Shmueli on Tort, Contract & Family Law

On October 23rd, Widener Law had the pleasure of hosting Benjamin Shmueli as he presented “Tort and Family Law:  Civil Actions for Acts that are Valid According to Religious Family Law but Harm the Rights of Spouses.”  Shmueli is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and, from 2013-2015, Senior Research Scholar at the Yale Law School.

Shmueli’s engaging presentation focused on two case studies. Refusal to grant a get—a Jewish bill of
divorce—in Jewish law and divorcing a wife unilaterally and against her will in Shari’a law (talaq/ repudiation) are practices permitted—even if not desirable—by religious law.  Shmueli argues that tort and contract law should be integrated, sensitively, with religious law.  His justifications:  a property rules/liability rules framework, legal pluralism, and justice-based considerations.  I am looking forward to the full book.  A short prospectus is here:  Download Tort_and_Family_Law-Short_Prospectus (1)