Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

Abstract

Legal scholars have produced a rich literature exploring how law shapes cities. These scholars have examined the authority and autonomy of municipal governments, the nature of urban community, and the geography of inequality. Another set of legal scholars has produced an equally rich literature exploring how law shapes families. These scholars have analyzed how marriage laws systematically disadvantage African Americans and other marginalized groups, how family law reinforces conceptions of traditional families, and how the absence of marriage equality led courts to recognize functional parents.

These discourses rarely overlap. Until this Colloquium. We brought together a range of scholars from multiple fields, inside and outside law, to talk about the intersection of urban law and family law. The inspiration for the Colloquium was a book by one of us, Failure to Flourish: How Law Undermines Family Relationships. Professor Huntington argues in the book that family relationships — especially parent-child relationships — are essential for human flourishing and societal flourishing, but the law too often undermines these relationships.

Disciplines

Family Law | Law

Included in

Family Law Commons

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