• No results found

Obligation and commitment in family law

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2021

Share "Obligation and commitment in family law"

Copied!
6
0
0

Loading.... (view fulltext now)

Full text

(1)

Obligation and Commitment

in Family Law

Gillian Douglas

·HART·

(2)

HART PUBLISHING ~~ u~ ~s:r Bloomsbury Publisbing Pie

Kemp House, Cbawley Park, Cumnor Híll, Oxford, OX2 9PH, UK

HART PUBLISHING, rbe HartlStag logo, BLOOMSBURY and rbe Diana logo are rrademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Pie

Fim pubtisbed in Grear Brirain 2018 Copyrigbt © GiIlian Douglas, 2018

GíIlian Douglas bas asserted ber rigbt under rbe Copyrigbt, Designs and Parents Act 1988 ro be identilled as Aurbor of this work.

Ali rigbrs reserved. No parr of tbis publication may be reproduced or rransmitred in any form or by any means, electronic or mecbanical, induding pbotocopying, recording,

or any information storage or retrieval system, wirhout prior permission in writing from tbe publisbers.

Wbile every care bas been taken to ensure the accuracy of tbis work, no responsibility for loss or damage occasioned to any person acting or refraining from action as a resulr

of any sraremenr in ir can be accepred by rbe aurhors, editors or publisbers. Ali UK Government legislation and otber public secror information used in tbe work is

Crown Copyrigbt ©. Ali House of Lords and House of Commons information used in tbe work is Parliamentary Copyrigbt ©. Tbis information is reused under tbe rerms

of tbe Open Government Licence v3.0 (brrp:llwww.narionalarcbives.gov.ukJ dodopen-government-licence/version/3) except wbere orberwise stated.

Ali Eur-Iex material used in tbe work is © European Union, brrp:lleur-Iex.europa.eul, 1998-2018.

A catalogue record for tbis book is avaílable from the Britisb Library. Líbrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data

Names: Douglas, Gillian, autbor.

Title: Obligarion and commitment in family law 1Gillian Douglas. Description: Oxford [UK] ; New York: Hart Publisbing, 2018. I

lndudes bibliograpbical references and indexo

Identillers: LCCN 2017052960 (print) I LCCN 2017055287 (ebook) I

ISBN 9781782258537 (Epub) I ISBN 9781782258520 (bardback: alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Domestic relations-Great Britain. I Parent and cbild (Law)­

Great Britain. I Family policy-Great Britain.

Classincation: LCC KD750 (ebook) I LCC KD750 .D69 2018 (print) DDC 346.4101/5--dc23

LC record available at bttps:lIlccn.loc.gov/2017052960 ISBN: HB: 978-1-78225-852-0

ePDF: 978-1-78225-854-4 ePub: 978-1-78225-853-7 Typeset by Compuscript Ltd, Shannon

Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall To nnd out more about our aurhors and books visit www.bartpublisbing.co.uk. Here you will nnd extracts, autbor information, details of fortbcoming events

(3)

Contents

Preface ... v

Tab/e of Cases ... xv

Tab/e of Legislation ... xxi

1. The Ties that Bind? ... 1

I. Introduction... 1

11. Care and Caring ... 4

A. An 'Ethic of Care' ... 4

B. Meanings of 'Care'... 5

IH. Legal Obligation ... 8

A. Obligation as Duty ... 8

B. Obligation as Remedy ... l l C. The Nature of Family Obligation ... 12

IV. Obligation as a Social Norm ... 15

V. The 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. The Rationale for Obligatíons Upon Family Members ... 28

A. Causarion... 29

B. Mutual CommÍtment ... 30

C. Relationship-generated Loss and Gain ... 31

VII. Obligation or Commitment... 32

2. Family Change and Individual Commitment ... 35

I. Family Changes ... 35

11. A Demographic Picture ... 36

A. Forming 'a Family' ... 37

B. Birth and Family Size ... 42

C. Households ... 45

D. The Ending of Re1ationships ... 45

E. Lone-parent Families ... 49

F. Economic Activity ... 51

m.

From the Family to the IndividuaL... 59

(4)

Xli Contents

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

11. The Concept of Consortium ... 71

m.

The Suit for Restitution of Conjugal Rights ... 76

A. The Basis of the Action ... 76

B. The Ostensible Purpose of the Decree ... 78

C. The Effect of the Decree after 1884 ... 82

D. The Tactical use of the Suit ... 85

E. Abolition of the Suit ... 90

IV. The Modem 'Duty' of Cohabitation... 94

V. Marriage as Personal Commitment ... 96

4. A Clean Break ... 98

I. A Duty to Maintain ... 98

11. Maintenance During Marriage ... 99

A. A Direct Right to Seek Maintenance ... 100

B. Is there Still an Obligation to Maintain a Spouse During Marriage? ... 104

m.

Post-Divorce Maintenance and the Clean Break ... l06 A. Financiai Remedies before the Matrimonial Proceedings and Property Act 1970... 106

B. Assessment of Maintenance ... 108

C. The 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

11. Limiting the Burden on the State ... 131

A. The Poor Law ... 131

B. The Problem of 'Bastardy' ... 133

m.

Protecting the Position of Mothers ... 134

A. The Direct Claim for Maintenance ... 134

B. Quantum... 137

C. Provision for Children Bom 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

(5)

tion... 60 lisation ... 64 ... 68 ... 70 ... 70 ... 71 ,gal Rights... 76 ... 76 te Decree ... 78 'r 1884... 82­ ... 90

... 8S

ion... 94 nt ... 96 ... 98 ... 98 ... 99 tenance ... 100 ) Maintain a Spouse le Matrimonial ... 104 le Clean Break ... 106 :t 1970... 106 ... 108 ... 114 ... 128 ... 130 ... 130 ... 131 ... 131 ... 133 'S ... 134 nance ... 134 ... 137 Outside Marriage ... 141 lildren ... 145 ... 146 ... 146 ... 151 ... 154 ... 157 ... 159 Contents XIll 6. Parenthood is for Life ... 161

I. Obligation or Right? ... 161

lI. Paternal Right and Maternal Concession ... 164

A. The Purpose and Benefits of a Custody or Access Order... 165

B. The Welfare of the Child ... 167

IlI. A Right of Both Parents ... 168

A. Splitting Rights ... 170

IV. A Right of the Child ... 172

A. Access and the Welfare of the Child ... 174

V. AParentai Responsibility ... 176

A. 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. A Presumption of Continuing Parental Involvement ... 186

A. 'Involvement' ... 188

VIII. An Obligation to be 'Involved'? ... 190

7. Who Cares? ... 192

L Care-Giving as an Obligation ... 192

lI. 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. The Rationale for Recognition ... 217

IV. Recognition of Caring Relationships, or Recognition of Care? ... 219

8. The Law of Family Obligations ... 222

I. Care, Obligation and Commitment ... 222

lI. Altruism, Family Obligation and Non-Justiciability ... 224

A. Family Morality and Re1igious Duty... 224

B. Law Reform and Obligation ... 226

C. The Sphere of the Emotions ... 228

m.

The Gendered Legal Approach to the Family Unit ... 231

IV. Obligations and Commitments in Family Law ... 235

A. Laíssez-faire Family Law? ... 237

(6)

xiv Contents

C. Caring Relationships ... 243

D. 'Famíly-based' Remedies ... 245

V. Obligation and Commitment ... 246

Bibliography ... 249

References

Related documents

The purpose of this quantitative research study was to investigate the relationship of guided study tables on the academic success and development of executive functioning

We draw from available supply elasticity estimates to simulate the welfare effects of returning tariff levels to the pre- NAFTA and Andean Agreement levels and find that

function mix includes all necessary protec- necessary protec- tion functions for the generator as well as tion functions for the generator as well as backup protection for the

miRNA analysis of CD4 + Dicer –/– CD45RB hi cells pre- transfer and pathogenic and regulated CD4 + Dicer –/– YFP + cells isolated ex vivo confirmed our in vitro observations (

Appendix A: Compliant configuration settings for Policy Studio KeyInfo

Using a combination of fast 1-best filter through anchor selection by most stable syllables (proposed in chapter 6), followed by a hybrid verification with anti-queries and

a) Automatically: Before takeoff, current position of multi-rotor will be saved as home point by MC automatically when you push the throttle stick first time after