Andrew Gilbert is a Principal Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.

• 1. Introduction Justifications Boundaries and Questions Theoretical Framework Chapter Outline A Final Note 2. Conservatism and Family Law Introduction What is Conservatism? The Knowledge Principle The Change Principle Conservatism and the Family To What Extent Should the Law Support Marriage and Facilitate Divorce? The Clean Break on Divorce Should the State Legally Recognise Same-Sex Relationships? The Objection to Same-Sex Marriage from Natural Law Theory The Conservative/Libertarian View The Conservative Assimilationist Argument Going Further: A Classical Conservative Argument Concluding Remarks 3. Marriage and Divorce in Transition: The Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 Introduction The Political Context: The New Right Thatcherism The New Right, Thatcherism and the Conservative Tradition The Conservative Party and Family Policy Prior to the MFPA 1984 The Family Policy Groups Lessons from a Letter to a Child The Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 Genesis of the Act The Divorce Time Bar: Previous Law and Criticisms The Divorce Time Bar: Law Commission Proposals The Financial Consequences of Divorce: Previous Law and Criticisms The Financial Consequences of Divorce: Law Commission Proposals Analysis of the Bill in Parliament The Conservative Preoccupation with the Expressive, or Symbolic, Function of Law Conservatives Mostly Disregarded the Impact of the Clean Break Conservative Distrust of Experts and Evidence Conclusion 4. Major Change?: Family Law and Policy in the Decade Following the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 Introduction The Major Premiership: Thatcherism After Thatcher? Family Law and Policy Prior to the Family Law Act 1996 Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985 Children Act 1989 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 The Gillick Case Major Change?: Some Concluding Thoughts 5. Divorcing Rhetoric from Reality: The Family Law Act 1996 Introduction The Genesis of the Family Law Act 1996 The Law Commission Reports The Government’s Responses Main Provisions of the Bill Analysis of the Bill in Parliament Pessimistic versus Realistic Assessments of the Human Condition Legislators’ Views of Experts: A Tension between Trust and Distrust Message-Sending and the Agency of Law Generally (Again)Reece and a Post-Liberal Interpretation of the FLA 1996 Concluding Thoughts 6. ‘Commitment Rewarded’: The Civil Partnership Act 2004 Introduction The Conservative Party and Homosexual Law Reform The Civil Partnership Act 2004: Marriage-Like, Not Marriage-Lite The Genesis of the Act The Bill in Parliament Official Conservative Position: Conservative, Liberal and Libertarian Strands The Conservative Dissent Sex in the Shadows Class Concluding Remarks 7. An Unnatural Union?: British Conservatism and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 Introduction From Civil Partnership to Same-Sex Marriage: A Short HistoryThe Background to the Bill The Main Features of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill Analysis of the Debates An Overview The Diminishing of Difference and the Assimilation of the Gay ‘Other’ Sex in the Shadows (Again) The Centrality of Religion in the Debates Conservatives and Conservatism in the Commons Second Reading Conservative MPs in Favour of the Bill Conservative MPs Against the Bill Concluding Remarks 8. Conclusion

In short, for those seeking to support or oppose reform, or to simply glean a better understanding of how family law is made, British Conservatism and the Legal Regulation of Intimate Relationships is required reading.