Product Description

Family Law provides a comprehensive account of one of the most dynamic and contentious subjects in law today. The book takes a contextual approach, exploring the subject not just in terms of the law itself, but also in terms of the complex social, philosophical and political forces that surround family life and bear a direct influence upon it. The author prompts students to question and critically evaluate the concepts and issues discussed for a deeper understanding.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57433 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 920 pages

Sarah Bainbridge, Law Student
"The tone is approachable, reader-friendly and empathises with the student. It really is a helping hand."

From the Back Cover

This fourth edition of Jonathan Herring’s best-selling Family Law provides a comprehensive account of one of the most dynamic, exciting and contentious subjects in law today. The book takes a contextual approach, exploring the subject not just in terms of the law itself, but also in terms of the complex social, philosophical and political forces that surround family life and bear a direct influence upon it. With an engaging, lucid style, the author presents the core aspects of the law, and also prompts you to question and critically evaluate the concepts and issues discussed, helping you to gain a much deeper understanding. Fully updated, the book covers the new Child Maintenance & Enforcement Commission, and examines the latest relevant case law and key statutory developments.

The book continues to build on its reputation as an innovative text and this fourth edition includes the following features.

• Chapter openings present topical issues to show how the law applies in the real world
• Debate sections in each chapter look at a particularly controversial areas and highlight the main arguments on either side
• Key cases are highlighted in the text to encourage you to reflect upon them
• Each chapter includes a summary of the main points covered and the key legislative provisions, providing you with a useful revision aid

Jonathan Herring is a Fellow in Law at Exeter College, Oxford.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely brilliant
This is by far the clearest and easiest to understand law text book I have ever bought! I am in my second year of a law degree and have just started family law. My lecturer recommended this book and I've never looked back. It is clear, well set out and you really feel as thought the author actually wants you to understand, not just dazzle you with his intelligence. Well recommended!

Unrivalled reader-friendly text
This is a must buy for any family law undergraduate.

This book was indispensable to me while I was studying during my LLB for Family law. If you are an undergraduate student, you may remember that some textbooks can be very heavy (in weight) and indecipherable in writing style - maybe because of the topic (EU law etc). Herring manages to deal with a difficult and rapidly developing topic with clarity and sensitivity. You must understand that by the time a textbook is published, often parts of it are obsolete because law moves on. Family law is no exception to this and infact probably changes more radically than other areas. Herring manages to insert a lot of rationale behind the argues surrounding a topic - say upholding marriage as an institution - where law is changing rapidly (to continue with the example, civil partnerships).

Herring text is particularly strong in:

- divorce;
- ancillary relief;
- adoption;
- marriage; and
- mediation/adr

What this book does better than most is not to over simplify but rather to consolidate the law and address the issues responsibly from a sociological perspective while, again, keeping the focus that this is a legal textbook and not a book about society and the family.

I recommend reading this book in conjunction with say the LPC Practice Guide for Family Law. I found that together I had a much clearer understanding of family law in order to get to grips with the bares bones and essentially what the law is. Often a textbook gets so wrapped up in the academic that one can easily be lead astray but that the law actually is.

Not a red one
Jonathon Herrings book on Family Law was invaluable to my 3rd Year law studies. It assisted in the basics of family law as well as the more involved issues. It does require some reading around to be done in other texts but does carry most of the information required in understandable language and layout.