Postgraduate Module Descriptor

LAWM689: The Family, Law and Social Change

This module descriptor refers to the 2016/7 academic year.

Module Aims

This module will through the lens of family law and policy critically examine the way in which law responds to social change. It aims to evaluate the theoretical explanations for the nature of this relationship, the doctrinal influences on a domestic and international level and the direct and indirect impact on it of inter-disciplinary socio-legal research.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here - you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. engage in critical reading of national and international theoretical, doctrinal and socio-legal writing on family law to achieve a developed understanding of the various critiques of the relationship between the family, law and society
2. appreciate the sometimes controversial role of socio-legal research in uncovering and identifying the changing processes and social developments which lie behind it.
Discipline-Specific Skills3. develop an inter-disciplinary approach to socio-legal issues, express their own thoughts on the topics studied, such as sociological, political or policy-oriented reflections
4. combine and draw on both theoretical approaches and inter-disciplinary empirical research, while demonstrating the ability to address competing arguments
Personal and Key Skills5. capacity to conduct independent study and group work and meet deadlines
6. develop critical approach to legal and socio-legal research in the family law and policy domain
7. develop high level of competence in accessing legal and socio-legal bibliographic sources
8. assemble systematic and sustained argument orally and in writing in a family law context

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Bailey-Harris, Rebecca (1996) Law and the Unmarried Couple Oppression or Liberation? 8(2) Child and Family Law Quarterly 137-147.
Bala, Nicholas and Bromwich, Rebecca (2002) Context and Inclusivity in Canadas Evolving Definition of the Family International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 16:145-180.
Barlow, Duncan James and Park (2005) Cohabitation, Marriage and the Law Oxford: Hart
Barlow and Probert (2004) Regulating Marriage and Cohabitation: Changing Family Values and Policies in Europe and North America 26 (1) Law and Policy 1
K. Boele-Woelki and A. Fuchs (eds) (2001) Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Couples in Europe Antwerp: Intersentia
Bradley, David, (1996) Family Law and Political Culture. London: Sweet and Maxwell.
Bradley, David (2001) Regulation of unmarried cohabitation in West-European Jurisdictions Determinants of Legal Policy International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 15:22 50
Cooke, Elizabeth (2001) "White v White: a new yardstick for the marriage partnership" Child and Family Law Quarterly 81
Roger Cotterrell (1992 second ed) The Sociology of Law: An Introduction. (London: Butterworth).
Day-Sclater, S (2000) Families London: Hodder and Stoughton
Jones, C., Why Donor Insemination Requires Developments in Family Law: The Need for New Definitions of Parenthood. Edwin Mellen Press. 2007
Jones, C., The identification of parents and siblings: new possibilities under the reformed Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act in Herring, J., Wallbank, J and Choudhry, S., (eds) Rights, Gender and Family Law, Oxford, Routledge-Cavendish: Glasshouse press, 2009.
J. Dewar, The Normal Chaos of Family Law (1998) 61 MLR 467, 470
Eekelaar, J and Thandabantu N, (1998) The Changing Family Oxford:Hart
Fortin, J (2003) Childrens Rights and the Developing Law London: Butterworths.
Foucault, M. 2003. Society Must Be Defended, Lectures at the College de France 19751976, Penguin Books, pg. 6-11.
Freeman, Michael D.A., (1984) Legal Ideologies, Patriarchal Precedents, and Domestic Violence. In The State, the Law and the Family: Critical Perspectives, edited by M. D.A Freeman. London:Tavistock.
Glendon, Mary Ann, (1981) The New Family and the New Property Toronto: Butterworths.
Herman, J. L. 1992. Trauma and recovery, New York, NY, BasicBooks, chapter 4 Captivity
Home Office (1998) Supporting Families. London: Home Office.
King, Michael and Piper, Christine (1995) How the Law Thinks about Children Aldershot: Arena.
Lewis, Jane, (2001) The End of Marriage?, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Maclean, M. (ed) (2005) Family Law and Family Values Oxford: Hart
ODonovan, K. (1993) Family Law Matters London: Pluto
Smart, Carol (1989) Feminism and the Power of Law London: Routledge
Gunther Teubner (1993) Law as an Autopoietic System (Oxford, UK; Cambridge, Mass., USA: Blackwell Publishers).