Bonds of Affection

Does law end where friendship begins? When Ethan J. Leib began to present his arguments that friendships might be recognized and even strengthened by changes in our legal regime, he met with intense disapproval. Throughout his new book, Friend v. Friend: The Transformation of Friendship—And What the Law Has to Do with It, he refers to encounters with people who found the very idea of greater legal acknowledgment of friendship perverse and threatening. Some of this negative reaction...

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