Category: Children

In re S (Minors) (Abduction: Acquiescence): 1994

For the purposes of Article 13 of the Convention, the question whether the wronged parent has ‘acquiesced’ in the removal or retention of the child depends upon his actual state of mind of the parent: ‘the court is primarily concerned, not with the question of the other parent’s perception of the applicant’s conduct, but with the question whether the applicant acquiesced in fact’.

Neill LJ
[1994] 1 FLR 819
Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – H v H (Child Abduction: Acquiescence) CA 14-Aug-1996
The parents were orthodox Jews. The mother brought the children to England, and resisted an order for their return, saying the father had delayed in bringing the proceedings.
Held: A parent must act quickly in cases of child abduction in order . .
Cited – Re H, H v H (Child Abduction: Acquiescence) HL 10-Apr-1997
The mother and father were orthodox Jews. The mother brought the children to England from Israel against the father’s wishes. She said that he had acquiesced in their staying here by asking for them to be returned to Israel temporarily. The father . .
Cited – In Re H and others (Minors) HL 10-Apr-1997
Three young children had been brought to England from Israel by their mother but without the consent of the father, who now sought their return. The mother claimed that the father had subsequently acquiesced in the removal. Both parents were . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 13 December 2021; Ref: scu.219635

In re J (a Minor) (Wardship: Medical treatment): CA 1 Oct 1990

J was born at 27 weeks’, weighing only 1.1kg. He suffered very severe and permanent brain damage at the time of his birth, the brain tissue then lost being irreplaceable. He was epileptic and the medical evidence was that he was likely to develop serious spastic quadriplegia, would be blind and deaf and was unlikely ever to be able to speak or to develop even limited intellectual abilities. It was, however, likely that he would feel pain to the same extent as a normal baby. His life expectancy was uncertain but he was expected to die before late adolescence, although he could survive for a few years. He had been ventilated twice for long periods when his breathing stopped, that treatment being both painful and hazardous. The medical prognosis was that any further collapse which required ventilation would be fatal. However he was neither on the point of death nor dying. The question thus arose as to whether, if he suffered a further collapse, the medical staff at the hospital where he was being cared for should re-ventilate him in the event that he stopped breathing.
Held: The court could, exercising its wardship jurisdiction, authorise the withholding of medical treatment from a child which would result in the child’s life being threatened, provided that any continued life for the child with treatment would be intolerable. The court identified three preliminary steps. The first was that welfare is the court’s paramount consideration. ‘Secondly, the court’s high respect for the sanctity of human life imposes a strong presumption in favour of taking all steps capable of preserving it, save in exceptional circumstances. The problem is to define those circumstances. Thirdly, and as a corollary to the second principle, it cannot be too strongly emphasised that the court never sanctions steps to terminate life. That would be unlawful. There is no question of approving, even in a case of the most horrendous disability, a course aimed at terminating life or accelerating death. The court is concerned only with the circumstances in which steps should not be taken to prolong life.’ (Taylor LJ) and ‘I consider the correct approach is for the court to judge the quality of life the child would have to endure if given the treatment and decide whether in all the circumstances such a life would be so afflicted as to be intolerable to that child. I say ‘to that child’ because the test should not be whether the life would be tolerable to the decider. The test must be whether the child in question, if capable of exercising sound judgment, would consider the life tolerable.’
The court could not ‘require the [health] authority to follow a particular course of treatment. What the court can do is to withhold consent to treatment of which it disapproves and it can express its approval of other treatment proposed by the authority and its doctors.’
Lord Donaldson of Lymington MR: ‘Re B seems to me to come very near to being a binding authority for the proposition that there is a balancing exercise to be performed in assessing the course to be adopted in the best interests of the child.
This brings me face to face with the problem of formulating the critical equation. In truth it cannot be done with mathematical or any precision. There is without doubt a very strong presumption in favour of a course of action which will prolong life, but even excepting the ‘cabbage’ case to which special considerations may well apply, it is not irrebuttable. As this court recognised in In re B., account has to be taken of the pain and suffering and quality of life which the child will experience if life is prolonged. Account has also to be taken of the pain and suffering involved in the proposed treatment itself. B was probably not a borderline case and I do not think that we are bound to, or should, treat Templeman LJ’s use of the words ‘demonstrably so awful’ or Dunn LJ’s use of the word ‘intolerable’ as providing a quasi-statutory yardstick.
. . we know that the instinct and desire for survival is very strong. We all believe in and assert the sanctity of human life. As explained, this formulation takes account of this and also underlines the need to avoid looking at the problem from the point of view of the decider, but instead requires him to look at it from the assumed point of view of the patient. This gives effect, as it should, to the fact that even very severely handicapped people find a quality of life rewarding which to the unhandicapped may seem manifestly intolerable. People have an amazing adaptability. But in the end there will be cases in which the answer must be that it is not in the interests of the child to subject it to treatment which will cause increased suffering and produce no commensurate benefit, giving the fullest possible weight to the child’s, and mankind’s, desire to survive.
I make no apology for having spent time on the generality of the problem which faces doctors and the court in cases of this nature. The Official Solicitor invited us to do so and if we can succeed in achieving any degree of clarification, it will be worthwhile in terms of assisting those who have to make these very difficult decisions at short notice and in distressing circumstances. However, I now turn to the instant appeal.
The issue here is whether it would be in the best interests of the child to put him on a mechanical ventilator and subject him to all the associated processes of intensive care, if at some future time he could not continue breathing unaided.’

Lord Donaldson of Lymington MR
(1991) Fam 33, [1990] 3 All ER 930, [1991] 2 WLR 140, Times 03-Oct-1990, [1992] 1 FLR
England and Wales
Citing:
Considered – In Re B (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) CA 1981
The child was born with Down’s Syndrome and an intestinal blockage. She needed the obstruction to be relieved if she was to survive. If the operation were performed, the child might die within a few months but it was probable that her life . .
Considered – Re C (Wardship: Medical Treatment) (No 2) CA 1989
The court had already made an order about the way in which the health professionals were able to look after a severely disabled baby girl; an injunction was granted prohibiting identification of the child, her parents, her current carers and the . .

Cited by:
Cited – Regina (on the Application of Pretty) v Director of Public Prosecutions and Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 29-Nov-2001
The applicant was terminally ill, and entirely dependent upon her husband for care. She foresaw a time when she would wish to take her own life, but would not be able to do so without the active assistance of her husband. She sought a proleptic . .
Cited – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland CA 9-Dec-1992
The official Solicitor appealed against a decision that doctors could withdraw medical treatment including artificial nutrition, from a patient in persistent vegetative state.
Held: The doctors sought permission to act in accordance with . .
Cited – Airedale NHS Trust v Bland HL 4-Feb-1993
Procedures on Withdrawal of Life Support Treatment
The patient had been severely injured in the Hillsborough disaster, and had come to be in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The doctors sought permission to withdraw medical treatment. The Official Solicitor appealed against an order of the Court . .
Cited – In Re A (Minors) (Conjoined Twins: Medical Treatment); aka In re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) CA 22-Sep-2000
Twins were conjoined (Siamese). Medically, both could not survive, and one was dependent upon the vital organs of the other. Doctors applied for permission to separate the twins which would be followed by the inevitable death of one of them. The . .
Cited – Portsmouth NHS Trust v Wyatt and others FD 7-Oct-2004
Charlotte Wyatt was born prematurely, and depended for day to day her life on medical support. Her doctors asked to be permitted not to resuscitate her again if she needed it. Her parents asked that she be given whatever chance was available for her . .
Cited – Burke, Regina (on the Application of) v General Medical Council and others (Official Solicitor and others intervening) CA 28-Jul-2005
The claimant suffered a congenital degenerative brain condition inevitably resulting in a future need to receive nutrition and hydration by artificial means. He was concerned that a decision might be taken by medical practitioners responsible for . .
Cited – Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v James SC 30-Oct-2013
The hospital where a gravely ill man had been treated had asked for a declaration that it would be in his best interests to withhold certain life-sustaining treatments from him. When can it be in the best interests of a living patient to withhold . .
Cited – Nicklinson and Another, Regina (on The Application of) SC 25-Jun-2014
Criminality of Assisting Suicide not Infringing
The court was asked: ‘whether the present state of the law of England and Wales relating to assisting suicide infringes the European Convention on Human Rights, and whether the code published by the Director of Public Prosecutions relating to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health, Children

Updated: 13 December 2021; Ref: scu.180089

Re X (A Child): FD 3 Jun 2020

whether it is in X’s best interests to be treated by way of a blood transfusion in circumstances where X’s mother, Ms W, and indeed X herself do not give their consent for that treatment, by reason of their belief as committed and conscientious Jehovah’s Witnesses.

[2020] EWHC 1630 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales

Children, Health

Updated: 13 December 2021; Ref: scu.657622

IS (A Minor) v DBS and Another: FD 4 Feb 2015

IS, a girl of 15 was a ward of the court in the UK, but also subject to orders from family courts in Israel. She faced an order from the Israeli court to return to Israel, but refused to do so. Her father lived in Israel, and she in England with her mother. An application was made for an anti-suit injunction as regards the UK wardship proceedings.
Held: The court emphasised the damaging nature of the conflicts between the courts in the UK, and rather than make an order sought the co-operation of the Israeli court in frnding a way froward.

Sie Peter Singer
[2015] EWHC 219 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales

Children, International

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.542317

London Borough of Sutton v Gray and Butler: FD 30 Jun 2016

(Redacted) The Borough sought a care order.
Held: The father was respnsible for the death of the sister, and the surviving child was in need of the kind of care which would not lead to her following her mother’s path.

King J
[2014] EWHC 15 (Fam)
Judiciary
England and Wales
Cited by:
Judgment now published – In re C (A Child) CA 29-Jul-2016
Publication of care hearings
The court was asked whether a judgment in earlier care proceedings held in private should now be made public. The father had since been convicted of the murder of C. Reporting restrictions were imposed pending his trial, and immediately after the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.567820

Sheffield County Council v Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council: FD 22 Jun 2012

Appeal by Sheffield against an order that Sheffield be the designated local authority in respect of a final care order regarding a young man C.

Bodey J
[2012] EWHC B37 (Fam), [2013] 1 FLR 1027, [2013] Fam Law 32
Bailii
England and Wales

Children, Local Government

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.567271

Re IJ (A Child) (Foreign Surrogacy Agreement Parental Order): FD 19 Apr 2011

The court gave reasons for making a parental order under the 2008 Act in favour of the applicants where a child had been born under surrogacy arrangements which were lawful in the Ukraine where he was born, but would have been unlawful here because of payments going beyond reasonable expenses.
Held: The order was made because it was clearly in the best interests of the child to do so. As to the making of an order under the Regulations as to the acquisition of British nationality under the Regulations, the practice has been first to give notice to the Home Office of the application. It need not always be the practice in these applications, because by necessity the Border Agency would normally have had some involvement already.

Hedley J
[2011] EWHC 921 (Fam), [2011] Fam Law 695, [2011] 2 FLR 646
Bailii
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 54, Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Parental Orders) Regulations 2010
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – In re X and Y (Foreign Surrogacy) FD 9-Dec-2008
The court considered the approval required for an order under the 2002 Act.
Held: Welfare considerations were important but not paramount: ‘Given the permanent nature of the order under s.30, it seems reasonable that the court should adopt the . .
Cited – Re W (A Minor) (Adoption: Non-Patrial) CA 1986
W was born in China to Chinese parents. His aunt came to Britain and acquired citizenship. He came to live with her while studying, and she applied to adopt him. The judge refused saying that the primary intention was to obtain citizenship.
Cited – In re L (A Minor) (Commercial Surrogacy) FD 8-Dec-2010
The child had been born in Illinois as a result of a commercial surrogacy arrangement which would have been unlawful here. The parents applied for a parental order under the 2008 Act.
Held: The order was made, but in doing so he court had to . .

Cited by:
Cited – A v P (Surrogacy: Parental Order: Death of Applicant) FD 8-Jul-2011
M applied for a parental order under the 2008 Act. The child had been born through a surrogacy arrangement in India, which was lawful there, but would have been unlawful here. The clinic could not guarantee a biological relationship with the child. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Health

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.439589

A v M (Family Proceedings: Publicity): FD 2000

In the course of a child residence and contact dispute, M made allegations against F of abuse against the child C. The allegations were investigated and substantially rejected. M passed private court materials to the press. F obtained an injunction against her, but she withdrew from the proceedings. F now sought an injunction against the media.
Held: The injunction should be granted. The court’s inherent jurisdiction to protect the well being of C. Though materials may be in the public domain, repetitions could still be hurtful and damaging to C. The need for the freedom of speech was to be balanced against the paramount importance given to C’s interests. In this case that balance was in favour of the injunction.

Charles J
[2000] 1 FLR 562
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Kelly (A Minor) v British Broadcasting Corporation FD 25-Jul-2000
K, aged 16, had left home to join what was said to be a religious sect. His whereabouts were unknown. He had been made a ward of court and the Official Solicitor was appointed to represent his interests. He had sent messages to say that he was well . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Children

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.445475

X County Council v DW and Others: FD 11 Feb 2005

The court was asked as to a point in the context of care proceedings as to the respective functions of the family court when exercising its jurisdiction under Part IV of the Children Act 1989 and of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal when hearing an appeal pursuant to section 326 of the 1996 Act.

Munby J
[2005] EWHC 162 (Fam)
Bailii
Children Act 1989, Education Act 1996 326
England and Wales

Children

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.381754

In re KR (Abduction: Forcible Removal by Parents): FD 1999

The court set out a form for use when inviting the cooperation in securing HM’s return to the jurisdiction of a child taken abroad by her parents for a forced marriage of the police authorities in this country and ‘respectfully requesting and inviting all judicial and administrative bodies and police authorities of the State of Israel to render assistance in establishing the whereabouts of HM and facilitating her return to the jurisdiction.’

Singer J
[1999] 2 FLR 542
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Quila and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 12-Oct-2011
Parties challenged the rule allowing the respondent to deny the right to enter or remain here to non EU citizens marrying a person settled and present here where either party was under the age of 21. The aim of the rule was to deter forced . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Family

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.450031

Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council v S and Another: FD 18 Oct 2004

An expert’s report was required for the purposes of care proceedings. The court ordered that the cost be paid as to half by the local authority, where there were three other parties. The authority appealed.
Held: The authority’s appeal was allowed. The proportionate basis, where the cost was divided equally between the four parties was to be preferred. The other three parties had the benefit of legal aid. There was no statutory guidance, but the following points arose: The court should seek a fair apportionment; the court should allow for whether the report was to go purely to satisfaction of the threshold condition; whether the expert was a treating expert rather than merely a forensic expert; and the fact that a party was publicly funded should not lead to a different position.

Bodey J
Times 18-Nov-2004, [2005] 1 FLR 751
Children Act 1989 38(9)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – In Re B (A Minor) (Sexual Abuse: Expert’s Report) CA 29-Mar-2000
In sexual abuse case brought in the family courts it was vital that instructions to an expert to prepare a report should be impartial, and given jointly by the parties. Such instructions should not allow the expert to make any forensic contribution . .

Cited by:
Applied – Lambeth London Borough Council v S and C and V and J and Legal Services Commission FD 3-May-2005
The council brought care proceedings. A residential assessment was to be ordered. The Council sought an order for the respondent mother who was legally aided to bear a portion of the cost of the assessment. The Legal Services Commission intervened . .
Endorsed – DS and Others (Children) FD 31-May-2012
The court gave guidance on legal aid arrangement for the funding of supporting expert evidence in care applications.
Held: The court gave the following guidance: ‘i) The words ‘the cost thereof is deemed to be a necessary and proper . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.220103

In re B, C, and D (Children): FD 5 Feb 2010

The issue and dilemma in this case is the balance between the private rights and welfare of certain adopted children and their adoptive families, and the right to freedom of expression of the children’s birth parents and the media.

Mr Justice Holman
[2010] EWHC 262 (Fam), [2010] 1 FLR 1708, [2010] Fam Law 594
Bailii
England and Wales

Children, Media

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.415937

Re S (A Child): FD 4 Jan 2010

The father applies to the court for a residence order.

His Honour Judge Clifford Bellamy,
Sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court
[2010] EWHC 192 (Fam), [2010] 1 FLR 1785, [2010] Fam Law 355
Bailii
England and Wales

Children

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.415936

W v W: FD 4 Mar 2010

Application under the Hague Convention for the return of 3 children to Southern Ireland.

The Honourable Mrs Justice Black
[2010] EWHC 332 (Fam), [2010] Fam Law 569, [2010] 2 FLR 1150
Bailii
England and Wales

Children, International

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.415944

Wells v Pickering: ChD 17 May 2002

The rules required a court, looking to enforce a charging order, to look to any other competing proprietary interests. The claimant suggested that this should include the welfare interests of any child occupying the property as his or her home.
Held: The welfare interests were not proprietary interests. The rules made no specific provision for such interests and the normal rules applied.

Mr David Oliver, QC
Times 04-Jun-2002, Gazette 27-Jun-2002
Rules of the Supreme Court Order 88, rule 5A(2)(f)
England and Wales

Land, Children, Litigation Practice

Updated: 11 December 2021; Ref: scu.172219

Axon, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Another: Admn 23 Jan 2006

A mother sought to challenge guidelines issued by the respondent which would allow doctors to protect the confidentiality of women under 16 who came to them for assistance even though the sexual activities they might engage in would be unlawful.
Held: A person under 16 who was otherwise competent was entitled to seek medical assistance, but a parent also had responsibility for her welfare. The court remained bound by the decision in Gillick, and indeed the subsequent adoption of the UN Convention would move the answer further in the direction of respecting a child’s wishes: ‘it would be wrong and not acceptable to retreat from Gillick and to impose greater duties on medical professionals to disclose information to parents of their younger patients.’ The claimant said that the direction infringed her rights to family life. The courts had recognised a move away from parental rights as such over children. There was no interference.
A doctor could provide medical advice and treatment provided that the child was capable properly of understanding all relevant matters, that the doctor tried to dissuade the child, that the child was likely to commence sexual activity whether or not assistance was given, and that the doctor felt it to be in her best interests for the advice and treatment to be given.

Silber J
[2006] EWHC 37 (Admin), Times 23-Jan-2006, [2006] 2 WLR 1130
Bailii
United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child, European Convention on Human Rights 8
England and Wales
Citing:
Binding – Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority and Department of Health and Social Security HL 17-Oct-1985
Lawfulness of Contraceptive advice for Girls
The claimant had young daughters. She challenged advice given to doctors by the second respondent allowing them to give contraceptive advice to girls under 16, and the right of the first defendant to act upon that advice. She objected that the . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) (‘Spycatcher’) HL 13-Oct-1988
Loss of Confidentiality Protection – public domain
A retired secret service employee sought to publish his memoirs from Australia. The British government sought to restrain publication there, and the defendants sought to report those proceedings, which would involve publication of the allegations . .
Cited – British American Tobacco UK Ltd and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health Admn 5-Nov-2004
The claimants challenged the validity of regulations restricting cigarette advertisements, saying that greater exceptions should have been allowed, and that the regulations infringed their commercial right of free speech.
Held: The Regulations . .
Cited – Vo v France ECHR 8-Jul-2004
Hudoc Preliminary objection rejected (ratione materiae, non-exhaustion of domestic remedies) ; No violation of Art. 2
A doctor by negligence had caused the termination of a pregnancy at the 20 to 24 weeks . .
Cited – Regina v Department of Health, Ex Parte Source Informatics Ltd CA 21-Dec-1999
Where information was given by a patient to the pharmacist, and he took the data, stripping out any possibility of the individual being identified, the duty of confidence which attached to the prescription was not breached by the passing on of the . .
Cited – Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd (MGN) (No 1) HL 6-May-2004
The claimant appealed against the denial of her claim that the defendant had infringed her right to respect for her private life. She was a model who had proclaimed publicly that she did not take drugs, but the defendant had published a story . .
Cited – Venables and Thompson v News Group Newspapers and others QBD 8-Jan-2001
Where it was necessary to protect life, an order could be made to protect the privacy of individuals, by disallowing publication of any material which might identify them. Two youths had been convicted of a notorious murder when they were ten, and . .
Cited – Yousef v The Netherlands ECHR 5-Nov-2002
In ‘judicial decisions where the rights under article 8 of parents and of a child are at stake, the child’s rights must be the paramount consideration.’ . .
Cited – Z v Finland ECHR 25-Feb-1997
A defendant had appealed against his conviction for manslaughter and related offences by deliberately subjecting women to the risk of being infected by him with HIV virus. The applicant, Z, had been married to the defendant, and infected by him with . .
Cited – Mabon v Mabon and others CA 26-May-2005
In the course of an action regarding their residence arrangements, the older children of the family sought an order to be allowed separate legal representation, and now appealed a refusal.
Held: The rights of freedom of expression and to . .
Cited – Hewer v Bryant CA 1969
The parental right to custody is: ‘a dwindling right which the courts will hesitate to enforce against the wishes of the child, and the more so the older he is. It starts with a right of control and ends with little more than advice.’
One . .
Cited – X v Netherlands ECHR 1974
(Comission) A child asserted her right to live where she pleased.
Held: The state has an obligation to provide for its children to live with their parents in normal circumstances: ‘As a general proposition, and in the absence of any special . .
Cited – Regina v Special Adjudicator ex parte Ullah; Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 17-Jun-2004
The applicants had had their requests for asylum refused. They complained that if they were removed from the UK, their article 3 rights would be infringed. If they were returned to Pakistan or Vietnam they would be persecuted for their religious . .
Cited – MS v Sweden ECHR 27-Aug-1997
Hudoc Sweden – communication, without the patient’s consent, of personal and confidential medical data by one public authority to another and lack of possibility for patient, prior to the measure, to challenge it . .
Cited – Nielsen v Denmark ECHR 28-Nov-1988
The applicant, a minor, complained about his committal to a child psychiatric ward of a state hospital at his mother’s request. The question was whether this was a deprivation of his liberty in violation of article 5. The applicant said that it was, . .
Cited – Kjeldsen, Busk, Madsen and Peddersen v Denmark ECHR 7-Dec-1976
The claimants challenged the provision of compulsory sex education in state primary schools.
Held: The parents’ philosophical and religious objections to sex education in state schools was rejected on the ground that they could send their . .
Cited – Handyside v The United Kingdom ECHR 7-Dec-1976
The appellant had published a ‘Little Red Schoolbook’. He was convicted under the 1959 and 1964 Acts on the basis that the book was obscene, it tending to deprave and corrupt its target audience, children. The book claimed that it was intended to . .
Cited – The Sunday Times (No 1) v The United Kingdom ECHR 26-Apr-1979
Offence must be ;in accordance with law’
The court considered the meaning of the need for an offence to be ‘in accordance with law.’ The applicants did not argue that the expression prescribed by law required legislation in every case, but contended that legislation was required only where . .
Cited – K v United Kingdom ECHR 1986
(Commission) The existence of family ties depends upon ‘the real existence in practice of close family ties.’ . .
Cited – Sporrong and Lonnroth v Sweden ECHR 18-Dec-1984
Balance of Interests in peaceful enjoyment claim
An interference with the peaceful enjoyment of possessions must strike a fair balance between the demands of the general interests of the community and the requirements of the protection of the individual’s fundamental rights. This balance is . .
Cited – Hendricks v Netherlands ECHR 1983
(Commission) In the context of article 8 the rights and freedoms of the child include his interests. ‘The Commission has consistently held that, in assessing the question of whether or not the refusal of the right of access to the non-custodial . .
Cited – Regina (Daly) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 23-May-2001
A prison policy requiring prisoners not to be present when their property was searched and their mail was examined was unlawful. The policy had been introduced after failures in search procedures where officers had been intimidated by the presence . .
Cited – Regina v Director of Public Prosecutions, ex parte Kebilene and others HL 28-Oct-1999
(Orse Kebeline) The DPP’s appeal succeeded. A decision by the DPP to authorise a prosecution could not be judicially reviewed unless dishonesty, bad faith, or some other exceptional circumstance could be shown. A suggestion that the offence for . .
Cited – De Freitas v The Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Lands and Housing and others PC 30-Jun-1998
(Antigua and Barbuda) The applicant was employed as a civil servant. He joined a demonstration alleging corruption in a minister. It was alleged he had infringed his duties as a civil servant, and he replied that the constitution allowed him to . .
Cited – Handyside v The United Kingdom ECHR 7-Dec-1976
The appellant had published a ‘Little Red Schoolbook’. He was convicted under the 1959 and 1964 Acts on the basis that the book was obscene, it tending to deprave and corrupt its target audience, children. The book claimed that it was intended to . .

Cited by:
Cited – TB, Regina (on the Application of) v The Combined Court at Stafford Admn 4-Jul-2006
The claimant was the child complainant in an allegation of sexual assault. The defendant requested her medical records, and she now complained that she had been unfairly pressured into releasing them.
Held: The confidentiality of a patient’s . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health Professions, Children, Human Rights

Leading Case

Updated: 11 December 2021; Ref: scu.237844

P v G: FD 30 Apr 2010

Application made by the plaintiff father, P, by way of an originating summons. He seeks an order that certain Children Act proceedings commenced by the defendant mother, G, should be stayed pursuant to s.5 of the Family Law Act 1986. The basis of his application is that the matters before the court should be heard in Scotland and not England.

Mrs Justice Eleanor King
[2010] EWHC 1311 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales

Jurisdiction, Children

Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.420700

Al-Hilli (Children), Re (Summary of Judgment): FD 26 Jul 2013

The Honourable Mr Justice Baker
[2013] EWHC 2299 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Summary – Al-Hilli (Children), Re FD 22-Jul-2013
The circumstances in which representatives of the media should be excluded from attending family proceedings. Reporting of the proceedings is restricted, but I am authorising publication of this judgment including the names of the children. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Media

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.513765

F v F: FD 7 Nov 2014

Application by a father for the summary return to Hungary of his three children, aged six, five and three. They were brought to England from Budapest by their English mother following the breakdown of their parents’ marriage. The mother claims that the father consented to the children’s permanent removal.

Peter Jackson J
[2014] EWHC 3971 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales

Children

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.547107

In re A (A Minor) (Care Proceedings): FD 2 Jan 1993

It was again argued that ‘likely’ meant more probable than not.
Held: The argument was not open to the appellants in the light of Newham London Borough Council.

Thorpe J
[1993] 1 FLR 824
Children Act 1989 31(2)(a)
England and Wales
Citing:
Applied – Newham London Borough Council v Attorney-General CA 1993
The court rejected an argument that ‘likely to suffer significant harm’ in the subsection was to be equated with ‘on the balance of probabilities’. . .

Cited by:
Cited – In re H and R (Minors) (Child Sexual Abuse: Standard of Proof) HL 14-Dec-1995
Evidence allowed – Care Application after Abuse
Children had made allegations of serious sexual abuse against their step-father. He was acquitted at trial, but the local authority went ahead with care proceedings. The parents appealed against a finding that a likely risk to the children had still . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.416040

In re D (a Child): FD 2006

The father sought the return of his son to Romania. The mother had brought him here without the father’s consent. The father said that a Romanian court had ordered his return, but the expert evidence as to the effect of the order was conflicting.
Held: The child was to be returned to Romania.

Hedley J
[2006] EWHC 609 (Fam)
Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985, Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – In re D (A Child) CA 25-May-2006
The mother had unlawfully brought her son here from Romania, and now appealed an order for his return.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. . .
At first instance – In re D (A Child), (Abduction: Rights of Custody) HL 16-Nov-2006
The child had been born to parents who married and later divorced in Romania. The mother brought him to England without the father’s consent, and now appealed an order for his return.
Held: The mother’s appeal succeeded. The Convention . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.246404

In re N (section 91(14) order): FD 1996

Hale J
[1996] 1 FLR 356
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – In re S (Permission to seek relief); In re E (Permission to seek relief) CA 18-Aug-2006
Each father appealed orders under the section restricting conditionally their right to make applications under the Act without permission.
Held: S91 orders must state their term, and the nature of the application to which it related, but must . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.245024

A Local Authority v K, D and L: FD 8 Mar 2005

The court gave guidance on the approach to expert evidence in children’s cases. Charles J said ”in determining the facts, a court should have regard to the guidance given in R v Lucas (Ruth) [1981] QB 720 and R v Middleton [2000] TLR 203. As appears therefrom, a conclusion that a person is lying or telling the truth about point A does not mean that he is lying or telling the truth about point B.’ and ‘it is important to remember: i) that the roles of the court and the expert are distinct, and ii) that it is the court that is in the position to weigh the expert evidence against its findings on the other evidence . . the judge must always remember that he or she is the person who makes the final decision’.

Charles J
[2005] Fam Law 450, [2005] EWHC 144 (Fam), [2005] 1 FLR 851
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
See Also – LM, Re (Reporting Restrictions; Coroner’s Inquest) FD 1-Aug-2007
A child had died. In earlier civil proceedings, the court had laid responsibility with the mother. Restrictions had been placed on the information which would effectively prevent the coroner conducting his inquest. The coroner sought a lifting of . .
Cited – Lancashire County Council v R (A Minor) and others FD 4-Dec-2008
The local authority sought a care order, alleging serious physical abuse of the child. The mother said that any injuries had been inflicted by the father. The father said that the cause was the mother.
Held: The injuries were not likely to . .
Cited – In re L (A Child: Media Reporting) FD 18-Apr-2011
The local authority had intervened on suspecting physical abuse. L was placed with the maternal grandmother who took L to Ireland before care proceedings were commenced. The Irish court found him to have been wrongfully removed, and orders were made . .
Cited – London Borough Council v K and Others FD 12-Apr-2010
The parents disputed contact for the children. The children then made allegations of very serious sex abuse against the father. A police investigation resulted in no action, it being said that the children had been coached to make false allegations . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.258513

In re AR (A Child: Relocation): FD 10 Jun 2010

Both parents had parental responsibility. The French mother wished to return to live in France and to take the five year old child with her, applying to court for the appropriate order.
Held: The court pointed to the real difficulties always in such applications, and traced the development of the case law from the introduction of shared residence orders in the 1989 Act. Mostyn J recounted criticisms of Payne v Payne insofar as it might be read to place too great an emphasis on any impact of a decision on the primary carer, and recognised the need to apply the 1989 Act. Following Payne in this case, he refused permission for the mother to take the child to France, and made a joint residence order.
Mostyn J said that the ideology exemplified in Payne v Payne; ‘has not been uncritically accepted. Indeed there is a strong view that the heavy emphasis on the emotional reaction of the thwarted primary carer represents an illegitimate gloss on the purity of the paramountcy principle. Moreover, some argue that it promotes selfishness and detracts from the importance of co-parenting. Some argue that on the birth of children parents are indentured to sacrifice throughout their minority, but that the one word that is missing from Payne is, in fact, sacrifice.’ and
‘Certainly the factor of the impact on the thwarted primary carer deserves its own berth and as such deserves its due weight, no more, no less. The problem with the attribution of great weight to this particular factor is that, paradoxically, it appears to penalise selflessness and virtue, while rewarding selfishness and uncontrolled emotions. The core question of the putative relocator is always ‘how would you react if leave were refused?’ The parent who stoically accepts that she would accept the decision, make the most of it, move on and work to promote contact with the other parent is far more likely to be refused leave than the parent who states that she will collapse emotionally and psychologically. This is the reverse of the Judgment of Solomon, where of course selflessness and sacrifice received their due reward.’

Mostyn J
[2010] EWHC 1346 (Fam), [2010] 2 FLR 1577, [2010] 3 FCR 131, [2010] Fam Law 932
Bailii
Children Act 1989
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Poel v Poel CA 1970
The mother of a child of two and a half had obtained a custody order with weekly access given to the father. She wished to emigrate with her new husband and the expected child of that marriage to New Zealand. She applied to remove the child . .
Cited – A v A (Children: Shared Residence Order) CA 3-Feb-1994
A shared residence order may be still made if it is needed, but it remains an unusual order. Connell J discussed the guidance given as to shared residence order
Butler-Sloss LJ said: ‘Miss Moulder, representing the father, accepts that the . .
Cited – Riley v Riley 1986
. .
Cited – In Re D v D (Children) (Shared Residence Orders) CA 20-Nov-2000
Three children, after their parents’ separation, spent substantial amounts of time with each, despite the acrimony between their parents and frequent court applications. The father argued that without a shared residence order he was treated as a . .
Cited – In Re G (Children) (Leave to Remove) CA 11-Dec-2007
An application was made with regard to the care arrangements for children. The parents were living in different countries.
Thorpe LJ stated: ‘ Accordingly, the only skeleton in support of the appellant’s notice is the skeleton settled by Mr . .
Cited – Re H (A Minor) (Shared Residence) CA 1-Dec-1992
The court considered the possibility of making a joint residence order. Purchas LJ said: ‘That such an order is open to the court, as has been said in the judgment of Cazalet J, is clear from the provisions of section 11(4) of the Children Act 1989, . .
Cited – In re H CA 19-May-2010
Wilson LJ considered a declaration on International Family Relocation from March 2010 in Washington and said: ‘In that the principal charge against our guidance, as it stands, is that it ascribes too great a significance to the effect on the child . .
Cited – In re D (Children); BD v AID CA 9-Feb-2010
The father sought leave to appeal against an order permitting the mother to remove the parties two sons from Wales to live in Slovakia. The judge had made a shared residence order. Wall LJ discussed the criticisms of Payne -v- Payne, saying: ‘There . .
Cited – In Re C (Abduction: Residence and Contact) FD 2006
Mostyn QC J considered the impact of Art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights on applications for residence and contact, saying: ‘On the facts of this case it is clear to me that supervised contact would only have been appropriate if there . .
Applied – Payne v Payne; P v P CA 13-Feb-2001
No presumption for Mother on Relocation
The mother applied for leave to return to New Zealand taking with the parties’ daughter aged four. The father opposed the move, saying that allowing the move would infringe his and the child’s right to family life. He had been refused residence.
Cited by:
Cited – NG v SG FD 9-Dec-2011
The court considered what to do when it was said that a party to ancillary relief proceedings on divorce had failed to make proper disclosure of his assets. H appealed against an award of a capital sum in such proceedimngs.
Held:
Held: . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.417780

Greater Manchester Chief Constable v KI and Another (Children) and others: FD 26 Jul 2007

Originating summons in the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court asking for an order granting permission to interview two young girls, represented by CAFCASS Legal. The third defendant is the children’s mother, NP. The local authority in which the children and their mother reside, Manchester City Council, has also been represented as an interested party. They have been directed to undertake an investigation of the children’s circumstances in accordance with section 37 of the Children Act 1989.

Ryder J
[2007] EWHC 1837 (Fam)
Bailii
Children Act 1989 37
England and Wales

Police, Children

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.258494

In re L (Care: Assessment: Fair Trial): FD 2002

The court set out precepts to be followed by courts in preparing for care proceedings so as to ensure that they did not infringe the rights of the family to respect for their family life under article 8.
Munby J said: ‘ . . it must never be forgotten that, with the state’s abandonment of the right to impose capital sentences, orders of the kind which judges of this Division are typically invited to make in public law proceedings are amongst the most drastic that any judge in any jurisdiction is ever empowered to make. It is a terrible thing to say to any parent – particularly, perhaps, to a mother – that he or she is to lose their child for ever.’

Munby J
[2002] 2 FLR 730
European Convention on Human Rights 8
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – NJ v Essex County Council and Another; In re J (Care: Assessment: Fair Trial); Re J (a child) (care proceedings: fair trial) CA 11-May-2006
The family complained that the local authority had, in assessing the need for a care order, failed to follow the guideliens set down in In Re L, leading to an infringement of their human rights.
Held: Neither in the lower court nor here had . .
Cited – Norfolk County Council v Webster and others FD 1-Nov-2006
The claimants wished to claim that they were victims of a miscarriage of justice in the way the Council had dealt with care proceedings. They sought that the proceedings should be reported without the children being identified.
Held: A judge . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Human Rights

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.242870

A Local Authority v MA and others; Re SA (Vulnerable Adult with Capacity: Marriage): FD 15 Dec 2005

Munby J discussed the court’s inherent powers to make orders to protect the welfare of a vulnerable adult: ‘It is elementary that the court exercises its powers by reference to the incompetent adult’s best interests . . The particular form of order will, naturally, depend upon the particular circumstances of the case.’ As to the development of the power: ‘New problems will generate new demands and produce new remedies’ and ‘Just as there are, in theory, no limits to the court’s powers when exercising the wardship jurisdiction I suspect that there are, in theory, few if any limits to the court’s powers when exercising the inherent jurisdiction in relation to adults.’
The jurisdiction ‘is, in substance and reality . . [and] for all practical purposes indistinguishable from its well-established parens patriae or wardship jurisdictions in relation to children’.

Munby J
[2005] EWHC 2942 (Fam), [2006] 1 FLR 867, [2007] 2 FCR 563, [2006] Fam Law 268, (2007) 10 CCL Rep 193
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – In re PS (an Adult), Re; City of Sunderland v PS by her litigation friend the Offcial Solcicitor and CA; Re PS (Incapacitated or Vulnerable Adult) FD 9-Mar-2007
The patient an elderly lady with limited mental capacity was to be returned from hospital, but her daughter said she was to come home. The local authority sought to prevent this, wanting to return her to a residential unit where she had lived for . .
Cited – G v E and Others CoP 26-Mar-2010
E Was born with and still suffered severe learning difficulties. The court was asked as to the extent of his capacity to make decisions, and as to where he should live, with a family member, the carer or with the local authority, which had removed . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health, Children, Litigation Practice

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.239293

CtL, CmL, TLP, ARP, MM and JB (Children) (Fact Finding: Protection From Sexual Harm), Re: FD 1 Mar 2013

The purpose of this three week hearing has been to consider whether and if so how the threshold criteria have been established in relation to the six subject children and also, insofar as possible, to make final welfare decisions.

Mrs Justice Pauffley
[2013] EWHC 2133 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales

Children

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.513754

Puttick v Attorney General etc: FD 1980

P, a former member of the Baader-Meinhof gang absconded while awaiting trial in Germany. She entered the UK using a passport which she had bought in the name of S, and married P under that name. The German authorities discovered her true identity and location, and applied to extradite her. She applied under section 6 of the 1948 Act. Section 6 gave an apparently unqualified right to any woman married to a United Kingdom citizen to be registered as a citizen of the United Kingdom. She sought a declaration that the marriage was a valid and subsisting marriage, as she had acquired a domicile of choice in England.
Held: Her leave to enter had been obtained by the fraudulent production of an invalid passport, and she was barred from acquiring a domicile of choice here. A fugitive from foreign justice will not acquire habitual residence in this jurisdiction simply by reliance on a temporal period during which the claimant has outwitted authority. Sir George Baker P cited Dicey and Morrs: ‘It has been held that a domicile of choice cannot be acquired by illegal residence. The reason for this rule is that a court cannot allow a person to acquire a domicile in defiance of the law which that court itself administers.’

Sir George Baker P
[1980] Fam 1, [1981] QB 767
British Nationality Act 1948 6
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Cannon v Cannon CA 19-Oct-2004
The mother had brought the child to the UK wrongfully. She had hidden their identity for more than a year. Upon discovering her, the father came to England and began proceedings for the child’s return to the US.
Held: Because the child’s . .
Cited – Mark v Mark HL 30-Jun-2005
The petitioner sought to divorce her husband. Both were Nigerian nationals, and had married under a valid polygamous marriage in Nigeria. She claimed that the courts had jurisdiction because of her habitual residence here despite the fact that her . .
Appeal from – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department Ex Parte Puttick CA 1981
The applicant, then Astrid Proll, fled bail in Germany when awaiting trial on terrorist charges, entered England and under a false name, and married Mr Puttick. She resisted extradition saying that under the 1948 Act she was now a British National. . .
Cited – Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd and Others SC 12-Jun-2013
In the course of ancillary relief proceedings in a divorce, questions arose regarding company assets owned by the husband. The court was asked as to the power of the court to order the transfer of assets owned entirely in the company’s names. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Immigration

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.219159

Al-Hilli (Children), Re: FD 22 Jul 2013

The circumstances in which representatives of the media should be excluded from attending family proceedings. Reporting of the proceedings is restricted, but I am authorising publication of this judgment including the names of the children.

The Honourable Mr Justice Baker
[2013] EWHC 2190 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Summary – Al-Hilli (Children), Re (Summary of Judgment) FD 26-Jul-2013
. .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Media

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.513766

M v JM: FD 14 Jun 2007

The father F sought the return to Greece of his two children. F had rights of custody, and for a time the children had been habitually resident in Greece. They disputed whether the return to England had been consensual.
Held: M had established by oral evidence that the return was consensual. The move to Greece had always been on the basis that she and the children might return at any time.

Sumner J
[2007] EWHC 1404 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Marinos v Marinos FD 3-Sep-2007
The court was asked as to points of both law and fact under Article 3 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2203, commonly known as Brussels II (revised). The greek father and english mother and their children had lived in Greece and England. W began . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children

Updated: 06 December 2021; Ref: scu.254468