This contribution to comparative family law brings together essays on a range of issues in family law in the US and England showing how they stand at the beginning of the 21st century and how they reached there. They examine how family law has reacted to a period of change in family life widely held to be without precedent.

A. BACKGROUND TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ; 1. How to Give the Present a Past: Family Law in the United States: 1950-2000 ; 2. Changing Family Patterns in England and wales Over the Past Fifty Years ; 3. Century of the American Family ; 4. Family Policy in the Post-War Period ; 5. The Evolution of Family Policy in the United States after the Second World War ; 6. English Family Law Since The Second World War ; B. ESTABLISHING THE FAMILY ; 7. The Shadowlands: The Regulation of Human Reproduction in the United States ; 8. The Legal Regulation of Infertility Treatment in Britain ; 9. Parenthood in the United States ; 10. Marriage, Cohabitation, and Parenthood: From Contract to Status? ; 11. Marriage: An Institution in Transition and Redefinition ; 12. The Constitutionalization of American Family Law: The Case of the Right to Marry ; 13. Dual Systems of Adoption in the United States ; 14. English Adoption Law: Past, Present, and Future ; C. REGULATING AND REORGANIZING THE FAMILY ; 15. Divorce in the United States ; 16. Divorce in England 1950-2000: A Moral Tale ; 17. The Finacial Incidents of family Dissolution ; 18. Post-Divorce Financial Obligations ; 19. The Status of Children: A Story of Emerging Rights ; 20. Disputing Children ; 21. The Law and Violence Against Women in the Family at Century's End: The American Experience ; 22. Violence Against Women in the family ; D. THE FAMILY AND GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES ; 23. A Forum for Every Fuss: The Growth of Court Services and ADR Treatments for Family Law Cases in the United States ; 24. Access to Justice for Families in Post-War Britain ; 25. Child Wefare Policy and Practice in the United States from 1950 to 2000 ; 26. From Curtis to Waterhouse: State Care and Child Protection in the UK 1945-2000 ; 27. The Hague Children's Conventions: The Internationalization of Child Law ; E. EPILOGUES ; 28. Individual Rights and Family Relationships ; 29. The End of an Era?

`... offers a timely appraisal of family law and family policy at the start of the new millennium. ... The full sweep of family law gets 'state of the art' treatment ... The book is an important collection of its individual chapters, each written by a recognised scholar in its respective area, as well as a 'state of the art' statement of family law and policy at the start of the twenty-first century. ... the book will appeal to a wide constituency: its chapters are accessibly written for the non-specialist, yet contain original insights for the specialist. It deserves to become a standard reference for students and teachers of family law, social policy, sociology, and social work, and is a worthy successor to the volume that inspired it.' Social Policy `This extensive and valuable book ... may well stand as a definitive record of the progress of family law in the second half of the twentieth century, at least as far as the two chosen countries are concerned. ... The book is a mine of information and ideas, well worth delving into.' Child and Family Law Quarterly, Vol 13, No 3, 2001 `This book is a substantial collection of essays > considering the development and present state of family law in England and > Wales and the United States. The table of contributors is a most impressive > list, containing many of the leading academic family lawyers on each side of > the Atlantic. It is therefore not surprising that the book is excellent. > ... the book is an extremely valuable resource that anyone interested in > family law should acquire and will greatly enjoy.' Law Quarterly Review, > 1 Oct 2001 `this is an excellent reference work, of great value to anyone who wants an introduction to Family Law in either the United States or England.' Modern Law Review, 1 March 2002 `stimulating collection of essays' Judge David Pearl, Family Law May 2001 `Cross Currents is set deservedly to become one of the standard texts on family law on both sides of the Atlantic for the next generation of students and scholars.' Judge David Pearl, Family Law May 2001