Article on Politics, Families & Inheritance Law

Dot Reid published an Article entitled, From the Cradle to the Grave: Politics, Families and Inheritance Law, 12(3) Edinburgh L. Rev. 391 (2008). Provided below is an abstract of the Article:

Property is political. The extent to which a society restricts or encourages freedom of ownership and the accumulation of wealth reflects the values of that society, whether they spring from a Marxist ideology at one end of the political spectrum or from a commitment to liberal individualism and the operation of a free market at the other. Property ownership is the foundation stone of a capitalist economy and the spread of home ownership a core philosophy of all modern political parties.

The extent to which the law should interfere with individual choice in relation to family behaviour is an issue which elicits a range of views across the political spectrum, closely related to preference for “big” or “small” government and sympathy (or lack of it) for a degree of social engineering. Modern British governments tread warily in this territory, reluctant to create controversy or to risk accusations of being a “nanny” state. But none has completely eschewed policy initiatives which affect the institution of the family.