Law Commons^™

Suspension Of Citizenship: Ethical Concerns In International Commercial Surrogacy And The Legal Possibility Of Stateless Children, Rachael Curtin

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Legal issues often exist in ethical gray areas. Advancements in reproductive technologies have increased family-building options for those that were previously unable to procreate. Similarly, globalization has increased family-placement options for children in the adoption context. However, when assisted reproductive technologies advance in a globalized world without regulation or international cooperation, international com- mercial surrogacy arrangements are governed by contractual systems that often protect the commissioning parties, rather than those who are most vulnerable and in need of protections. This Note examines how the current lack of international regulation and cooperation in the international commercial surrogacy context can leave children …

Tax, Don't Ban: A Comparative Look At Harmful But Legitimate Islamic Family Practices Actionable Under Tort Law, Benjamin Shmueli

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Massive migration of Muslims to the West in recent years has raised the question whether Shari'a--Islamic law--should apply to Muslim couples living in these countries. The issue is particularly acute when it comes to family life and the possibility of using tort law in cases of harmful religious practices that are permitted by Muslim law but are contrary to Western liberal values. Using tort law as a soft solution, that is, taxing that practice rather than banning it by criminal sanctions, may be a balanced and efficient solution, at least in some cases. The Article demonstrates this view--tax, don't ban--through …

Civil Actions For Acts That Are Valid According To Religious Family Law But Harm Women's Rights: Legal Pluralism In Cases Of Collision Between Two Sets Of Laws, Benjamin Shmueli

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article analyzes the implications of legal pluralism when religious family law conflicts with state civil tort law. Refusal to grant a get (a Jewish divorce bill) in Jewish law, divorcing a wife against her will in Muslim Shari'a law, and bigamy and polygamy in Muslim Shari'a law are practices permitted by personal-religious family law that harm human rights. This Article seeks to answer the question whether tort law should overrule family law, with the proviso that it be applied sensibly when deciding family matters; or whether the two disciplines of law are complementary, in the sense that liberal tort …

Modernizing Muslim Family Law: The Case Of Egypt, Lama Abu-Odeh

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

he Author discusses the dynamics of family law reforms in modern Egypt as an instance of similar dynamics of reforms in other Muslim countries. The forces that push for reforms as well as those that try to limit them are also introduced.

The Author begins by describing the historical legal background shared by the vast majority of Muslim countries, including Egypt. An account of the general evolution of Islamic law-from a dominant system existing within an Islamic state to a subordinate system existing within an overall secularized legal system characterized by legal borrowing from European codes-is given. Islamic law has …

Lessons From The New English And Australian Child Support Systems, J. Thomas Oldham

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In the last decade, both England and Australia have reformed their child support systems. While both nations desired to shift the financial burden of child support in single-parent families from society to absent parents, England and Australia enacted different administrative schemes to achieve this goal. In this Article, the author first explores the features of the English and Australian child support systems. The author then proceeds to analyze the merits of the two systems and the implications for other nations in light of the two nations' relative ability to achieve underlying policy goals.

Models For Parenthood In Adoption Law: The French Conception, Laura J. Schwartz

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

According to Ms. Schwartz, adoption in the United States is currently in a state of disarray and confusion because it has not achieved a satisfactory balance between biological and psychological parent-child relationships. U.S. adoption law has never adequately evaluated the relative importance of both types of relationships to the process of family formation. In contrast, although French adoption faces many of the same challenges as U.S. adoption, the French adoption process is not riddled with the same inconsistency and indeterminacy. Instead, French adoption law and government family policy reflect a societal consensus on the central and intrinsic importance of biological …

The United Nations International Conference On Population And Development: Religion, Tradition, And Law In Latin America, Gregory M. Saylin

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

At the 1994 United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, the Vatican, along with several Latin American and Muslim nations, fought against First World nations that sought to include provisions relating to abortion, contraception, sexual education, and women's issues in the Conference's Program of Action. Universal agreement was not reached and several nations, including the Vatican, refused to completely join the Program of Action.

This Note examines the history and theory behind the United Nations population conferences. Against this background, the author examines the 1994 Conference and considers its effect on Latin America by discussing the religion, tradition, and …

Why Teach International Family Law In Conflicts?, William L. Reynolds

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Professor Reynolds sets forth a challenge to conflicts professors: to teach international family law in their conflict of laws classes. At present, many conflicts professors avoid teaching international family law, in part because the study of this subject is complicated by several statutes addressing particularly difficult issues. Ignoring international family law is unwise, because many United States citizens and lawyers are likely to confront such problems.

Moreover, this Article suggests several additional reasons for including international family law in the general conflicts course. First, litigants entangled in divorce and custody proceedings with international complications face high financial and emotional costs; …

Due Process Rights Of Parents And Children In International Child Abductions, Dorothy C. Daigle

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Rising divorce rates in recent years have led to increasingly frequent abductions of children by one parent away from the other parent. Often, abducting parents move the children to different jurisdictions in which the parents believe they can obtain a more favorable decision on custody. To remedy this problem, twenty-nine nations joined in 1980 to adopt the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. This Convention mandates the immediate return, upon request, of the abducted child to the state of habitual residence of the child. The Convention includes several limited exceptions to this mandate, applicable at the …

Book Reviews, Stephen C. Hicks, David A. Elder, Edward A. Laing

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

THE FAMILY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW: SOME EMERGING PROBLEMS

Edited by R. Lillich

Charlottesville: Michie, 1981. Pp. xii, 164

Reviewed by Stephen C. Hicks

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TREATIES OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, 1949-1978: AN ANNOTATED COMPILATION

By Grant F. Rhode and Reid E. Whitlock

Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1980. Pp. ix, 207. $25.00.

Reviewed by David A. Elder

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STATE AND DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY

By Charles Lewis London:

Lloyd's Press of London, Ltd., 1980. Pp. xv, 135. 16f.

Reviewed by Edward A. Laing

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

International Regulation of Internal Resources By Mahnoush H. Arsanjani Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia,1981. Pp. 558. $37.50.

ANTITRUST AND AMERICAN BUSINESS ABROAD By James R. Atwood and Kingman Brewster, 2nd ed. Colorado Springs: Shepard's/Mc-Graw-Hill, 1981. Pp. 359 and 355.

FAMILY VIOLENCE: AN INTERNATIONAL AND INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY By John M. Eekelar and Sanford N. Katz Toronto: Butterworth's, 1978. Pp. 572.

THE ARAB STATES AND THE PALESTINE CONFLICT By Barry Rubin Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1981. Pp. 298. $22.00.

THE KURDISH QUESTION IN IRAQ By Edmund Ghareeb Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1981. Pp. 223. $22.00.

THE CAMBRIDGE LECTURES Edited by Derek Mendes …

Books Received, C. A. P.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Books Received ================

Documents on Prisoners of War Edited by Howard S. Levie Newport, Rhode Island: Naval War College Press, 1979. Pp. 841.

Chinese Family Law and Social Change in Historical and Comparative Perspective Edited by David C. Buxbaum Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1978. Pp. 553. Bibliography and Chinese-English Glossary

The Definition of Law By Herman Kantorowicz Edited by A. H. Campbell New York: Octagon Books, 1980. Pp. 89. $13.50

The Legal Regime of Islands in International Law By Derek W. Bowett Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications, Inc.,1978. Pp. 337. Diagrams and Maps.

International Norms and National …

Case Digest, Journal Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The purpose of the Case Digest is to identify and summarize for the reader those cases that have less significance than those which merit an in-depth analysis. Included in the digest are cases that apply established legal principles without necessarily introducing new ones. This initial digest includes cases reported from January through September,1971. Henceforth, the Winter issue will include cases reported from April through September, and the Spring issue will contain cases reported from October through March. The cases are grouped into topical categories, and references are given for further research. It is hoped that attorneys, judges, teachers and students …