Th e second edition of this book shares the same aims of the fi rst edition: to provide readers with a thorough understanding of the law relating to the family and to do so in a way that stimulates critical refl ection on that law: how and why has the law developed as it has, what policies is it seeking to pursue, does it achieve the right balance between the rights and interests of individual family members and wider public interests, how does it operate in practice? But we seek in this edition to provide readers with a slightly slimmer volume which is more fully integrated with the Online Resource Centre. Th e Online Resource Centre provides a wealth of useful information, not least of which are our regular updates on changes to the law since the manuscript was completed. It also contains questions, suggestions for further reading, and supplementary materials. Some of these support topics covered in the book, while others provide information for interested readers on less central material not systematically addressed in the book. A guide to using this book and the online materials will be found on the Online Resource Centre. We continue to be grateful to those whom we thanked in our last preface, some of whom have provided further assistance. We have been very well supported in preparing this new edition by the team at OUP, initially Alex Clabburn and latterly Anna Winstanley and colleagues. Sonia would once again like to give particular thanks to her husband Tim and her children Isaac and Olivia (the new arrival!) for their love, patience, and support. Bringing the second edition in on time was very much a ‘family eff ort’. Authorship of the various chapters remains as it was for the fi rst edition. We have endeavoured to state the law as it was on 1 October 2010. Th e fi rst set of updates on developments since then will be on the Online Resource Centre by October 2011. Th is edition of the book is dedicated to Howard Miles (1943–2008).