Responsible Parents and Parental Responsibility

Rebecca Probert, Stephen Gilmore, Jonathan Herring, Rebecca Probert, Stephen Gilmore, Jonathan Herring

• Publisher: Hart Publishing
• Year: 2009
• Print ISBN:
  9781841138800
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781847315052
• Topic: Law
• Subtopic: Family Law
• Index: Law

This book examines the idea of 'parental responsibility' in English law and what is expected of a responsible parent. The scope of 'parental responsibility', a key concept in family law, is undefined and often ambiguous. Yet, to date, more attention has been paid to how individuals acquire parental responsibility than to the question of the rights, powers, duties and responsibilities they have once they obtain it. This book redresses the balance by providing the first sustained examination of the different elements of parental responsibility, bringing together leading scholars to comment on specific aspects of its operation.

The book begins by exploring the conceptual underpinnings of parental responsibility in the context of parents' and children's rights. The analysis highlights the inherent constraints and limitations of 'parental responsibility' and how its scope has deliberately been curtailed in certain contexts. The book then considers what parental responsibility allows and requires in specific areas, for example, naming a child, education, religious upbringing, medical treatment, corporal punishment, dealing with any contracts entered into or property owned by the child, representing the child in legal proceedings, consenting to a child's marriage or civil partnership and the law's response to the death of a child. In the final section, the idea of the 'responsible parent' is considered in the contexts of child support, contact, tort, and criminal law.

This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Family Law online service.

Table of contents

• Prelims
• Foreword
• Preface
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• 1 Introduction: Parental Responsibility—Law, Issues and Themes
• Part I Parental Responsibility: General Issues
• 2 Is Anything Now Left of Parental Rights?
• 3 Establishing and Ending Parental Responsibility: A Comparative View
• 4 The Limits of Parental Responsibility
• 5 The Degradation of Parental Responsibility
• Part II The Content of Parental Responsibility
• 6 The Shaming of Naming: Parental Rights and Responsibilities in the Naming of Children
• 7 Parental Responsibility and Religion
• 8 Parental Responsibility and Education: Taking a Long View
• 9 Parental Responsibility and Corporal Punishment
• 10 Parental Responsibility and Children’s Health Care Treatment
• 11 ‘Don’t Spend It All at Once!’ Parental Responsibility and Parents’ Responsibilities in Respect of Children’s Contracts and Property
• 12 Children’s Representation by Their Parents in Legal Proceedings
• 13 Parental Responsibility and Children’s Partnership Choices
• 14 Parental Responsibility, Relational Responsibility: Caring for and Protecting Children after their Death
• Part III Responsible Parenting
• 15 Financial Support for Children after Parental Separation: Parental Responsibility and Responsible Parenting
• 16 Parental Responsibility and the Responsible Parent: Managing the ‘Problem’ of Contact
• 17 Parental Responsibility for Juvenile Offending in English Law
• 18 Parental Liability for Harm Caused by Children: A Comparative Analysis
• Index