The conference will assess and contextualise the recent change in divorce procedures in England and Wales, by providing a comparison with three closely related jurisdictions: the US, Canada and Australia.
Programme
10.00 - Welcome and coffee
- 10.30 - Introduction: From Indissolubility of Marriage to “Divorce on Demand”
- 10.40 - The UK’s Slow Path to Reforming Divorce Legislation
- 11.25 - From No-Way-Out to No-Fault: Developments in U.S. Divorce Law in the 21st Century
- 12.10 - Panel and floor discussion
Prof. Carmen Draghici (City, University of London, UK)
Prof. Carmen Draghici (City, University of London, UK)
Prof. Ann Cammett (City University of New York, USA)
12.30 - Lunch break
- 13.30 - Breakdown of Marriage: Unpacking the Grounds for Divorce in Canada
- 14.15 - Considering the Broader Implications of the Law of Termination of Domestic Partnerships: Lessons from Australia
- 15.00 - Panel and floor discussion
Deanne Sowter (Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Canada)
Prof. Lisa Young (Murdoch University, Australia)
15.30 - Coffee and close
About the event
Following the implementation of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 in April 2022, English law has abandoned marital fault and lengthy separation as the basis for divorce, as well as removing the option for the other spouse to challenge a divorce application.
These changes were prompted by the UK Government’s consultation “Reducing Family Conflict: Reform of the legal requirements for divorce” in 2019, in turn inspired by the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Owens v Owens [2018] UKSC 41.
The debate surrounding the new divorce legislation raises important questions about the significance of the institution of marriage and the State’s interest in the dissolution of private relationships.
The conference will contribute to understanding reform triggers in English divorce law, its significantly slower transformation when compared to the other case studies examined, and its paradoxical evolution from the most conservative regime (the others having eliminated the requirement to demonstrate fault or very lengthy waiting periods several decades ago), to the most liberal one, granting divorce on demand without a minimum separation period and removing the ability of the other spouse to dispute the applicant’s decision to end the marriage.
Given the academic and societal interest in this cross-country comparison at a time that English law has started to align with, and indeed surpass, the liberal trend in societies sharing similar values, the conference has the following objectives:
- Examine and contrast the divorce laws in the four jurisdictions considered and assess the new regime of unilateral divorce on demand in England and Wales in a comparative perspective.
- Evaluate the criticism of the UK’s recent reform by taking stock of the experience of jurisdictions having faced the same domestic debates; in particular, identify any risks triggered by the reform, as learnt from lessons in the US/ Canada/ Australia, using the latter to generate predictions on the impact of the new English divorce legislation.
- Analyse the respective processes of liberalisation in the four jurisdictions considered, evaluating the UK’s isolated position in effecting reform several decades after the most closely related jurisdictions; in particular, identify the different prompts and processes for legislative reform, in order to understand the shaping of family law institutions in their social and legal context.
Speakers
The project involves four family law experts from the UK, the US, Canada and Australia:
- Prof. Carmen Draghici, Professor of Law, The City Law School, City, University of London (UK)
- Prof. Ann Cammett, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law, City University of New York (USA)
- Deanne Sowter, Doctoral candidate and Vanier Scholar, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (Toronto, Canada)
- Prof. Lisa Young, Professor of Law, Murdoch Law School, Murdoch University (Perth, Western Australia).
The event convenes family law experts from the UK, the US, Canada and Australia, and is organised by The City Law School with financial support from the Society of Legal Scholars’ Small Projects and Events Fund.
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