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    X Y & Z V United Kingdom (Or Whittle V UK) (1997) 24 EHRR 143, ECHR

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    Shweta Tomar
    Family law deals with the creation and dissolution of legal family relationships such as marriage and parenthood. It focuses on nuclear families but also considers extended family members. Family is broadly defined and can include relatives, adopted/foster children, and cohabitating partners. Two cases established that long-term same-sex partners can be considered family and that national governments have flexibility in this evolving area of law to protect family life and relationships. Statutes provide some principles but judges have wide discretion, especially regarding child welfare and divorce property distribution. Precedent plays a limited role as cases are often decided on unique facts.

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    X Y & Z V United Kingdom (Or Whittle V UK) (1997) 24 EHRR 143, ECHR

    Uploaded by

    Shweta Tomar
    79 views1 page
    Family law deals with the creation and dissolution of legal family relationships such as marriage and parenthood. It focuses on nuclear families but also considers extended family members. Family is broadly defined and can include relatives, adopted/foster children, and cohabitating partners. Two cases established that long-term same-sex partners can be considered family and that national governments have flexibility in this evolving area of law to protect family life and relationships. Statutes provide some principles but judges have wide discretion, especially regarding child welfare and divorce property distribution. Precedent plays a limited role as cases are often decided on unique facts.

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    Family law

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    Family Law INTRO

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    Family law deals with the creation and dissolution of legal family relationships such as marriage and parenthood. It focuses on nuclear families but also considers extended family members. Family is broadly defined and can include relatives, adopted/foster children, and cohabitating partners. Two cases established that long-term same-sex partners can be considered family and that national governments have flexibility in this evolving area of law to protect family life and relationships. Statutes provide some principles but judges have wide discretion, especially regarding child welfare and divorce property distribution. Precedent plays a limited role as cases are often decided on unique facts.

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    79 views1 page

    X Y & Z V United Kingdom (Or Whittle V UK) (1997) 24 EHRR 143, ECHR

    Uploaded by

    Shweta Tomar
    Family law deals with the creation and dissolution of legal family relationships such as marriage and parenthood. It focuses on nuclear families but also considers extended family members. Family is broadly defined and can include relatives, adopted/foster children, and cohabitating partners. Two cases established that long-term same-sex partners can be considered family and that national governments have flexibility in this evolving area of law to protect family life and relationships. Statutes provide some principles but judges have wide discretion, especially regarding child welfare and divorce property distribution. Precedent plays a limited role as cases are often decided on unique facts.

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    Family law, as the phrase is generally understood, deals with the creation and removal of legal status, its

    consequences, and the protection (both physical and financial) of family members. It is concerned mainly with
    the nuclear family - that is, with the relationships between spouses, and between parents (or guardians) and
    children. Members of the extended family have some rights and come into the picture occasionally, as do local
    authorities chiefly in their child protection role. The word "family" has various meanings: at its narrowest it
    may describe the traditional "nuclear family" of a father, a mother and young children, but it has much wider
    meanings too. It may include other relatives, adopted and fostered children, and (increasingly these days)
    cohabitants of the same or different sexes.
    X Y & Z v United Kingdom (or Whittle v UK) (1997) 24 EHRR 143, ECHR
    A female-to-male transexual complained that English law refused to register him as father of the children born
    (by artificial insemination) to his long-term female cohabitant. The European Court of Human Rights
    dismissed his complaint, saying national governments must be allowed a wide margin of appreciation in this
    changing area, but unanimously affirmed that "family life" in Art.8 extended to his situation. Factors such as
    the length of and mutual commitment to a relationship should be taken into account, and on the facts there
    were clear de facto family ties linking the applicant, his cohabitant and her child.
    Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association (1999) unreported, HL
    Reversing the Court of Appeal, the House of Lords (Lords Slynn, Nicholls and Clyde, Lords Hutton and
    Hobhouse dissenting) held that a gay man was entitled to take over the tenancy formerly held by his long-term
    male partner, now deceased, under the Housing Act 1988. Lord Slynn said the legislation could not be
    interpreted to allow P's claim on the basis that he had been living "as the husband or wife" of the deceased - if
    Parliament had intended such a relationship to include same-sex partners it would surely have said so - but P
    could claim as "a member of the family" living with the deceased at the time of his death. The word "family" is
    used in many senses, he said, some wider than others, and if P could show (as on the facts he could) the mutual
    inter-dependence, sharing of lives, caring and love, commitment and support that are rebuttably presumed to
    exist between married couples, that would be enough to establish a family relationship.
    Although statutes play a quite important part in family law - the Children Act 1989 is a particularly important
    piece of legislation, and there are others of similar significance - there are relatively few fixed principles. Such
    statutes often contain checklists of criteria to be applied or matters to be considered, but leave the ultimate
    decision to the judges. Judges therefore exercise a wide discretion particularly in matters relating to the care of
    children and the distribution of property on divorce.
    The doctrine of precedent thus plays only a limited part in family law: most cases are regarded as having been
    decided on their particular facts, and can be distinguished without too much difficulty if following them would
    cause injustice. The Court of Appeal is reluctant to overturn the discretionary decision of a lower court unless
    it is blatantly unreasonable or clearly wrong in law.

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