IndexThe nature of a familyFunctionalist approachFeminist perspectivesThe public/private distinctionFamily law and familiesConclusionThe nature of family life has been constantly changing over the years. Historically, families had a different meaning and different roles existed between parents. However, families have changed and society has become more open to changes such as same-sex marriage. This essay will focus on the nature of family law as a subject and will consider several theoretical approaches that outline the difficulties in describing the relationship between law and family. Furthermore, the essay will also focus on the importance of the definition of “family” in family law and why there is uncertainty in this area of ​​law. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayThe Nature of a FamilyA family is a group of people composed of parents and their children who love and support each other psychologically, financially, and physically and includes blood relatives and “persons related by marriage and adoption.” A person defines a family based on their personal experiences, their socialization process, their background and the culture in which they have lived. All of these factors shape the definition of family. Some definitions such as the formalistic definition suggest that a group of people should have “certain observable traits” to be a family, others such as the function-based definition focus on the “functions a family performs”, “focuses on what they do” , rather than who I am." These different definitions show that there is no clear way in which a family can be defined, especially since there are different types of families such as cohabitation and same-sex relationships. Robert and Rhona Rapoport (1982) were one of the first sociologists to notice the changes that were happening to English families. They argued that nuclear families were not the only type of family that existed and that different types of families were emerging. They argued that all family types should be recognized. Furthermore, according to Herring, “family life has been transformed with cohabitation, divorce, children born through assisted reproduction, greater acceptance of same-sex relationships, all of which have led to different understandings of what family life is.” Herring recognizes that families are different than they used to be due to social changes and greater acceptance of unconventional ideas. Furthermore, these changes demonstrate that promoting family life or referring to family law carries risks as long as there is no clear meaning to family law. It is important to define families because the law seeks to protect families and when it defines a family it intends to cover which groups are considered to be a family and which parts of the law cover which individuals. This does not mean that the law excludes groups on the basis that they do not constitute a family, but that some people need the law more than others. Functionalist Approach The functionalist approach suggests that family law has specific functions that it aims to achieve. Eekelaar argues that family law has three functions: protecting family members from harm, helping family members adapt to different circumstances (e.g. divorce), supporting and growing families. However, there are some problems with this approach. The Family Law Act 1996 does not have a single purpose but seeks to balance different objectives and the Act does notit is the only influence on family life; Society also influences the functioning of the family. The functionalist approach grants the judiciary broad discretion in deciding which relationships are considered family in this functionalist perspective. Dewar argues that family law is messy and is harder to regulate because it deals with feelings and that is human nature, which is an aspect the law cannot control. Feminist Perspectives This perspective considers how the law affects men and women, specifically how the law favors men more than women. Feminists argue that women are not valued and controlled by men and that the law discriminates against women. In the past the roles of women and men were: the woman as caregiver of children and the man as head of the family. Currently, these roles have changed as women could be the breadwinners and the man could stay at home and take care of the children. Feminists argue that the law once discriminated against women in adultery as grounds for divorce. The man can divorce his wife for adultery, but the woman cannot do so, unless there is another reason contrary to morality. Feminists argue that in divorce proceedings the court takes into account the fact that the man, as the head of the family, contributed financially to the house, but this is not possible. it does not take into account the contribution of women, i.e. childcare or cleaning. Giddens argues that feminists highlight domestic abuse and the power men have over women; provides an example of marital rape, which is now illegal. Other societies practice honor killings that also discriminate against women on the basis that a man may kill a woman he believes has dishonored him. Feminists' perspectives have some limitations. One of the limitations is that the different feminist ideas of Marxist, radical and liberal feminism could be against each other, which would make their ideas weak. Another limitation is that feminists argue that the law is not doing all it can to protect women from domestic abuse. The law, in the past, did not protect women from domestic abuse, however, nowadays, women are protected by law against any abuse, consequently feminist ideas are considered obsolete. The arguments of these feminists do not take into account the fact that some women want to be with men and want to get married. Another approach related to feminism is the familism approach, but according to Dewar, this approach “places a lot of importance on women and deprioritises children who are also vulnerable and in need of protection”. The public/private distinction The public/private distinction is based on the idea that family life is divided into public and private areas. Arguments in the public/private distinction focus on the fact that the law has the right to regulate public areas and that the law should not interfere in the private areas of family life. According to Houlgate, the law must distinguish which aspects of family life should be intervened in and which should be maintained in privacy. Traditionalists argue that the law should intervene when any type of abuse occurs in the family. Houlgate argues that as long as the state reforms the law according to social changes and adjustments are made on a family basis then there should be no distinction between public and private, it remains a political concept and the law must intervene. It also argues that sex is a private sphere and it is argued that the law should not intervene in it, but the law intervenes because "there are laws that prohibit certain types of homosexual conduct". That isit means that the law intervenes when it is morally obliged to intervene. His thesis is that the State intervenes only by regulating areas considered private. Furthermore, European law aims to protect private life in Article 8 of the ECHR “the right to private family life”. Furthermore, the case of McGuire v. McGuire demonstrates that what happens in a family is a private matter if the spouse chooses to continue in the relationship and is an area where the law cannot and chooses not to intervene. This case involved a wife who had approached the courts regarding her husband's behavior at home and that he was not providing for her financially and not providing basic things for the family. The court accepted in this case the husband's behavior was unacceptable but they could not intervene in such a private matter. This case demonstrates that there is a public/private distinction in these types of cases. Martha Fineman notes that the idea of ​​non-intervention in the private sector is a negative when it comes to privacy because privacy should not tolerate child abuse and that this should always allow for state intervention. It is very difficult to draw a dividing line between the private and public sectors of family law, based on the idea that women are mostly in the private part of the law which deals with the home and the market husband who is the public side. of the law. The law cannot say to what extent it will intervene in family life because it intervenes when something wrong happens within the private home and this depends on various circumstances. This is why the law is uncertain in this area because its purpose is to protect against abuse and anything abnormal and it keeps changing according to different social changes. Family Law and Families As mentioned above, the law requires you to define a family in order to know which laws apply to which groups. Social changes are influencing the way laws are reformed. In Fitzpatrick v Sterling House Association Ltd, the family was considered under the Rent Act 1977. The court considered whether same-sex couples could be considered a family. The court underlined that to demonstrate that a family relationship exists and that this is different from a friendship, a sexual relationship must exist. The Fitzpatrick case demonstrates that the law not only has a problem defining "family" in family law alone, but that it also has the same problem in other areas such as taxation, property and contract. Furthermore, the law does not define a family based only on blood relations and marriage, but also recognizes that other relationships can be considered family if they can demonstrate that there is a "degree of intimacy, stability and shared life". As Herring notes, the law takes a mix of functional and formalist approaches. According to John Dewar, “family law is messy.” He argues that it is chaotic in terms of the relationship between children and their parents. Furthermore, family law deals with the legal part of relationships between families, which are divorce, marriage, abuse, etc. Family law reflects on the term family because its main focus is families and the relationships that arise from families. It is argued that family law is chaotic because it may not have a clear focus on where it is going. This could weaken the functionalist idea because functionalists argue that family law has specific functions that it seeks to achieve. To better understand the objectives of family law it is necessary to focus on what its functions are. It is important to define the term "family" in law.