CHALLENGING TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE LAWS IN THE DUCHESS OF MALFI: LOVE OR LONGINGS OR DEFYING PATRIARCHY?

The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster speculates into the tradition of Elizabethan marriage, laws regarding marriage, its violation and the consequences it brings. The drama continues to reverberate among today’s audiences because of the majestic appeal of the Duchess and her enterprising tryst at rebuffing the ‘authority of social conventions and norms’. The Duchess has been credited for her attempt and bravery to choose and win over a spouse for love. Wedding, one of the most important moment of a woman’s life, was seen from a completely different perspective, temperament and in a ‘non-secular’ impression. The woman during the Elizabethan age had absolutely no choice in selecting her prospective groom. Women were seen subservient to men. Elizabethan woman were raised to believe that they were inferior to men and that they must abide by ‘the other’s verdicts’. Disobedience was a crime against religion and the consequences were monstrous. Webster uses majestic traits to exemplify the Duchess’ feminine strength of virtuosity and greatness which instil in the modern audience’s empathy and respect for the Duchess. This paper tries to revisit The Duchess of Malfi, decoding these socio-cultural and religious perspective and the ways of the aristocracy used by Webster, contributing to the eventual downfall of the Duchess. This paper also delves deep into documenting Webster’s attempt to portrays her as a tragic heroine and victim of law. KEYWORDS: The Duchess of Malfi, John Webster, Elizabethan marriage laws, Violation of laws, Tragedy

Perceptions of minimum age at marriage laws and their enforcement: qualitative evidence from Malawi

Background Child marriage in Malawi is a significant problem with 42.1% of women 20–24 married by age 18. In 2017 the Malawi government formalized legislation to make marriage under age 18 illegal; violators are subject to fines. While leveraging laws to reduce child marriage is common, the enactment of laws and their enforcement has led to some novel practices. One such practice observed in Malawi is marriage withdrawal, where the community intervenes when a child marriage has taken place to force the girl to return to her natal home. Methods This paper is a qualitative analysis of perceptions regarding marriage withdrawal. We conducted focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with married and unmarried adolescents, parents of adolescents, and key community members in Mangochi and Nkhata Bay. Data were collected as part of an evaluation of the More Than Brides Alliance program aimed at delaying marriage and improving access to sexual and reproductive health services in Malawi. Results The knowledge that violation of marriage laws entails substantial fines is widespread and marriage withdrawals are seen by some respondents as a way of enforcing the spirit of child marriage laws while avoiding fines. Some respondents suggest that enforcement of marriage laws has an unintended effect of driving marriages underground. One important disconnect between the laws and the realities of child marriage practices in these communities is that the law holds parents responsible for the marriage and for preventing it, while parents do not necessarily exercise control, particularly when the marriage is precipitated by pregnancy. While parents and other adults view withdrawals as an acceptable resolution of a problematic child marriage, girls noted many drawbacks for withdrawn girls such as stigma and limited education and livelihood opportunities once withdrawn. Conclusions Our exploration of perceptions about marriage laws suggest that the imposition of fines may have some unintended consequences, both driving the practice underground and encouraging practices to evade fines, and may be associated with unintended consequences for adolescent girls. Programs to address child marriage should include other approaches that address more distal drivers including poverty and lack of alternatives to child marriage. Trial registration This work is part of an RCT registered August 4, 2016 in the AEA RCT registry identified as: AEARCTR-0001463. See: https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/1463

POLITIK HUKUM DALAM BIDANG HUKUM KELUARGA ISLAM DI INDONESIA

In Indonesia, religion and state are two different entities, and each has its own autonomy, where there is an area that is completely “belonging to” religion, the state cannot enter it and there is also an area that is fully the competence of the state, so religion is not can participate in it. So that the formation of laws will reflect the configuration of power and political interests. In the actualization of political power and interests, sometimes there is a clash between the interests of fragmatism and those that are permanent and in favor of the benefit of mankind. This means that the interests of ideological values that live and develop in society can be configured with the interests of political power fragmatism. Therefore, first, the legislative program for several aspects of the modernization of Islamic family law politics in Indonesia, namely starting with the history of legislation on marriage in Indonesia, one of which is the Dutch East Indies Government circulating the Draft Ordinance on Registered Marriage, which includes the principle of monogamy and the prohibition of imposing divorce out of court. Then from the point of view of the meaning of the ideal law, the presence of KHI is a series of historical national laws that can reveal the various meanings of the life of the Indonesian Muslim community. Second, before the birth of Law no. 1 of 1974 in Indonesia various marriage laws apply for various groups of citizens and various regions. in the Indieche Staats Regeling (ISR), namely the Indian constitutional regulations. After independence, the Indonesian government has established a number of Islamic marriage regulations. Among them are Law Number 22 Year 1946 concerning Registration of Marriage, Divorce and Reconciliation.

Association of Polymorphism −174G/C Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Schizophrenia in Bataknese Population

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by positive symptoms, negative, and cognitive deficits. Polymorphism of −174G/C interleukin-6 position of the promoter has been described as one of polymorphism that believes have association with schizophrenia and Batak people have a philosophy of life, principles, and at the same time as a structure and system in society called Dalihan na Tolu. This Dalihan na Tolu has a role in the Batak customary marriage laws that cannot be separated during a customary marriage ceremony according to the traditions of the Batak people. This system causes most Batak people to marry each other so that the purity of the population is maintained and can be applied according to Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium. AIM: Hence, we looked for association in the polymorphism of −174G/C interleukin-6 between people with schizophrenia of the Bataknese population and healthy controls. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study that included 75 people with schizophrenia in the Bataknese population and 75 healthy controls with the same ethnic group. The alleles and genotypes polymorphisms were compared between people with schizophrenia in the Bataknese population and healthy controls and were tested statistically using Chi-square. RESULTS: Frequency of appearance of allele and genotype of −174G/C polymorphism found that there were significant differences in both alleles and genotypes between groups of people with schizophrenia and healthy control groups (p < 0.001) and −174G/C polymorphisms were risk factors for schizophrenia statistically in the Bataknese population (Odds Ratio >1). CONCLUSIONS: We report an association of −174G/C polymorphism and schizophrenia in Bataknese population and polymorphism of −174G/C may be one of the risk factors for schizophrenia in the Bataknese population.

Conflict of Laws, Choice of the Forum Court in the us, and the Due Process in Family Law Disputes

Summary In the United States (US) the family law litigant will have to consider the implications of laws that are federally recognised and those which the state embodies in its own family law statutes. The function of the equal protection clause and due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution protects the parties in family disputes that reach the court. The operation of the Full Faith and Credit Clause is an important consideration and is central to the question if the court can apply the law of the forum court (lex fori) or that of the state where the dispute emanated. The federal constitution allows the state courts to apply marriage laws of another state. If the issue is procedural, then the law of the state will be applied where the dispute that gave rise to the litigation (lex loci). This paper examines the interstate in family law by considering marriages, child custody, and adoption rules and it enquires whether the courts have been sufficiently consistent in interpreting family law of the state in accordance with Article IV, Section 1. There is also a section that compares the law in the US with the application of the lex fori rules in family cases in the Scottish jurisdiction and how that influences parties in family law disputes.

HINDU MARRIAGE: A SAGA OF JOURNEY FROM ANCIENT TO MODERN INDIA

Hindu marriage not only has been a union of two families but also considered as one of the sanskars. However, it is observed that though the customs and traditions of ancient India remained static till modern times, there were no legal systems except a few molded and altered customs and usages till the emergence of British rule. European civilization also impacted on the Indians after the establishment of the British rule in India and create a few ripples on the otherwise calm sea of Hindu Law. This paper discusses about the concept of Hindu marriage since the ancient times and further elaborate important amendments took place in Hindu Marriage Laws after independence

Is It Possible to Perform Online Marriage during COVID-19 Outbreak?

This article aims to initiate on performing marriage contracts virtually during the co-19 pandemic in Indonesia. This article adopts normative and empirical facts that occur among Muslims in Indonesia. An interesting result of this study state the teachings of Islamic jurisprudence allows do a marriage contract via online as discussed by classical clerics across schools. The consideration for the government and legislative body in the future should be to look again at the views of classical and contemporary scholars. Muslims must accept the fact that marriage in Indonesia no longer refers to the books of the clergy, but to the marriage law. Therefore, the book of scholars is used as a source for updating the marriage law for the understanding and benefit of Muslims. Without banging on religious and state polemics but integrating them into marriage laws relevant to space and time