I would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of the California State University Emeritus and Retired Faculty Association whose generous grant made it possible to do the writing and editing necessary to complete the final draft of the manuscript. I am also thankful to the students in my philosophy of law classes at California Polytechnic State University who wrote helpful reviews of an earlier draft of the book: Kohl Kreutziger, Alex Delzell, Hunter Tasseff, Anthony Haddad, Shawn Farrington, Eden Moalem, Nicholas Brunner, Jorge Nozot, Scarlett Fivey, and Alexandra Ongman. And, although we have never met, I am indebted to Professor William P. Statsky for the many books he has written on United States family law since the mid-1970s. Although mainly intended for those studying to be paralegals, the clarity, organization, and precision of his writings about this important body of law have made it accessible to thousands of ordinary citizens, students, and professionals. My thanks also go out to Professor Andrew Altman whose book Arguing About Law influenced the structure of my book by convincing me to use a single theme (family law) throughout all chapters. Thanks also to the University of Pennsylvania Law School, Oxford University Press, Kluwer Academic Publishers, and Harcourt Brace for the permission to use selected parts of articles I have previously published in (respectively) the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law; International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family; Law and Philosophy; and the reader Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life: Introductory Readings in Ethics.