GLAD Seminar: Functional Recognition and Polyamory with Dr Nausica Palazzo

Abstract

In 2022, a New York civil court concluded that a polyamorous partner should not be automatically excluded from noneviction protection (O'Neill). The decision was hailed as particularly ground-breaking and a “game changer.” On the other side of the globe, the New Zealand Supreme Court concluded that polyamorous unions could be entitled to the same property-sharing regime as couples. Upon closer examination, the two decisions use function-based modes of recognition to confer similar protections upon the polyamorous union. However, this paper will illustrate some of the limitations inherent in this approach. At present, functional recognition exhibits a continued attachment to the traditional marital family; this aspect, combined with the unique complexity of polyamorous arrangements, renders this route to legal recognition potentially inappropriate. The decisions examined either fail to understand the nature of the arrangement or choose to distort it in order to make polyamory legally intelligible. Both decisions are emblematic of a broader difficulty of functional recognition to provide answers to the legal demands of this type of relationship.

Speaker Bio

Dr Nausica Palazzo is an Assistant Professor in Constitutional Law at NOVA School of Law, Lisbon, who works in the area of family law, and constitutional law. In 2024, she held the role of Visiting Professor at Western Law, London, Ontario, and at Reichman University (IDC Herzliya). She earned a cum laude Ph.D. from the University of Trento and an LL.M. from the University of Michigan as a Fulbright and Michigan Grotius Fellow.

She is especially interested in queer approaches to family law, comparative constitutional law, and the relationship between gender and religious norms, and has published articles in these areas in top specialized journals such as the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, Michigan Journal of Gender and The Review of Faith & International Affairs. Her book Legal Recognition of Non-Conjugal Families came out in 2021 with Hart Publishing and a co-edited collection on queer and religious alliances in family law was published in the Law and Society Series of Anthem Press in 2022.

This is an online event. The event will be taking place via Zoom, please sign up using the following link: https://durhamuniversity.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WCI4C6QuTJCQ5Cru_c_Rdg