Re G (Children) (Residence: Same-Sex Partner)

From book synopsis: While feminist legal scholarship has thrived within universities and in some sectors of legal practice, it has yet to have much impact within the judiciary or on judicial thinking. Thus, while feminist legal scholarship has generated comprehensive critiques of existing legal doctrine, there has been little opportunity to test or apply feminist knowledge in practice, in decisions in individual cases. In this book, a group of feminist legal scholars put theory into practice in judgment form, by writing the 'missing' feminist judgments in key cases. The cases chosen are significant decisions in English law across a broad range of substantive areas. The cases originate from a variety of levels but are primarily opinions of the Court of Appeal or the House of Lords. In some instances they are written in a fictitious appeal, but in others they are written as an additional concurring or dissenting judgment in the original case, providing a powerful illustration of the way in which the case could have been decided differently, even at the time it was heard. Each case is accompanied by a commentary which renders the judgment accessible to a non-specialist audience. The commentary explains the original decision, its background and doctrinal significance, the issues it raises, and how the feminist judgment deals with them differently. The books also includes chapters examining the theoretical and conceptual issues raised by the process and practice of feminist judging, and by the judgments themselves, including the possibility of divergent feminist approaches to legal decision-making

Writing (gay and lesbian) wills

This article presents some of the findings of an empirical research project that explored writing wills for gay men and lesbians. The research aimed to examine the extent to which wills might contribute to sociological debates about alternative kinships and intimate citizenship. While the overarching aim of the project was an interest in the contents of the wills (which is to say the intentions of the testators), it also revealed the influence of the lawyers on the contents of the wills and the extent to which changes in legal practice in England have impacted on the place of will-drafting within the legal profession. Exploring this throws light on the extent to which wills express the authentic voice of a testator and raises questions about access to qualified will writers. Turning to the content of the wills, the place of ‘god children’ or children of friends’ is examined. While a very particular type of beneficiary, the focus provides a space for thinking more widely about the construction of the ‘inheritance families’ of gay men and lesbians

Wealth, families and death: socio-legal perspectives on wills and inheritance: introduction

Inheritance as both a concept and a practice is of deep significance within all societies and jurisdictions. Located at the intersection between economics, family relations and the end of life, it offers a unique perspective on a variety of contemporary socio-legal debates. Yet the socio-legal phenomenon of inheritance has attracted relatively little scholastic attention. This special issue, which brings together eight papers coming from six different countries (and eight different jurisdictions): Belgium, England and Wales, Israel, Spain (Catalonia and the Basque Country), Switzerland and the USA, demonstrates the breadth of inheritance as a field of study in a number of ways and at the same time opens up important new lines of enquiry. This international breadth serves to foreground the significance of both national and regional political culture on inheritance law. Most significant in this respect is the fact that the authors are evenly split between those commentating on civil legal systems and those on common-law systems; for traditionally the two systems have adopted highly distinct responses to the principles of testamentary freedom and forced heirship. All the articles in this collection provide insight into this fundamental distinction but at the same time demonstrate its limits in practice

‘Inheritance Families of Choice’? Lawyers’ reflections on gay and lesbian wills

This article presents the findings of research about the will writing practices of gays and lesbians. It develops a conversation between sociological literature about ‘families of choice’, which is silent about inheritance, and socio-legal research about ‘inheritance families’, which is relatively silent about sexuality. It demonstrates how research with lawyers can contribute to thinking about inheritance and complement historical archives about personal life and sexuality. Focusing on funeral rites, partners, ex-lovers, friendships, children and godchildren and birth families, the findings reveal how gay men and lesbians have used wills to communicate kinship practices in ways that both converge with and differ from conventional testamentary practices. Examining the findings through the concepts of generationality, family display, connectedness and ordinariness and locating them within the recent history of social and legal changes, it complicates and troubles both anti-normative and individualistic readings of the choices gay and lesbians make in constructing their ‘inheritance families’

Problematising home education: challenging ‘parental rights’ and 'socialisation'

In the UK, Home Education, or home-schooling, is an issue that has attracted very little public, governmental or academic attention. Yet the number of children home educated is steadily increasing and has been referred to as a 'quiet revolution'. This article neither celebrates nor denigrates home educators, its aim, rather, is to identify and critically examine the two dominant discourses that define the way in which the issue is currently understood. First, the legal discourse of parental rights, which forms the basis of the legal framework, and secondly a psychoanalytical/common-sense 'socialisation' discourse within which school attendance is perceived as necessary for healthy child development. Drawing on historical, doctrinal human rights and psychoanalytical sources and post-structural and feminist perspectives, this article suggests that both discourses function as alternative methods of governance and that the conflicting ‘rights claims’ of parents and children obscure public interests and fundamental questions about the purpose of education

Elective Home Education: commentary on the new guidance to local authorities from the Department of Education

A detailed commentary on the new DfE (2019) Elective Home Education Guidance for local authoritie

Matlab application for fitting progress curves to the Equilibrium Model

The general procedures for carrying out the necessary rate determinations required for accurate determination of the Equilibrium Model parameters, and fitting this data to the mathematical model to generate the parameters, are described in "Peterson, M.E., Daniel, R.M., Danson, M.J. & Eisenthal, R. (2007) The dependence of enzyme activity on temperature: determination and validation of parameters. Biochemical Journal, 402, 331-337". It should be borne in mind that the Equilibrium Model equation contains exponentials of exponentials – quite small deviations from ideal behaviour, or a failure to obtain true Vmax values, may lead to difficulty in obtaining reliable Equilibrium Model parameters

The equilibrium model for the effect of temperature on enzymes: Insights and implications

A new, experimentally-validated “Equilibrium Model” describes the effect of temperature on enzymes, and provides a new mechanism for the reversible loss of enzyme activity with temperature. It incorporates two new, fundamental parameters that allow a complete description of the effect of temperature on enzyme activity: ΔHeq and Teq. ΔHeq emerges as an intrinsic and quantitative measure of enzyme eurythermal adaptation, while Teq, the equilibrium temperature, has fundamental and technological significance for our understanding of the effect of temperature on enzymatic reactions. For biotechnological purposes, these parameters need to be considered when enzymes are applied or engineered for activity at high temperatures