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18 October 2018 / Graeme Fraser
Issue: 7813 / Categories: Features
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Book review: Barlow’s Cohabitants and the Law (Fourth Edition)

“While most recommended books on cohabitation law centre on property claims, this is one of the best general guides around for all aspects of cohabitation law”

  • Author: David Josiah-Lake
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Professional
  • ISBN: 9781526503046
  • Pages: 359
  • RRP: £75.00

This book ambitiously attempts to summarise cohabitation law in the absence of specific family legislation. Given that the last edition was written in 2001, this new edition reflects legal recognition of same-sex relationships; developments in domestic abuse legislation; the introduction of child arrangements orders; and the up-to-date case law in relation to constructive and resulting trusts in a domestic property situation.

Living together

The first part of the book centres on living together. Cohabitation contracts are examined in useful detail, with helpful guidance as to their enforceability. A chapter on the status of children analyses changes made to parentage, while summarising the rules in relation to acquiring parental responsibility; change of name; and adoption and infertility treatment.

There is good coverage in relation to housing, both for rented accommodation

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NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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