This second edition of John Eekelaar's classic work examines the questions at the heart of family law, rethinking the ideas that shape our understanding of the family as a social unit, its purpose, and the obligations and rights that belong to family members.

• 1: Power


• 2: Rights


• 3: Respect


• 4: Friendship


• 5: Responsibility


• 6: Truth


• 7: Community

John Eekelaar taught family law at Pembroke College, Oxford from 1965 to 2005, and was its academic director from 2005-2009. He was lecturer (later reader) in law at Oxford University from 1965-2005. He was a founder member of the International Society of Family Law, of which he was president from 1985-8, and founding co-editor of the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family. He has written and researched widely in family law. He was elected a fellow of the British Academy in 2001 and distinguished visiting fellow by the New Zealand Law Foundation in 2005, and is now emeritus fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.