The Contractualization of Family Law in the United States

Abstract

This article is the word-restricted response of the authors as the U.S. national reporter to an expansive request of the International Academy of Comparative Law (IACL) issued to the reporters of twenty-one different member nations. As any U.S. report on family law requires discussion of the varied laws of the fifty U.S. states, our report necessarily contains a vast summary component with broad generalizations in order to provide the requested context for U.S. law. The authors also explore larger themes and scholarship in order to illustrate some of the important developments and theories advanced by U.S. lawyers and scholars in the areas discussed.