Human Rights and the Family

Springer. 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-348-4505; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.springerlink.com

Y

16

Civil Rights; Law Schools; Courts; Marriage; Group Unity; Federal Legislation; Court Litigation; Social Attitudes; Family Structure; Family (Sociological Unit); Foreign Countries; Homosexuality; Catholics

Asia; India; United Kingdom; United States; USSR

10.1007/s12129-008-9098-y

0895-4852

In this article, the author explores the attempts by academic theorists to replace the conception of marriage as a "natural" institution with the idea that marriage is defined by the state, and is therefore open to whatever transformations the state may choose to impose. This claim, which began in law schools and philosophy departments, eventually travelled to the courts, as when the Massachusetts Supreme Court in its "Goodridge" decision (2003) found a "right" to gay marriage. The author also looks back at the crucial earlier stage of the debate on the family: the ratification in 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which included what now reads like a vindication of the traditional concept of marriage as "the natural and fundamental group unit of society...entitled to protection by society and the State." The lesson here is valuable and leads the author to the conclusion that a reassertion of human rights might be an effective counter to the politicized attack on the traditional family "in vogue in western academies and courts." (Contains 45 footnotes.)

ERIC

2009

EJ838638