Theories on Law and Ageing

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

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2. Elder Law: A Personal Perspective

   • A. D. Bogutz

   Pages 1-9

3. Later Life Legal Planning

   • L. A. Frolik

   Pages 11-30

4. A Therapeutic Approach

   • M. B. Kapp

   Pages 31-44

5. A Feminist Approach to Elder Law

   • A. K. Dayton

   Pages 45-57

6. A Multi-Dimensional Model of Elder Law

   • I. Doron

   Pages 59-74

7. A Law and Economics Approach

   • R. L. Kaplan

   Pages 75-92

8. What can Elder Law Learn from Disability Law?

   • D. Surtees

   Pages 93-105

9. Equity Theory: Responding to the Material Exploitation of the Vulnerable but Capable

   • M. I. Hall

   Pages 107-119

10. Law and Aging: Mental Health Theory Approach

    • W. C. Schmidt

    Pages 121-143

11. The Future of Elder Law

    • R. C. Morgan

    Pages 145-153

12. Back Matter

    Pages 155-157

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This book is about trying to answer questions. These questions were well introduced by Prof. Margaret Hall in the opening of her chapter in this book: “The fundamental idea of ‘law and aging’ as a discrete category of legal principle and theory is controversial: how and why are ‘older adults’ or ‘seniors’ or ‘elders’ (the very terminology is controversial and fraught with difficulties) a discrete and distinct group for whom ‘special’ legal thought and treatment is justified? For some, a category of law and aging is inherently paternalistic, suggesting that older persons are, like children, especially in need of the protection of the law. In this sense, the argument continues, the category itself internalizes ageist presumptions about older adults and is therefore inherently flawed and even harmful. If certain older adults are, because of physical or mental infirmities, genuinely in need of an enhanced level of legal protection, this entitlement should be conceptualized in terms of their disability; older adults are not a distinct group but an arbitrarily delineated demographic category which contains within it any number of groups that are legitimately distinct for the purposes of legal theory (the di- bled; women; persons of colour; Aboriginal persons; rich and poor; etc.) Indeed, the arti- cial category of “older adults” may be seen as obfuscating, submerging these more meaningful distinctions.

• Ageing
• Elder Law
• Jurisprudence
• Law and Ageing
• gerontology

• Department of Gerontology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel

  Israel Doron

Policies and ethics