Simple Quarrels

The main theme of this study is that the law in practice, as it is observed by the social researcher, may differ greatly from the law as it is expressed in statute and in the reported decisions of the higher courts. In order to uncover "the law in action" the social researcher has to delve deep, and ask of the lawyer engaged in resolving matrimonial disputes what is being done here?; why?; who gains?; who loses? In this way the authors of this book are able to lay bare an area of legal practice which is of central importance in the negotiation and adjudication of divorce disputes. This area of "hidden" work is where the great majority of financial disputes are settled by bargaining between the parties' lawye rs, the court not being called upon to perform any significant adjudicatory function. It is vital to understand how the "hidden" area operates if only, as the authors attempt to show, it is solicitors' case handling (rather than judicially enunciated principle) which largely determines the outcome.