The divorce rate has been rising throughout the twentieth century, with a significant increase in the last twenty years, so that now some forty five percent of marriages currently end in divorce. How and why has this happened? How has the law and the state changed to accommodate and facilitate this and what changes in society’s attitudes have affected family breakdown? To answer these important questions colin Gibson takes a multi-disciplinary approach to examine the history, demography, sociology, politics and policy of divorce. The first half of Dissolving Wedlock traces the interaction between social change, marriage patterns, family law and Parliamentary legislation from the eighteenth century to the present. The second half looks at family policy choices and examines such matters as the welfare and financial support of children and their carers in the light of the new child Support Act, and the two-tier court system for handling the casualties of broken marriages.