This volume highlights important classic and contemporary works by law and society scholars who analyze the complex and often highly political relationship between law and families. Featuring authors from Australia, Canada, England and the United States, the volume looks at how socio-legal scholars think about families and the law, how law shapes family practices, the capacity of family law to deliver social justice and how family disputes are resolved. Topics such as law's role in recognizing spousal and parental relationships or promoting responsible behaviour or equality norms are covered and the relationship between law's assumptions and the lived realities of families is problematized.