This text focuses upon family law issues raised by the Human Rights Act 1998. The Act provides for the enforcement of European Convention rights directly against a public authority, through any level of the domestic courts. Several articles of the European Convention have been specifically drafted to deal with the rights of the family, raising issues for family lawyers including: what implications does the Act have in relation to the disciplining of children by their parents, and to what extent does the state have a right to intervene in such matters?; can transsexuals and same-sex couples challenge existing legislation relating to marriage (and for the right to access to artificial reproduction techniques) under Article 12, which provides for the right to marry and found a family?; will Article 2, which provides for the right to life, allow challenges to the existing law on abortion?