Lady Hale, the only female English justice of the Supreme Court, has spoken out in favour of greater legal rights for cohabiting couples living inEngland and Wales.

Section 28 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act (the “Act”) allows a former cohabitant who has suffered ‘economic disadvantage in the interests of’ their former cohabitee to make a claim for a sum of money from them.  There is no corresponding provision under English law.