UCL FACULTY OF LAWS

UCL Laws Semester in London

Where modules run over two terms as a 30 credit module, SIL students will attend and be assessed on the contents of term 1. Please note that some modules reflect this with an additional "A" in their module code, but this is not the case for all of them due to special assessment arrangements for SIL students.
All assessments are graded on a pass/fail basis.

ADVANCED ISSUES IN FAMILY LAW: GLOBALISATION, MULTICULTURALISM AND RELIGION (LAWSG155)
Credit value: 30 credits (12 ECTS)

Module Convenors:
Professor Alison Diduck
Dr Myriam Hunter-Henin

 Other teacher:
Noam Peleg
Intercollegiate teaching: No
Teaching Method: 20 x two-hour seminars
Who may enrol: LLM students, SIL students, Other UCL Masters students
Prerequisites: None
Barred module combinations: None
Core module for specialism: Criminal Justice, Family and Social Welfare
Assessment
Practice Assessment: to be confirmed
Assessment method for Masters students: 6,000 word coursework essay
Assessment method for SIL students: 3,000 word coursework essay
Module Overview

Module summary

This module will examine family law and the regulation of family relationships in the context of globalisation, multiculturalism and mobility of family living. It will cover conflict of laws in areas such as domicile, the recognition of foreign marriage and divorce, legal pluralism and parallel court systems, the role of International Human Rights on family law; initiatives in Brussels toward the harmonization in Europe of family law; and specific issues in European law such as immigration and reproductive tourism.

Module syllabus

Advanced Issues in Family Law : Globalization, Multiculturalism and Religion

List of TOPICS

TERM 1: Theoretical perspectives

Part I: Introductory concepts

1. What is a Family?

2. What is a Mother?

3. What is a Father?

4. What is a Child?

PART II: Legal Globalization

5. Legal Pluralism: Definition and Implications

6. Informal Legal Pluralism: Customary, Arranged and Forced Marriages

7. Institutionalised Legal Pluralism: Parallel Court Systems, Religious Courts and Religious Law

8. Coordinating Legal Orders: the role of Conflict of Law Rules

9. Surmounting Plurality?: EU Harmonization of Family Law

10. The role of International Human Rights Law

TERM 2: Specific Issues

Part I: the Impact of Equality Rights

1. Civil Partnerships, Same sex marriages and Human Rights

2. Succession: Equality (between children, between genders and between same and opposite-sex couples) v. religious and national traditions

Part II: The Impact of Mobility

3. Divorce and Forum Shopping

4. Reproductive Tourism and EU Law : Abortion and Medically assisted procreation

5. International Surrogacy

6. Immigration

PART III: the Welfare of Children in a Multicultural World

7. Adoption

8. Protecting the child from harm: medical decisions and circumcision

9. Education

10. Revision Class

Recommended materials

Seminar hand-outs and other material will be provided electronically via Moodle (virtual learning environment) at the start of the academic year. Moodle cannot be accessed until enrolment in September.

Preliminary reading:

Seminar hand-outs and other material will be provided electronically via Moodle (virtual learning environment) at the start of the academic year. Moodle cannot be accessed until enrolment in September.
Other information: N/A
Prizes for this module: There are currently no prizes available for this module.