Carol S. Bruch

Nonmarital cohabitation in the common law countries: a study in judicial-legislative interaction

A study of nonmarital cohabitation in the common law countries is as much a study of the mechanisms of change as it is a study of the substantive legal rules affecting informal families.1 The movement of the law as it addresses the legal issues posed by recent dramatic changes in lifestyles highlights important differences in the legal systems of the common law world. Traditionally the common law has been viewed as a means of piecemeal, incremental change that operates on a case-by-case basis. Its doctrine of stare decisis coordinates what might otherwise be an unruly phenomenon of ad hoc justice. In addition, the realities of a shared language and a shared tradition of judicial reasoning have fostered a cross-pollination of ideas as courts have looked to persuasive opinions of sister-jurisdictions even when respect was not owed under the rules of precedent. Finally, common history and logic have often prompted independent yet parallel developments of the law.

Forms of exclusion in child custody law

Abstract This article examines how and to what degree child custody law curtails contact with children by parents who exhibit socially undesirable behavior. It briefly reviews the historical development of custody law, noting the ways in which changing social judgments have shaped legal doctrine. Current custody law is then examined from the same perspective, revealing that similar forces continue to affect the content, form, and consequences of child custody law. Finally, the article identifies increasing normative pressures, supported by recent findings from the behavioral sciences, that favor maintaining a childs contact with its natural family. The article concludes that the degree to which this development will effectively supplant more traditional efforts to ostracize some family members remains to be seen.

The Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Succession to the Estates of Deceased Persons: Do Quasi-Community Property and Mandatory Survivorship Laws Need Protection?

The Hague Convention of 20 October 1988 on the Law Applicable to Succession to the Estates of Deceased Persons (Succession Convention)1 clarifies succession law for those who have important connections with more than one country. It provides choice-of-law rules for intestacy, and, for those who write wills, it specifies the testators permissible choice of law. This article does not evaluate the overall desirability of the Convention, a matter currently being debated elsewhere. Rather, it concerns one aspect of the Convention that affects cases in which a testator has specified a choice of law consistent with the Convention. It discusses mandatory survivorship rules, including quasi-community laws, and considers the possible effects of the testators choice of law on them. It then evaluates an authorized reservation to