On Monday and Tuesday, April 30 & May 1, 2012, the International Academy for
Study of the Jurisprudence of the Family and the Doha International Institute for
Family Studies and Development will convene a “Symposium on the Jurisprudence of
Extended Families, Extending Families and Intergenerational Solidarity” in
Doha, Qatar. The symposium is also co-sponsored by the Marriage & Family Law
Research Project at the Brigham Young University Law School. We, Lynn Wardle
and Scott FitzGibbon of the International Academy, together with Dr. Richard
Wilkins and Dr. Nada Frangieh of the Doha International Institute are co-conveners of
the symposium.
The purpose of the Symposium is to explore in a very thoughtful and
comparative way the jurisprudential principles (especially the philosophical,
conceptual, cultural, and theoretical “first principles”) that underlie the legal
recognition of and substantive laws and policies regulating extended family relations
(such as between grandparents and grandchildren, cousins, etc.), concerning the
extension of legal “family” or family-equivalent status to non-relatives (such as
cohabiting partners of parents, children of partners, etc.), and the implications and
significance of such laws and social phenomena for intergenerational solidarity.
Relevant topics may concern financial, relational, public policy, historical, theoretical,
sociological and social aspects of these and related developments, proposals, and
relevant major contemporary issues that they raise. Comparative perspectives about
the legal recognition and regulation of those relationships in various cultures,
communities, and legal systems are especially relevant.
A small group of about two dozen leading and influential scholars and jurists
from various nations and cultural communities to be presenters in the conference. The
symposium papers that are timely submitted and edited will be published in the
International Journal of Jurisprudence of the Family (“IJJF”), published by Wm. S.
Hein & Co. in both the usual printed law journal format and online in the “Journals”
database of “HeinOnline,” the outstanding computer-accessed legal database. The
2013 volume of the IJJF (volume 3) will include papers presented at this Doha
symposium and possibly some additional papers.
Persons wishing to attend this academic symposium should contact either Lynn
D. Wardle at wardlel@law.byu.edu, or his secretary, Denny Gee,
at geed@law.byu.edu, or Dr. Nada Frangieh at nfrangieh@qf.org.qa.