Law Commons^™

Coercive Freedom: A Response To Professor Chambers, Robert A. Burt

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

At this happy gathering of the Michigan family it is fitting to begin by discussing the law of the family. David used the Marvin case as the central example of the various principles which he supported and opposed.

I want to focus on that case in order to consider whether he has successfully distinguished among these principles of state coercion and state facilitation of individuals' free choice. Let me begin by briefly restating David's view of the Marvin case, as I understand it.

The Myth Of State Intervention In The Family, Frances E. Olsen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Most people concede that there are times when state officials should intervene in the private family. Doctrines of family privacy are no longer thought to justify societal neglect of beaten wives or abused children. Yet society continues to use the ideal of the private family to orient policy. It seems important therefore to examine the concept of state intervention in the private family. In this essay, I argue that the private family is an incoherent ideal and that the rhetoric of nonintervention is more harmful than helpful.