Personal Relationships of Dependence and Interdependence in Law

At their simplest level, human relationships are about ties between people. These ties, however, are anything but simple; rather, they are complex interdependencies whose dynamic reciprocity of obligations and interests is not always represented in our legal thinking. This collection explores the intersection of interdependency and the law, and contemplates some of the key issues at stake in the way the law interprets and addresses human relationships.

Part of a series that questions fundamental concepts of law, this book looks critically at the legal concepts that have framed these relationships: contract, fiduciary duty, the “duty to act fairly,” the impartiality of decision makers, and privileged communication. Many of these obscure the element of interdependency. The authors argue that interdependency is a fruitful critical - and human - framework by which to re-evaluate some of our traditional legal concepts.

The book will be of interest to law and society scholars and students, as it presents a different critical framework through which to analyze traditional human relationships.