Alone Together : Law and the Meanings of Marriage

Contemporary marriage involves complex notions of both connection and freedom. On the one hand, spouses are members of a shared community, while on the other they are discrete individuals with their own distinct interests. __Alone Together__ explores the ways in which law seeks to accommodate tensions between commitment and freedom in marriage. Author Milton Regan suggests that only close attention to context can guide us in deciding what weight to assign to each dimension of spousal identity in a given setting. This interdisciplinary work has relevance to family law, family studies, feminist legal theory, and the debate between liberal and communitarian social theorists. In this astute interdisciplinary book, Milton C. Regan, Jr. explores how law attempts to mediate between the communal and individual dimensions of spousal identity. He suggests that we cannot reconcile the tension between them in abstract arguments, but must work through their implications in specific contexts. In this spirit, he examines three issues: the extent to which economic analysis should guide our choice of rules governing marriage and divorce, whether one spouse should be able to testify against the other in a criminal trial, and what financial claims between spouses the law should recognize at divorce. These issues require us to confront fundamental questions about the meaning of marriage. How can we draw on the liberating aspects of individualism in marriage without denying the importance of connection? How might we benefit from recognizing the importance of sharing and sacrifice in marriage without reinforcing the traditional view that women should subordinate their interests to those of other family members? In addressing these questions, Regan's analysis is informed by communitarian and liberal theory, as well as by feminist perspectives on marriage and family life. Milton C. Regan, Jr. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 207-269) And Index.