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48 Hong Kong L.J. 837 (2018)
Property Rights of Cohabitants: A Comparison of Four Jurisdictions

handle is hein.journals/honkon48 and id is 841 raw text is: PROPERTY RIGHTS OF COHABITANTS: A COMPARISON OF FOUR JURISDICTIONS 71 Thomas Leung Yu Hang* This article compares the approaches taken by four common law jurisdictions, namely, England and Wales, Canada, Singapore and Hong Kong, in dealing with financial and property rights of unmarried heterosexual cohabitants. The law in each jurisdiction is evaluated according to its logic and consistency (principle) and its ability to fairly balance the need for autonomy and protection of the vulnerable (pragmatism). Common themes identified from the comparison are subsequently analysed. This article then proposes a legal framework which can be developed by the Hong Kong courts to settle familial property disputes, particularly between cohabitants, which seeks to satisfy both the requirements of principle and pragmatism. 1. Introduction Of all areas of law, it is property, particularly as it relates to housing and home, which affects people most consistently and directly.1 (a) Cohabitation and Home Ownership: a Social Phenomenon Since the 1970s, many Western countries have experienced a drastic increase in their cohabitation rates, where unmarried couples live together in an intimate relationship.' Cohabitation has also become more prevalent in developed countries in Asia since the last decade, albeit the increase is less significant. The reasons for and types of cohabitation are LLB (HKU); PCLL (HKU). The author is grateful to Alice Lee, Alex Schwartz and the HKLJ peer reviewer for their extensive and helpful comments. Loma Fox O'Mahony, Property Outsiders and the Hidden Politics of Doctrinalism (2014) 67 Current Legal Problems 409. 2 Alan Booth and Ann C Crouter, Just Living Together: Implications of Cohabitation on Families, Children and Social Policy (Abingdon: Routledge, 2002) p 3.

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