International Family Law

International Family Law

International Family Law describes all family law matters with an international element. People are residing internationally and experiencing international relationships more frequently. The closest link to determine which national family law rules are applicable to specific family matters is the residence (domicilie) of the parties concerned. Family matters include marriage, divorce, maintenance obligations, spouses, inter- country adoption, lineage, inheritance etc.

Family law has traditionally been an area of private law governed by rules local to a given jurisdiction and not cognizable as a subject for international agreement. In recent years, however, principally through the United Nations and the Hague Conference on Private International Law , a movement to harmonize some aspects of family law across national regimes and to avoid the harmful human consequences of conflicts of law in this area has resulted in several major international instruments.

International Family law

Seee also: The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction , Treaty, Covention on the Rights of the Child,

Main US Decisions about international family law:

1. Viragh v. Foldes
2. Taveres v. Tavaraz
3. Cisneros v. Aragon
4. Pielage v. McConnell
5. Baran v. Beaty
6. Barzilay v. Barzilay
7. Furnes v. Reeves
8. Shealy v. Shealy
9. Shalit v. Coppe
10. Gonzales v. Gutierrez
11. Friedrich v. Friedrich
12. Fawcett v. McRoberts
13. Feder v. Evans-Feder
14. Bromley v. Bromley
15. Croll v. Croll

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Reference works

Barbara Stark, International Family Law : an Introduction, 2005
David Hodson, A Practical Guide to International Family Law, 2008
Winston Anderson, Private International Family Law, 2005
Winston Anderson, Private International Family Law, 2005

Bibliographies
Periodicals and Serial Publications

International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family

Books

ANDERSON, W., Private International Family Law, Kingston : Caribbean Law Publishing, 2005
BAARSMA, N.A., The Europeanisation of International Family Law : from Dutch to European Law : an Analysis on the Basis of the Choice of Law on Divorce and on the Termination of Registered Partnerships, S.l. : s.n., 2010
BLAIR, M. (ed.), Family Law in the World Community : Cases, Materials, and Problems in Comparative and International Family Law, Durham, NC : Carolina Academic Press, 2009
EEKELAAR, J. (ed.), The Changing Family : International Perspectives on the Family and Family Law, Oxford : Hart Publishing, 1998
HODSON, D., A Practical Guide to International Family Law, Bristol : Family Law, 2008
MEEUSEN, J. (ed.), International Family Law for the European Union, Antwerpen etc. : Intersentia, 2007
MURPHY, J., International Dimensions in Family Law, Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2005

Articles

BEAUMONT, P., “International Family Law in Europe : the Maintenance Project, the Hague Conference and the EC : a Triumph of Reverse Subsidiarity” , in: 73 Rabels Zeitschrift für auslandisches und internationales Privatrecht (2009) 3, pp. 509-546
BàœCHER, A., “La famille en droit international privé” , in: 283 Recueil des cours (2000), The Hague etc. : Nijhoff, pp. 9-186
CHOUDHURY, C.A., “Exporting Subjects : Globalizing Family Law Progress Through International Human Rights” , in: 32 Michigan Journal of International Law (2011) 3, pp. 259-324
COBURN, A.M., “International Family Law” , in: 38 The International Lawyer (2004) 2, pp. 493-497
HARDING, M., “The Harmonisation of Private International Law in Europe : Taking the New Character Out of Family Law” , in: 7 Journal of Private International Law (2011) 1, pp. 203-229
JAYME, E., “Party Autonomy in International Family and Succession Law : New Tendencies” , in: 11 Yearbook of Private International Law (2009), pp. 1-10
SIEHR, K., “Family Unions in Private International Law” , in: 50 Netherlands International Law Review (2003) 3, pp. 419-435
SPECTOR, R.G., “International Family Law” , in: 42 The International Lawyer (2008) 2, pp. 821-832

Documents

BLAIR, D.M. and M.H. WEINER, International Family Law : Conventions, Statutes, and Regulatory Materials, Durham, NC : Carolina Academic Press, 2010
Family Law Statutes, International Conventions and Uniform Laws, New York, NY : Foundation Press, 2007

A. Web Sites, Major Documents and Treaties

Hague Conference on Private International Law Home Page – This site contains all the conventions which will be referenced individually throughout this guide.
United States Department of State, Office of the Legal Advisor, Private International Law database provides additional information on draft Treaties of the Hague Conference and documents of the travaux preparatoires.
Actes et documents de la conference de la Haye de la ____ieme session. La Haye : Bureau permanent de la Conférence, 1961- .
Major United Nations Human Rights conventions may be found at the United Nations Human Rights Website (Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights) along with its Treaty Bodies Database, for obtaining the documents of the monitoring process and jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee .
Council of Europe, European Social Charter, 18 October 1961, ETS No. 35.
United Nations Declaration on Social Progress and Development of 11 December 1969.
United Nations Declaration on the Protection of Women and Children in Emergency and Armed Conflicts of 14 December 1974.
Convention No. 156, adopted by the International Labour Organisation, 1981, concerning Workers with Family Responsibilities.
Declaration on the Rights of the Family, approved by the Executive Committee of the Inter-American Children’s Institute at its 63rd session, Santa Cruz, Bolivia, July 1983,
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and members of their Families of 19 December 1990 (not in force), https://www.hri.ca/uninfo/treaties/76.shtml
The site of a large US matrimonial firm, Crouch & Crouch, has links to some useful information under “Family law in specific countries”and US states found at https://patriot.net/~crouch/fln/outlnx.html#anchor174883.
a substantial article in the Electronic Journal of Comparative Law is available on the web.: K. Boele-Woelki, “The Road Towards a European Family Law,”1 EJCL (November 1997).
Religious law (transjurisdictional)
Islamic Family Law, https://serv5.law.emory.edu/IFL/ (“The Law and Religion Program of Emory University is implementing a global study of Islamic Family Law (IFL). General principles of Shari’a are supposed to govern such matters as marriage, divorce, maintenance, paternity and custody of children for more than a billion Muslims around the world.” Site contains legal profiles of predominately Islamic countries and will cover the extent to which Shari’a is applied in Muslim communities everywhere).
Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church
CatholicPages.com web directory: Canon Law, https://www.catholic-pages.com/dir/canon_law.asp (electronic Code of Canon Law, prior codes, and useful articles).
St. Paul University in Ottawa, Faculty of Canon Law, https://web.ustpaul.uottawa.ca/ustpaul/jhuelspers.htm (many useful articles in chronological order; scroll down for most recent).

B. Major Treatises and General Periodicals

Bainham, Andrew, ed. The International Survey of Family Law 2001 Edition. Bristol: Jordan, 2001.
Belembaogo, Akila. The family in international and regional human rights instruments. New York: United Nations, 1999.
Blanpain. R., ed. Family and succession law, International Encyclopedia of Laws. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1997.
Bucher, Andreas. La famille en droit international privé, 283 Recueil des Cours pp. 9-186 (2000).
Eekelaar, John and Thandabantu Nhlapo, eds. The changing family: international perspectives on the family and family law. Oxford, England: Hart Publishing, 1998.
____________ and Peter Sarcevic, eds. Parenthood in modern society: legal and social issues for the twenty-first century. Dordrecht; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 1993.
International family law. Bristol: Jordan, 1998-.
(periodical)
International journal of law and the family. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987-1995.
International journal of law, policy and the family. Oxford Oxford University Press, 1996-.
Kleijkamp, Gerda A.Family life and family interests: a comparative study of the influence of the European Convention of Human Rights on Dutch family law and the influence of the United States Constitution on American family law. The Hague; Boston: Kluwer Law International, 1999.
Lowe, Nigel and Gillian Douglas, eds. Families across frontiers. The Hague; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1996.
Rosenblatt, Jeremy. International conventions affecting children. The Hague; Boston: Kluwer Law International, 2000.
World Law Conference (1st: 1996, Brussels, Belgium). Law in motion: recent developments in civil procedure, constitutional, contract, criminal, environmental, family and succession [emphasis mine], intellectual property, medical, social security, transport law. Boston: Kluwer International, 1997.
Substantial Articles and Chapters: Dyer, Adair. “The Internationalization of Family Law,”30 U.C.Davis L. Rev. 625 (1997).

II. Marriage and Divorce (includes same-sex partnerships)

A. Web Sites, Major documents and Treaties

Convention on the Nationality of Married Women of 29 January 1957.
United Nations Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages of 10 December 1962, 521 U.N.T.S. 231.
United Nations Recommendation on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages, G.A. Res. 2018 (XX), 20 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 14) at 36, U.N. Doc. A/6014 1965).
Hague Convention relating to the settlement of the conflict of the laws concerning marriage of 12 June 1902, Convention A.
Hague Convention relating to the settlement of the conflict of laws as regards divorce and separation of 12 June 1902, Convention B.
Hague Convention relating to conflicts of laws with regard to the effects of marriage on the rights and duties of the spouses in their personal relationship and with regard to their estates of 17 July 1905, Convention E.
Hague Convention on the Recognition of Divorces and Legal Separations of 1 June 1970, Convention 18.
Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Matrimonial Property Regimes of 14 March 1978, Convention 25.
European Union, Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments in Matrimonial Matters, approved by the Council 28 May 1998 , C 221 (16/07/98), and status updated at https://db.consilium.eu.int/Accords/default.asp?lang=en. Unfortunately the OJ issues of this date have been removed from the free database at Eur-lex.
United Nations WomenWatch page with links to CEDAW and the Commission on the Status of Women, the committee and the Treaty Bodies Database.
Women’s Human Rights resources page at Bora Laskin Law library , University of Toronto.
Wintemute, Robert and Mads Andenaes. Legal recognition of same-sex partnerships: a study of national, European and international law.
Oxford ; Portland, Or.: Hart, 2001.

B. Major Treatises

Bunting, Annie. Particularity of rights, diversity of contexts : women, international human rights and the case of early marriage. Thesis, JSD, University of Toronto,1999.
El Alami, Dawoud Sudqi and Doreen Hinchcliffe. Islamic marriage and divorce laws of the Arab world. London [England]: Published for CIMEL by Kluwer Law International, 1996.
Steyger, Elies. National traditions and European Community law: margarine and marriage. Aldershot; Brookfield, USA : Dartmouth, 1997.

III. Family Maintenance and Support

A. Web Sites, Major documents and Treaties

International Labour Organisation (ILO), Convention Concerning the Employment of Women before and after Childbirth, adopted 28-11-1919, Convention C3, 1st Session, Washington, 1919, in force 13-06-1921, revised in 1952; revised as Convention Concerning Maternity Protection, adopted 28-06-1952, Convention C103, 35th Session, Geneva, 1952, in force 07-09-1955.
ILO Recommendation Concerning Maternity Protection, adopted 28-06-1952, Recommendation R95, 35th Session, Geneva and recommendations on women in agriculture.
ILO Conventions and recommendations may be found at ILO web site and also in ILO, International labour conventions and recommendations, 1919-1995. 3 vols. Geneva: International Labour Office, 1996. Periodically updated.
Hague Convention concerning the recognition and enforcement of decisions relating to maintenance obligations towards children of 15 April 1958, Convention 9.
Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Decisions Relating to Maintenance Obligations of 2 October 1973, Convention 23.
Hague Convention of on the Law Applicable to Maintenance Obligations 2 October 1973, Convention 24.
Inter-American Convention on Support Obligations of 15 July 1989, B-54 at https://www.oas.org/ (Note: this URL applies for all the Inter-American conventions on the web).

B. Major Treatises

Meulders-Klein , M.T. and J. Eekelaar. Famille, etat et securite economique d’existence = Family, state and individual economic security. Bruxelles: Story Scientia; [S.l.]: Kluwer Law and Taxation, 1988.
DeHart, Gloria F. International enforcement of child support and custody: reciprocity and other strategies. Chicago, Ill. : Section of Family Law, American Bar Association, 1986.
Full Faith and Credit for Child Support Orders Act: report (to accompany S. 922). Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O.; 1994.

IV. Child Custody and Abduction

A. Web Sites, Major documents and Treaties

Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction of 25 October 1980.
Explanatory Report, E. Perez-Vera, Actes et documents de la Quatorzieme session, Vol. III, 1980, p. 426.
Bibliography of this Convention No. 28 available at the site of the Hague Conference on Private International Law at www.hcch.net/e/conventions/bibl28e.html
Commonwealth Secretariat, The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction : Explanatory Documentation Prepared for Commonwealth Jurisdictions, 1997.
Many matrimonial and family attorneys and law firms in the U.S. and Europe now have web sites for their practice which include some links along with summaries of broad rules of law for their jurisdiction and under the Hague Convention, e.g., for U.S. and international law, Crouch & Crouch of Arlington, VA USA.
Hague Convention relating to the settlement of guardianship of minors of 12 June 1902, Convention C.
Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children of 19 October 1996, Convention 34.
Inter-American Convention on the International Return of Children of 15 July 1989, B-53.
U.S. Department of State, The Office of Children’s Issues, https://travel.state.gov/children’s_issues.html, “The Office of Children’s Issues handles only international parental child abduction and international adoption matters. Child Protection Services (child support enforcement, child abuse and neglect, child abandonment, runaways child exploitation, etc.) are the responsibility of the Office of American Citizens Services and Crisis Management.”

B. Major Treatises

Beaumont, P. R. The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction . Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Doek, Jaap and Hans van Loon, eds. Children on the move: how to implement their right to family life. The Hague; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 1996.
American Bar Association. International child abductions: a guide to applying the Hague Convention, with forms. 2nd ed. Chicago, Ill.: The Association, 1993.
_____________________. North American Symposium on International Child Abduction (1993 : Washington, D.C.) How to handle international child abduction cases. [Washington, D.C.]: American Bar Association, 1993.
Canada. Parliament. House of Commons. Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. International child abduction: issues for reform : fourth report of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Ottawa]: The Committee, 1998.
Substantial chapters and articles:
Silberman, Linda. “The Hague Children’s Conventions: The Internationalization of Child Law,”(Hague Academy Lectures, summer 1999, to appear in Recueil des Cours).
________________. “The Hague Child Abduction Convention turns Twenty: Gender Politics and Other Issues,”33 N.Y.U. J. Intl. L. & Politics 221 (2000).

V. Inter- country Adoption

A. Web Sites, Major documents and Treaties

Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children, with Special Reference to Foster Placement and Adoption Nationally and Internationally of 3 December 1986,
Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law and Recognition of Decrees Relating to Adoptions of 15 November 1965, Convention 13.
Hague Convention on Protection of Children an Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption, of 29 May 1993, Convention 33, text and related documents and reports at https://www.hcch.net/e/conventions/menu33e.html
Council of Europe, European Convention on the Adoption of Children of 24 April 1967, ETS No. 58.
Inter-American Convention on Conflict of Laws Concerning Adoption of Minors of 24 May 1984, B-48.

B. Major Treatises

International Social Service, Geneva. Internal and intercountry adoption laws. The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1996- (looseleaf).
Rosenblatt, Jeremy. International adoption. London [England]: Sweet & Maxwell, 1995.
O’Connor, J. P. The international adoption guide: how to legally adopt a child in over 80 countries. London : Chancellor Publications, 1994.

VI. Convention on the Rights of the Child

A. Web Sites, Major documents and Treaties

United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989.
Committee on the Rights of the Child (monitoring body) with links to Treaty Bodies Database and including Working Group on a draft optional protocol to the convention on involvement of children in armed conflicts.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict, entered into force 12 February 2002, https://www.unicef.org/crc/oppro-frameset.htm.
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, entered into force 18 January 2002, https://www.unicef.org/crc/oppro-frameset.htm
(The two Optional Protocols were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 25 May 2000 (General Assembly Resolution A/Res/54/263)). United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
United Nations Special Session on Children, 8-10 May 2002 (New York), https://www.unicef.org/specialsession/ and the draft outcome document, A World Fit for Children, https://www.unicef.org/specialsession/documentation/documents/draft-outcome-document-eng.pdf.
Declaration on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1959, G.A. res. 1386 (XIV), 14 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 19, U.N. Doc. A/4354 (1959).
Declaration on the Rights and Welfare of the African Child, Monrovia, 17-20 July 1979,
Inter-American Children’s Institute (OAS).
Hague Convention concerning the powers of authorities and the law applicable in respect of the protection of minors of 5 October 1961, Convention 10.
Council of Europe, European Convention on the Exercise of Children’s Rights of 25 January 1996, ETS No. 160.
Inter-American Convention on Traffic in Minors of 18 March 1994, B-57.
Children links at University of Minnesota Human Rights Library.
Child Rights Information Network.
US Children’s Defense Fund.
Canadian Coalition for the Rights of the Child.

B. Major Treatises

Angel, William D., ed. The international law of youth rights, source documents and commentary. Dordrecht ; Boston: M. Nijhoff, 1995.
Detrick, Sharon. A children’s rights glossary: based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child; a companion volume to the International children’s rights Thesaurus . Florence, Italy: UNICEF, 2000.
Council of Europe. The rights of the child: A European perspective. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing, 1996.
Detrick, Sharon. A commentary on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Hague; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff , 1999.
_____________, ed. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: a guide to the Travaux preparatoires.”Dordrecht; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 1992.
Fottrell, Deirdre, ed. Revisiting children’s rights: 10 years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Hague; Boston: Kluwer Law, International, 2000.
Freeman, Michael, ed. Children’s rights: a comparative perspective. Issues in law and society. Aldershot [England]: Dartmouth, 1996
Freestone, David, ed. Children and the law: essays in honour of Professor H.K. Bevan. [Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989]. [Hull]: Hull University Press, 1990.
Himes, James R. Implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child: resource mobilization in low-income countries. The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1995.
Hodgkin , Rachel and Peter Newell for UNICEF. Implementation handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. New York, Y: UNICEF, 1998.
Holmstrom, Leif, ed. Concluding Observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Vol 1. Raoul Wallenberg Institute Series of Intergovernmental Human Rights Documentation. [The Hague; Boston]: Martinus Nijhoff, 1999.
Kaufman, Natalie Hevene and Arlene Bowers Andrews. Implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: a standard of living adequate for development. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999.
Kilkelly, Ursula. The child and the European Convention on Human Rights . Programme on International Rights of the Child, series. Brookfield, VT: Ashgate/Dartmouth, 1999.
Saulle, Maria Rita and Flaminia Kojanec, eds. The rights of the child: international instruments. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: Transnational Publishers, Inc., 1995.
Van Bueren, Geraldine, ed. International Documents on Children. 2nd rev. ed. The Hague ; Boston : M. Nijhoff , 1998.
Verhellen, Eugeen, ed. Monitoring children’s rights. The Hague; Boston: Martinus Nijhoff, 1996.
Yolles, Vanessa. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: a practical guide to its use in Canadian courts. Toronto: UNICEF Canada, 1998.
For employment issues regarding child labour, youth, and minimum age, see list of ILO conventions.

VII. Supervision of Adults

A. Web Sites, Major documents and Treaties

Hague Convention on the International Protection of Adults of 13 January 2000 (not yet in force), Convention 35.
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons of 20 December 1971, G.A. res. 2856 (XXVI), 26 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 29) at 93, U.N. Doc. A/8429 (1971).
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons of 9 December 1975, G.A. res. 3447 (XXX), 30 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 34) at 88, U.N. Doc. A/10034 (1975).

B. Major Treatises

Jones, Melinda and Lee Ann Basser Marks, eds. Disability, divers-ability, and legal change. The Hague ; Boston : M. Nijhoff Publishers, 1998.
UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Legislation on equal opportunities and full participation in development for disabled persons: examples from the ESCAP region. New York: United Nations, 1997.
Quinn, G. Disability discrimination law in the United States, Australia, and Canada. Dublin: Oak Tree Press in association with the National Rehabilitation Board, 1993.

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Mentioned in these Entries

Convention on the Rights of the Child Part 2, Convention on the Rights of the Child Part 4, Convention on the Rights of the Child, Convention on the Rights of the Child, European Convention on Human Rights, European Union law Part 7, Hague Conference on Private International Law, Hague Convention on the International Protection of Adults, Human Rights Committee, Human Rights conventions, Human Rights resources, International Commercial Arbitration, International Commercial Law, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant, International Law of Procedure, International commercial arbitration, International human rights law Part 28, International law topics, Law Journals ranking worldwide, Law library, List of European and UK Online Journals, List of Family Law Online Journals, List of International Law Online Journals, List of family law legal publications in english, List of international law publications in english, Private International Law, Religious law, The Hague Convention on International Child Abduction, Thesaurus, Treaties, country.