ABSTRACT
Law has a social aspect. It is important that the impact of legal rules and court decisions is never forgotten. The subject matter of this chapter is of particular social signi cance because it concerns the manner in which individuals acquire rights in the family home. The law in this area is self-contradictory and driven by the variety of political impulses which inform all discussions about policy concerning the family. The reader is encouraged to follow the layout of principles considered in this chapter and simply to accept that they are not possible to reconcile. What the reader should seek to do instead is to understand why differently constituted courts have come to different conclusions. (You are referred to Part 5 of Hudson (2014) for a more detailed analysis of the issues in this chapter: in particular Chapter 15 .)
The law on trusts of homes has been reformulated by the decision of the Supreme Court in Jones v Kernott (2011), which in turn re-interpreted the decision of the House of Lords in Stack v Dowden (2007), in particular with Lady Hale and Lord Walker explaining what they had meant originally in Stack v Dowden .
