Module description
The family unit has an obvious social significance and society thus has an interest in the legal regulation of family relationships. Law’s involvement in family life tends to arise most visibly when relationships break down and much of family law is thus concerned with the pathology of family life. The Family Law Reports are strewn with mini dramas, reflecting the complexity and messiness of family life. The subject matter is therefore rarely dull and many find family law interesting because they can relate to it directly or through the experiences of other family members. Family law is a dynamic subject, which develops at a pace in its engagement with social change and shifting public opinions on family matters. Reforms within family law are often controversial, attracting considerable policy debate and public interest.
The Family Law module aims to equip you with a thorough knowledge of several key areas of family law. It seeks to enable you to situate the law in a social and policy context, and to engage critically with the subject. By the end of the module, you should have a critical understanding of the legal regulation of family relationships; be able to analyse legal problems relating to the family and identify and apply the relevant law; and be able to assess the case for reform in some key areas of family law. The content of the module can be divided roughly into three sections, reflecting some of the functions of family law.
Legally recognised family relationships, formation and ending
The first part of the module explores the legal recognition and regulation of family relationships. It begins by examining the legal requirements for formation of marriages and civil partnerships. Attention then turns to legal recognition of parent/child relationships, examining who in law is a parent, who has parental responsibility for a child, the scope of parental responsibility and its interaction with children’s rights (particularly their right, if any, to make their own decisions).
Adjustment on the breakdown of relationships
The module then turns to the breakdown of legal relationships, and the legal consequences of relationship breakdown. It outlines the law on divorce, and how the law responds to family members’ need to adjust, in particular the courts’ approach to financial provision and property adjustment, and disputes over children.
Protection of Family Members
The final section of the module explores the issue of protection of family members from domestic abuse, including state intervention in family life to protect, and care for, children.
Assessment details
Exam (100%)
Teaching pattern
Lecture (2 x 1 hour per week); tutorial (1 x 1 hour per week)
Suggested reading list
There are several family law textbooks which may assist your study, although because family law moves very swiftly it is especially important to use recently published books.
Recommended Text
The recommended text, to which reference will be made for basic reading, is:
S. Gilmore and L. Glennon, Hayes and Williams’ Family Law (7th Edn, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2020). This book is co-authored by your tutor, so you will find that it complements the material in the module quite well. The book aims to be very student-friendly by providing quite full accounts of important case law, rather than just a few lines on each case, as in some books. This book is available on OUP’s Law Trove via the King’s institutional login.