Assessment Conditions:

1. Deadline of submission is Monday the 24th April via Turnitin.
2. Word count is 2000 words (10% over or under is fine) Footnotes and bibliography do not count towards the word count
3. This assessment is marked out of 100 marks.
4. This assessment carries a 40% weighting for this course.

Assessment aims

To assess the ability to:-

• Show an in-depth understanding of the social and ideological contexts of family law, including a consideration of gender roles and power relations in the family.
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of the concepts, principles, policies, issues, debates and black letter law associated with various areas of family law and a sophisticated ability to apply these to different scenarios.
• Critically evaluate the ideological and political underpinnings of the law, and the social, economic and political contexts and consequences of the law.
• Engage in a well-reasoned, substantiated discussion on the political nature of the socio-legal issues.

Assessment

Answer the following question:

In White v White [2000] 3 FCR 555, Lord Nicholls held, that:

“In seeking to achieve a fair outcome, there is no place for discrimination between husband and wife and their respective roles. Whatever the division of labour chosen by the husband and wife, or forced upon them by circumstances, fairness requires that this should not prejudice or advantage either party when considering paragraph (f), relating to the parties’ contributions. f, in their different spheres, each contributed equally to the
family, then in principle it matters not which of them earned the money and built up the assets. There should be no bias in favour of the money-earner and against the home-maker and the child-carer.”

Critically analyse the above statement with regards to the significance of the principle of ‘equal sharing’ and its impact in the exercise of judicial discretion in granting financial remedies following divorce.