This textbook is an ambitious and engaging introduction to the more advanced writings on family law, primarily designed to allow students to 'get under the skin' of the topic and begin to build their critical thinking and analysis skills. Each chapter is structured around key questions and debates that provoke deeper thought and, ultimately, a clearer understanding. The aim of the book is therefore not to present a complete overview of theoretical issues in family law, but rather to illustrate the current debates which are currently going on among those working in shaping the area. The text features summaries of the views of notable experts on key topics and each chapter ends with a list of guided further reading.

An engaging introduction to the more advanced writings on criminal law, designed to provide the additional insights necessary to excel in the study of the subject.

Ideas and Debates in Family Law is written for family law students, at undergraduate level and beyond, who are looking for less orthodox ideas about family law. The book's first section looks at themes in family law, addressing challenges facing the family justice system, rights and responsibilities, and the internationalisation of the law regulating families. The second section is focused on adult relationships: it suggests new ways for the law to allocate legal consequences for families, debates the consequences of the 'contractualisation' of marriage, and explores the value of 'fairness' in family finances. The third section is about children, discussing the welfare principle, parental responsibility and practical parenting. Although these issues sound common enough in a family law book, the discussions found here are far from common. Useful by itself or alongside a textbook, Ideas and Debates in Family Law offers new and thought-provoking perspectives on family law issues. 'Rob George is a new, distinctive and powerful voice in family law scholarship. In this book he subjects received and emerging opinions to incisive examination, providing readers with the intellectual invigoration associated with first class seminars. Above all, he re-claims family law as a significant branch of the idea and practice of justice.' John Eekelaar, Pembroke College, Oxford 'Building on a successful format for undergraduate seminars in Oxford, this unique student text presents an exciting array of thought-provoking debates and intellectually stimulating, sometimes unorthodox, ideas. It will help students to situate their knowledge and to think more deeply and critically about family law and policy. I applaud this book's focus and content and Rob George's vision in writing it.' Stephen Gilmore, King's College London 'Whether you are a student looking for interesting points to make your work first class or an academic wanting an overview of family law theory, this is the book for you. Rob George has brilliantly captured the main issues facing family lawyers and policy makers at this fascinating time. All the major concepts in family law - marriage; parenthood; family - are having to be rethought and redefined. This book provides an excellent starting point for how we might go about reimagining family law and policy.' Jonathan Herring, Exeter College, Oxford

An acclaimed portrait of Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, and the origins of modern conservatism and liberalism In The Great Debate, Yuval Levin explores the roots of the left/right political divide in America by examining the views of the men who best represented each side at its origin: Edmund Burke and Thomas Paine. Striving to forge a new political path in the tumultuous age of the American and French revolutions, these two ideological titans sparred over moral and philosophical questions about the nature of political life and the best approach to social change: radical and swift, or gradual and incremental. The division they articulated continues to shape our political life today. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the basis of our political order and Washington's acrimonious rifts today, The Great Debate offers a profound examination of what conservatism, progressivism, and the debate between them truly amount to.

"Children's rights": the phrase has been a legal battle cry for twenty-five years. But as this provocative book by a nationally renowned expert on children's legal standing argues, it is neither possible nor desirable to isolate children from the interests of their parents, or those of society as a whole. From foster care to adoption to visitation rights and beyond, Martin Guggenheim offers a trenchant analysis of the most significant debates in the children's rights movement, particularly those that treat children's interests as antagonistic to those of their parents. Guggenheim argues that "children's rights" can serve as a screen for the interests of adults, who may have more to gain than the children for whom they claim to speak. More important, this book suggests that children's interests are not the only ones or the primary ones to which adults should attend, and that a "best interests of the child" standard often fails as a meaningful test for determining how best to decide disputes about children.

Thanks to these generous donors for making the publication of this book possible: David Lerman and Shelley Wallock; D. Walter Cohen, Wendy and Leonard Cooper; Rabbi Howard Gorin; Gittel and Alan Hilibrand; Marjorie and Jeffrey Major; Jeanette Lerman Neubauer and Joe Neubauer; Gayle and David Smith; and Harriet and Donald Young. Ever since Abraham’s famous argument with God, Judaism has been full of debate. Moses and Korah, David and Nathan, Hillel and Shammai, the Vilna Gaon and the Ba’al Shem Tov, Spinoza and the Amsterdam Rabbis . . . the list goes on. Jews debate justice, authority, inclusion, spirituality, resistance, evolution, Zionism, and more. No wonder that Judaism cherishes the expression machloket l’shem shamayim, “an argument for the sake of heaven.” In this concise but important survey, Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz presents the provocative and vibrant thesis that debate and disputation are not only encouraged within Judaism but reside at the very heart of Jewish history and theology. In his graceful, engaging, and creative prose, Schwartz presents an introduction to an intellectual history of Judaism through the art of argumentation. Beyond their historical importance, what makes these disputations so compelling is that nearly all of them, regardless of their epochs, are still being argued. Schwartz builds the case that the basis of Judaism is a series of unresolved rather than resolved arguments. Drawing on primary sources, and with a bit of poetic license, Schwartz reconstructs the real or imagined dialogue of ten great debates and then analyzes their significance and legacy. This parade of characters spanning three millennia of biblical, rabbinic, and modern disputation reflects the panorama of Jewish history with its monumental political, ethical, and spiritual challenges.

What is a family? What makes someone a parent? What rights should children have? In this Very Short Introduction Jonathan Herring provides an insight not only into what the law is, but why it is the way it is. It also looks at the future to consider what families will look like in the years ahead, and what new dilemmas the courts may face.