The Family in Law

The Family in Law provides a jurisprudential analysis of current family law, connecting doctrinal discourse with sociological, historical and economic analyses of the institution of family. The law's focus on the nuclear family as the default model is central to the book's discourse, which contains in-depth discussions of the key areas of family law - marriage, divorce, children and property matters.

Written for Australian legal actors - whether students, academics or professionals - readers are encouraged to question current frameworks, critique well-known cases and make informed conclusions on whether changes could be made to engender a fairer and more equitable society. In developing doctrinal analysis within a theoretical framework, The Family in Law challenges the conventional boundaries of family law, providing readers with both a solid foundation and a multi-layered perspective to their understanding of the topic.

About the Authors

Archana Parashar's research is interdisciplinary in nature and has spanned a very wide area of contemporary legal theory and the relevance of contemporary theory for women in the Third World. Her work explores the implications for social justice in contemporary post-structural theory, contemporary legal theory and legal education literature. Archana joined Macquarie University, Sydney in 1990 as a Lecturer in Law and has been an Associate Professor in Law there since 2001. Her research interests include contemporary legal theory with a special emphasis on social justice, legal pluralism, legal education, discrimination law, and family law.

Francesca Dominello is a Lionel Murphy Scholar. She holds a combined BA LLB degree from Macquarie University, Sydney and a LLM (Research) degree from the University of New South Wales, Sydney. Dominello is currently the convenor of Remedies, Reparations and Resolution in Law (LAW555) and Indigenous Peoples and the Law (Law468). She also has extensive teaching experience in the areas of family law and constitutional law. In 2009 she was awarded the CCH-ALTA Best Paper Award for the paper she presented at the 2008 Australasian Law Teachers Association Conference titled 'Beyond Symbolism: Aboriginal Sovereignty and Native Title'.