Obligation and Commitment in Family Law

Preface
Contents
Table of Cases
Table of Legislation
1. The Ties that Bind?
	I. Introduction
	II. Care and Caring
	III. Legal Obligation
	IV. Obligation as a Social Norm
	V. The Concept of Commitment
	VI. The Rationale for Obligations Upon Family Members
	VII. Obligation or Commitment
2. Family Change and Individual Commitment
	I. Family Changes
	II. A Demographic Picture
	III. From the Family to the Individual
	IV. Change and Commitment
3. To Have and To Hold
	I. Compelling Cohabitation
	II. The Concept Of Consortium
	III. The Suit for Restitution of Conjugal Rights
	IV. The Modern ‘Duty’ of Cohabitation
	V. Marriage as Personal Commitment
4. A Clean Break
	I. A Duty to Maintain
	II. Maintenance During Marriage
	III. Post-Divorce Maintenance and the Clean Break
	IV. Triumph of the Clean Break?
5. Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay!
	I. Duty to State, Mother or Child?
	II. Limiting the Burden on the State
	III. Protecting the Position of Mothers
	IV. Supporting the Child
	V. A Culture of Non-Compliance
6. Parenthood is for Life
	I. Obligation or Right?
	II. Paternal Right and Maternal Concession
	III. A Right of Both Parents
	IV. A Right of the Child
	V. A Parental Responsibility
	VI. Enforcing Contact
	VII. A Presumption of Continuing Parental Involvement
	VIII. An Obligation to be ‘Involved’?
7. Who Cares?
	I. Care-Giving as an Obligation
	II. Care-Giving as a Claim to a Remedy
	III. Caring Relationships
	IV. Recognition of Caring Relationships, or Recognition of Care?
8. The Law of Family Obligations
	I. Care, Obligation and Commitment
	II. Altruism, Family Obligation and Non-Justiciability
	III. The Gendered Legal Approach to the Family Unit
	IV. Obligations and Commitments in Family Law
	V. Obligation and Commitment
Bibliography
Index