A 21-year old woman has been found guilty and given a suspended custodial sentence in Northern Ireland today after pleading guilty for procuring her own abortion, using pills she purchased online. In Northern Ireland abortion is still a criminal offence under the Offence Against the Person Act 1861, with a potential sentence of anything up... Read More
Here is the last instalment of my Star Wars series for Fiction vs Family Law. The other two blogs in this series, which examine family law issues through the lenses of Kylo Ren and Rey, can be found here and here, but this time I’m going to take a look at the controversial third main character of The Force Awakens –Finn. The... Read More
Mississippi, the last remaining state that did not allow same-sex couples to adopt children, was barred from enforcing the ban on Thursday. District Court Judge Daniel Jordan III deemed the practice unconstitutional. Judge Jordan noted that the ban on adoption “obviously targets married gay couples and limits their rights,”... Read More
The NHS is being criticised after refusing fertility treatment to same-sex couples in Northern Ireland, as their sexuality inevitably means they are incapable of meeting the strict criteria to qualify for treatment.
The Department of Health requires as standard that, in order to be considered for one free cycle of fertility treatment, couples... Read More
Earlier this month, former The View co-host Sherri Shepherd lost her appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, as she was found to be the legal mother of her surrogate son, born in August 2014 shortly after her marriage failed. In July 2014, Shepherd’s ex-husband Lamar Sally petitioned for full legal custody of the child, and has been... Read More
Pope Francis has reopened a debate that his predecessors had declared shut: that of remarried Catholics receiving communion. Current Church law prohibits divorcees who have remarried from receiving the sacrament. The pope is expected to weigh in on the issue in the coming days. He had previously called together bishops from around the... Read More
For our second dip into the Star Wars Universe we’re going to be looking at the main character of The Force Awakens, Rey. Rey’s story has rather more obvious parallels with the real world than that of Kylo Ren (you can read about how he relates to family law here), but as before, this blog contains spoilers, so if you’re... Read More
Sitting before Her Honour Judge Purkiss in the East London Family Court, the London Borough of Newham was instructed to provide support and keep watch for the three children (aged six, five and three years old) of a man twice convicted of grievous sexual assaults against minors.
The father in these proceedings was convicted in 2003 of attempted... Read More
Sitting before Her Honour Judge Purkiss in the East London Family Court, the London Borough of Newham were instructed to provide support and keep watch for the three children (aged 6, 5 and 3 years old) of a man twice convicted of grievous sexual assaults against minors. The father in these proceedings was convicted in 2003 of attempted... Read More
In my previous post, we became acquainted with Arabella Mansfield and Charlotte E. Ray, two of the first women to be called to the Bar in the United States.
In this post, I want to tell the stories of the first women to break into law from other parts of the world.
India, China, New Zealand and Italy: four highly diverse jurisdictions divided... Read More