Adult Relations

• Credit value: 15 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: Professor Daniel Monk
• Assessment: a 4000-word essay (100%)

Adult relations is a dynamic subject that directly or indirectly impacts on all our lives. In this module we ask:

• What is a family?
• What personal/private relationships should the state recognise (and why?)

In answering these questions we will look at controversial debates about shifting definitions of marriage; how the law should treat divorcing or separating couples; the rationale for treating married couples differently from those that cohabit, domestic violence, and familial disputes arising on death.

You will achieve not only a sound knowledge of the legal framework governing the family but also a good grasp of the sociological context in which the legal questions arise. We will focus on what happens in practice as well as what should happen in theory.

Indicative syllabus

• The family
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Forced marriage
• Divorce and dissolution
• Financial consequences of relationship breakdown
• Inheritance disputes