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47 Buff. L. Rev. 1153 (1999)
Women's Freedom to Contract at Divorce: A Mask for Contextual Coercion

handle is hein.journals/buflr47 and id is 1161 raw text is: ARTICLES Women's Freedom to Contract at Divorce: A Mask for Contextual Coercion PENELOPE EILEEN BRYANt INTRODUCTION Current wisdom favors the private settlement of divorce disputes. Allowing men and women to enter enforceable divorce contracts recognizes their rights-bearing citizenship,' honors their autonomy,2 and places them on equal legal footing with one another. Moreover, the parties themselves generally prefer settlement to adjudication, t Associate Professor of Law, University of Denver, College of Law, B.S., Rollins College, 1978; J.D., University of Florida, 1981; M.A. (Sociology), University of Florida, 1989. I gratefully acknowledge Albert W. Alschuler, Arthur Best, and Steve Pepper for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of this article. 1. See Robert H. Mnookin, Divorce Bargaining: The Limits on Private Ordering, in THE RESOLUTION OF FAMILY CONFLICT: COMPARATIVE LEGAL PERSPECTIVES 364, 366-67 (John M. Eekelaar & Sanford N. Katz eds., 1984). 2. See Morris R. Cohen, The Basis of Contract, 46 HARV. L. REV. 553, 558-59, 575 (1933) (concluding that foundation of contract law is the freedom of individuals). But see CAROLE PATEMAN, THE SEXUAL CONTRACT 39 (1988) (noting that contract theory reconstructs subjugation as freedom). 1153

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