Bromley's Family Law

Citation

Lowe, N., Douglas, G., Hitchings, E., & Taylor, R. (2021). Bromley's Family Law (12th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Chapter Summary

The twelfth edition runs to 896 pages in twenty-two chapters. Oxford University Press describes it as an accurate, detailed and readable account of family law that covers adult and child law, with regular headings to break up the text and ease navigation for students and practitioners. The table of contents divides the subject into two blocks: the first nine chapters deal with adult relationships, the family home, domestic abuse, divorce and money, and the following thirteen with children. The chapter titles below follow the contents.

Chapter 1: Introduction

The opening chapter (pp. 1–29) sets the scene before the doctrinal chapters.

Chapters 2–4: Forming Intimate Enduring Adult Relationships; The Personal and Property Consequences of Marriage, Civil Partnership and Cohabitation; The Family Home

These chapters cover how adult relationships are formed in law, the consequences of marriage, civil partnership and cohabitation for the parties' persons and property, and the legal position of the family home. They set out what status and what rights adult partners acquire, and the third chapter in the group moves to the home as the main shared asset.

Chapter 5: Protection from Domestic Abuse

A single chapter of about fifty pages (pp. 145–195) is given to legal protection against domestic abuse.

Chapters 6–9: Divorce and Dissolution; Child Support; Financial Remedies: The Court's Powers; Financial Remedies: Principles and Assessment

The end of adult relationships and its financial consequences come next. Chapter 6 deals with divorce and dissolution, chapter 7 with child support, and chapters 8 and 9 with financial remedies, the first on the court's powers and the second on the principles and assessment of awards. The two chapters on financial remedies, together about ninety pages, form the heaviest block of this section.

Chapters 10–13: The Legal Position of Children; Parents and Guardians; What Is Parental Responsibility?; Who Has Parental Responsibility?

The children's half of the book begins with the legal position of children and with parents and guardians. Two chapters then take up parental responsibility, one on what it is and one on who holds it.

Chapters 14–16: The Welfare Principle; Children's Participation in Family Proceedings; Private Law Proceedings Concerning Children

These chapters are about decisions concerning children: the welfare principle, the participation of children in family proceedings, and private law proceedings, that is, disputes between family members about children's upbringing.

Chapters 17–19: Public Law Proceedings Concerning Children; Care and Supervision; Adoption and Special Guardianship

The next three chapters cover state intervention. Public law proceedings and care and supervision concern state involvement in children's upbringing, and the third addresses adoption and special guardianship.

Chapters 20–22: The High Court's Inherent Powers in Respect of Children; The 1996 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children; International Parental Child Abduction

The final chapters concern the High Court's inherent powers and two international topics, the 1996 Hague Convention on the protection of children and international parental child abduction.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–5: Adult relationships and the home

• Intimate enduring adult relationships: how marriage, civil partnership and cohabitation are formed and what follows from them.
• The family home: the legal treatment of the shared residence.
• Domestic abuse: legal protection against it.

Chapters 6–9: Ending relationships and money

• Divorce and dissolution: the legal ending of marriage and civil partnership.
• Financial remedies: the court's powers and the principles for assessing awards.
• Child support: financial provision for children after separation.

Chapters 10–16: Children and parents

• Parental responsibility: what it is and who has it.
• The welfare principle: the guiding criterion for decisions about children.
• Children's participation: the involvement of children in family proceedings.

Chapters 17–22: State intervention and international issues

• Public law proceedings and care and supervision: state intervention in family life.
• Adoption and special guardianship: permanent arrangements for children.
• International child abduction and the 1996 Hague Convention: cross-border aspects of children's law.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Complete coverage of the subject. Twenty-two chapters take family law from the formation of relationships to international abduction, so a student can find the topic in one volume.
• Clear two-part organisation. Adult law occupies chapters 1 to 9 and the law of children the remaining chapters, which is easy to navigate.
• Authorship. The twelfth edition is by four family law scholars, and the publisher says it has been fully edited to take account of the latest case law and legislation and of new debates and emerging issues.
• Aids to navigation. The publisher highlights regular headings that allow quick reference, and the book has a table of statutes and a table of cases before the text.

Limitations

• Reference scale. With 896 pages it is a detailed work to consult, and a student wanting a first account of the subject will find a shorter textbook easier.
• England and Wales. The book states the law of England and Wales, and chapters such as those on care proceedings or divorce refer to statutes and procedures of that system.
• Date. The edition is from 2021, so recent reforms need to be checked in a current source.
• Assumes the basics. It is written for readers who already have the outline of the subject, and it is not a substitute for an introductory course or textbook.

Where It Fits in the Course

The family law group offers books of different kinds. Herring's Family Law: A Very Short Introduction is the briefest overview, and Eekelaar's Family Law and Personal Life is a short introduction organised around ideas such as power, rights and responsibility. Herring's Family Law and Cretney and Probert's Family Law are course textbooks that combine a statement of the law with its social and theoretical background. Fenton-Glynn's Children and the European Court of Human Rights is a specialist study.

Bromley is the detailed statement of the law. Read it after a first course and one of the textbooks, when a question demands authority and detail: the financial remedies on divorce, the structure of parental responsibility, public law proceedings, or international abduction. It is a different kind of book from the ones that argue about what family law should be, and it is best used together with one of them.

How to Use This Book

The book is for students who have completed an introductory family law course, and for postgraduates and practitioners who need a full account of the law of England and Wales.

A practical plan:

• Choose by block. Use chapters 2 to 9 for adult relationships and their ending, and chapters 10 to 22 for children.
• A reasonable core. Chapters 2, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9 for adult law, and chapters 12 to 16 for the essentials of children's law; the rest can be read as the syllabus requires.
• For specialist options, read chapters 17 to 19 on public law and adoption, or chapters 20 to 22 on the inherent jurisdiction and international issues.
• Use it with a textbook. Read a shorter textbook first for the framework, and turn to Bromley for the detail behind essay and problem questions.
• Check currency. Confirm recent statutory and case law developments in a current source, because the edition dates from 2021.