Court decisions are typically seen as one-off interventions relating to
an incident in a person's life, but a legal decision can impact on the
person as they were and the person they will become. This book is the
first to explore the interactions of the law with the life course in
order to understand the complex life journey as a whole. Jonathan
Herring reveals how the law privileges 'middle age' to the detriment of
the whole life story and explains why an understanding of the life
course is important for lawyers. Relevant to those working in family
law, elder law, medical law and ethics, jurisprudence, gender and the
law, it will promote new thinking by exploring the engagement of the law
with the life course of the self.