Obligation and Commitment in Family Law

Author: Gillian Douglas
Publisher: Hart Publishing
ISBN: 9781782258520

Published In: April 2018
Format: Hardback
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only
Paperback Edition ISBN: 9781509940288

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Description
Contents

Details

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.

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.

Taking a contextual approach that draws on history, sociology and social policy as well as law and legal theory, 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.

1. The Ties that Bind?

I. Introduction

II. Care and Caring

III. Legal Obligation

IV. Obligation as a Social Norm

VI. The Rationale for Obligations Upon Family Members

VII. Obligation or Commitment

2. Family Change and Individual Commitment

I. Family Changes

II. A Demographic Picture

III. From the Family to the Individual

IV. Change and Commitment