The limits of marriage protection: in defence of property law

This article takes issue with three assumptions commonly present in recent English family law scholarship: that unmarried couples would be ‘better off’ married; that the property law principles that presently apply to cohabitants’ property arrangements are complex and confusing, not to say inadequate; and that cohabitants should instead be protected by a family law-style statutory regime such as that proposed by the Law Commission in 2007. It argues that both the legal explanations and the scaremongering tone of much of this scholarship have been unhelpful (and sometimes inaccurate) in misleading non-specialist lawyers, but also non-lawyers and the general public, as to the precise nature of the respective protections offered by property law and family law, and that the proposed solution is not the way to tackle the real problem, which is not the need to protect cohabitants, but how to tackle gendered inequality in relationships. Instead, it suggests that legal discussions should employ more accuracy and precision about the law in principle and a more critical approach to how it works in practice (especially considering recent developments in the family courts), and that better conveyancing practice and better public education would help to empower individuals to make informed decisions as to their property arrangements

Dissolution or disillusion: the unravelling of civil partnerships

This chapter considers the following questions: • Why did more men register a civil partnership initially than women? • Why has the gender ratio equalised? • Why have women dissolved their civil partnership at a consistently higher rate than men? • What has happened to the argument that same-sex unions will be different from, or better than (with its assumption of longer-lasting), heterosexual unions

The limits of marriage protection in property allocation when a relationship ends

This article takes issue with two assumptions commonly present in recent English family law scholarship: that the property law principles that presently apply to cohabitants’ property arrangements are complex and confusing, not to say inadequate, and that cohabitants should instead be protected by a family law-style statutory regime such as that proposed by the Law Commission in 2007. It argues that both the legal explanations and the scaremongering tone of much of this scholarship have been unhelpful (and sometimes inaccurate) in misleading non-specialist lawyers, but also non-lawyers and the general public, as to the precise nature of the respective protections offered by property law and family law, and that the proposed solution is not the way to tackle the real problem, which is not the need to protect cohabitants, but how to tackle gendered inequality in relationships. Instead, it suggests that legal discussions should employ more accuracy and precision about the law in principle and a more critical approach to how it works in practice (especially considering recent developments in the family courts), and that better conveyancing practice and better public education would help to empower individuals to make informed decisions as to their property arrangements

Recovering lost lives: researching women in legal history

Drawing on the research I undertook into the life of Gwyneth Bebb, who in 1913 challenged the Law Society of England and Wales for their refusal to admit women to the solicitors’ profession, this article focuses on the range of sources one might use to explore the lives of women in law, about whom there might be a few public records but little else, and on the ways in which sources, even official ones, might be imaginatively used. It traces the research process from the case that inspired the research (Bebb v The Law Society [1914] 1 Ch 286) through to the creation of an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and what this means for women’s history, emphasising the importance of asking the ‘woman question’ and seeking out the broader significance of a woman’s life in the context of her times

Susan Atkins and Brenda Hoggett, Women and the Law, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, University of London, 2018

Book review of Susan Atkins and Brenda Hoggett, Women and the Law, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London, 2018 (originally published by Basil Blackwell, 1984)

Feminist approaches to sexuality and law scholarship

Sexuality and Law scholarship is a new and developing field but, like most legal scholarship, it is dominated by masculine concerns and methodologies. This article explains why research that ignores feminist concerns and methodologies will be incomplete and inaccurate, and suggests questions that should be asked of resources to ensure a complete and accurate coverage of the topic

Feminist responses to same sex relationship recognition

This chapter surveys feminist responses to the enactment of formal recognition of same-sex relationships in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. Responses are grouped into four categories: celebrations of equal access to rights and privileges; celebrations of acceptance and full citizenship; critiques of state intervention and the institution of marriage; and claims (and responses to those claims) that same sex marriage will be better than opposite sex marriage because it is more equal and less gendered, and could bring about the positive transformation of the institution