Reference no: EM132403473 , Length: word count:1750

Assignment -

Objectives of the Assignment: The aim of the assignment is to require you to select a topic that is relevant to the issues of private law discussed throughout the course so far, and to explore it through your own research as well as through our discussions in class and the course materials. In researching and writing the assignment I expect you to explore and discuss a number of issues arising out of the topic selected. I have deliberately given you open-ended topics to research, which involve not only research into what the legal rules or categories governing the issues under discussion may be, but also often a debate over what the legal rules or categories or policy governing these issues should be. In other words, there is a policy dimension to each of these topics that I expect you to uncover and discuss in your essays. And I want you to discuss both sides of the policy debate raised by these issues in your essay. We spend much of our time in class exploring these kinds of issues and debates in relation to particular topics. I expect you to do no less, and indeed, to do more, since I expect you to do further research beyond the class discussions and the course materials into these topics.

In your research essays, you may choose whether to remain objective and neutral with regard to the topics under discussion, or to enter into the debate by offering your own point of view. For myself, I prefer the second approach, because it leads you into discussing the relative strengths and weaknesses of the various positions in each debate, which is one of the primary objectives of this research essay assignment. However, if you do take a position in any debate, make sure that you do not address the issue in a one-sided way. A good debate or policy discussion involves looking at the arguments on all sides of a debate. Too one-sided a view of any issue tends to dismiss or undervalue the strengths of the arguments that may be made on the other side. Part of the purpose of the research process is to encourage you to discover this for yourselves. In reaching your own conclusion, therefore, make sure you have adequately addressed the arguments that may be presented against this position. In so far as you do so, your own argument will be strengthened, since the reader (myself) will be aware that you are familiar with the various positions in the debate, and can respond to countervailing arguments against your position rather than simply dismissing them or, worse, ignoring them. In this sense, I will be evaluating your essays on the quality of the arguments and discussion you present with respect to the topic you choose, rather than whether I happen to agree with your position or not.

Topic: In class we have discussed Sir Henry Maine's famous theory that the movement of 'progressive' societies has been from status to contract. To what extent do you think this applies to the legal regulation of the marriage, or to parent-child relationships? How far has the legal regulation of marriage shifted from a relationship based on a fixed legal status to a relationship based on contract which can be entered into by same sex partners, as well as hetero-sexual partners, or in which the parties are free to adjust the terms of their relationship or to leave the relationship at will? Likewise to what extent should the parent-child relationship be considered to be a relationship based on a fixed legal status or one based on contract in which the obligations of parent to child can be adjusted by circumstances, or by the will of the parties?

Attachment:- Assignment File.rar