What's Home Got To Do With It? Kinship, Space, and the Case of Family, Spouse and Civil Partnership in the UK

Abstract

The analysis that is offered in this Article has two dimensions. The first focuses upon the context in which the battle for legal recognition of same-sex partnerships has taken place. Using two key reported decisions from the U.K.'s final domestic court of appeal, Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing and Ghaidan v Mendoza, the objective here is to explore the shifting terrain against which legal activism relating to the recognition of same-sex domestic relationships has achieved some success in the U.K. These two cases represent key developments in the judicial recognition of the rights of parties in same-sex domestic relationships. These cases have particular importance. In Fitzpatrick, the House of Lords decided that a same-sex couple's relationship fell within the meaning of "family." In Ghaidan the court decided that the term "spouse" was to be applied to same-sex couples. Some of the key legal effects