Family Law Commons^™

Same-Sex Marriage And Simulacra: Exploring Conceptions Of Equality, Heather Hughes

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Coming Out In West Virginia: Child Custody And Visitation Disputes Involving Gay Or Lesbian Parents, Jeffery L. Hall

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Good Of Marriage And The Morality Of Sexual Relations: Some Philosophical And Historical Observations, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

This article examines the morality of sexual relations, referencing the views of many other scholars on the subject including Acquinas, Grisez, Noonan, and Koppelman.

Equality Under The Law Or Annihilation Of Marriage And Morals? The Same-Sex Marriage Debate, Germaine Winnick Willett

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Polygamy And Same-Sex Marriage, David L. Chambers

Articles

In the American federal system, state governments bear the responsibility for enacting the laws that define the persons who are permitted to marry. The federal government, throughout our history, has accepted these definitions and built upon them, fixing legal consequences for those who validly marry under state law. Only twice in American history has Congress intervened to reject the determinations that states might make about who can marry. The first occasion was in the late nineteenth century when Congress enacted a series of statutes aimed at the Mormon Church, prohibiting polygamy in the Western territories and punishing the Church and …

Marriage Today: Legal Consequences For Same Sex And Opposite Sex Couples, David L. Chambers

Articles

Laws that treat married persons in a different manner than they treat single persons permeate nearly every field of social regulation in this country -- taxation, otrts, evidence, social welfare, inheritance, adoption, and on and on.

Custody And Conduct: How The Law Fails Lesbian And Gay Parents And Their Children, Julie Shapiro

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Critical Analysis Of Constitutional Claims For Same-Sex Marriage, Lynn D. Wardle

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Second-Parent Adoption: Overcoming Barriers To Lesbian Family Rights, Maxwell S. Peltz

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Part I of this Article will discuss some of the legal difficulties associated with co-parenting and why lesbian couples have sought second-parent adoptions. Part II will examine the particular statutory obstacles to second-parent adoptions and then analyze the various ways courts in several states have overcome these obstacles. Finally, Part III will discuss the implications of these decisions in terms of their creation of legal and social norms.

Custody And Conduct: How The Law Fails Lesbian And Gay Parents And Their Children, Julie Shapiro

Faculty Articles

When parents dispute child custody, courts determine their rights by using a "best interests of the child" analysis. In this context, courts consider a host of factors, including parental sexuality. When considering the suitability of custody for a lesbian or gay parents, most courts employ a nexus test - one that requires a showing of a nexus between parental sexuality and the well-being of the child. A smaller number continue to use a harsher test that disqualifies lesbian and gay parents under a per se rule. This article argues that closer examination reveals that even the apparently more liberal nexus …

Constitutionally Defending Marriage: The Defense Of Marriage Act, Romer V. Evans And The Cultural Battle They Represent, Leonard G. Brown Iii

Campbell Law Review

No abstract provided.

What If? The Legal Consequences Of Marriage And The Legal Needs Of Lesbian And Gay Male Couples, David L. Chambers

Articles

Laws that treat married persons in a different manner than they treat single persons permeate nearly every field of social regulation in this country - taxation, torts, evidence, social welfare, inheritance, adoption, and on and on. In this article I inquire into the patterns these laws form and the central benefits and obligations that marriage entails, a task few scholars have undertaken in recent years. I have done so because same-sex couples, a large group not previously eligible to marry under the laws of any American jurisdiction, may be on the brink of securing the opportunity to do so in …

The Law And The Stability Of Marriage: The Family As A Social Institution, Carl E. Schneider

Book Chapters

Samuel Johnson once wrote, "It is so far from being natural for a man and woman to live in a state of marriage that we find all the motives which they have for remaining in that connection, and the restraints which civilized society imposes to prevent separation, are hardly sufficient to keep them together." In this chapter I shall pursue Dr. Johnson's provocative suggestion by asking what restraints (if any) society might impose through law on couples to join them in marriage in the first place and to keep them in it after they have married.

But why might society …

The Effect On The Child Of A Custodial Parent's Involvement In An Intimate Same-Sex Relationship - North Carolina Adopts The "Nexus Test" In Pulliam V. Smith, Vicki Parrott

Campbell Law Review

This Note examines the North Carolina Court of Appeals decision in Pulliam v. Smith. First, the Note discusses the facts of the case and the opinion of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Then, the Note examines (1) child custody law in North Carolina; (2) North Carolina case law addressing the effect on the child of a custodial parent's sexual conduct and sexual orientation; and (3) child custody disputes in other jurisdictions which involve a custodial parent in an intimate same-sex relationship. Next, the Note analyzes the decision in Pulliam and its effect on child custody law in North …

The Deliberate Contruction Of Families Without Fathers: Is It An Option For Lesbian And Heterosexual Mothers, Nancy Polikoff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Terminating The Parent-Child Legal Relationship As A Response To Child Sexual Abuse, Donald C. Bross

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Domestic Partnership: Recognition And Responsibility, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

A domestic partnership is a business or political recognition of two adults seeking to share benefits normally conferred upon married couples. To date, partnerships have conferred benefits only; the most logical progression is for partnerships to include responsibilities of support, commitment and obligation within the economic partnership construct of emerging family law. When this occurs, heterosexual couples may lack incentive, but homosexual couples will achieve surer due process recognition regardless of same-sex marriage litigation.

Defining The Scope Of The Constitutional Right To Marry: More Than Tradition, Less Than Unlimited Autonomy, 70 Notre Dame L. Rev. 39 (1994), Donald L. Beschle

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Case Of Clothing And Smell Obsession In A Bisexual Adult Woman, Marianne Wesson

Publications

No abstract provided.

Tying A Slipknot: Temporary Marriages In Iran, Tamilla F. Ghodsi

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this Note is to analyze the institution of mut'a critically, but objectively. It is important to first understand that it is possible to learn something from this institution. The sanctioning of temporary marriages illustrates the pervasive role of law as a method of social control, a characteristic which has parallels in the West. Furthermore, the institution may be challenged on its merits. For example, this Note intends to illustrate how the lack of formalism and the presence of great ambiguity in the institution have contributed to its lack of acceptance in Iranian society. The institution's deficiencies demonstrate …

Paradise Lost, Paradox Revisited: The Implications Of Familial Ideology For Feminist, Lesbian, And Gay Engagement To Law, Shelley A. M. Gavigan

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In this article the author addresses the theoretical and political challenges issued to feminists and feminist scholarship by recent debates and litigation concerning "family" and "family-based" benefits. The argument proceeds in four parts: first, the discussion is relocated within socialist feminist theory. The implications of the qualified pro-family stance in the critiques advanced or influenced by women of colour is considered next, followed by an examination of some proposals to extend the definition of "spouse" and "family" to lesbian and gay relationships. The author is critical of both "critiques" and illustrates with reference to Canadian welfare and immigration law that …

Incompletely Reasoned Sex: A Review Of Posner's Somewhat Misleading Guide To The Economic Analysis Of Sex And Family Law, Martin Zelder

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Sex and Reason by Richard A. Posner

Tales Of Two Cities: Aids And The Legal Recognition Of Domestic Partnerships In San Francisco And New York, David L. Chambers

Articles

Here are two stories. They are of the quite different ways that domestic partnerships of lesbian and gay couples have come to be recognized, for some purposes, in San Francisco and New York City. I tell the stories for their own sake, but with a particular focus on the role that AIDS played in the political process in each city.

Legal Rape: The Marital Rape Exemption, 24 J. Marshall L. Rev. 393 (1991), Sandra L. Ryder, Sheryl A. Kuzmenka

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Your Hiv Positive Client: Easing The Burden On The Family Through Estate Planning, 24 J. Marshall L. Rev. 509 (1991), Emily Berendt, Laura Lynn Michaels

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law's Patriarchy, Lynne Henderson

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Wimberly And Beyond: Analyzing The Refusal To Award Unemployment Compensation To Women Who Terminate Prior Employment Due To Pregnancy, Mary F. Radford

Faculty Publications By Year

In Wimberly v. Labor & Industrial Relations Commission, the Supreme Court interpreted section 3304(a)(12) of the Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA), which requires that states not dent unemployment benefits "solely on the basis of pregnancy," as an antidiscrimination statue, rather that one requiring preferential treatment for pregnant and formerly pregnant women. Professor Mary Radford argues that given the ambiguous legislative history and other Supreme Court precedent in the area of unemployment compensation, Wimberly could just as easily have held that FUTA's language requires preferential treatment to pregnant and formerly pregnant women. She further argues that given the current realities that …

Sterilization Of Mentally Retarded Persons: Reproductive Rights And Family Privacy, Elizabeth S. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

Sterilization is one of the most frequently chosen forms of contraception in the world; many persons who do not want to have children select this simple, safe, and effective means of avoiding unwanted pregnancy. For individuals who are mentally disabled, however, sterilization has more ominous associations. Until recently, involuntary sterilization was used as a weapon of the state in the war against mental deficiency. Under eugenic sterilization laws in effect in many states, retarded persons were routinely sterilized without their consent or knowledge.

Sterilization law has undergone a radical transformation in recent years. Influenced by a distaste for eugenic sterilization …

Incest Statutes And The Fundamental Right Of Marriage: Is Oedipus Free To Marry?, Carolyn S. Bratt

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The U.S. Supreme Court has found that the right to marry is a constitutionally protected right. That right is restricted, however, by state incest statutes which impede marriage between adults by making some choices of a marriage partner illegal. The constitutional validity of modern state incest statutes is difficult to analyze because of shifting definitions, reflexive fears, ambivalent attitudes, and underlying facile generalizations.

The mere word "incest" triggers strong feelings of revulsion in most people. Therefore, any a priori labeling of a marriage as incestuous tends to preclude objective thought about the permissibility of the particular form of the marriage …

Personhood And The Contraceptive Right, Joseph W. Rebone

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.