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As a result of its high level of immigration and emigration and its status as common source and destination for a large amount of international travel the United States has more incoming and outgoing international child abductions per year than any other country. To address this issue the United States played an active role in the drafting of the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (commonly referred to as the ''Hague Abduction Convention'' or simply the ''Abduction Convention''.) Although the United States was one of the first nations to sign the Convention in 1981 the Convention did not enter into force for the US until 1988 with the enactment by Congress of the International Child Abduction Remedies Act which translated the Convention into US law. Under the Hague Abduction Convention the United States is required to fulfill many requirements designed to protect children from the harmful effects of international child abduction. Domestic and foreign parents and attorneys have criticized the United States for its alleged failures to adequately fulfill these obligations on behalf of foreign and domestic families and children and in violation of international law. ==United States Legal System and International Abduction== The law of the United States consists of many levels〔See Stephen Elias and Susan Levinkind, ''Legal Research: How to Find & Understand The Law'', 14th ed. (Berkeley: Nolo, 2005), 22.〕 of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the United States Constitution, the foundation of the federal government of the United States. The Constitution sets out the boundaries of federal law, which consists of constitutional acts of Congress, constitutional treaties ratified by Congress, constitutional regulations promulgated by the executive branch, and case law originating from the federal judiciary. The Constitution and federal law are the supreme law of the land, thus preempting conflicting state and territorial laws in the fifty U.S. states and in the territories.〔William Burnham, ''Introduction to the Law and Legal System of the United States'', 4th ed. (St. Paul, MN: Thomson West, 2006), 41.〕 However, the scope of federal preemption is limited, because the scope of federal power is itself rather limited. In the unique dual-sovereign system of American federalism. Most U.S. law (especially the actual "living law" of contract, tort, criminal, and family law experienced by the majority of citizens on a day-to-day basis) consists primarily of state law, which can and does vary greatly from one state to the next.〔Lawrence M. Friedman, ''A History of American Law'', 3rd ed. (New York: Touchstone, 2005), 307 and 504-505.〕〔Graham Hughes, "Common Law Systems," in ''Fundamentals of American Law'', ed. Alan B. Morisson, 9-26 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 33.〕 At both the federal and state levels, the law of the United States was originally derived largely from the common law system of English law, which was in force at the time of the Revolutionary War.〔Hughes, 12.〕 However, U.S. law has since diverged greatly from its English ancestor both in terms of substance and procedure, and has incorporated a number of civil law innovations. States are separate sovereigns with their own state constitutions, state governments, and state courts (including state supreme courts).〔U.S. Const., Amend. X.〕 They retain plenary power to make laws covering anything not preempted by the federal Constitution, federal statutes, or international treaties ratified by the federal Senate. Normally, state supreme courts are the final interpreters of state constitutions and state law, unless their interpretation itself presents a federal issue, in which case a decision may be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by way of a petition for writ of certiorari.〔See .〕 In 1922, the Court applied the Supremacy Clause to international treaties, holding in the case of ''Missouri v. Holland'', 252 U.S. 416 (1920), that the Federal government's ability to make treaties is supreme over any State concerns that such treaties might abrogate states' rights arising under the Tenth Amendment. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「International child abduction in the United States」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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