Intimate Lies and the Law

Join the Minnesota Law Academic Engagement Committee, students, faculty and alumni as Professor Jill Hasday discusses her book Intimate Lies and the Law with Fourth Judicial District Judge Charlene Hatcher. 

Suppose you discover that an intimate has deceived you and inflicted severe—even life-altering—financial, physical, or emotional harm.  After the initial shock and sadness, you might wonder whether the law will help you secure redress.  But courts and legislatures routinely deny deceived intimates access to the remedies that are available for deceit in other contexts.

Jill Elaine Hasday’s Intimate Lies and the Law (Oxford University Press 2019) is the first book to uncover the hidden body of law governing deception in dating, sex, marriage, and family life.  Hasday argues that the law has placed too much emphasis on protecting intimate deceivers and too little importance on helping the people they deceive.  Entering an intimate relationship should not mean losing legal protection from deceit.