Cohabitation Bill [HL]

A couple who found themselves before the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, would be fortunate, and her experience is valuable. But I must remind the Committee that if this were to become a retrospective law, most of those couples would never find themselves in a court. Rather, it would be trips to the solicitors after conversations along the lines of, "I lived with you 10 years ago and I left without a penny" or "I lived with you five years ago". All that will be going on and form 99 per cent of the cases. Only very rarely would such a case make it into court, but retrospection will reopen the bitterness of old relationships. That is the danger, not what happens in court, where I have every faith in what the judges will do. Threats will be made and expenses incurred that will not be seen in court because of retrospection. There are also problems with an opt out, although this may not be the time to go into them. I must appeal to the important principle that something as deeply profound in its effect as this law should not be retrospective. There needs to be publicity. I should like to test the opinion of the Committee because I believe it to be a very important principle. Division on Amendment 3 Contents 11; Not-Contents 24. Amendment 3 disagreed.