Family law, as the phrase is generally understood, deals with the creation and removal of legal status, its consequences, consequence s, and the protection (both physical and financial) of family members. It is concerned mainly with the nuclear family - that is, with the relationships between spouses, and between parents (or guardians) and children. Members of the etended family have some rights and come into the picture occasionally, as do local authorities chiefly in their child protection role. !he word "family" has various meanings# at its narrowest it may describe the traditional "nuclear family" of a father, a mother and young children, but it has much wider meanings too. It may include other relatives, adopted and fostered children, and (increasingly these days) cohabitants of the same or different sees. X Y & Z v United Kingdom (or Whittle v UK) (1997) 24 EHRR 143 E!HR
$ female-to-male female-to-male transeual complained complained that %nglish law refused to register him as father of the children born (by artificial insemination) to his long-term female cohabitant. !he %uropean &ourt of 'uman ights dismissed his complaint, saying national governments must be allowed a wide margin of appreciation in this changing area, but unanimously affirmed that "family life" in $rt. etended to his situation. Factors such as the length of and mutual commitment to a relationship should be ta*en into account, and on the facts there were clear de facto family ties lin*ing the applicant, his cohabitant and her child. "it#$%tri' v terling Ho*ing +**oi%tion (1999) nre$orted H,
eversing the &ourt of $ppeal, $ppeal, the 'ouse of +ords (+ords lynn, icholls and &lyde, +ords 'utton and 'obhouse dissenting) held that a gay man was entitled to ta*e over the tenancy formerly held by his long-term male partner, now deceased, under the 'ousing $ct /. +ord lynn said the legislation could not be interpreted to allow 01s claim on the basis that he had been living "as the husband or wife" of the deceased - if 0arliament had intended such a relationship relationship to include same-se partners it would surely have said so - but 0 could claim as "a member of the family" living with the deceased at the time of his death. !he word "family" is used in many senses, he said, some wider than others, and if 0 could show (as on the facts he could) the mutual inter-dependence, inter-dep endence, sharing of lives, caring and love, commitment and support that are rebuttably presumed to eist between married couples, that would be enough to establish a family relationship. $lthough statutes play a quite important part in family law - the &hildren $ct // is a particularly important important piece of legislation, legislation, and there are are others of similar significance significance - there there are relatively relatively few fied principles. principles. uch statutes often contain chec*lists of criteria to be applied or matters to be considered, but leave the ultimate decision to the 2udges. 3udges therefore eercise a wide discretion particularly in matters relating to the care of children and the distribution of property on divorce. !he doctrine of precedent thus plays only a limited part in family law# most cases are regarded as having been decided on their particular facts, and can be distinguished without too much difficulty if following them would cause in2ustice. !he &ourt of $ppeal is reluctant to overturn the discretionary decision decision of a lower court unless it is blatantly unreasonable or clearly wrong in law.
