moratoriums Accomplish The Job In Cambodia?, Kelly M. Wittner
Washington International Law Journal
Over the past two decades an enormous increase in intercountry adoptions has prompted international concern over the victimization of children, birth parents, and adoptive families. Recently, the United States has closely scrutinized babytrafficking in Cambodia. Reports of widespread buying, selling, and stealing of Cambodian infants for international adoption prompted the United States to place a moratorium on adoptions from Cambodia on December 21, 2001. In addition, the international community has drafted treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ("CRC") and the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption ("Hague Convention") to normalize and systematize the process …
Curbing Child-Trafficking In Intercountry Adoptions: Will International Treaties And Adoption Moratoriums Accomplish The Job In Cambodia?, Kelly M. Wittner
Curbing Child-Trafficking In Intercountry Adoptions: Will International Treaties And Adoption Moratoriums Accomplish The Job In Cambodia?, Kelly M. Wittner
Washington International Law Journal
Over the past two decades an enormous increase in intercountry adoptions has prompted international concern over the victimization of children, birth parents, and adoptive families. Recently, the United States has closely scrutinized babytrafficking in Cambodia. Reports of widespread buying, selling, and stealing of Cambodian infants for international adoption prompted the United States to place a moratorium on adoptions from Cambodia on December 21, 2001. In addition, the international community has drafted treaties such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child ("CRC") and the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption ("Hague Convention") to normalize and systematize the process …
What's Yours Is Mine: Reform Of The Property Division Regime For Unmarried Couples In New Zealand, Virginia Grainer
What's Yours Is Mine: Reform Of The Property Division Regime For Unmarried Couples In New Zealand, Virginia Grainer
Washington International Law Journal
In February 2002, when the Property (Relationships) Act came into force, unmarried couples in New Zealand became subject to the same legislative regime for division of property that has applied to married couples since the 1970s. The statutory regime is based on a deferred community property principle. Both partners are free to deal with their own property during the relationship, but at the end of the relationship all property is classified as either relationship property or separate property. Relationship property usually includes all property acquired by either party during the relationship. There is a presumption that this property must be …
China's Eugenics Law As Grounds For Granting Asylum, Graciela Gómez
China's Eugenics Law As Grounds For Granting Asylum, Graciela Gómez
Washington International Law Journal
China has instituted two controversial population control programs. First instituted in 1979, the One Child Policy seeks to control population growth by limiting the number of children born to married couples. The Maternal and Infant Health Care Law ("Eugenics Law"), effective June of 1995, has a stated purpose of improving the quality of the population by mandating sterilization for people with serious genetic defects. Implementation of the One Child Policy has led to forced abortion and involuntary sterilization. The Eugenics Law is likely to engender similar types of human rights abuses. Since 1989, the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals has …
Confucian Ethics, Judges, And Women: Divorce Under The Revised Korean Family Law, Kay C. Lee
Confucian Ethics, Judges, And Women: Divorce Under The Revised Korean Family Law, Kay C. Lee
Washington International Law Journal
The historic revision of the South Korean Family Law in 1989 abolished many entrenched legal practices based on Confucian ethics that discriminate against women. Among its many provisions, the law provides for an equitable division of marital property upon divorce and ends the tradition of the father's automatic right to child custody, unless waived. However, in a legal system where judges wield unquestioned authority and wide discretion, judicial decisions based on traditional assumptions about women and family continue to frustrate the democratic intent of the revised law. Given the vague laws that give the judiciary broad discretion, real changes are …