Category Archives: Family Law
Nicole Štýbnarová, ‘Economic Dimensions of International Regulation of Marriage’
ABSTRACT This Article examines how the regulation of, and legal argumentation about, transnational marriages fulfill economic functions. It takes as its point of departure contemporary legal frameworks governing marriages with a transnational element in Northwestern Europe, including private international law (conflicts of laws), migration law, and human rights law. It shows that lawmakers and judges […]
‘The Biggest Shake-Up of English Family Law in Over Two Decades?’
On 5 June 2026 the government published a Consultation Document titled ‘A Fairer End to Relationships’. This consultation will close on 14 August 2026. If the proposed changes are later introduced into legislation, the practical implications for families (and family law practitioners alike) in England and Wales could be significant and will mark the biggest […]
‘When Marriage goes Wrong: Breach of Promise in Fifteenth-Century England’
Historians of marriage have done much to redeem the ‘institution’ for medieval England in the past thirty years. Where once it was assumed that all marriages were loveless business arrangements, dominated by financial considerations, and imposed on daughters against their will, now, especially thanks to historians like Shannon McSheffrey, a much more complicated and nuanced […]
Jordana Goodman, ‘Property Rights in Liquid Gold: Recognizing Breastmilk as Property’
ABSTRACT Breastmilk is a highly valued commodity. It is produced, stored, transferred, sold, and, at times, contaminated, stolen, improperly handled, and even lost. Litigants have largely sought remedies related to breastmilk under employment, family, and health law frameworks, consistently failing to bring claims directly related to the loss of property-the milk itself. These frameworks consistently […]
‘A Fairer End to Relationships? Some Reflections on the Core Principles of the Government’s Proposals to Reform the Law of Financial Remedies on Divorce’
In June 2026, the Ministry of Justice published ‘A fairer end to relationships’, an unusually wide-ranging consultation considering reforms to the law of financial remedies on divorce, and to the position of cohabitants on relationship breakdown and on death. Graham Fraser has summarised the consultation here. This piece focuses on the central principles of the […]
Joel Patterson, ‘Intestacy and the Modern Household’
ABSTRACT When a person dies in England and Wales without a valid will, their estate is distributed under section 46 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925, as amended. The rules are commonly described as a safety net. They are better described as a specific distribution scheme, drafted around a specific household — married or […]
Wanhong Huang, ‘The Normativity of Self-legislation in Intimate Relationships: Freedom, Morality, and Justice’
ABSTRACT Consider a lover who legislates for himself an unconditional law: whatever happens, however the beloved feels, I will keep loving her. This paper subjects such a vow to a three-layered normative analysis, and uses it as a lens on a general structure: the conditions under which the self-legislation of a shared life is free, […]
Gregory Klass, ‘Voluntary Legal Obligations: From Contract to Cohabitation’
ABSTRACT Although cohabitants often live together in ways indistinguishable from those who are married, the law treats them differently than it does spouses. In Toward a Private Law of Intimates’ Obligations, Emily Stolzenberg asks why, identifies the need for reform, and brings the law of cohabitation into conversation with recent work in private law theory. […]
Luke Taylor, ‘Diffusion and Confusion: Marriage Law in Colonial New South Wales, 1788-1861’
ABSTRACT This article considers the fragmented and contested law and practice of marriage in colonial NSW. The first part first addresses marriage law, both in a positivist sense, and in the sense of what people believed the law was. Countering recent revisionist work, it argues that many people in New South Wales believed, however wrongly, […]
‘Mind the Gap: A Chancery Barrister’s Preliminary Thoughts on the Cohabitation Reform Consultation’
The Ministry of Justice has released its long-anticipated consultation paper on family law and cohabitation reform. As a practitioner whose daily life is spent dealing with the fallout from broken relationships and disputed estates, my immediate reaction is enthusiastic welcome for the broad spirit of the proposed reform but tempered by anxiety driven by some […]