Family Law in the World Community
Professor Ann Laquer Estin
University of Iowa College of Law
Fall 2005

General Information

This is a course in international and comparative family law, exploring the treatment of marriage, divorce, cohabitation and custodial rights in different legal systems and considering the private international law framework for resolving transnational family disputes. Principles of international human rights law related to families and children will be an important focus of the class.

Our class will meet from 3:30 to 5:00 pm on Mondays and Tuesdays in Room 125. A list of reading assignments is attached. These draw from photocopied course materials available in the Law School bookstore, as well as a number of newspaper and journal articles available online. I recommend that you access Hein Online (through the Law Library) to locate and print the journal articles. In addition to more traditional legal materials, we will also read and discuss several short works of fiction that relate to the themes of the course; these are on reserve in the Library.

There will be a two-hour final essay exam in the course on Monday, December 12. The exam will focus on the legal issues addressed in the second half of the course. In addition, there will be several written assignments, including a reflection paper (2 to 3 pages), a foreign/comparative law research assignment (6 to 8 pages), and a longer paper on a human rights topic related to the themes of the course (8 to 10 pages). The two shorter assignments will not be graded, but must be satisfactorily completed in order for you to receive credit for the course. The human rights paper will be the basis for one-third of your final grade, with the exam counting for half of your grade and the remainder based on class attendance and participation. Students who wish to receive one writing unit for this class may arrange to combine the two longer papers or to expand and revise the final paper. Students seeking two writing units may pursue a Supplementary Writing project during the Spring semester. For more information on upper level writing units, please see the guidelines in the Student Handbook.

My office is in Room 416, and my email address is: ann-estin@uiowa.edu. Please feel free to contact me by phone, by email, or by stopping by my office.