Opinion ID: 779969
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Post-ratification Understanding

Text: 38 The post-ratification understanding of the Convention, which includes both case law from foreign nations and a subsequent treaty, does not provide us with clear guidance in deciding Gutierrez's claim. 39
40 We are cognizant that the opinions of our sister signatories [are] entitled to considerable weight, Air France v. Saks, 470 U.S. 392, 404, 105 S.Ct. 1338, 84 L.Ed.2d 289 (1985), and that one of the purposes of the Convention is to create a uniform body of international law among foreign courts. 42 U.S.C. § 11601(b)(3)(B). Because no clear consensus emerges from decisions of foreign Hague Convention cases, however, we are unable to derive any guiding principle from them. As the Second Circuit has observed, the cases of other signatory states on this question are few, scattered, conflicting, and sometimes, conclusory and unreasoned. Croll, 229 F.3d at 143. 41 Two cases illustrate the divergent views on the characterization of ne exeat orders under the Convention. In Thomson v. Thomson, [1994] 119 D.L.R. (4th) 253, for example, the Supreme Court of Canada held that a ne exeat clause pursuant to an interim custody order did constitute rights of custody as understood under the Convention. In reaching this conclusion, however, Justice La Forest, writing for the Court, carefully limited the Court's decision: 42 I would not wish to be understood as saying the approach should be the same in a situation where a court inserts a non-removal clause in a permanent order of custody. Such a clause raises quite different issues. It is usually intended to ensure permanent access to the non-custodial parent. The right of access is, of course, important but, as we have seen, it was not intended to be given the same level of protection by the Convention as custody. The return of a child in the care of a person having permanent custody will ordinarily be far more disruptive to the child since the child may be removed from its habitual place of residence long after the custody order was made. The situation also has serious implications for the mobility rights of the custodian. 43 Id at ¶ 69. With respect to cases in which interim custody orders have been issued, rights of custody, reasoned the Court, accrue to the court that issued the non-removal order, in order to enable it to preserve its jurisdiction over the pending custody dispute. Id. at ¶ 68. See also D.S. v. V.W., [1996] 134 D.L.R. (4th) 481 ¶ 43 (suggesting that insufficient distinction between access and custody rights would incorrectly provide parents with access rights a remedy not authorized under the Convention). 44 By contrast, in C v. C, 1 W.L.R. 654, 2 All E.R. 465 (1989), an English court of appeal held that a mother who moved out of Australia in violation of a ne exeat order violated the father's custody rights under the Convention. Specifically, the court reasoned that since the father could determine whether the child could live outside of Australia, he possessed the right to determine the child's place of residence under article 5. C v. C, however, is distinguishable from the case before us, because there the parents held rights of joint guardianship before the allegedly wrongful removal. Some cases from foreign jurisdictions have recognized rights of custody in situations where the non-custodial parent possessed access rights and nothing further. See, e.g., In re B (a minor), 2 F.L.R. 249, Fam. 606 (1994)(English court holding that father who lacked formal custodial rights yet physically cared for child possessed rights of custody); Dellabarca v. Christie, [1999] N.Z.F.L.R. 97 (holding that father with access rights held rights of custody). To the extent that these cases equate access rights with custody rights for purposes of ordering removal, we find them unpersuasive: the cases simply fail to recognize the distinction explicitly set forth in the pertinent articles of the Convention. 17 45
46 We also note that subsequent efforts to reform the Convention have not clarified the rights of a non-custodial parent with a ne exeat order. In 1996, the delegates of the thirty-five Member States of the Hague Conference adopted the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction, Applicable Law, Recognition, Enforcement and Co-operation in Respect of Parental Responsibility and Measures for the Protection of Children, 35 I.L.M. 1391 (1996), an effort to reform the then current system. 18 Marisa Leto, Whose Best Interest? International Child Abduction Under the Hague Convention, 2 Chi. J. Int'l L. 247, 249 (2002). 47 Article 7 of the 1996 Convention on Jurisdiction copies verbatim the language of article 5 of the 1980 Convention, and thus creates the same distinctions between rights of custody and rights of access. The remedy of return is, again, available for the former and not the latter. In the official explanatory note to article 7 of the 1996 Convention, the Convention reporter explains that it suffices here to make reference to the very complete explanations set out in the Report of Professor Elisa Perez-Vera on that Convention (paragraphs Nos. 64-74). 19 From this, we know only that the drafters intended to incorporate the same distinctions in the 1996 Convention as existed in the 1980 Convention. Beyond this inference, we find no guidance for determining the effect of ne exeat orders. 48 In sum, the post-ratification understanding of the Convention provides little assistance with respect to the appropriate characterization of non-custodial parental rights with a ne exeat order. We rely instead on the other substantial sources of interpretive guidance. In light of the Convention's text, purposes, and drafting history, we hold that a ne exeat clause does not confer rights of custody upon a parent who otherwise possesses only access rights. 49 B. Patria Potestas Does Not Establish Rights of Custody 50 In the alternative, Arce argues on cross-appeal that the Mexican legal concept of patria potestas confers upon him rights of custody under the Convention. We consider this issue as one of first impression. The concept of patria potestas is derived from Roman law and originally meant paternal power over the family and household. In common law legal systems, patria potestas was first replaced by parens patriae and eventually by the best interests of the child standard. Whallon v. Lynn, 230 F.3d 450, 457 n. 7 (1st Cir.2000). Many civil law countries, however, continue to recognize some form of patria potestas. In support of his claim, Arce relies upon Whallon, in which the First Circuit held that patria potestas conferred custody rights as understood under the Convention on both parents under Mexican law. Arce's reliance on Whallon is misplaced. 51 In Whallon, the court held that, in the absence of a custody agreement, it could rely upon patria potestas to determine custodial rights between two parents who had never married, and had never entered a formal custody agreement. 230 F.3d at 458 n. 9 (distinguishing Croll, where there had been a clear determination of custody rights by a court of the country of habitual residence.). Here, unlike the situation in Whallon, the parties have executed a formal, legal custody agreement, thus eliminating any basis for relying on patria potestas. Thus, we hold that patria potestas does not confer rights of custody upon a parent given access rights from a custody agreement.