- Profesor: Michelle Cottier
Sociology of family law studies the ways in which law and society interact in the legal regulation of parent-child-relationships and of intimate relationships among adults. Questions asked include: What are the functions of family law in different societies? How do legal norms shape family life, and which is the impact of changing social realities on the legal system? Does “family law in action” (practice of courts and lawyers) correspond to the aims of the “law on the books” (legislation, case law)?
This course will provide students with an introduction to the field, thereby taking into account developments of family law in different national legal orders and from a comparative law perspective. The first part will be dedicated to classical authors of sociology of law and their analysis of family law, as well as to socio-legal approaches to comparative family law. The second part will touch on topical issues such as surrogacy as an example of the transnationalisation of child law, social movements and legal recognition of rainbow families, intergenerational relations in complex families and inheritance law, religious communities and legal pluralism in family law, the new ideal of shared parenting after separation and divorce, the changing practices of family lawyers, and the privatisation of family dispute resolution.
The course will combine lectures, guest lectures and discussion of readings. Students will be asked to do preparatory reading and to discuss it in class.