Book review – Cohabitation: Law, Practice and Precedents by District Judge Wood et al

It is difficult for a busy family law practitioner to access cohabitation law quickly as there is no specific family law based remedy. This monster of a tome attempts to put all those resources together in one place. Does it work?

The introduction is succinct but precedes the House of Lords' debate of Lord Marks' bill. Reference to comparative law would have been instructive to demonstrate how far out of kilter English law is now positioned when compared to many other countries. A later section on pre-nuptial agreements does include comparative law but a broader international approach would have been helpful given the increasingly international nature of families in England and Wales.

The section on Property demonstrates a considerable depth of explanation as to the development of the concept of the common law constructive trust. There is a particularly useful table contrasting joint and sole name cases indicative of the many useful summaries provided in other sections of this...

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