The landmark cases chosen for this collection provide considerable scope for doctrinal analysis as well as for in-depth examination of the social or policy developments that influenced them. The stories behind the cases often provide a fascinating insight into the complexities of family life and the drama that can be found in the family courts.

Family law cases tend to raise highly controversial issues, often on striking facts, frequently provoking wider social debate and/or extensive publicity. For both England and Wales, there are a number of important landmark cases in the development of family law which deserve detailed examination and lend themselves particularly well to historical examination. The cases chosen for this collection provide considerable scope, not only for doctrinal analysis and explanation of the importance and impact of the decisions, but also for in-depth examination of the social or policy developments that influenced them. The stories behind these cases provide a fascinating insight into the complexities of family life and the drama that can be found in the family courts. In recent years, family law has seen enormous changes in law's engagement with the notion of 'family,' with the enactment, for example, of the UK's Civil Partnership Act 2004, the Gender Recognition Act 2004, and, more recently, the

?a journey through the 'landmark cases' skilfully selected by the Editors of this Volume provides an effective way of making a study of the law both exciting and pleasurable. But these cases do more than that: they illustrate many of the great changes which have occurred (especially since the end of World War II) in society and in social institutions. The cases discussed also open up many of the fundamental (and often profoundly difficult) moral and social issues which have to be confronted by lawmakers and others who have to resolve them.