Evaluate The Effectiveness Of The Legal System

Evaluate the effectiveness of the legal system in responding to changing community values in terms of achieving justice for family members.

Although family law focuses on individual relationships and the achievement of just outcomes for the individual, the legal system also operates to provide a just outcome for society as a whole. In order to secure a just outcome for society, the legal system needs to operate as efficiently as possible; the law needs to remain contemporary, the law must be enforceable and the law must endeavor to balance the rights and values of individuals against those of society in order to provide justice for all.

Early law in the 19th century viewed marriage as absolutely binding because of the sacredness of marriage
Further recognition and protection of Children’s rights are seen in the Family Provisions Act 1987, which ensures children are adequately cared for after the death of a parent as they are able to claim estate if left out of the will. The Children and Young Persons Care and Protection Act 1998 (NSW) provides the boundaries of child discipline and requires doctors, teachers and social workers to notify the Department of Child Services (DOCS) on suspicion of child abuse. However, ‘reasonable’ discipline is hard to define in a multicultural society with different standards for different cultures. Although the punishment must be reasonable in accordance to the following conditions: age, size, health of child, child’s actions, severity of the blows and what was used to deliver the blows. In the case R v. Hamilton (1891) NSW, a child was beaten with a loaded gun, this was seen to be illegal. DOCS ensures that children are placed into safety if the suspicions prove to be true. However, because of the resource inefficiency due to short staffing and funding cuts, many cases do not get investigated while other cases are drawn out and children may continue to suffer abuse. For those cases which are brought before court, a specialized children’s court is accessible for the sensitivity and vulnerability for children’s matters as is Legal Aid to all children in achieving justice for them.
New birth technologies including Invitro Fertilization and Artificial Insemination have changed the means of producing a family. It raises questions as to who are the parents. The Status of Children Act 1996 (NSW) confirms that the woman’s consenting husband is the legal father of a child born through artificial insemination, not the sperm donor. The child born of artificial means retains the same legal status as those who are born of natural means. Under the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW), commercial surrogacy is prohibited but altruistic surrogacy is legal and is where the sperm donor and the surrogate mother are the legal parents of the child. It is then up to the birth mother to surrender her rights to allow the fathers wife to adopt the baby. This ensures the rights of each member involved in the birth are not abused. There have also been calls for sperm donors to be identified and this questions who they legally consider the father to be and on whom the parental responsibilities lay. Furthermore, legal questions arise from these new birth technologies as to the ownership of frozen embryos if the couple who donated them die or divorce, experimentation of embryos outside of a womb and human cloning. These issues are also ethical as they question the recognition ad protection of unborn Childs rights, which was breached in the case of white-head vs. Stern. Equality is also questionable