Family Law, Freedom, and Responsibility: An Argument on the Foundations of Family Law

Abstract:

Family law limits individuals’ personal and contractual freedom and their property rights, and obliges them to make payments and undertake actions they would otherwise not have to make or undertake. Is there a justification for this? If not, we should dispense with family law. If there is a justification, family law should only consist of the rights and obligations which can be derived from this justification. Looking at potential justifications, I conclude that only the interests of children can justify something like family law. 

About the Speaker:

Having worked at the universities of Antwerp, Maastricht, Tilburg and Mannheim and at the European University Institute at Florence, Harry Willekens now teaches jurisprudence and child law at the university of Hildesheim and comparative family and succession law at the university of Hannover. His research focuses on the sociology and history of family and succession law, as well as on the politics of reforms of these branches of the law.

A sandwich lunch will be served.

RSVP to:  lucinda.ferguson@law.ox.ac.uk