Law, Morality and Religion in the Family Courts

The link between law and morality has been hotly debated by lawyers and philosophers over the years. This article takes as its starting point the assumption at the beginning of the twentieth century that it was the responsibility of courts and their judges to enforce and promote Christian morality. During the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries that assumption has been comprehensively undone. This article examines the key points in the development of judicial approaches to law, morality and religion that have led to a completely different approach to such questions in the courts today.