Personal journal entry 4 - Essay Example

THE ROLE OF THE APPELLATE JUDICIARY due: The role of Appellate Judiciary In review of this topic, the focus is on the case study of same-sex relationship. In addition, the paper will describe the concerns surrounding the judicial interpretation of the term family in the legal proceedings of Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd. In this given proceeding, the House of Lords held that the meaning of ‘family’ involved a same-sex partner of the departed tenant1. This was for the purpose of the Rent Act 1977.

The court agreed that Fitzpatrick could not succeed on the ground that he lived with the deceased as wife and husband. However, the court identified that this kind of relationship can contain important traits of family that symbolizes the changing social situations. It is clear that the number of individuals that qualify to be a family under the law has expanded2.The case clearly demonstrated that due to the changing modern beliefs the two men living together were ‘family’. During the case, the court researched and confirmed a wide role meaning of ‘family’.

The idea is a collection of combined attributes that can be looked at independently or as an entity. The meaning of family can be confirmed when one analysis the supposed roles discharged in the relationship3. The judges in this legal resolution held that a difference could not be seen by a same-sex couple staying together and the opposite sexes couple, in terms of affection and love4.In this case, Mr. Fitzpatrick succeeded on the basis of ‘assured’ tenant and not statutory tenant because he did not qualify as a spouse5.

In addition, the ruling was made in consideration of the characteristics defined by the 1920 Act that were satisfied by Mr. Fitzpatrick and his partner that fell under the term ‘family6.BibliographyBooks Andreas Føllesdal, Constituting Europe the European Court of Human Rights in a national, Europeanand global context (Cambridge [etc.]: Cambridge University Press 2013) Harris-Short S, and Joanna M, Family law: text, cases, and materials (Oxford: Oxford University Press 2011)Martin Partington, Introduction to the English legal system: 2013-2014 (Oxford: Oxford University Press2013)McCarthy Ribbens, Megan Doolittle Jane, and Day Sclater Shelley, Understanding family meanings: areflective text (Bristol: Policy Press 2012).

Journals Glennon L, and School of Law, The Queens University of Belfast, Int. Jnl. of Law, Policy and the Family Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd January 1, 2015 ˂http://lawfam.oxfordjournals.org/content/14/3/226.short?rss=1&ssource=mfr˃ Accessed January 21, 2015Martin F, ‘THE CHANGING FACE OF FAMILY LAW IN IRELAND’Http://www.jsijournal.ie/. ˂http://www.jsijournal.ie/html/volume 5 no. 1/5[1]_martin the changing face of family law in Ireland. PDF˃ Accessed January 21, 2015