Family Law in the Twentieth Century: A History

The law governing family relationships has changed dramatically in the course of the last century and this book - drawing extensively on both published and archival material and on legal as well as other sources - gives an account of the processes and problems of reform. Much of the work of the courts was concerned with marriage and divorce, but there were also major changes in the legal position of married women and reform in all these areas was hotly controversial. Family Law in the Twentieth Century gives full accounts of how the law has dealt with the relationship between children and their families, and the increasing involvement of the state in seeking to prevent abuse of children and providing for the needy. The book gives a revealing account of the processes of change and of the influence of pressure groups, civil servants, and judges, as well as individual campaigners.

Table of Cases ; Table of Statutes ; Table of Statutory Instruments ; An Explanatory Note on Parliamentary Procedures ; Introduction ; PART I. THE LEGAL FAMILY: MARRIAGE ; 1 Weddings ; 2 Marriage: Eligibility ; 3 Legal Consequences of Marriage: Property Regimes ; 4 Other Legal Consequences of Marriage: Conjugal Rights and Remedies ; PART II. THE ENDING OF MARRIAGE: DIVORCE ; 5 Ending Marriage by Judicial Divorce under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 ; 6 The Campaign for Reform of the Victorian Divorce Law ; 7 The Ground for Divorce under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1937 ; 8 The Family Justice Process 1900-1970 ; 9 Irretrievable Breakdown as the Ground for Divorce: The Divorce Reform Act 1969 ; PART III. ENDING RELATIONSHIPS: THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES ; 10 Marital Breakdown: The Financial Consequences ; 11 Maintenance, the Magistrate's Court and the State ; 12 The Ending of Relationships by Death: The Financial Consequences ; 13 Unmarried Couples: The Legal Consequences of Ending the Relationship ; PART IV. CHILDREN, THE FAMILY AND THE STATE ; 14 Parentage ; 15 Children's Legal Status: legitimate or Illegitimate? ; 16 Parents and Children: Legal Authority in the Family ; 17 Legal Adoption of Children, 1900-1973 ; 18 The State, Parent and Child: 1) before the Welfare State ; 19 The State, Parent and Child: 2) the Welfare State and Child Care Legislation ; 20 The State, Parent and Child: 3) Child Care Legislation at a Time of Transition, 1969-1989 ; PART V. THE FAMILY JUSTICE SYSTEM AT THE MILLENNIUM ; 21 The Family and the Law: Reform of the English Family Justice System Towards the End of the Twentieth Century ; Bigraphical Notes ; Sources and Select Bibliography ; Index