Family Law Challenges in a Changing Society - A critical evaluation of marriage, civil partnerships and the proposed changes regarding cohabitation in English and Welsh family law

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2014 in the subject Law - Civil / Private / Family Law / Law of Succession, grade: A - Excellent, University of Hertfordshire, course: Independent Legal Study, language: English, abstract: There are many ways to define marriage and there are numerous perspectives on which these definitions can be based. Every country or even state has its own legal definition, each culture will have its own cultural and sociological definition, religions will have their own religious definitions and even each era will has its own anthropological definition. The British anthropologist Eleanor Kathleen Gough Aberle defined marriage in 1959 as 'a relationship established between a woman and one or more other persons, which provides that a child born to the woman under circumstances not prohibited by the rules of the relationship, is accorded full birth-status rights common to normal members of his society or social stratum.' For statistical purposes the United Nations have recommended the following definition: 'the legal union of persons of opposite sex. The legality of the union may be established by civil, religious, or other means as recognised by the laws of each country; and irrespective of the type of marriage, each should be reported for vital statistics purposes.' It is particularly interesting that the United Nations have added the word 'legal' to their definition which provides the institution of marriage with a legal dimension. In the book 'A practical treatise on the law of marriage and divorce', Leonard Shelford explains that 'Marriage, in its origin, is a contract of natural law antecedent to its becoming in civil society a civil contract, regulated and prescribed by law and endowed with civil consequences.' However, the past decades have experienced a decline in marriages amongst the British population as well as a substantial increase of cohabiting partners, who share the same domicile without having some form of contract governing the relationship. This has given rise to various approaches as to how relationships and families in particular are to be regulated. The following discussion will begin by taking a look at the current situation in England and Wales. Hereafter, points 3 and 4 will provide a theoretical foundation of the development of marriage and families as well as laws and justice. Finally, the last two points will discuss the recommended reform of the laws governing cohabitation and the current marriage scepticism which is growing in feminist and liberal jurisprudence.