About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

19 Child & Fam. L. Q 1 (2007)

handle is hein.journals/chilflq19 and id is 1 raw text is: 1 Unmarried fathers and British citizenship: the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and British Nationality (Proof of Paternity) Regulations 2006 Sally Sheldon* This article considers the recent reform of the law to make it easier for unmarried fathers to transmit British citizenship to their children. It is suggested that this reform is interesting for the broader trends which it reflects: a movement towards formal equality between mothers and fathers, and between marital and non-marital children, and a related enhanced reliance on the genetic link as a means of grounding legal fatherhood. While the reform discussed here has received little critical attention, these broader shifts have been anything but uncontroversial in other contexts In recent years, changing understandings of childhood, the appropriate role of the state in relation to the family, the significance of marriage, and men's and women's responsibilities towards each other have all contributed to a complex renegotiation of the rights and responsibilities of parenthood in general and fatherhood in particular. While the legal and political struggles which accompany these changes have often attracted a high level of interest,2 recently one of the few remaining distinctions of significance in the legal treatment of married and unmarried fathers in the UK was removed with no fanfare and precious little discussion in either the popular media or in academic journals.3 On 1 July 2006, unmarried fathers gained the right to pass on UK citizenship to children born after that date on the same lines that children's mothers *Professor, Kent Law School. I am grateful to the ESRC for funding the research fellowship that allowed me the time to explore the issues raised in this note (RES 000-27-0111). My thanks also go to Bernard Ryan and to two referees for CFLQ for extremely constructive and unusually detailed comments on a previous draft, to Toni Johnson for her research assistance, and to the AHRC Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality for funding her work. This note was written in part during a visit to the Centre for Feminist Legal Studies at UBC, where I benefited from the possibility to discuss ideas with Centre members. I am especially indebted to Susan B Boyd and Claire Young for the warmth of their welcome on that occasion and their ongoing support and intellectual inspiration. For one attempt at an overview of some of these developments, see R. Collier and S. Sheldon, 'Fathers' Rights, Fatherhood and Law Reform - International Perspectives' in R. Collier and S. Sheldon (eds), Fathers' Rights Activism and Law Reform in Comparative Context (Hart, 2006). 2 As detailed, for example, in the contributions to R. Collier and S. Sheldon (eds), Fathers' Rights Activism and Law Reform in Comparative Context (Hart, 2006). 3 Although see H. Nugent, 'The Baby Born One Day Too Soon for a British Passport' reported in The Times (12 July 2006), available at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,200-2265644,00.html.

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most