Principles of the Law of Relationships Among Adults

22 Pages Posted: 16 Aug 2012

See all articles by Maxine Eichner

Maxine Eichner

University of North Carolina School of Law

Date Written: Janury 1, 2007

Abstract

Governmental regulation of intimate relationships between adults is so difficult because so many goods and principles important to a liberal democracy and to individuals themselves are at stake and, often, in tension. To what extent should the state stay out of regulating these relationships and leave them to citizens’ own freedom of choice? Or to what extent should public goods, such as equality and justice, which cannot adequately be pursued on an individual level, justify the state’s intervention in these relationships? In this essay I consider these questions. In doing so, I argue for an approach that gives both the private and public interests in intimate relationships their due. Because tradeoffs among so many important goods and principles — including individual freedom, sex and economic equality, and ensuring that children and adults receive caretaking, to give only a partial list — are implicated in relationships between adults, any viable solution must seek compromises among these goods. I offer such a compromise in the form of six principles to serve as the framework for laws regulating relationships among adults. With apologies to the reporters of the American Law Institute’s Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution, I model the title and form of this essay on the ALI’s Principles because of their similar purpose: Like the ALI’s Principles, the principles set out here seek to navigate the tension between our tradition of individual freedom on the one hand, and the recognition of the important public values served by families on the other. Like the ALI’s Principles, I seek to set out tenets that promote the law’s better adaptation to current social needs and to securing the end of justice. In doing so, these principles constitute a viable framework for harmonizing the relevant goods at stake in a manner consistent with the best of our nation’s political ideals.

Suggested Citation

Eichner, Maxine, Principles of the Law of Relationships Among Adults (Janury 1, 2007). Family Law Quarterly, Vol. 41, 2007, UNC Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2129748, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2129748

Maxine Eichner (Contact Author)

University of North Carolina School of Law ( email )

Van Hecke-Wettach Hall, 160 Ridge Road
CB #3380
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3380
United States

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