Obligation And Commitment In Family Law

A tension lies at the heart of family law. Expressed in the language of rights and duties, it seeks to impose enforceable obligations on individuals linked to each other by ties that are usually regarded as based on love or blood. Taking a contextual approach that draws on history, sociology and social policy as well as law and legal theory, this book examines the concept of obligation as it has been developed in family law and the difficulties the law has had in translating it from a theoretical and ideological concept into the basis of enforceable actions and duties. Increasingly, the idea of commitment has been offered as the key organising principle for the recognition of family relationships, often as a means of rebutting claims that family ties are becoming attenuated, but the meaning and scope of this concept have not been explored. The book traces how the notion of commitment is understood and how far it has come to be used as a rationale for imposing the core legal obligations which underpin care and caring within families.

A tension lies at the heart of family law. Expressed in the language of rights and duties, it seeks to impose enforceable obligations on individuals linked to each other by ties that are usually regarded as based on love or blood. Taking a contextual approach that draws on history, sociology and social policy as well as law and legal theory, this book examines the concept of obligation as it has been developed in family law and the difficulties the law has had in translating it from a theoretical and ideological concept into the basis of enforceable actions and duties. Increasingly, the idea of commitment has been offered as the key organising principle for the recognition of family relationships, often as a means of rebutting claims that family ties are becoming attenuated, but the meaning and scope of this concept have not been explored. The book traces how the notion of commitment is understood and how far it has come to be used as a rationale for imposing the core legal obligations which underpin care and caring within families.

Written in honour of the internationally renowned Professor Nigel Lowe, this book explores current issues in international family and child law and considers how the field might develop in the future.

Family Law offers an engaging and debate-driven guide to the subject, with each chapter crafted by a team of highly experienced teachers writing on their specialist subject under the expert editorship of Ruth Lamont. Each chapter is a superbly clear guide to the topic, structured around the key debates central to that topic, which are then explored in detail throughout the chapter. Students are thereby introduced to an enlightening range of perspectives on the key issues in family law today, allowing them to formulate their own opinions and arguments. The social, economic, and political backdrop to each topic is also extensively discusssed to ensure that students' understanding is grounded in this essential context. Family Law is a critical and modern guide to this dynamic subject.

'Bromley's Family Law' is a well-established and popular textbook with students and practitioners alike. This edition has been updated to take into account recent developments in family law.

Providing a comprehensive, critical, and case-focused introduction to family law, this title helps students to gain a firm understanding of family law principles, the developing law, and key reform debates.

Developments in the law, scholarship, and research since 2006 form a substantial part of the second edition of this book which sets the governance of personal relationships in the context of the exercise of social and personal power. Its central argument is that this power is counterbalanced by the presence of individual rights. This entails an analysis of the nature and deployment of rights, including human rights, and children's rights. Against that background, the book examines the values of friendship, truth, respect, and responsibility, and how the values of individualism co-exist with those of the community in an open society. It argues that central to these values is respecting the role of intimacy in personal relationships. In doing this, a variety of issues are examined, including the legal regulation of married and unmarried relationships, same-sex marriage, state supervision over the inception and exercise of parenthood (including surrogacy and assisted reproductive technology), the role of fault and responsibility in divorce law, children's rights and welfare, religion and family rights, the rights of separated partners regarding property and of separated parents regarding their children, and how states should respond to cultural diversity.

'Bromley's Family Law' is a well-established and popular textbook with students and practitioners alike. This edition has been updated to take into account recent developments in family law.