Families and the State: Adult relationships

The aim of this option is to examine a number of the most significant issues affecting adult family relationships and their legal regulation. The readings have been selected to integrate deep, theoretical debates with contemporary legal, policy, and empirical developments.  We are particularly concerned to understand the embeddedness and broader impact of the governing law.

The course will include seminars on marriage, cohabitation and other forms of intimate relationships.  It will also consider the legal response to domestic abuse and violence within families;  legal responses to gender inequalities within marriage and feminist critiques of family law regulation of adult relationships.

This option will naturally appeal to students with a particular interest in family law and human rights law.  More generally, it will appeal to students interested in broader debates that affect everyday who enjoy blending theoretical and conceptual arguments with the practical messiness of everyday life.  It will also appeal t those interested in bringing international sources of law to bear on such problems. 

This option is not offered in 2024-25