<i>‘Professor Susan Frelich Appleton has brought her characteristically keen perspective to this critical overview of American family law. The book is both sweeping and meticulous: she identifies theoretical moves that underpin all of family law at the same time that she delves into the minutiae of discrete doctrines. Professor Appleton seamlessly moves between the archaic historical practices that still undergird the field and cutting-edge scholarship that propels it forward, and her astute readings give us a prediction for the path family law will take. This book should be mandatory reading for all family law professors.’</i>
- Albertina Antognini, Loyola Marymount University, USA,
<i>‘In a dynamic legal landscape, the legal understanding of the family has evolved, even as the family’s core functions in society persist. In clear, straightforward prose, Susan Appleton reconciles these changes with the abiding interest in the family as a site for the privatization of dependency and care. </i>Advanced Introduction to Family Law in the US<i> is required reading for practitioners, instructors, and students alike.’</i>
- Melissa Murray, New York University, USA,
<i>‘This is a remarkable text. It supplies a comprehensive examination of the law and a conceptually compelling account of why and how the state regulates the family. At our current crossroads, Appleton shows how legal restrictions on reproductive autonomy reverberate across the broad terrain of family law.’</i>
- Douglas NeJaime, Yale Law School, USA,
This Elgar Advanced Introduction provides key insights into family law in the US. In the midst of consequential changes wrought by the US Supreme Court, this book traces the evolution of the field from its origins in the law of domestic relations to the more modern regime of family law.
Key features include:
- Integrates state law, federal law, legal scholarship, and literature from other disciplines.
- Identifies the regulation of sex and the policy of keeping dependency private as family law's principal enduring features.
- Surveys different topics in family law including: marriage, nonmarriage, and dissolution; pregnancy; parentage; and children.
- Reviews the impact of the US Supreme Court's Dobbs decision on all of family law in the US and looks ahead to the future of family law.
Advanced Introduction to Family Law in the US is a valuable resource for teaching and learning family law, and also provides a sophisticated entry point for students and academics in gender studies and legal studies.