Law Commons^™

A Tale Of Two Religions: A Contractual Approach To Religion As A Factor In Child Custody And Visitation Disputes, Rebecca Korzec

All Faculty Scholarship

This article focuses on the role of religious conflict between parents in determining child custody and visitation disputes. It suggests a framework for reconciling parental control over religious observance and training with the state's duty to protect the child's best interests. First, it examines the history of English and American child custody law and analyzes modern custody cases in which religion is a factor. Next, it addresses the alarming recent attempt by courts to resolve religious disputes with a shared custody approach, awarding 'spiritual custody' to one parent and 'physical custody' to the other. Finally, this article proposes a contractual …

A Limited Role For The Legal System In Responding To Maternal Substance Abuse During Preganacy, John E.B. Myers

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Eroding The Myth Of Discretionary Justice In Family Law: The Child Support Experiment, Jane C. Murphy

All Faculty Scholarship

Reliance on judicial discretion to resolve disputes is one of the most fundamental characteristics of the American legal system. Nowhere have judges exercised more unfettered discretion than in family law. Judicial discretion in this area, however, is not without its critics. In this Article Professor Jane Murphy recommends limiting the use of judicial discretion in family law matters. Professor Murphy argues that the lack of predictability which flows from discretionary decisions undermines our confidence in the equity of decisions and encourages protracted litigation.

Professor Murphy reviews the developing consensus that fixed rules are necessary to guide judges' discretion in divorce …

Re-Imagining Childhood And Reconstructing The Legal Order: The Case For Abolishing The Juvenile Court, Janet Ainsworth

Faculty Articles

Although the institution of the juvenile court developed rather recently in our legal system, it is now quite firmly established: every American state and nearly every industrialized nation has a juvenile court system in place. The juvenile court is not without its critics, however. In this Article, Professor Janet Ainsworth recommends its complete abolition. Professor Ainsworth contends that society's current view of the nature of adolescence no longer comports with the turn-of-the century view that originally informed the development of an autonomous juvenile court, thus undermining the ideological legitimacy of a separate court system for juveniles. In addition, Professor Ainsworth …

Toward Guidelines For Compelling Cesarean Surgery: Of Rights, Responsibility And Decisional Authenticity, Joel J. Finer

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

When, if ever, may a pregnant woman be compelled to undergo a cesarean section to save the life of a viable, verge-of-birth fetus? Courts and scholars have increasingly addressed the constitutional and ethical problems presented when a woman about to give birth requires a cesarean section to prevent the death of or severe harm to her fetus, and the woman refuses to have the surgery. Nationally, over a five year period, courts have heard twenty-one cases in which a court-ordered cesarean was being sought. Under what circumstances, if any, is it legally and ethically appropriate to compel a woman to …

Commentary: Meeting The Financial Needs Of Children, David L. Chambers

Articles

Those who drafted the equitable distribution statutes adopted in New York and elsewhere wanted to help assure women and children an acceptable level of financial well-being after divorce. Marsha Garrison has shown that divorcing couples rarely possess enough resources to attain financial well-being even when they live together as a couple, let alone when they live in two separate households. She has also shown that, even in the cases of couples with substantial assets, the broad and general language of the equitable distribution statute did not lead (and could not have been expected to lead) to consistent distributions that assured …