The polyamorous threat to nonmarriage

Some progressive U.S. Cities and several Canadian provinces now provide mechanisms for polyamorous families to register as such with state authorities. More than a million people in the United States identify as polyamorous and many more practice some form of ethical nonmonogamy. This article suggests that the growing recognition of polyamory poses a substantial threat to a simultaneous development in family law: the call by scholars and the Uniform Law Commission for courts to enforce a more implied contract, implied partnership and equitable claims in the context of non-marital conjugal cohabitation. Non-marital cohabitants argue that courts can infer marital-type commitments to share property from the fact of conjugal cohabitation. They argue that their nonmarriage should entitle them to the kinds of relief afforded to divorcing couples. But polyamorous conjugal cohabitation involves very different norms and commitments to reliance, partnership and transparency than does traditional marriage. Marital-type relief maps awkwardly, if at all, onto the reality of most polyamorous relationships. By bringing into relief that which we cannot necessarily assume about conjugal cohabitation, the recognition of polyamory questions what many proponents of more legal protection of nonmarital couples ask courts to assume about conjugal cohabitation, namely that it gives rise to reasonable reliance on a status quo and an intent to share property. Moreover, by providing a means for polyamorous households to register their relationships, polyamorous registration normalizes the idea of non-marital relationship registration. The more normal and expected it is for people who want rights as some form of family to register their familial intent with the state, the harder it is for those who have not so registered to argue that the state must treat them as some sort of family.     

Unmarried Cohabitation and Parenthood in Britain and Europe

This paper focuses on cohabitation and unmarried parenthood across a range of European nations. It includes a brief outline of the history of cohabitation, reviews recent trends in cohabitation and unmarried parenthood, compares the stability of marital and cohabiting unions, examines the extent to which cohabiting couples are regarded as families, and the final sections include a review of the policy responses to date, as well as a discussion of the impetuses that may lie behind the rise in cohabitation and unmarried parenthood.     

UNTIL DEATH DO US PART? WHY COURTS SHOULD EXPAND PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENTS TO INCLUDE TEN‐YEAR MARRIAGES

It has become apparent that marriage, while still strongly valued by society and government, has become less appealing to Americans as a whole. The changes taking place in society, whether economic or moral, have resulted in married couples becoming the minority in the United States. This decrease demonstrates that there is a need for reform, and that couples need to be provided with new options that will incentivize them to choose this union over cohabitation. This Note will discuss how expanding prenuptial agreements to allow couples to contract to the length of their marriage may help to accomplish that goal. This expansion will give couples the ability to tailor their relationship to fit their individual expectations and quell the reservations commonly associated with formalized relationships. Furthermore, such an expansion would be consistent with current law regulating premarital agreements and would still allow state governments to remain involved in regulation, making it less drastic of a reform than privatization.     

Cohabitation from illegal to institutionalized practice: the case of Norway 1972–2010

The main objective of this article is to explore the institutionalization of cohabitation that occurred in Norwegian law in the period 1972–2010. From being (officially) illegal until 1972, cohabitation in its contemporary form has become majority practice, a child-rearing institution, as well as recognized in law in ways that blur the differences between cohabitation and marriage. Although cohabitation is common in many European countries, Norway is one of the few to have gone full circle. This article focuses on the changes in politicians’ ideas and norms regarding intimate relationships during this period. The empirical analysis is based on political documents and debates in the Norwegian parliament about cohabitation, marriage, single motherhood and the family.     

The unmarried couple in post-communist Romania: a qualitative sociological approach

Over the last few decades, ‘new’ contemporary couple relationships have been at the heart of international research on the cultural meanings and reference values that organize life couple nowadays. What is the situation in Romania? After the fall of the communist regime, the rise and development of new forms of couple relationships (other than the legitimate nuclear family that was widely accepted during the former political regime) have become more and more visible. During the transition to a market economy and pluralistic democracy, the development of living together outside marriage and the progressive spread of democratic values, as well as the slow but deep redefinition of the institution of marriage, have been obvious. Yet there have been insufficient efforts in tracking and reporting these transformations. This article presents some results of the first qualitative sociological investigation dedicated to cohabiting unmarried couples in post-communist Romania. In order to have a greater understanding of cohabitation at a macro level, it first focuses on the way cohabitation is presented in the Romanian demographic literature. Second, the analysis is followed by a micro-level study based on qualitative field research conducted in Bucharest with young people living as part of cohabiting opposite-sex couples.     

The joint venture alternative to mergers

However, while a joint venture may be "safe" from antitrust challenge, it is not without some practical difficulties, especially with respect to consolidating services at one location or jointly offering services provided at multiple facilities. These practical concerns include: 1. Who will exercise operational management of the joint venture? 2. How will the joint venture deal with different pricing for services that will be provided at multiple locations? 3. What criteria will be used to decide the location at which consolidated tertiary services will be offered? 4. In what circumstances can the joint venture be unwound, either in its entirety or as to discrete functions? When clinical services have been consolidated at one location, there is an appropriate concern by the other hospital that it will be unable to provide or re-enter the market for those services if the joint venture dissolves. These operational concerns, of course, are not addressed in the Consent Decree. Thus, even if a joint venture relationship survives antitrust scrutiny, the parties must still negotiate and resolve these operational issues in order for the joint venture to be viable.     

The Why and What of Intimate Conflict: Effect of the Partners’ Divergent Perceptions on Verbal Aggression

The aim of this study is to explore the effect on expressions of verbal aggression of intimate partners’ divergent perceptions of what the conflict is about (its subject) and why fight over it (its motive), together with the effect of the period of cohabitation. The study focused on the couple as the unit of analysis. A structured self-report questionnaire was administered to a stratified probability sample drawn from the general population in Israel, including 452 couples (904 men and women). Findings show that there is an association between the couples’ divergent perceptions of the conflict motive and of its subject, and that these disagreements amplify the partners’ aggression toward each other. However, the perception of conflict motive has a stronger effect on the expressions of aggression than that of conflict subject, while duration of cohabitation has a moderating effect on the divergent perceptions of conflict subject and on aggression between the partners. The discussion embraces both the theoretical and practical implications of the findings, as well as the limitations of the study.     

企业合资行为的反垄断法考察

不当的合资行为因其与垄断的密切联系,可能造成对现有竞争秩序的破坏,对市场经济带来危害。因此,规范企业合资行为,有效防止企业利用合资的合理、合法外衣,从事限制竞争行为,降低企业间串谋的可能性,成了反垄断法研究领域的新课题。试从合资行为的概念、合资行为限制竞争的种种表现分析着手,对反垄断法规制合资行为的实体规则、程序规则和执行机构进行设想和探讨。     

How unique is the Western European marriage pattern?: A comparison of nuptiality in historical Europe and the contemporary Arab world

In this article a comparison is drawn between the historical Western European marriage pattern (WEMP), and more recent trends in nuptiality in Arab countries. This comparison makes clear that marriage behavior in the present-day Arab world shows striking similarities to nuptiality patterns which have been described by Hajnal and adherents as typically Western European. Due to a combination of economic hardship, ever growing costs in the marriage ceremony, prolonged education and the emancipation of women, people in the Arab world have started to marry at ever higher ages during the past decades. Moreover, there are indications that universal marriage is in decline. Just as Western European couples in the nineteenth century had to spend years of saving in order to meet the economic requirements for marriage, young couples in today's Arab world have to postpone marriage as they are only at a more advanced age able to bear the economic burden involved in getting married. Striking is also the fact that marriage restriction in both societies started at a moment when the social and legal position of women was improving (in late Medieval Western Europe and today in the Arab world). However, in some ways the historical Western European marriage pattern differs from the contemporary Arab pattern. No other marriage regime has been able to completely reduce fertility and balance population growth to economic development. Whereas population growth in pre-twentieth century Europe was only restricted by nuptiality control, demographic expansion in present day Arab society is also restricted by modern family planning. Declining nuptiality in the Arab world can however not, as some might assume, be put under the header of the Second Demographic Transition observed in Western societies, from the 1960s on. After all, until today, a rise in cohabitation and extra-marital births has not occured in the Arab world.     

对合资经营相关法律问题的几点思考

对于“JOINTVENTURE”,应突破仅从企业形态对其认识的藩篱,其实质上是一种直接投资方式,译为合资经营,指两个或更多主体共同致力于一项特定商业事业的结合。国家投资政策与投资法律的要求、外国投资者的天然劣势、分散风险与争取待遇上的优惠等诸多因素促使了合资经营的产生与发展。但我国在利用合资经营这种投资方式时视野较狭窄、立法欠缺统一性且诸多规定与实际不符。建议取消以三资企业法为主体的外资法群,将合资经营直接规定于统一的外资法典的投资形式一章,而合资经营的具体法律形式,则交由相应的国内部门法调整。     

The Formation of High-Tech University Spinouts: The Role of Joint Ventures and Venture Capital Investors

We explore the joint venture route to commercializing university owned intellectual property. We present comparisons between two spinouts formed as joint ventures between universities and industrial partners and two spinouts where this was not the case. The research employs a resource-based framework, with new high tech spinout firms (or firms in gestation) facing severe resource and capability constraints. We show that spinouts typically lack the financial means and managerial expertise to acquire the resources and develop the capabilities they need in order to fully exploit the commercial potential of their technologies. We argue that creating a spinout company as a joint venture with an industrial partner, may be a means of overcoming some of the potential problems associated with managing resource weaknesses and inadequate capabilities that may be difficult to achieve as a free-standing spin-out company with or without venture capital backing.     

Health care joint ventures between tax-exempt organizations and for-profit entities

Health care exempt organizations have many options regarding their structure and affiliations with for-profit entities. As long as any joint ventures are carefully structured and the nonprofit retains control over the exempt health care activities, the Internal Revenue Service should not question the structure. However, as outlined above, if the for-profit entity effectively gains control over the activities of the venture, the structure is not likely to be upheld by the IRS or the courts, and either the exempt status of the nonprofit will be denied or revoked, or health care income will be subject to the unrelated business income tax. In summary, the health care industry has been severely impacted by many economic forces, including uncertainty in the area of joint ventures between nonprofits and for-profit health care systems. The uncertainty as to whether the joint venture would negatively impact the nonprofit's tax-exempt status undoubtedly caused many nonprofits to form for-profit subsidiaries and otherwise expanded operations in a for-profit marketplace. Fortunately, with the guidance that is currently available in the form of Revenue Ruling 98-15, Redlands, St. David's, and now Revenue Ruling 2004-51, health care institutions can move forward with properly structured joint ventures with greater confidence that the joint venture will not endanger the tax-exempt status of the nonprofit.     

Cohabitants, Property and the Law: A Study of Injustice

With cohabitation outside marriage becoming increasingly common, the law's response to the problems that arise on separation has become a key issue for public and family policy. This article draws upon the findings of a qualitative empirical study of how property disputes are handled when cohabitants separate. It argues that the unfairness of the current law is best understood as stemming from a failure to recognise the situation that arises as one of unjust enrichment. It shows that the complexity and unpredictability of the law make it difficult to bargain effectively in the shadow of the law. It suggests that the need for reform goes beyond the introduction of a discretionary regime, such as that proposed by the Law Commission, to reform of conveyancing and property law and practice to facilitate initial, as well as post-separation private ordering.     

Marriage,Cohabitation, and Crime: Differentiating Associations by Partnership Stage

A wealth of scholarship generally finds that marriage protects against crime, but there is less consistent evidence for cohabitation. In this article, we contribute to scholarship on marriage and put forward new evidence about cohabitation by examining marital and cohabiting partnerships as transitions with distinct stages of entry, stability, and dissolution. We use within-person change models with contemporary data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 to analyze these stages for the full sample and separately for men and women. The findings show differential protective associations of marriage and cohabitation depending on the stage of the partnership. Both recently formed cohabiting partnerships and stable cohabiting partnerships are associated with reductions in the level of offending, although to a lesser degree than marital relationships. Cohabiting partnerships that are stable, in that they have lasted at least a year, are associated with larger decreases in offending, particularly among women.     

Protection, Parity, or Promotion: Public Attitudes to Cohabitation and the Purposes of Legal Reform

Cohabitation law reform may be informed by different purposes. Three are considered in this paper: protection of parties at risk when relationships break down, parity of treatment between different forms of partnership, and the promotion of particular family forms. These are considered in relation to the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 in the context of recent evidence about public attitudes towards cohabitation. Public attitudes and the approach adopted in the 2006 Act are juxtaposed, raising questions about the alignment of public attitudes and the direction of law reform on cohabitation.     

The Obligations and Expectations of Couples Within Families: Three Modes of Interaction

What kinds of family structures emerge after a couple relationship is formed? How are obligations perceived towards the family of origin and the family of the partner? How are obligations perceived towards the older generation and towards children? How are conflicts of interest approached or resolved? How are the obligations arising from these personal relationships affected by gender, ethnicity, culture and religion? This paper reports some findings from a qualitative study of 39 men and women aged 25–40 which investigates the social context for the legal regulation of couple relationships; whether marriage, cohabitation or civil partnerships.     

Maternal and joint custody

The present study examined differences between 40 couples who agreed to traditional mother custody and 12 couples who agreed to joint custody as the postdivorce arrangement for their children. Data were collected by interview and questionnaire within six months of the filing of the divorce petition. Differences emerged in the social context of the decision process, the criteria used, and the application of criteria to parents' particular circumstances. The findings are then organized into a framework that suggests a model for the process by which parents make their decision about custody.     

Unwanted cohabitation agreements

Given the predominant role in American law of cohabitation agreements in protecting cohabitants, this Article presents an informal study that measured attitudes toward such agreements. The results confirm the literature findings that people generally are not inclined to want cohabitation agreements upon cohabitation. Further studies might explore the reasons for the unpopularity of cohabitation agreements and the ways to improve the protection of cohabitants, and this Article offers potential considerations.     

Cohabitation in Europe: a revenge of history?

Unmarried cohabitation is often seen as a radically ‘new’ phenomenon, originating in the 1960s, but in fact it has long historical antecedents. The question is, however, whether traditional and modern cohabitation are comparable and whether we can speak of persistence. This article offers a literature review on cohabitation in Europe, with the focus on persistence over time, integrating the results of a 2013 conference on this topic. What sources are available to confirm or reject such persistence? How should we understand persistence? In terms of the motivations of unmarried cohabitants? Or in terms of the acceptance of the community at large? And if no real persistence is found, does this mean that European cohabitation since the 1970s truly represents ‘new’ behaviour? We show that, on the regional level, the legacy of the past is still visible in factors affecting the timing and frequency of marriage of cohabiting couples. These factors are a mixture of regional socio-economic constraints, the relative cultural importance attached to marriage, the religious history, and the level of secularization.