[...]... interpretation of the family does, indeed, come with ‘a baggage of competing values’ (Douglas 2004, 1) And, if the concept of family is dynamic, contested and capable of being misunderstood or manipulated, the concept of family law is likewise problematic What is family law about? And is family law the best label to employ? Douglas has rightly stated that the essence of family law is that part of the law. .. and is now teaching in the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield John Williams is Professor of Law in the Department of Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University His teaching interests are Family and Child Law, Medicine, Ethics and the Law, Crime and Psychology, and Welfare Law For a number of years he has been researching on the impact of the law on vulnerable adults,... in family life and family law Many of the papers delivered then are published in this book which commences the process of exploring the distinctive nature of family responsibility Our second symposium, the following September, focused upon State Responsibility for the Family, the papers from which were published in a special issue of the Journal of Law and Society (co-edited by Heather Keating and. ..x Responsibility, Law and the Family and children’s rights; social capital in relation to children and young people; child labour and children’s work; and children’s understandings of family and other social environments She is the author of numerous papers and reports including Networks and neighbourhoods: Children’s and Young People’s Perspectives (2002), and she is an editor of... individual liberty requires recognition of both the self and of others (respect for self and others; personal and social responsibilities; individual rights and those of others; governance of self and others) and that the obligation of communities and the state is ‘to be responsive to their members and to foster participation and deliberation in social and political life’ (Etzioni 1998, xxv) A fundamental... Fraser said: They exist for the benefit of the child and they are justified only in so far as they enable the parent to perform his duties towards the child, and towards other children in the family (at 170) There are similar, if more overtly Dworkinian, sentiments in Lord Scarman’s speech The principle of the law … is that parental rights are derived from parental duty and exist only so long as they are... varied over time and differs between, and within, cultures As Douglas has commented, 2 Responsibility, Law and the Family the family may be constructed from a variety of perspectives including the genetic, focusing upon the blood-tie; social, emphasizing the functions carried out by those standing in a family relationship to each other; psychological, exploring the ties of affect and emotion between... law which is concerned with the recognition [and non-recognition] and regulation of certain family relationships and the implications of such recognition’ (Douglas 2004, 3) As such, the boundaries of family law are no more static than those of the family (Probert 2004, 903) Politicians (and the advertising industry) may still hold dear the ‘cornflake packet’ ideal of the family (of married, heterosexual... social responsibility, the moral education of children and the law would, we suggest, hesitate before using the law to impose coercive, punitive, remedial ‘support’ upon parents 8 Responsibility, Law and the Family Helen Reece has developed this analysis beyond legislative developments in the criminal justice field to post-separation contact, applying the approach to the legal regulation of the parent/child... irresponsible and under the control of their parents who must be made to ‘take responsibility’ for them), in relation to family law (where children are understood and, in turn, 8 That discourse now includes the significance and impact of European and international conventions on children’s rights (see, for example, Fortin 2003) 10 Responsibility, Law and the Family treated as in need of protection rather than . alt="" RESPONSIBILITY, LAW AND THE FAMILY This page intentionally left blank Responsibility, Law and the Family Edited by JO BRIDGEMAN, HEATHER KEATING and. Responsibilities, Rights and the Law. Jo has researched and published in books and journals in the field of healthcare law and the law regulating the care of children.