12 - Family Law

Summary

Family law is often overlooked in transnational law scholarship, partly because it is still seen as a domestic field of inquiry, while transnational law is perceived as related to market regulation. This chapter argues instead that family law is an excellent example of a field that is deeply shaped by the transnational legal dynamics, that transnational law scholars seek to capture and critically examine. To show that, the chapter analyzes a set of contemporary case studies, such as the application of religious law, same-sex marriage, and transnational surrogacy, by focusing on different actors, norms and process that take place below, beyond and across states. Likewise, the chapter argues that globalization dynamics that are at the heart of transnational law analysis, such as the flow of power and the transformation of the state, cannot be fully understood without paying attention to the evolution of family law. To show this, the chapter examines how questions of legal pluralism, the contestation of the private/public distinction and the advent of the neoliberal state, cannot be fully understood without taking into account family law.