Christian Dadomo, Senior Lecturer in European Law, and Emma Whewell, Senior Lecturer in Law at the Bristol Law School, attended the 16th International Society of Family Law (ISFL) World Conference on 25-29 July 2017 at Vreije Universiteit Amsterdam.
The International Society of Family Law is an independent, international scholarly association dedicated to the study and discussion of family law whose function is to provide an international forum for analysis of legal policy applied to family relationships. It exists to bring together scholars of any discipline, practitioners, policy makers and others with an interest in this area of law.
The Conference is dedicated to the subject whether existing national family laws adequately reflect changing realities of family life. Concern about the correlation between family law and family realities triggers growing interest in empirical research involving both lawyers and social scientists in various parts of the world. Academic lawyers and practitioners are no longer satisfied with focusing on family law alone.
This major event takes place every three years. This year’s conference was the longest ever with 273 papers being presented and discussed. Experts in family law, social sciences and empirical research are welcomed to attend this conference and present a paper. Papers explore the correlation between family law on the books and in action. They also consider the needs for various types of family members in different social, cultural and religious settings.
Christian presented a paper on whether polyamorous relationships should be regarded as an emerging new form of family and be provided legal recognition and protection.
Emma explored the issue as to why pre-proceedings work is important and needs to involve children. Both received positive recognition and discussion.