The new edition of this popular book of text, cases and materials on family law, as well as providing a firm grounding in family law, sets the law in its social and historical context and encourages a critical approach by students. Legal principle is set against a background which explores, primarily from a feminist perspective, some of the assumptions relating to gender, sexual orientation, class and culture underlying the law. It examines the ideology of the family and, in particular, the role of the law in contributing to and reproducing that ideology. Structured around the themes of welfare, equality and family privacy, the book aims to offer the benefits of a textbook while giving students a wide-ranging set of materials for classroom discussion, and uses the case method to demonstrate how various issues might be resolved. It has proven to be an ideal introduction to family law for undergraduates, but is equally helpful for postgraduate students of family law for whom it provides a challenging set of materials accompanied by a theoretically rich set of ideas and arguments. Students of social policy, child law or gender studies will also find this book of interest.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; Table of Cases; Table of Legislation SECTION 1 What is a Family? 1 Law and 'The Family' 2 Legal Status and Personal Relationships 3 The Adult-Child-State Relationship: Reproduction and Child-Rearing 4 Children and their Mothers and Fathers 5 Household Economics SECTION 2 The Principles Behind the Law 6 Equality: Dividing the Family Assets 7 Equal Status under the Children Act 1989-Parental Responsibility 8 The Welfare Principle 9 A Public or Private Matter-Child Abuse 10 A Public or Private Matter? Domestic Violence 11 A Public or Private Matter-Alternative Dispute Resolution and Negotiation SECTION 3 Reordering Family Relationships 12 Violence and Separation 13 Making Ends Meet 14 Dissolution of Legal Relationships: The Process and its Consequences 15 Children in Non-Marital Relationships and Financial Adjustment on the Breakdown of Marital Relationships 16 Decisions about Children's Upbringing: Parental Responsibility, the Child's Wishes, the Medical Profession and the Court 17 Child Protection Bibliography; Index;Contents
Author Biography
Alison Diduck is a Senior Lecturer in Law at University College London. Felicity Kaganas is a Senior Lecturer in Law and co-director of the Centre for the Study of Law,the Child and the Family at Brunel University.
