WHEN IS A PARENT NOT A PARENT? REFLECTIONS ON THE UNMARRIED FATHER AND HIS CHILD IN ENGLISH LAW

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This article assesses the legal relationship between the unmarried father and his child in English law in the light of recent reforms which the author argues have not gone far enough. The spirit, if not the letter, of the European Convention on Human Rights requires that positive steps be taken by states to provide the legal means whereby the initial relationship between children born out of wedlock and their fathers may be established and subsequently developed. The author argues that there has been a failure to achieve this in England which has arisen from assumptions about an identity of interests between unmarried mothers and their children and a mistaken belief that the respective legal positions of father and child may be kept distinct. He concludes that, at a time when English law is redefining parenthood as a primary legal concept, it is an opportune moment to reopen these questions.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: