The Civil Partnership Act

Essay # 60594

Gender and Sexuality > Homosexuality
Law > Family

A critical assessment of the legal and policy issues underlying the Civil Partnership Act in Britain.

2,692 words () | 27 sources | APA | 2005 United Kingdom

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the issues which influenced the introduction of the Civil Partnership Act including the legal issues, such as the lack of availability of rights for homosexual couples and the need to remedy this. It then looks at the ECHR, legal certainty, and the rights available to opposite sex couples. It then continues with an examination of the policy issues, such as the need for social justice and equality. Finally, the paper looks at the impact on cohabitees and married couples.

Outline
Legal Issues
Policy Issues
Impact on Marriage
Impact on Cohabitees

From the Paper:

"Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) prohibits any difference in treatment based on sexual orientation. If sexual orientation is used as a ground for difference in treatment, there must be a convincing and weighty argument to justify it. In Karner v Austria , it was held that although protection of the traditional family was capable of being a convincing reason, it must be necessary to exclude same-sex partners to achieve that aim. The House of Lords considered this issue in the case of Ghaidan v Mendoza . Here, the Lords found that the difference in treatment of homosexual and heterosexual couples was based solely on sexual orientation, and no cogent reasons to justify this were found."