The Jewish Law Annual Volume 18

VOLUME EIGHTEEN Volume 18 of The Jewish Law Annual contains six articles, three of which deal with family law. One article tackles the plight of the wife whose husband withholds conjugal relations, and later, the granting of a divorce. The author explores the halakhic feasibility of allowing such a wife to claim damages for infliction of mental distress. Such claims may encourage recalcitrant husbands to consent to divorce. The second article examines the evolution of halakhic thinking on the parentchild relationship, tracing the stages by which its initially patriarchal orientation was moderated, and the child's best interest emerged as the main consideration. Another article analyzes halakhic attitudes to corporal punishment of children, showing that while recourse to corporal punishment for educational purposes is - subject to numerous qualifications - permitted, two divergent approaches to corporal punishment are evinced in the halakhic sources. One deems corporal punishment useful as a pedagogic tool of last resort, the other questions its efficacy. The volume also features a fascinating history of two organizations founded in London to further the study of Jewish law, one at the end of the 1920s, the other a decade later. The article describes the groups' respective aims, leaders, and memberships. Two jurisprudential studies round out the volume. One explores the prohibition against seeking a second legal ruling after issuance of a ruling declaring something forbidden. What is its scope, and how does it differ from the res judicata principle in western law? Another article discusses the agent who breaches his principal's trust by carrying out the mandate for himself rather than his principal. To what extent is he liable for ensuing damages to the principal?