Thorne v Kennedy: Why Australia's decision on prenups is important for English law

There are two main reasons why the courts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have not yet had the opportunity to consider fully what would constitute undue influence in the context of a prenuptial agreement (prenup). First, prenups are not binding under legislation here, as the court can still decide to not give effect to an agreement if it would lead to unfairness. For instance, as Lord Phillips put it in Radmacher (Formerly Granatino) v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42, [2010] 2 FLR 1900 (para 81), if the agreement would leave one of the parties in a position of real need whilst the other party enjoys a sufficiency or more. Secondly, the courts in England and Wales have avoided the issue of whether prenups have contractual status or not, and so whilst vitiating factors such as duress and undue influence are relevant to whether consent to a prenup was freely given, the court has said that pressure falling short of duress is also relevant (though in practice it has adopted a restrictive approach). But knowing when pressure will amount to undue influence in this jurisdiction is still important, not least because calls for contractually binding prenups have resurfaced in recent months (see, for example, Divorce (Financial Provision) Bill 2017-19). Even if prenups are not made legislatively binding in the near future, the courts since Radmacher have taken a fairly restrictive approach when deciding when an imbalance of power between the parties will affect the weight of a prenup on relationship breakdown. This is problematic when the autonomy of one party has been compromised by power inequalities in the relationship, and so a new approach is needed. For this reason, the ground-breaking approach of the High Court of Australia in Thorne v Kennedy [2017] HCA 49 will be of interest and importance for lawyers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As well as providing guidance on the operation of undue influence in the context of prenups, it crucially opens up the possibility for a broader range of circumstances to be taken into account when giving effect to such agreements

In defence of the 'gold digger'

This article examines the gold-digging trope in family law. It explores the etymology of the term and how it has been employed in cultural and legal contexts, such as media, parliamentary debates and case law. It is argued that the gold-digger construct has shifted, in that it was once applied only to women who formed relationships with men for financial gain, but is now used against all women in the context of modern equality claims in family law, regardless of their intentions. Today, the gold-digger is any woman who seeks a fair share of family assets on divorce, and the concept informs ideas not only of claims to financial relief on divorce, but also the enforceability of prenuptial agreements

School Size, School Poverty and School-Level Mobility: Interactive Threats to School Outcomes

ABSTRACT SCHOOL SIZE, SCHOOL POVERTY AND SCHOOL-LEVEL MOBILITY: INTERACTIVE THREATS TO SCHOOL OUTCOMES by Sharon M. Thompson School-level mobility is the flow of students moving in and out of schools and has been defined as the rate of student entries and withdrawals per 100 students enrolled in a school during the year (Pike & Weisbender, 1988). Stakeholders report that school mobility disrupts the delivery, pace and effectiveness of classroom instruction, causes problems associated with classroom adjustment, and renders long-term negative effects on schools’ Adequate Yearly Progress rankings (Bruno & Isken, 1996; GAO, 2007; Kerbow, 1996; Lash & Kirkpatrick, 1990; Rhodes, 2005; Sanderson, 2003). Despite these findings very few studies have been conducted to determine the effects of mobility (particularly at the school level) and how it combines with other school-level factors such as school size and school poverty to create threats to positive school outcomes. Of the few relevant studies (e.g., Bourque, 2009; Rhodes, 2007), little attention has been given to understanding mobility’s relationships to achievement in the context of size of student enrollment, degree of poverty and longitudinal examination of achievement across multiple years. To address these gaps in the research literature, this study investigated the effects of school-level mobility on middle school reading achievement after controlling for the effects of school enrollment and poverty. Findings from regression analyses indicated significant relationships between school-level mobility and reading achievement over and beyond the relationships between school size or school-level poverty with achievement. A repeated measures procedure was used to analyze long-term effects on eighth grade reading achievement for Title I middle schools that focused on three, key variables: degree of school mobility (e.g., high versus low rate), size of student enrollment (e.g. big versus small school), test administration year(s) (e.g., 2006, 2007 and 2008) and interactions between these variables. There were significant main effects for school size, school-level mobility as well as for the year of test administration. Reading test scores rose significantly from one year to the next, big schools out-performed small schools , and highly mobile schools performed significantly lower than low mobile schools in reading achievement over a three-year period. No significant interaction effects were found. Results are discussed in terms of research and policy implications

Electron microscopic investigations of aspects of red algal reproductive differentiation and developmental morphology

Ultrastructural studies of meiosis, as well as aspects of vegetative and reproductive development, in three species of red algae were conducted. An account of meiosis in Dasya baillouviana is presented and represents the first comprehensive account in red algae. In early prophase I, the nuclei of tetrasporangia have, first, axial cores and, later, synaptonemal complexes as well as an electron-lucent space of undetermined significance. In later stages, chromatin relaxes, presumed RNA synthesis occurs and cell size and organelle number greatly increase. Electron-dense bodies were found in the cytoplasm and compared to nuage, a substance found to be RNA in other organisms. Meiotic events from prometaphase I to telophase II were similar to accounts published for mitosis in higher red algae. A distinct interkinesis was present, a finding which disproved an earlier interpretation of uninuclear meiosis in red algae. Also of interest were large accumulations of smooth ER at the division poles and the presence in post-division of intranuclear structures thought to be polycomplexes. In addition, post-division nuclei were found to move simultaneously to the center of the cell, associate, possibly fuse and then move back prior to cytokinesis. This report recognizes, for the first time, the fibrous vacuole associated organelle (FVAO), a new organelle in red algae believed to give rise to fibrous vacuoles and possibly to process the contents of the vacuoles. of taxonomic significance was the correct identification of elements of the FVAO previously misinterpreted as intracellular flagella. A three-dimensional reconstruction of the chondriome of red alga (Rhodella reticulata) was made for the first time. The chondriome consisted of one large, ramifying mitochondrion with two very small fragments. Two other serially-sectioned cells were traced but not reconstructed. All the chondriomes were much like those found in other unicellular organisms from many phyla. This research indicated that although red algae have some very unique characteristics, cell morphology and development as well as characteristics of nuclear division do not indicate exceptionally primitive organisms

The Sharia Law debate: The missing family law context

Two official enquires and one Private Members Bill are currently grappling with the ever-controversial topic of the operation of sharia tribunals in England and Wales. While these developments are valuable in that there is still a missing evidence base in terms of Sharia tribunals, this narrow focus on Sharia misses the point that a wider reappraisal of family law matters is required. This article contends that the sharia debate points to wider concerns about two areas of family law in particular: the formalities concerning marriage and the privatisation of family justice. It concludes that concerns about sharia tribunals cannot be addressed without paying attention to wider family law developments