This book is concerned with the regulation of family relationships with particular reference to the issue of contact in the many different contexts in which it may arise. The presumption of contact, or of openness and inclusivity, is evident in a wide range of associated areas of family life. Nonetheless, this shift towards a presumption of contact, and its articulation within diverse fields of family law and practice in the UK, raises a whole series of questions which this book seeks to explore. Among the more important are: Why has the contact presumption emerged? What is meant by...

This collection of essays is the product of a series of seminars held at the University of Cambridge in 1998 under the auspices of the newly formed Cambridge Socio-Legal Group. The book presents an interdisciplinary exploration of the nature of parenthood and its various manifestations in contemporary society. It is divided into three sections dealing respectively with defining parenthood, new issues in contemporary parenting and parenting post-divorce. Each contributor addresses the central question What is a Parent? from the perspective of his or her own discipline, thus bringing together...

This is a collection of essays on the subject of law and the human body. As the title suggests, bodies and body parts are not only subject to regulation through formal legal processes, but also the meanings attached to particular bodies and body parts are aspects of broader cultural processes. In short, bodies are subjected to both lore and laws. The contributors, all leading academics in Law, Sociology, Psychology, Feminism, Criminology, Biology and Genetics, offer a range of interdisciplinary papers that critically examine how bodies are constructed and regulated in law. The book is divided...