Prerequisites: None

Exam Type:No Exam

We will study the increasingly complex “marriage system,” in which new forms of adult relationship join marriage in the legal order; the rules making marriage a significant distributive institution both in the larger political economy and amongst family members; and the role of criminal law and administrative law in governing conflict among family members. We will study the role of constitutional law in shaping the family and making family-law issues controversial in the polity.  Throughout we will compare marriage with its alternatives and with informal relationships, and will seek to understand how the family law system complements market labor and public welfare provision in distributing social welfare. Students will engage in a divorce negotiation exercise involving short writing assignments. Students will also write papers on the readings. Feedback will be provided and revisions encouraged.