Study Notes For Unit 3 – Family Law

Resource Description

Unit 3 – FAMILY LAW

1.The nature of family law

DOT POINT: the concept of family law

❖ The family is the basic unit of society. Comprises a group of people related by birth or marriage.
❖ Article 16 of the UDHR says “the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state”.
❖ Family originally had the function of reproducing itself by the birth of children through marriage.
❖ The role of the family has changed in modern societies with the roles of men and women now different.
❖ The blended family: two or more adults who share a household
❖ Same-sex family
❖ Single-parent family: one adult in the household
❖ De facto family: couple have not been married under law
❖ Nuclear family: ‘traditional family’
❖ The description of the term ‘marriage’ used in the Family Law Act 1975 and the Marriage Act
❖ 1961 is based on the definition in the 19th century case of Hyde v Hyde and
Woodmansee: “the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the
exclusion of all others”