Law and the Relational Self
Law in Context Series

This book promotes a relational understanding of the self. It explores how law can be transformed by focusing on the promotion and protection of caring relationships, rather than individual rights. This offers a radical and profound re-imagining of what law is about and what it should be trying to do. It moves from the theoretical into offering practical examples of how the law could be developed to enhance relationships, rather than undermine them.

1. The concept of the relational self; 2. Law and the vulnerable self; 3. Law and the caring self; 4. Law and the abused self; 5. Medical law and the relational self; 6. Family law and the relational self; 7. Criminal law and the relational self; 8. Concluding thoughts.

Jonathan Herring is a Fellow in Law at Exeter College, and Professor of Law at the Law Faculty, at the University of Oxford. He has written on family law, medical law, criminal law and legal issues surrounding care and old age. His books include: Vulnerability, Childhood and the Law (2018); Human Thriving and the Law (2018, with C. Foster); Medical Law and Ethics (2018); Criminal Law (2018); and Family Law (9th edition, forthcoming).