Introduction

We are honored to announce the upcoming Doha International Colloquium on the Family in Vienna, Austria, on Friday and Saturday, 6-7 October 2006. The topic of this academic colloquium is "Developments in Marriage and Marital Law in Central and Eastern Europe: Reports, Prospects and Analysis," and it will meet on the top floor in the Juridicum (Law Faculty) at the University of Vienna.

The Sponsor of the Colloquim is the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development (Dr. Richard G. Wilkins, Managing Director). The Doha International Colloquia on the Family, sponsored by the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development ("FSD") gather scholars and other well-qualified experts from around the world to present research findings, discuss needs for future research, and analyze current trends in and consider possible policy responses to developments in modern family life and family law.

The Co-organizers of the Vienna Colloquium on Marriage and Marital Law in Central and Eastern Europe are the Marriage and Family Law Research Project at the Brigham Young University School of Law (Professor Lynn D. Wardle, Director), and the Department of Comparative Law, Harmonised Law, and Private International Law (Professor Dr. Bea Verschraegen, LL.M., E.M.M., Director) of the Institute of European Law, International Law and Comparative Law. The gracious host of the Colloquium at the Juridicum in University of Vienna will be the Department of Comparative Law, Harmonised Law, and Private International Law.

The colloquium will gather approximately thirty (30) invited scholars and experts on marriage, marital law and comparative law from Central and Eastern Europe. Papers at the Vienna Colloquium will report upon and analyze one or more of the following topics:

1. The current sociological status and role of marriage in a nation or region in Central or Eastern Europe;
2. A survey of developments in marital stability (or instability) in a nation or region in Central or Eastern Europe and the impact of these developments on personal, social and/or economic development;
3. Summary and analysis of the current laws regulating marital and quasi-marital relationships in a nation or region in Central or Eastern Europe;
4. Recent developments in the law of marriage and quasi-marital relationships in a nation or region in Central or Eastern Europe;
5. A comparison of the law of a nation or region in Central or Eastern Europe and the marital and quasi-marital law of other nations;
6. The influence of Western and international legal developments on the marital and quasi-marital laws of a nation or region in Central or Eastern Europe;
7. The impact on families, children, parents, and spouses of recent developments in the law of marital and quasi-marital relationships in a nation or region in Central or Eastern Europe;
8. The impact of recent developments in the law of marriage and quasi-marital relationships on economic and social development and security in a nation or region in Central or Eastern Europe;
9. Implications of recent developments in the law of marriage and quasi-marital relationships for other individual human rights and relationships; or
10. Proposals for legal and/or sociological and educational initiatives to improve the quality of marital relationships in a nation or region in Central or Eastern Europe.

Participants in the Vienna Colloquium will present oral summaries of their papers at the Colloquium. These presentations will be followed by free and open discussion among all participants regarding the issues, developments, trends, policies, and principles analyzed in the presentations.

Selected papers - which may include most of the papers discussed at the colloquium - will be published in Volume 2007 of THE FAMILY IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM, an academic publication sponsored by FSD. A few participants may be invited to present their papers at a major intergovernmental conference to be held by FSD in Doha, Qatar, in early January 2007.

Co-Organizers of the Vienna Colloquium:

Dr. Richard G. Wilkins
Managing Director Doha International
Institute for Family Studies and Development
Qatar Foundation and Robert W. Barker
Professor of Law Brigham Young University (On Leave)

Lynn D. Wardle
Bruce C. Hafen Professor of Law & Director,
Marriage & Family Law Research Project
J. Reuben Clark Law School Brigham Young University

Professor Dr. Bea Verschraegen,
LL.M., E.M.M. Director, Department of Comparative Law,
Harmonised Law, & Private International
Law Institute of European Law,
International Law and Comparative Law Faculty
of Law (Juridicum) University of Vienna

Colloquium Administrator:

Emily Parks
Office Director Doha International Institute
for Family Studies and Development
PO Box 5825 Doha, Qatar
Email: eparks@qf.org.qa

Lynn D. Wardle
Bruce C. Hafen Professor of Law
J. Reuben Clark Law School, Rm. 518
Brigham Young University Provo, UT 84602 U.S.A.
Tel. 801-422-2617; Fax -0391
Email: lynn_wardle@byu.edu