Category Archives: Family Law
Russell Sandberg, ‘Marital Problems: The Law Commission’s “Getting Married” Consultation Paper and Non-Qualifying Wedding Ceremonies’
ABSTRACT This article explores the Law Commission’s proposals on how and where people can get married in England and Wales as found in their ‘Getting Married’ Consultation Paper. It examines the extent to which the Commission’s proposals will deal with or mitigate concerns expressed about two types of non-qualifying wedding ceremonies: ‘unregistered religious marriages’ where […]
Okebie and Konstantinidou, ‘The Tort of Deceit and Paternity Fraud: P v B (Paternity Damages for deceit) [2001] Revisited’
ABSTRACT Paternity fraud happens when women make representations to their male partner that he is the biological father of their child knowing that this may not be true because they have undisclosed sexual relationships with other men. Where the man acts on this information and the paternity of the child is subsequently discovered through DNA […]
Katharine Baker, ‘Equality and Family Autonomy’
ABSTRACT Contemporary family law scholarship and a growing body of doctrine often assume that a functional approach to family law – treating those who have acted like family as family – is the best way to secure equal treatment for people who live in relationships that have not been recognized legally as familial. This article […]
Review of Nausica Palazzo, Legal recognition of non-conjugal families: new frontiers in family law in the US, Canada and Europe
Legal recognition of non-conjugal families: new frontiers in family law in the US, Canada and Europe, by Nausica Palazzo, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2021, 248 pp, 185, ISBN: 9781509939954. What makes a family? Ask a philosopher, sociologist, biologist – all will have a different answer. Though we all may intuitively feel we understand who our family […]
Sharon Shakargy, ‘Plus One: Who Defines One’s Significant Other?’
ABSTRACT The law respects essential relationships, most notably marriage. Family members receive various benefits to support the family unit and the relationships within it. While the protection of parental relationships is easily understandable, spousal benefits may be questioned. In the western historical tradition, granting benefits exclusively to marital relationships was justified and practical. Nowadays, this […]
Ho-Po Crystal Wong, ‘When Homemakers are Compensated: The Effect of the Homemaking Provision on Spousal Time Allocation’
ABSTRACT The liberalization of divorce laws has reduced the commitment value of marriage and household specialization. I examine how the homemaking provision in family law that gives recognition to the contribution of homemakers in marriage in the division of marital properties at divorce affects spousal time allocation. Conceivably such law could enhance the gender division […]
Naomi Cahn, ‘CRISPR Parents and Informed Consent’
ABSTRACT Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat Associated System (CRISPR-Cas9) is evolving as a multi-faceted technology that can help in finding cures for rare diseases, as well as creating babies with gene-edited cells. Yet, along with complex ethical questions, it also raises legal issues in numerous areas, from intellectual property to health to family law, […]
Brian Sloan, ‘The “Chimera” of Parenthood’
ABSTRACT In apparently the first reported instance of a paternity test being ‘fooled’ by a ‘human chimera’, a man ‘failed’ a paternity test because the genetic material in his saliva was shown to be different from that in his sperm. Such a chimera has extra genes, here absorbed from a twin lost in early pregnancy. […]
Ryznar and Stępień-Sporek, ‘The Legal Framework of Cohabitation’
ABSTRACT Legal responses towards cohabitation are different even in countries belonging to similar legal traditions, showing the dynamic nature of family law. Indeed, cohabitation has encountered a wide range of social, legislative, and judicial reactions. This chapter examines the legal framework of cohabitation in the US and Poland as representative approaches. Both countries, like many […]
Marotta and Parise, ‘Public and Private Intermingled: Changes in the Family and Property Laws of Argentina’
INTRODUCTION The traditional division of law into private and public has faded away in many jurisdictions across the globe, already for several decades. The Republic of Argentina is no exception to that phenomenon, since private and public law cannot be considered watertight compartments. This report addresses the interplay of private and public law in that […]