This is true in the establishment of both maternal and paternal relationships. Courts do not hesitate to rule in light of the equities and have even stated that transfer of custody is the appropriate remedy for a breach of contract. The differences between American and Jewish law are highlighted when contrasting attitudes towards adoption. Jewish law, while encouraging the raising of parentless children, denies that adoption can transfer parental rights and duties from the natural parent to another person. Thus, when surveying the establishment of parenthood and sexual status a concrete difference in methodology between Jewish and American law appears.
Jewish law is objective and unchangeable.
It emphasizes broad systemic concerns, and is willing to have apparently anomalous situations, such as children being raised by people who are not their legal parents, in return for theoretical consistency and ease in the applications of its rules. On the other hand, American family law focuses on the equities of the parties before the court. If any particular result on those facts is unjust, the court will transfer parental rights or create a more equitable situation for the litigants. The systemic uniformity, which is sacrificed through the application of different standards to analytically identical problems, is apparently not a significant force in American law. The approach of Jewish law to these topics is instructive in various ways.