Session 8 - The Intersection Between Religion and the Dissolution of Marriage

Congratulations again to Anna for her excellent presentation on Jewish Divorce and the Problem of Get Refusal. I really look forward to the other presentations; I will post a full schedule next week. As always, here are a few links to websites and articles you might find useful if doing further research on this topic. First, on Bruker v. Marcovitz, there is a recent article by John C. Kleefeld and Amanda Kennedy, titled "A Delicate Necessity": Bruker v. Marcovitz and the Problem of Jewish Divorce", that contains an interesting discussion, not only of Bruker, but also of the approaches taken by courts in different countries to the problem of get refusal. You can access Kleefeld's and Kennedy's article here. Also, here is the text of a lecture given by Bernard Jackson, titled "Agunah and the Problem of Authority".

Second, you might also be interested in reading Morris v. Morris, a decision of the Manitoba Court of Appeal (1973) that reversed an order requiring a husband to appear before the Beth Din and abide by its decision. Morris contains a dissent by Freedman C.J.M. whose reasoning was adopted in Bruker. That dissent expanded on the trial judge's reasoning, who ordered the respondent to "present himself before the Beth Din to institute inquiry whether a bill of divorcement is necessary as between the parties, and to institute proceedings for the same should the Beth Din so determine." Here is a copy of the trial judge's decision, and here is Morris v. Morris, as decided by the Manitoba Court of Appeal. Also, if you are interested, here is a copy of Nasin v. Nasin (Alberta), one of the first cases to apply Bruker, although not to a Jewish get but to an Islamic mahr .

Finally, if you are interested in reading about Jewish Law in general, this is a generally useful website. For the text of lectures on different aspects of Jewish Law, this is a good site, and for links to Talmudic legal texts, this is a good one. Next week, our topic will be "Family Law, Culture, and Harmonisation" (Session 9). Readings can be accessed here. See you then!