Rights for co-habitees?

The Law Commission has issued some interesting proposals today about whether the law should intervene to give rights ( and by implication force obligations! ) on those who choose to cohabit. As a lawyer I understand the legal position of those who cohabit more than most. I have not had chance yet to study the proposals in detail and there may well be merit in them. I start from the position ( as always ) that we should not introduce new laws unless there is a clear and undeniable need for them. As someone who has spent many years advising unmarried couples I can not honestly say that no one has ever said that they wished there were new laws. After all there is only one cake that can be divided and if one partner gets a bigger slice the other one gets a smaller slice so there will be as many winners as losers if the present rules are changed. The one area where new rules may be required is where an unmarried couple have children and one party has given up work to raise children then that should be reflected in the division of assets if the couple split up. It will be interesting to see how these initial proposals develop and in what form they arrive on the statute book… if they ever do.