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Family Law Commons

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Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Family Law

Bionormativity And The Construction Of Parenthood, Katharine K. Baker Jun 2008

Bionormativity And The Construction Of Parenthood, Katharine K. Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

This piece explores the relationship between legal and biological parenthood. It examines how neither history, nor evolutionary biology nor moral philosophy dictate a legal regime in which parenthood must be based on biological connection, but that attraction to a biological (or “bionormative”) regime remains strong. In explaining why, it suggests that much of what attracts people to bionormativity is not biology itself, but the way in which a biological regime constructs parenthood as a private, exclusive and binary enterprise. It is these ancillary qualities of bionormativity that people may care the most about. Today, a variety of forces put pressure …


Bionormativity And The Construction Of Parenthood, Katharine K. Baker Jun 2008

Bionormativity And The Construction Of Parenthood, Katharine K. Baker

Katharine K. Baker

This piece explores the relationship between legal and biological parenthood. It examines how neither history, nor evolutionary biology nor moral philosophy dictate a legal regime in which parenthood must be based on biological connection, but that attraction to a biological (or “bionormative”) regime remains strong. In explaining why, it suggests that much of what attracts people to bionormativity is not biology itself, but the way in which a biological regime constructs parenthood as a private, exclusive and binary enterprise. It is these ancillary qualities of bionormativity that people may care the most about. Today, a variety of forces put pressure …


Using "A Jury Of Her Peers" To Teach About The Connection Between Domestic Violence And Animal Abuse, Caroline Forell Jan 2008

Using "A Jury Of Her Peers" To Teach About The Connection Between Domestic Violence And Animal Abuse, Caroline Forell

Caroline A Forell

In this essay I examine Susan Glaspell’s short story, A Jury of Her Peers, in the context of teaching about the connection between domestic violence and animal abuse in an Animal Law course. I discuss how Glaspell’s story, in which the motive for a woman killing her husband is his killing of her pet bird, enables students to better understand the perspective of battered women who behave in certain ways because they have pets. I pose several questions concerning how the law would and should respond when a battered woman reacts with violence to the killing or serious injury of …


In Good Times And In Debt: The Evolution Of Marital Agency And The Meaning Of Marriage, Marie T. Reilly Jan 2008

In Good Times And In Debt: The Evolution Of Marital Agency And The Meaning Of Marriage, Marie T. Reilly

Journal Articles

A married person sometimes acts solely for herself and at other times on behalf of her spouse. If she incurs debt solely for herself, then only she is liable to the creditor. If, however, she incurs debt both for herself and on behalf of her spouse, both are liable – the debtor directly and the spouse indirectly by imputed liability. Before married women’s property reform, imputed marital liability followed from marital status. As marriage changed to recognize the legal individuality of both spouses, so too did the scope of a spouse’s imputed liability for the debts of the other spouse. …


Valuing All Families: An Introduction To The 2008 Santa Clara Law Review Symposium, Nancy Polikoff Jan 2008

Valuing All Families: An Introduction To The 2008 Santa Clara Law Review Symposium, Nancy Polikoff

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

The family has changed over time, as has the law concerning families and relationships. Thank goodness. Until recent decades, the law punished nonmarital sex, delineated separate spheres for men and women, and restricted the grounds for ending marriage. The sexual revolution, feminism, and the demand for divorce were the social phenomena that facilitated these changes. Today we take for granted that marriage is not the right dividing line for the rights and obligations of parents. We now must revise our laws to protect the economic security and emotional peace of mind of the full variety of today's families and relationships.


The Child Protection Pretense: States' Continued Consignment Of Newborn Babies To Unfit Parents, James G. Dwyer Jan 2008

The Child Protection Pretense: States' Continued Consignment Of Newborn Babies To Unfit Parents, James G. Dwyer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


Children, Kin And Court: Designing Third Party Custody Policy To Protect Children, Third Parties And Parents, Josh Gupta-Kagan Jan 2008

Children, Kin And Court: Designing Third Party Custody Policy To Protect Children, Third Parties And Parents, Josh Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.


In Good Times And In Debt: The Evolution Of Marital Agency And The Meaning Of Marriage, Marie T. Reilly Dec 2007

In Good Times And In Debt: The Evolution Of Marital Agency And The Meaning Of Marriage, Marie T. Reilly

Marie T. Reilly

A married person sometimes acts solely for herself and at other times on behalf of her spouse. If she incurs debt solely for herself, then only she is liable to the creditor. If, however, she incurs debt both for herself and on behalf of her spouse, both are liable – the debtor directly and the spouse indirectly by imputed liability. Before married women’s property reform, imputed marital liability followed from marital status. As marriage changed to recognize the legal individuality of both spouses, so too did the scope of a spouse’s imputed liability for the debts of the other spouse. …