Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Family Law

I'm taking three substantive law classes this fall: Constitutional Law (required), Evidence (required) and Family Law (elective). It's early, but I suspect Family Law will be my bete noire for the semester. Looking at the syllabus, I am reminded of last year's Property class: rigid organization, voluminous reading, and lots of Arkansas law to supplement the textbook. The good news is, the reading is all quite interesting so far.

I've learned this much already: the next time someone ribs you about cousins marrying in Arkansas, direct them to the 1986 case of Etheridge v. Shaddock, in which the court considered whether it should recognize the marriage of a pair of first cousins who married in Arkansas, found out that the marriage was illegal, then crossed the border to remarry in Texas, where such marriages are allowed.

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