Family Law Commons^™

Harry Potter & The Law: Family Life And Moral Character, James C. Smith

Scholarly Works

Harry Potter's mistreatment by his Muggle family does not amount to a legal wrong. Notice that Dumbledore did not threaten the Dursleys with legal proceedings, either in Muggle or Wizard tribunals. The ethic of equitable treatment is societal and lacks a legal basis in Anglo-American family law. Family law has many facets; it is an amalgam of legal rules and principles. My focus is the lens of property law -- in particular, family property norms -- although it is also plain that the Dursleys have not violated non-property based family law norms.

Adverse Possession Of Identity: Radical Theory, Conventional Practice, Jessica A. Clarke

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article examines the conditions under which acting as if one has a particular legal status is sufficient to secure that status in the eyes of the law. Legal determinations of common-law marriage, functional parenthood, and racial identity share striking similarities to adverse possession law – these doctrines confer legal status on those who are merely acting as if they have that legal status. In each case, the elements of a legal claim are strikingly similar: physical proximity, notoriety and publicity, a claim of right, consistent and continuous behavior, and public acquiescence. The reason public performance is critical is that …

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

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Same-Sex Marriages In New York: The Langan And Hernandez Decisions, Ann Xin Zhu

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Phase Three Of New York State Domestic Violence Law: The Financial Aftermath, Jennifer Sarkees

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Beyond Our Conception: A Look At Children Born Posthumously Through Reproductive Technology And New York Intestacy Law, Erica Howard-Potter

Buffalo Women's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Material-Fetal Conflict: The Right Of A Woman To Refuse A Cesarean Section Versus The State's Interest In Saving The Life Of The Fetus, Daniel R. Levy Esq.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Confronting America's Ambivalence Towards Same-Sex Marriage: A Legal And Policy Perspective, Justin R. Pasfield

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Marriage And The Betrayal Of Perez And Loving, Monte Neil Stewart, William C. Duncan

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Are State Marriage Amendments Bills Of Attainder?: A Case Study Of Utah's Amendment Three, Daniel H. Walker

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Child Laundering: How The Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes And Incentivizes The Practices Of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, And Stealing Children, David M. Smolin

ExpressO

This article documents and analyzes a substantial incidence of "child laundering" within the intercountry adoption system. Child laundering occurs when children are taken illegally from birth families through child buying or kidnapping, and then "laundered" through the adoption system as "orphans" and then "adoptees." The article then proposes reforms to the intercountry adoption system that could substantially reduce the incidence of child laundering.

Rhetorical Holy War: Polygamy, Homosexuality, And The Paradox Of Community And Autonomy, Gregory C. Pingree

ExpressO

The article explores the rhetorical strategies deployed in both legal and cultural narratives of Mormon polygamy in nineteenth-century America. It demonstrates how an understanding of that unique communal experience, and the narratives by which it was represented, informs the classic paradox of community and autonomy – the tension between the collective and the individual. The article concludes by using the Mormon polygamy analysis to illuminate a contemporary social situation that underscores the paradox of community and autonomy – homosexuality and the so-called culture wars over family values and the meaning of marriage.

Home As A Legal Concept, Benjamin Barros

ExpressO

This article, which is the first comprehensive discussion of the American legal concept of home, makes two major contributions. First, the article systematically examines how homes are treated more favorably than other types of property in a wide range of legal contexts, including criminal law and procedure, torts, privacy, landlord-tenant, debtor-creditor, family law, and income taxation. Second, the article considers the normative issue of whether this favorable treatment is justified. The article draws from material on the psychological concept of home and the cultural history of home throughout this analysis, providing insight into the interests at stake in various legal …

Michigan Court Improvement Program Reassessment, Muskie School Of Public Service

Children, Youth, & Families

The Michigan Court Improvement Program was required to conduct a reassessment of its laws and performance and to adopt a strategic plan to further improve its handling of child protection cases. The Muskie School of Public Service, Cutler Institute for Child and Family Policy, and the American Bar Association’s Center for Children and the Law contracted with Michigan’s State Court Administrative Office to conduct the Reassessment. This report represents the results of the reassessment study.

The Lessons Of People V. Moscat: Confronting Judicial Bias In Domestic Violence Cases Interpreting Crawford V. Washington, David Jaros

All Faculty Scholarship

Crawford v. Washington was a groundbreaking decision that radically redefined the scope of the Confrontation Clause. Nowhere has the impact of Crawford and the debate over its meaning been stronger than in the context of domestic violence prosecutions. The particular circumstances that surround domestic violence cases 911 calls that record cries for help and accusations, excited utterances made to responding police officers, and the persistent reluctance of complaining witnesses to cooperate with prosecutors -- combine to make the introduction of "out-of-comment statements" a critical component of many domestic violence prosecutions. Because domestic violence cases are subject to a unique set …

Fathers And The Supreme Court: Founding Fathers And Nuturing Fathers, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article critiques the Supreme Court's negative, stereotypic views of fatherhood, especially unmarried fatherhood, and argues that the Court should reconsider and refine its definition of fatherhood around nurture. The corrective for the Court's current view is not to revert to a status-based definition of fatherhood, but rather to reinforce and recast its prior fathers' rights decisions to establish a definition grounded on relationship and care. What should be discarded are outdated stereotypes about men as incapable, incompetent caregivers, as well as patriarchal norms of status and ownership based in genetic and economic fatherhood recognized exclusively within marriage. Instead, fatherhood …

In Defense Of Maroni: Why Parents Should Be Allowed To Proceed Pro Se In Idea Cases, M. Brendhan Flynn

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Secondhand Smoke And The Family Courts: The Role Of Smoke Exposure In Custody And Visitation Decisions, Kathleen Dachille, Kristine Callahan

Faculty Scholarship

This publication is designed to assist courts, practitioners and lay people who are faced with a custody or visitation proceeding in which a child's exposure to secondhand smoke has been or may be raised.

Women As A Symbol Of Cultural Conflict: The Compatability Of Egypt's Shari'a Derived Personal Status Laws With Its International Obligations, And Prospects For Reform, Jasmin Moussa

Archived Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the compatibility of Shari'a-derived personal status laws in Egypt with the international legal obligation to eliminate gender discrimination (specifically in the area of family relations). In Egypt, the Shari'a-derived personal status law for Sunni Muslims governs family relations, including marriage, divorce, child custody and successions, and have been frequently criticized for discriminating against women. However, this body of law is not immutable, it has proven flexible over the centuries, and has accommodated many changes in society.

As such, an important question is: are Egypt's personal status laws reconcilable with its international obligations? If not, how can they …

Adoption With Contact Law Awaits Governor's Signature, Elizabeth Samuels

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Removing Violent Parents From The Home: A Test Case For The Public Health Approach, Robin Fretwell Wilson

Faculty Scholarship

Child services caseworkers adhere to the belief that, in the absence of prosecution, the only remedy for protecting a child harmed by a parent is to remove the child from her home. The effect of this often is to leave the alleged perpetrator in the household with the victim's siblings. Using sexual violence as an example, this Comment contends the evidence of potential risk for the remaining children is so overwhelming that, as a matter of policy, an adult who violates one child should be removed from the household. Parents who commit incest rarely stop with one child. Ignoring such …

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.

The Plight Of Putative Father: Public Policy V. Paternity Fraud, Maegan Padgett

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Open-Records Debate: Balancing The Interests Of Birth Parents And Adult Adoptees, Caroline B. Fleming

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

No abstract provided.

Contesting Gender In Popular Culture And Family Law: Middlesex And Other Transgender Tales, Susan Frelich Appleton

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Child Sex Abuse Victims: How Will Their Stories Be Heard After Crawford V. Washington?, Erin Thompson

Campbell Law Review

This comment focuses on the Confrontation Clause's interpretation throughout history and demonstrates the adverse effects the current state of the law has on child sex abuse victims like Alice and Bonnie. As such, the United States Supreme Court should declare that current statutory protections for child sex abuse victims are valid exceptions to the Confrontation Clause. Additionally, states should be encouraged to establish these statutes where they do not exist.

Federalism's Fallacy: The Early Tradition Of Federal Family Law And The Invention Of States' Rights, Kristin Collins

Faculty Scholarship

By examining the history of the federal government's role in the regulation of the family, this article joins the work of others who in recent years have begun to piece together the history of the federal government's role in crafting domestic relations law and policy.'⁸ Much of this attention has focused on federal involvement in domestic relations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with relatively less consideration given to the pre-Civil War period. Though recent contributions to this field have helped to cure this imbalance, ¹⁹ there remains a strong sense, especially among lawyers and judges, that …

Parental Rights Movement On Utah's Capitol Hill Should Not Make Gains At The Expense Of The State's Children, David B. Dibble

Brigham Young University Education and Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A New Era Of Dead-Beat Dads: Determining Social Security Survivor Benefits For Children Who Are Posthumously Conceived, Ann-Patton Nelson

Mercer Law Review

In Gillett-Netting v. Barnhart, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that posthumously conceived children born to a married couple were dependent under the Social Security Act ("Act") and entitled to child's survivor benefits. The posthumously conceived children in Gillett-Netting were born as a result of an in vitro fertilization process conducted after the husband's death. After the birth of her twins, the mother filed for benefits under the Act based on her late husband's earnings. The court ruled that because the twins were their father's legitimate children under Arizona law, they were to be …

Unwed Fathers' Rights In Adoption: The Virginia Code Vs. The Uniform Adoption Act, Erin Green

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

No abstract provided.