Obligation and commitment in family law / Gillian Douglas.
2018
KD750 .D69 2018 (Map It)
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Details
Author
Title
Obligation and commitment in family law / Gillian Douglas.
Published
Oxford, UK ; New York : Hart Publishing, 2018.
Copyright
©2018
Call Number
KD750 .D69 2018
ISBN
9781782258520 (hardcover ; alkaline paper)
1782258523 (hardcover ; alkaline paper)
9781782258544 (ePDF)
9781782258537 (ePub)
1782258523 (hardcover ; alkaline paper)
9781782258544 (ePDF)
9781782258537 (ePub)
Description
xxiv, 274 pages ; 24 cm
System Control No.
(OCoLC)1007074380
Summary
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.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Available in Other Form
Online version: Douglas, Gillian. Obligation and commitment in family law. Oxford [UK] ; New York : Hart Publishing, 2018 9781782258537 (DLC) 2017055287
Record Appears in
Table of Contents
Preface
v
Table of Cases
xv
Table of Legislation
xxi
1.
Ties that Bind?
1
I.
Introduction
1
II.
Care and Caring
4
A.
`Ethic of Care'
4
B.
Meanings of `Care'
5
III.
Legal Obligation
8
A.
Obligation as Duty
8
B.
Obligation as Remedy
11
C.
Nature of Family Obligation
12
IV.
Obligation as a Social Norm
15
V.
Concept of Commitment
18
A.
Commitment in Legal Discourse
18
B.
Commitment in Family Law Policy
22
C.
Commitment as a Social Concept
23
VI.
Rationale for Obligations Upon Family Members
28
A.
Causation
29
B.
Mutual Commitment
30
C.
Relationship-generated Loss and Gain
31
VII.
Obligation or Commitment
32
2.
Family Change and Individual Commitment
35
I.
Family Changes
35
II.
Demographic Picture
36
A.
Forming `a Family'
37
B.
Birth and Family Size
42
C.
Households
45
D.
Ending of Relationships
45
E.
Lone-parent Families
49
F.
Economic Activity
51
III.
From the Family to the Individual
59
A.
Form, Role and Gender
59
B.
Capitalism and Family Function
60
C.
Individualism and Individualisation
64
IV.
Change and Commitment
68
3.
To Have and To Hold
70
I.
Compelling Cohabitation
70
II.
Concept of Consortium
71
III.
Suit for Restitution of Conjugal Rights
76
A.
Basis of the Action
76
B.
Ostensible Purpose of the Decree
78
C.
Effect of the Decree after 1884
82
D.
Tactical use of the Suit
85
E.
Abolition of the Suit
90
IV.
Modern `Duty' of Cohabitation
94
V.
Marriage as Personal Commitment
96
4.
Clean Break
98
I.
Duty to Maintain
98
II.
Maintenance During Marriage
99
A.
Direct Right to Seek Maintenance
100
B.
Is there Still an Obligation to Maintain a Spouse During Marriage?
104
III.
Post-Divorce Maintenance and the Clean Break
106
A.
Financial Remedies before the Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Act 1970
106
B.
Assessment of Maintenance
108
C.
Modern Law
114
IV.
Triumph of the Clean Break?
128
5.
Can't Pay? Won't Pay!
130
I.
Duty to State, Mother or Child?
130
II.
Limiting the Burden on the State
131
A.
Poor Law
131
B.
Problem of `Bastardy'
133
III.
Protecting the Position of Mothers
134
A.
Direct Claim for Maintenance
134
B.
Quantum
137
C.
Provision for Children Born Outside Marriage
141
D.
Duration of Provision for Children
145
IV.
Supporting the Child
146
A.
Replacing the Courts
146
B.
Reforming Child Support
151
C.
Family-based Arrangements
154
D.
Collection and Enforcement
157
V.
Culture of Non-Compliance
159
6.
Parenthood is for Life
161
I.
Obligation or Right?
161
II.
Paternal Right and Maternal Concession
164
A.
Purpose and Benefits of a Custody or Access Order
165
B.
Welfare of the Child
167
III.
Right of Both Parents
168
A.
Splitting Rights
170
IV.
Right of the Child
172
A.
Access and the Welfare of the Child
174
V.
Parental Responsibility
176
A.
Duty to Facilitate Contact
177
B.
`Implacable Hostility' or Legitimate Fear?
178
C.
Contact and Commitment
180
VI.
Enforcing Contact
181
A.
Enforcing an Obligation to Allow Contact
181
B.
Enforcing an Obligation to Maintain Contact?
185
VII.
Presumption of Continuing Parental Involvement
186
A.
`Involvement'
188
VIII.
Obligation to be `Involved'?
190
7.
Who Cares?
192
I.
Care-Giving as an Obligation
192
II.
Care-Giving as a Claim to a Remedy
194
A.
Care as Contribution in a Marriage
197
B.
Care, Commitment and Cohabitation
201
III.
Caring Relationships
207
A.
What is Meant by `Caring'?
209
B.
What is a Caring `Relationship'?
213
C.
Rationale for Recognition
217
IV.
Recognition of Caring Relationships, or Recognition of Care?
219
8.
Law of Family Obligations
222
I.
Care, Obligation and Commitment
222
II.
Altruism, Family Obligation and Non-Justiciability
224
A.
Family Morality and Religious Duty
224
B.
Law Reform and Obligation
226
C.
Sphere of the Emotions
228
III.
Gendered Legal Approach to the Family Unit
231
IV.
Obligations and Commitments in Family Law
235
A.
Laissez-faire Family Law?
237
B.
Remedial Family Law
240
C.
Caring Relationships
243
D.
`Family-based' Remedies
245
V.
Obligation and Commitment
246
Bibliography
249
Index
265