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28 May 2009 / Jonathan Herring
Issue: 7371 / Categories: Features , Public , Family , Community care
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An age-old problem

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In a society which celebrates youth, are old people being disregarded? asks Jonathan Herring

* * * * * *

In the US elder law is a well developed field of legal practice and academic study. There is a journal of elder law; textbooks on the subject and many universities will offer it as part of a law degree.

In England, by comparison, the subject of older people and law has received little attention in journals and universities. There is the group Solicitors for the Elderly (www.solicitorsfortheelderly.com/public/index.php), but generally older people seem to fade into the background as far as lawyers are concerned. I recently published a book on law and older people (Older People in Law and Society (OUP, 2009)), and have been surprised that some people think the subject inappropriate and decry the move to establish “law and older people” as an area of study or practice.

Objections

The objections go like this: we should not be treating older people as somehow different to anyone else. A person's

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