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1. Marriage and Civil Partnership for Same-Sex Couples: The International Imperative

Author:
Kenneth McK. Norrie
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
Within the single month of November 2004, Saskatchewan became the latest Canadian province to accept same-sex marriage, South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal held the limitation of marriage to opposite-sex couples to be unconstitutional, the United Kingdom became the latest European country to introduce civil partnerships as an institution for same-sex couples analogous to marriage, and the government of New Zealand presented a Bill to the New Zealand Parliament to do the same thing in that country. In the 15 years since Denmark became the first country in the world to introduce such an institution most jurisdictions in Western Europe and in Canada, and a handful of states in the United States of America, have followed Denmark's innovation and some have opened up the institution of marriage itself to same-sex couples. The peculiarly North American debate whether civil partnership is a second-rate alternative to marriage as a means of achieving gay and lesbian equality has not been engaged with elsewhere in the world, and it will not be engaged with here. This article intends, rather, to explore the remarkable phenomenon that such a debate is today one of practical reality rather than hypothetical aspiration.
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Canada, South Africa, Denmark, and New Zealand

2. We are the World? What United States Courts Can and Should Learn from the Law and Politics of Other Western Nations

Author:
Evan Gerstmann
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
The United States is often perceived as a nation that prefers not only to go its own way, but also to take almost a perverse pride in ignorance of foreign ways and indifference to the opinion of our international peers. Until recently, this perception has certainly extended to America's most powerful court, the Supreme Court of the United States of America. In 2003, for example, an article in The Legal Times, referred to the Court as an 'ostrich' that had only just begun to take its head out of the sand. This perception, however, is likely to change over the next several years. In a single seven-day period in 2003, the United States Supreme Court cited international sources, such as foreign laws and documents, in three high-profile cases in which it interpreted the American constitution.
Political Geography:
United States and America