This paper explores the way family obligation and reciprocity are
defined in
law in France and England. Focusing on the areas of inheritance and financial
support in relation to older people, it explores how these are contrasted
and
linked in the two societies. In France, families are legally obliged to
support
their kin through obligation alimentaire, but inheritance is secured
by law within
the family. In England by contrast there is no such legal obligation to
support
older relatives; nor is there any constraint on inheritance: testamentary
freedom is the legal principle. The paper discusses the significance of
these
differences and assesses how far they are modified by the operation of
the
welfare state and by embedded assumptions about family relations. It sets
the
differences within the context of different discourses of law and social
policy
in the two countries.