Publication of the week:

PROFESSOR SUSAN EDWARDS

Monday 7 July 2008

Mary Welstead & Susan Edwards, Family law (2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008). 536 pp. ISBN: 978-0-19-923127-0.

Susan Edwards, Professor of Law at the University of Buckingham and Mary Welstead, Visiting Fellow at the Child Advocacy Program, Harvard University, have published the greatly expanded and updated second edition of Family Law (Oxford University Press), incorporating analysis of all matters in family law, and matters of particular policy and media interest.

The authors discuss financial divorce settlements in high-moneyed, high-profile cases, and provide detailed discussion on the recommendations of the Law Commission with respect to the rights of cohabitants. And in respect of children, high-profile concerns including the role of medical experts in 'sudden infant death syndrome', the legal status of genetic material, and the legal status of biological fathers are amongst the areas discussed. All matters in family law are considered alongside the increasing effect of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in considering the rights of adults and also the rights of the child. They are currently working on a further joint project in family law.

The full contents of the book are:

Introduction to family law and its changing dimensions
State intervention in personal relationships
Nullity and its consequences
Acquisition and protection of rights in the family home
Domestic violence
Ending relationships
Financial consequences of relationships
Death and its consequences
Parents and family: rights and responsibilities
From clean break to open adoption
Adolescent rights: autonomy and participation
Children's welfare and private disputes
In the child's best interests: the jurisdiction of wardship
Child protection: public law procedure
Protecting children from 'significant harm': interpreting the law
Financial provision for children