ABSTRACT
Bedrooms are often imagined in liberal political discourse as being beyond the gaze of the law. The expression ‘An Englishman’s Home is his Castle’ applies in spades to his bedroom and this perception has been both an aid and a hindrance to progressive activism for legal reforms. Thinking about bedrooms from the legal perspective is distinctive then, to the extent that it shifts the focus away from materiality to idealized sociopolitical investments and representations. In determining the relationship status of couples, the cases demonstrate the contingency of sex and the bedroom. The focus is cases where the courts were required to establish whether or the expressions ‘living together as husband and wife’ and ‘as civil partners’ applied to a same-sex couple. The judge held against Baynes, finding that they were living ‘as civil partners’ on the basis that the relationship was ‘presented to the outside world openly and unequivocally’.
