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Law, Morality and Religion in the Family Courts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2014

James Munby
James Munby*
Affiliation:
President, Family Division of the High Court
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Abstract

The link between law and morality has been hotly debated by lawyers and philosophers over the years. This article takes as its starting point the assumption at the beginning of the twentieth century that it was the responsibility of courts and their judges to enforce and promote Christian morality. During the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries that assumption has been comprehensively undone. This article examines the key points in the development of judicial approaches to law, morality and religion that have led to a completely different approach to such questions in the courts today.

Keywords

family lawjudgesmoralityreligious belief
Type
Articles
Information
Ecclesiastical Law Journal , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , May 2014 , pp. 131 - 139
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical Law Society 2014 

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References

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22 Re T (Minors) (Custody: Religious Upbringing) (1981) 2 FLR 239 at 244–245.