Marriage for Sale: The Mail-Order Bride Industry and the Changing Value of Marriage

Abstract

It is from this contemporary perspective of understanding marriage as amore self-centered undertaking that I would like to revisit the decision in Lutwak and consider the current controversy surrounding the mail-order bride industry. If marriage indeed has become a self-centered undertaking, has Lutwak become an anomaly? If marriage now is geared toward serving individual interests, what prevents its trade? Given today's perspective upon marriage, can marriage now be sold for immigration benefits?