Book Review: Cases and Materials on Australian Family Law
| Author | P. E. Nygh |
| DOI | 10.1177/0067205X7200500110 |
| Published date | 01 March 1972 |
| Date | 01 March 1972 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
BOOK REVIE"WS
Cases
and
Materials
Oil
Australian Fatnily
Law,
by DAVID
HA~1BLY,
LL.B.
(tvIelb.),
LL.M.
(Harv.),
and
J.
NEVILLE
TURNER,
LL.B.
(Manchester).
(The
Law Book Conlpany (Australia) Ltd,
1971),
pp. i-xxiii, 1-656.
P/B
$10.50,
Cloth
$13.50.
ISBN:
P/B,
0455 16070 8; Cloth, 0455 16060
O.
For
along time teachers
in
family la\v
have
complained
about
the
absence
of
asuitable student's textbook in their subject.
For
this
reason
alone the authors
are
to
be
commended
for bringing out acase-book on
Australian family law.
This
book
breaks ne\v
ground
in
that
it
is
not
confined
to
apresenta
oOl
tion
of
the
statutory
and
case
law
in
what
the
authors call
"orthodox
expository passages",
but
tries to
present
family law in its
proper
social
setting. Substantial extracts from sociological writings allow
the
student
to
see
how
the
law actually works, \vhilst
the
inclusion
of
proposals
and
recommendations for
the
reform
of
family
law
may
lead
him
to
consider
how
it
can
be
altered.
The
sociological material is
most
effective when
it
presents information
in
the
light of which
the
current
law
can
be
evaluated.
Almost
all of
the
material
which
the
authors
have
collected meets this test.
Thus,
it
is
most
valuable
to
see the statistics presented
on
the
result
of
applications
under
sections 12
and
16
of
the
Marriage
Act
1961-1966
(Cth)
at
page
56,
and
again
at
pages
130
and
131
on
grounds
on
which divorces
were granted.
The
law
of
judicial separation is reduced
to
its
proper
insignificance
by
the tables
at
page 349.
Chapter
1raises
the
moral
dilemmas every legal practitioner
must
feel
when
dealing with questions
of
family Jaw. Should
he
merely carry
out
his client's wishes
or
should
he
assume amediating role in family
disputes?
It
is aquestion
of
individual morals
on
which
no
teacher
can
or
should supply
an
answer.
But
the
student
should
read
the
material
for himself
and
make
up
his own mind.
The
second
part
of
Chapter
1
which deals with
the
dilemmas arising
out
of
the
present la\v
on
cOlnpulsory disclosure
of
adultery, collusion
and
condonation is perhaps
too
intricate for those who
are
not
yet familiar with
the
difficult legal
questions involved.
Very interesting also is
the
information supplied
in
Chapter
10
on
the
social
background
of
deserted wives in Victoria.
It
was also
an
excellent
idea
of
the authors
to
include astatement
on
the
forms of
public relief available.
Again
in
Chapter
13 dealing with adoption, the
fc\v decisions
on
the
topic
are
supplemented
by
extracts
from
articles
and
monographs showing
the
criteria applied
by
the agencies involved
in
adoption.
This
is
most
useful
and
helps
to
make
the
hitherto rather
vague topic of adoption asubject \vhich
can
be
taught
in
a
law
course.
150
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