Family Law Commons^™

Domestic Violence In Ghana: The Open Secret, Nancy Chi Cantalupo, Lisa Vollendorf Martin, Kay Pak, Sue Shin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This report discusses the findings of a Georgetown Law International Women’s Human Rights Clinic fact-finding team that traveled to Ghana, Africa in March 2003 to investigate domestic violence. The report reviews the contours of the domestic violence problem in Ghana and outlines the ways in which Ghanaian law and procedure was insufficiently addressing the problem at the time. Its chief findings include that the Ghanaian laws existing in 2003 inadequately punished perpetrators and protected victims of domestic violence and that court and police enforcement of the existing law was lacking, including because the government was allowing the removal of domestic …

Crossing Borders In The Classroom: A Comparative Law Experiment In Family Law, Barbara Atwood, Graciela Jasa Silveira, Nicole Laviolette, Tom Oldham

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Taking The Stand: The Lessons Of The Three Men Who Took The Japanese American Internment To Court, Lorraine K. Bannai

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The Parental Discipline Defense In New Zealand: The Potential Impact Of Reform In Civil Proceedings, Jennifer A. Brobst

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

“Which One Of You Did It?” Criminal Liability For “Causing Or Allowing” The Death Of A Child, Lissa Griffin

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

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 …

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 Right To Family Life And Civil Marriage Under International Law And Its Implementation In The State Of Israel, Yuval Merin

ExpressO

The article deals with the protection of the right to family life under international law and its implementation in the State of Israel on three levels: protection of the family cell as a single unit; protection of the individuals comprising the family unit; and protection of the family in special circumstances (e.g., immigration rights).

The article begins by analyzing the characteristics of the right to family life and examining various definitions of the “family” under international and Israeli law. It also examines what it is that the right to family life encompasses and how it should be classified within the …

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle: How Children's Literature Reflects Motherhood, Identity, And International Adoption, Susan Ayres

Faculty Scholarship

Children's books are "a source of law" for children because "[children] are constantly trying to make sense of what is going on around them, and although literature itself is only a constituent of life experience, as a constituent it is potentially of the greatest importance." As adults and lawyers, we can also read children's books as a source of law because they reflect patriarchal ideologies about the family and stigma surrounding adoption. Like other myths, children's books tell stories about origins and constitute not only subjects but are also the foundation of law by reflecting legal norms and projecting legal …

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. …

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 …

The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage In Canada: Law And Policy Considerations, Jane Adolphe

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Some Wrongs And (Human) Rights In The English Same-Sex Marriage Debate, John Murphy

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

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

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 …

The Marriage Dower: Essential Guarantor Of Women's Rights In The West Bank And Gaza Strip, Heather Jacobson

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article evaluates the impact that eliminating or reducing the marriage dower would have on the well-being of Muslim women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Although Palestinian women's rights organizations seek to eliminate dower on the grounds that it is a "burdensome custom" that is "inconsistent with the intifada's stated goal of improving women's status," in fact, the interaction between dower and other laws relating to marriage and divorce is such that the majority of women would be materially harmed by its discontinuance. Therefore, while the movement to eliminate dower may benefit the financially secure upper class women …

Criminalizing Dowry Deaths: The Indian Experience, Judith G. Greenberg

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Theories Of Domestic Violence In The African Context, Cynthia Grant Bowman

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Ending Marriage As We Know It, Nancy Polikoff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

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 …

Hak Wanita Dalam Undang-Undang Keluarga Islam Di Brunei, Masnon Ibrahim

Student Works (2000-2009)

In Islamic Law the rights and position of women (specifically, the wives) have been determined in different areas including acts of devotion and the association between husband and wife in matrimonial affairs. This research attempts to discuss the provision and the implementation of Islamic Family Law in Brunei by focusing the research on the rights and position of women in the Act. The study specifically focuses on the provision and implementation of Islamic Family Law in relationship to Islamic Law. This study has performed with discussion on the effect of the contradictions in the implementation of the provision of laws …

The Public Womb: Women Under China's One-Child Policy, Rachael Savanyu

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Empty Gestures: The (In)Significance Of Recent Attempts To Liberalize Algerian Family Law, Ann Luerssen Crowther

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Civilizing The Natives: Marriage In Post-Apartheid South Africa, David L. Chambers

Articles

South Africa is a land of many cultures. For several hundred years, British and Afrikaaner whites controlled the country, systematically manipulating black people to the whites' advantage. For the most part, however, whites tolerated the continuation within black communities of traditional marriage practices that white Christians considered uncivilized. In 1994, South Africa changed governments. A black majority Parliament came to power, adopting a consitution dedicated to equality and human dignity. Four years later, Parliament adopted a new marriage law that, though permitting some of the external trappings of the traditional marriage system to continue, eliminated by law much of the …

The Process Geography Of Law (As Approached Through Andalucian Gitano Family Law), Susan G. Drummond

Articles & Book Chapters

Comparative law and legal anthropology have for long theorized on the basis of a traditional geography which saw states, regions, locales and social fields as having durable boundaries containing stable and homogenous cultures. This idea of place is now undergoing a massive transformation in response to the effects of and theories about globalization. The emerging ‘process geography’ rejects these traditional ideas, arguing that they are not, and indeed have never been aspects of reality, which is better represented by an imagery of processes. However, it is argued here that globalization is not a synonym for homogenization, nor has place suddenly …

Law-Ing The Harmonic Familial Relationship: Development Of An Indigenous Feminist Legal Political Discourse On Child Domestic Abuse, Andy Man Chung Chiu, Vera Moon Hing Lam

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Note: English Child Custody Law, 1660-1839: The Origins Of Judicial Intervention In Parental Custody, Sarah Abramowicz

Law Faculty Research Publications

Many legal historians see pre-1839 English child custody law as consisting of near-absolute paternal rights. These historians believe that the weakening of fathers' rights began with the 1839 Custody of Infants Act, which created certain maternal custody rights. Other historians have noted that paternal custody was qualified even before 1839 by the Court of Chancerys application of the doctrine of parens patriae. This Note tells a different story and argues that the origin of incursions into the so-called "empire of the father" was the 1660 Tenures Abolition Act, a statute that ironically seemed designed to strengthen fathers' rights. The …

Preliminary Comments On Dark Numbers: Research On Domestic Violence In Central And Eastern Europe, Isabel Marcus

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Family Group Conferences As A Form Of Court Approved Alternative Dispute Resolution In Child Abuse And Neglect Cases, Jolene M. Lowry

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The problems associated with long-term foster care of children have escalated over the past decade as more abused and neglected children enter the already overworked and underfunded state child protective system& The recent Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 mandates giving preference to placement within the extended family for children who cannot be returned to their parents. Compliance with this law requires substantial changes in the policies and procedures of human services agencies in most states. This Article discusses "family group conferencing,' a new model for working with families within the system. Family Group Conferencing originated in …