Review by Shael Herman
Fifteen years ago, Dean Rene Savatier used Daniel Halevy's Essai sur l'acceleration de l'Histoire as a starting point for his exploration of the way in which socioeconomic transformations were reflected in the civil law of the first half of this century. No revolutionary, Savatier viewed the legal institution of marriage as a bulwark against destruction of the race. Professor Glendon's remarkably well-documented study of family law in the United States and Western Europe makes Savatier's view seem a century old. According to Professor Glendon, legal changes since the 1960's suggest a shift in the state-family relationship so fundamental that it "surpasses in magnitude [the change] that . . . occurred when family law matters passed from ecclesiastical to secular jurisdiction in most Western countries in the age that began with the Protestant Reformation." The shift is characterized chiefly by the "progressive withdrawal of legal regulation of marriage formation, dissolution and the conduct of married life, on the one hand, and by increased regulation of the economic and child-related consequences of formal or informal cohabitation on the other."
This book should have broad appeal. An intellectual and social history studded with references to an immense range of thinkers including Professor Glendon's colleague and mentor, Max Rheinstein, it can be read profitably by both social scientists and students of the law. For practitioners and judges, the book locates on a multinational map recent changes in the law of matrimonial regimes, and it illuminates the reasons for the sense of discomfort and even despair associated with divorce litigation and custody fights. For the law teacher, Professor Glendon painstakingly demonstrates how powerful forces, irrespective of geographical boundaries, have worked out rather similar solutions to family law problems. She inadvertently raises serious doubts about the usefulness of a traditional domestic relations course that focuses primarily upon legislation and decisions. For the social theorist, the book addresses anew Max Weber's serious inquiry about the relationship between enacted legal norms and the social order.
About the Author
Shael Herman. Associate Professor, Tulane Law School.
Citation
53 Tul. L. Rev. 994 (1979)