Category: Children

Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority and Department of Health and Social Security: QBD 1984

The court refused an injunction and a declaration requested by the plaintiff against the respondents as to the possibiliity of contraceptive advice and treatment being offered to her daughters under 16 without the plaintiff’s express consent.
Woolf J
[1984] QB 581
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal From – Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority and Department of Health and Social Security CA 1985
The court granted to the claimant a declaration as to the unlawfulness of guidance to Health Authorities that it was possible to provide contraceptive advice and treatment to her daughters when under 16 and without her express consent. . .
At first instance – 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 . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.259911

Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority and Department of Health and Social Security: CA 1985

The court granted to the claimant a declaration as to the unlawfulness of guidance to Health Authorities that it was possible to provide contraceptive advice and treatment to her daughters when under 16 and without her express consent.
Eveleigh, Fox and Parker L.JJ
[1985] 2 WLR 413
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal From – Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority and Department of Health and Social Security QBD 1984
The court refused an injunction and a declaration requested by the plaintiff against the respondents as to the possibiliity of contraceptive advice and treatment being offered to her daughters under 16 without the plaintiff’s express consent. . .

Cited by:
Appeal from – 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 . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.259912

NHS Trust v Baby X and Others: FD 30 Jul 2012

Baby X suffered a catastrophic accident. The doctors now sought to remove him from life support which would lead inevitably to his death. The parents resisted saying that there were signs of responsiveness, that there had been an improvement and that removing the care would run contrary to their religious views.
Held: A declaration was granted: ‘the desire to preserve life as the proper starting point to which I add that X is very probably unaware of any burden in his continued existence. Against that, secondly, I have set both his unconsciousness or unawareness of self, others or surroundings and the evidence that any discernible improvement is an unrealistic aspiration. Thirdly, I have acknowledged his ability to continue for some time yet on ventilation but have balanced that with the risk of infection or other deterioration and the desire to avoid death in isolation from human contact. Fourthly, having accepted that treatment serves no purpose in terms of improvement and has no chance of effecting it, I have taken into account its persistent, intense and invasive nature. Fifthly, I have noted the treating consultant’s view that X shows no desire to live or capacity to struggle to survive which are the conventional marks of a sick child; although I think that observation as such is correct, I would not want that to have significant let alone decisive weight in this balance. ‘ X’s welfare requires his removal from ventilation on to palliative care.
A life from which others may recoil can yet be precious.
Hedley J
[2012] EWHC 2188 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v James and Others CA 1-Mar-2013
The patient had been found to lack capacity to litigate and make decisions as to his medical treatment. The Hospital appealed against rejection of its request for a declaration that it would be lawful to withhold treatment in the case of clinical . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.463345

Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney: SC 18 Jul 2018

On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The parents were allowed to visit the children subject to an agreement. On the expiry of the initial section 20 72-hour period, the family’s solicitors requested their return. The children were only returned after 7 weeks and the family complained of infringement of their right to family life, saying that the agreement signed was uninformed consent. They now appealed from the CA who decided that section 20 did not require active parental consent.
Held: The appeal failed.
‘although it is not a breach of section 20 to keep a child in accommodation for a long period without bringing care proceedings, it may well be a breach of other duties under the Act and Regulations or unreasonable in public law terms to do so. In some cases there may also be breaches of the child’s or the parents’ rights under article 8 of ECHR.’
and ‘ there are circumstances in which a real and voluntary delegation of the exercise of parental responsibility is required for a local authority to accommodate a child under section 20, albeit not in every case (see para 40 above). Parents with parental responsibility always have a qualified right to object and an unqualified right to remove their children at will (subject to any court orders about where the child is to live). Section 20 gives local authorities no compulsory powers over parents or their children and must not be used in such a way as to give the impression that it does. It is obviously good practice in every case that parents should be given clear and accurate information, both orally and in writing, both as to their own rights and as to the responsibilities of the local authority, before a child is accommodated under section 20 or as soon as practicable thereafter.’
Baroness Hale of Richmond PSC, Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, Lord Wilson, Lord Carnwath, Lady Black JJSC
[2018] UKSC 37, [2018] WLR(D) 454, [2018] 3 WLR 503, UKSC 2017/0037
Bailii, Bailii Summary, WLRD, SC, Bailii Summary, SC Summary Video, SC 14 Feb 2018 am Video, SC 14 Feb 2018 pm Video, SC 15 Feb 2018 am Video, SC 15 Feb 2018 pm Videos
Children Act 1989 20, Human Rights Act 1998 4, European Convention on Human Rights 8
England and Wales
Citing:
At CA – London Borough of Hackney v Williams and Another CA 26-Jan-2017
. .
At QBD – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney QBD 17-Sep-2015
Children had been removed from their parents under s20 of the 1989 Act, but then not returned after the expiry of the initial 72 hour period.
Held: The court dismissed the claims for negligence, misfeasance in public office and religious . .
Cited – G, Regina (on the Application of) v Nottingham City Council Admn 1-Feb-2008
The respondent authority had removed the child from the mother at birth but without first obtaining any court authority. The court had made a peremptory order for the return of the child. The court explained its actions.
Held: Neither social . .
Cited – Re N (Children : Adoption: Jurisdiction) CA 2-Nov-2015
Appeal against care and placement order proceedings in relation to two Hungarian children, The orders were for the transfer of the case to Hungary.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. As to Article 15, the Court considered: What are the . .
Cited – In re W (Children) CA 25-Jul-2014
Appeal against an order made after an agreement within the family that the children should live with the paternal grandmother.
Orse In re W (Parental Agreement with Local Authority)
The mother had placed her three children with their . .
Cited – Re CA (A Baby) FD 30-Jul-2012
Orse Coventry City Council v C, B, CA and CH
This concerned the removal of a baby from her mother on the day of her birth, but the mother, having at first refused to do so, had given her consent to the baby being accommodated. The local . .
Cited – Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council v Others (Re B) CA 30-Jul-2013
The court was asked as to local authority funding in relation to a child, K, who was born in November 2011.
Black LJ explained: ‘I raised the question during the appeal hearing as to whether a parent who is inadequate is in fact ‘willing and . .
Cited – Herefordshire Council v AB FC 1-Feb-2018
. .
Cited – Medway Council v M and T (By Her Children’s Guardian) FC 13-Oct-2015
A child (aged five) was placed in emergency foster care after his mother was detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act. The mother was then too unwell to discuss section 20. The local authority thought that there was no need to issue care . .
Cited – In re H (A Child – Breach of Convention Rights – Damages) FC 29-Oct-2014
A new born baby was placed with foster carers on discharge from hospital. Both parents had learning difficulties and agreed to the baby being placed with a particular couple. At that stage the local authority considered this an informal arrangement . .
Cited – Northamptonshire County Council v AS and Others FD 30-Jan-2015
The mother agreed to the accommodation of her two-week-old baby and care proceedings were issued nearly four months later. The local authority accepted that they had acted in breach of the rights of both mother and child under article 6 and 8, . .
Cited – Re AS (Unlawful Removal of A Child) FC 7-Aug-2015
The case concerned a boy aged eight at the material time, both of whose parents had severe mental health problems. Very shortly after he had been returned to his mother’s care when she came out of hospital, she suffered a relapse and called an . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.620141

In re H (A Child – Breach of Convention Rights – Damages): FC 29 Oct 2014

A new born baby was placed with foster carers on discharge from hospital. Both parents had learning difficulties and agreed to the baby being placed with a particular couple. At that stage the local authority considered this an informal arrangement rather than section 20 accommodation. Only five months later did they decide to seek the parents’ retrospective consent to section 20 accommodation. Care proceedings were not issued until the child was nearly a year old. The local authority accepted that they had breached the rights of both parents under articles 6 and 8 of the ECHR in a variety of ways – mainly by failing to involve them properly in the decision-making process, by seeking consent in the way that they did, by placing insufficient weight on the parents’ clearly expressed wish to care for the child, and by delaying both the assessment of the parents and the issue of proceedings.
Clifford Bellamy HHJ
[2014] EWFC 38
Bailii
Children Act 1989 20
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.538181

Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney: QBD 17 Sep 2015

Children had been removed from their parents under s20 of the 1989 Act, but then not returned after the expiry of the initial 72 hour period.
Held: The court dismissed the claims for negligence, misfeasance in public office and religious discrimination, but upheld the claim for breach of the parents’ Convention rights on the ground that the Council’s interference in the family life of the parents and their children was not ‘in accordance with the law’ because there was no lawful basis for the accommodation of the children. He awarded each of the parents pounds 10,000 damages:
Sir Robert Francis QC
[2015] EWHC 2629 (QB), [2015] CN 1515, [2015] All ER (D) 99 (Sep)
Bailii
Children Act 1989 20
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – London Borough of Hackney v Williams and Another CA 26-Jan-2017
. .
At QBD – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.552432

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council v Others (Re B): CA 30 Jul 2013

The court was asked as to local authority funding in relation to a child, K, who was born in November 2011.
Black LJ explained: ‘I raised the question during the appeal hearing as to whether a parent who is inadequate is in fact ‘willing and able to . . provide accommodation’ but it did not excite much argument. That is explained, I think, by there being a common understanding that where parents in fact object to a local authority providing accommodation, a local authority will have to have recourse to care proceedings if they seek to accommodate a child and any debate as to whether the parents are ‘able’ to provide accommodation is to be had in that context, not in the context of section 20.’
(Orse In re B (Looked After Child))
Richards, Leveson, Black LJJ
[2013] EWCA Civ 964, [2013] Fam Law 1382, [2014] 1 FLR 277
Bailii
Children Act 1989 20
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.514247

Gogay v Hertfordshire County Council: CA 26 Jul 2000

The employee sought damages for breach of the implied term of trust and confidence, even though she remained throughout the employment of the Council against whom she was bringing proceedings.
Held: Her remaining in employment was a factor which was irrelevant to the question of whether there had been a breach of the implied term.
It should not be automatic that a care worker in a children’s home being investigated for allegations of child abuse must be suspended. Such a suspension involved different issues to those in the enquiry itself. Characterisation of the enquiries under section 47 had not helped in this case. The ‘knee jerk’ reaction of suspension in this case amounted to a breach of the employer’s duty of trust and confidence toward the employee. Such a suspension which led to damages could be compensated in damages, although the law was in need of clarification. The duty in this case was in contract, rather than in tort, but there is more reason to distinguish between physical and psychiatric injury in this case than in other breaches of an employer’s duties: ‘There is all the difference in the world between hurt, upset and injury to feelings, for which in general the law does not provide compensation whether in contract or (with certain well-defined exceptions) in tort, and a recognised psychiatric illness.’
Hale LJ, Peter Gibson LJ, May LJ
Times 03-Oct-2000, Gazette 28-Sep-2000, [2000] EWCA Civ 228, [2000] IRLR 703, (2001) 3 LGLR 14, [2000] Fam Law 883, [2001] 1 FCR 455, [2001] 1 FLR 280
Bailii
Children Act 1989 47
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Bliss v South East Thames Regional Health Authority CA 1985
General damages cannot be awarded for frustration, mental distress or injured feelings arising from an employer’s breach of the implied term of confidence and trust. Dillon LJ said that damages for mental distress in contract are limited to certain . .
Cited – Page v Smith HL 12-May-1995
The plaintiff was driving his car when the defendant turned into his path. Both cars suffered considerable damage but the drivers escaped physical injury. The Plaintiff had a pre-existing chronic fatigue syndrome, which manifested itself from time . .
Leave application – Gogay v Hertfordshire County Council CA 26-Jul-1999
Application for leave to appeal – granted. . .
Cited – Walker v Northumberland County Council QBD 16-Nov-1994
The plaintiff was a manager within the social services department. He suffered a mental breakdown in 1986, and had four months off work. His employers had refused to provide the increased support he requested. He had returned to work, but again, did . .

Cited by:
Cited – McCabe v Cornwall County Council, The Governing Body of Mounts Bay School CA 23-Dec-2002
The claimant sought damages for the consequences of having been suspended from work as a teacher. He later recovered damages for unfair dismissal, and the court had struck out his claim for damages over and above those already awarded.
Held: . .
Cited – Dunnachie v Kingston Upon Hull City Council; Williams v Southampton Institute; Dawson v Stonham Housing Association EAT 8-Apr-2003
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Compensation
In each case, The employee sought additional damages for non-economic loss after an unfair dismissal.
Held: The Act could be compared with the Discrimination Acts . .
Cited – Eastwood and another v Magnox Electric plc; McCabe v Cornwall County Council and others HL 15-Jul-2004
The first claimants were long standing employees. Mr Eastwood fell out with his manager, who disciplined him using false statements. When Williams refused to provide a false statement he too was disciplined. Each claimed damages for the injury to . .
Cited – GAB Robins (UK) Ltd v Triggs CA 30-Jan-2008
The claimant had been awarded damages for unfair constructive dismissal. The employer appealed an award of damages for the period prior to the acceptance by the employee of the repudiatory breach.
Held: Where a claimant’s losses arose before . .
Cited – Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust SC 14-Dec-2011
The claimant had been employed as consultant surgeon. He had been dismissed in a manner inconsistent with the extress terms of his employment contract. He sought common law damages for the manner of his dismissal. The employer appealed.
Held: . .
Cited – Meikle v Nottinghamshire County Council EAT 19-Aug-2003
EAT Disability Discrimination – Less favourable treatment. The appellant brought proceedings against the Respondents alleging that they had failed to make adjustments to her workplace and conditions so as to . .
Cited – James-Bowen and Others v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis SC 25-Jul-2018
The Court was asked whether the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (‘the Commissioner’) owes a duty to her officers, in the conduct of proceedings against her based on their alleged misconduct, to take reasonable care to protect them from . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.147261

Re AS (Unlawful Removal of A Child): FC 7 Aug 2015

The case concerned a boy aged eight at the material time, both of whose parents had severe mental health problems. Very shortly after he had been returned to his mother’s care when she came out of hospital, she suffered a relapse and called an ambulance, leaving the child with a neighbour. A social worker was called and decided that neither the neighbour nor the paternal grandparents were suitable and so the child should be accommodated. The following day the mother was compulsorily admitted (‘sectioned’) under section 2 of the Mental Health Act 1983. There were doubts about her capacity, which fluctuated, and her consent to the accommodation was never obtained. Care proceedings were not issued until a month later. Judge Rowe QC cited the requirement in both the G and the Coventry cases that, in the absence of parental agreement, a child could only be removed under an interim care order, emergency protection order or into police protection. She commented, at para 29:
‘Section 20(1)(c) contains no requirement for the threshold criteria under section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 to be satisfied on any basis, even reasonable cause. If [counsel] were correct, then a local authority could, on its own assessment of whether a parent was prevented from ‘providing a child with suitable care’, remove that child without any reference at all to the threshold criteria. The parents would have no forum in which to contest that assessment, and there is no application open to them under the provisions of the 1989 Act to challenge the local authority and seek the return of their child. The child would have no children’s guardian. There would be no parameters for the position after removal, there would be no requirement for the local authority to apply to court and there would be no time limit on the duration of the removal. In short there would be no safeguards to mirror those that are expressly included in sections 38, 44 and 46. It would seem perverse if a local authority could more easily remove children from their parents in cases where the threshold criteria were not necessarily met than in cases where there were reasonable grounds to conclude that they were met.’
Damages of pounds 3,000 were awarded to the mother on the ground, as in this case, that the removal was not ‘in accordance with the law’.
HHJ Rowe QC
[2015] EWFC B150
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.553948

London Borough of Hackney v Williams and Another: CA 26 Jan 2017

Sir Brian Leveson P QBD, McFarlane, Burnett LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 26, [2017] 2 FLR 1216, [2017] WLR(D) 44, [2017] 3 WLR 59, [2019] AC 421, [2017] 2 FLR 1216
Bailii, WLRD
Children Act 1989 20
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney QBD 17-Sep-2015
Children had been removed from their parents under s20 of the 1989 Act, but then not returned after the expiry of the initial 72 hour period.
Held: The court dismissed the claims for negligence, misfeasance in public office and religious . .

Cited by:
At CA – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.573612

Medway Council v M and T (By Her Children’s Guardian): FC 13 Oct 2015

A child (aged five) was placed in emergency foster care after his mother was detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act. The mother was then too unwell to discuss section 20. The local authority thought that there was no need to issue care proceedings as there was no-one to exercise parental responsibility and the mother was not requesting the child’s return. Consent was eventually obtained six months later after the mother had left hospital but there were doubts about whether it had been validly obtained. Care proceedings were not issued until the child had been accommodated for more than two years.
Held: Rejecting the argument that the accommodation was lawful, Judge Lazarus commented: ‘It cannot have been intended by Parliament that ‘provision for accommodation’ under section 20 would have given powers to a local authority that would avoid and subvert those careful provisions of Parts IV and V of the Children Act 1989 that safeguard families from unregulated unilateral actions of local authorities that interfere with their family life.’
Damages of pounds 20,000 were awarded both to the mother and to the child.
HHJ Lazarus
[2015] EWFC B164
Bailii
Children Act 1989 20
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.553958

In re W (Children): CA 25 Jul 2014

Appeal against an order made after an agreement within the family that the children should live with the paternal grandmother.
Orse In re W (Parental Agreement with Local Authority)
The mother had placed her three children with their paternal grandmother in response to local authority concerns which the authority indicated might otherwise lead to care proceedings. A written ‘agreement’ was made between the local authority, the mother and the grandmother ‘to ensure that [the mother] agrees for the children to remain in the care of [the paternal grandmother] whilst further assessments are completed’. Thereafter the authority decided what contact the mother might have with the children but no further assessments were completed. The mother asked for her children back and, when this was refused, applied for a residence order. The trial judge refused an adjournment in order for the mother to be properly assessed and made a residence order in favour of the grandmother.
Held: The mother’s appeal was allowed on the ground that the judge should have directed an assessment.
Munby P expressed his considerable concern that the local authority had treated the ‘agreement’ as authorising them to control the mother and her children without bringing care proceedings or undertaking the obligations entailed in section 20 accommodation – indeed nobody knew whether the authority did or (more probably) did not regard themselves as accommodating the children under section 20.
Tomlinson LJ entertained ‘grave reservations about the manner in which section 20 has here been used, if it has’. The ‘agreement’, which began by proclaiming that it was not a legal agreement but then said that it might be used in court as evidence if needed, was in his view ‘almost comical in the manner in which it apparently proclaims that it has been entered into under something approaching duress’
Sir James Munby P FD, Black, Tomlinson LJJ
[2014] EWCA Civ 1065, [2015] 1 FLR 949
Bailii
Children Act 1989 20
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.535291

Herefordshire Council v AB: FC 1 Feb 2018

Keehan J
[2018] 2 FLR 784, [2018] EWFC 10
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.606353

Northamptonshire County Council v AS and Others: FD 30 Jan 2015

The mother agreed to the accommodation of her two-week-old baby and care proceedings were issued nearly four months later. The local authority accepted that they had acted in breach of the rights of both mother and child under article 6 and 8, largely because of the delays both before and after proceedings were issued, which were seriously prejudicial to the child’s welfare and the ability of both to enjoy family life with members of the family – the child was eventually placed with the maternal grandmother in Latvia. Damages were agreed of pounds 12,000 to the child and pounds 4,000 to the mother and a payment of pounds 1,000 was made to the grandmother.
Keehan J
[2015] EWHC 199 (Fam)
Bailii
Children Act 1989 20
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.542315

G, Regina (on the Application of) v Nottingham City Council: Admn 1 Feb 2008

The respondent authority had removed the child from the mother at birth but without first obtaining any court authority. The court had made a peremptory order for the return of the child. The court explained its actions.
Held: Neither social services nor health workers have power to remove a chid without a court order unless to protect against immediate violence. That power is reserved to police officers in restricted circumstances.
Munby J said: ‘The law is perfectly clear but perhaps requires re-emphasis. Whatever the impression a casual reader might gain from reading some newspaper reports, no local authority and no social worker has any power to remove a child from its parent or, without the agreement of the parent, to take a child into care, unless they have first obtained an order from a family court authorising that step . . ‘ There were two qualifications to this. First, a social worker, or indeed anyone else could intervene where necessary to protect a baby from immediate violence at the hands of a parent, not because of any special power or privilege, but because anyone was entitled to intervene in order to prevent an actual or threatened criminal assault. Second, section 3(5) of the 1989 Act allows a person actually caring for a child to do what is reasonable for the purpose of safeguarding or promoting the child’s welfare, for example, when medical intervention is urgently needed.
Munby J
[2008] EWHC 152 (Admin), [2008] 1 FLR 1660
Bailii
Children (Leaving Care) (England) Regulations 2001 8, Children Act 1989 3(5)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – In re M (Care Proceedings: Judicial Review); In the matter of unborn baby M R; X and Y, Regina (on the Application of) v Gloucestershire County Council Admn 15-Apr-2003
Munby J said: ‘If a baby is to be removed from its mother, one would normally expect arrangements to be made by the local authority to facilitate contact on a regular basis . . Those arrangements must be driven by the needs of the family, not . .
Cited – Regina (J) v Caerphilly County Borough Council QBD 12-Apr-2005
The claimant sought a declaration that the council had failed in its duty to provide him with an independent personal adviser. The council had appointed the same person to act as his personal adviser and also to prepare the statutory assessment and . .
Cited – Regina v Felixstowe Justices ex parte Leigh CA 1987
felixstowejj_leighCA1987
The court considered the importance of the role played by the media in attending and reporting court proceedings. Watkins LJ said: ‘The role of the journalist and his importance for the public interest in the administration of justice has been . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for The Home Department Ex Parte Simms HL 8-Jul-1999
Ban on Prisoners talking to Journalists unlawful
The two prisoners, serving life sentences for murder, had had their appeals rejected. They continued to protest innocence, and sought to bring their campaigns to public attention through the press, having oral interviews with journalists without . .
Cited – Norfolk County Council v Webster and others FD 17-Nov-2006
There had been care proceedings following allegations of physical child abuse. There had been a residential assessment. The professionals accepted the parents’ commitment to their son, but also found that they were unreliable. It was recommended . .

Cited by:
Cited – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.264130

Re CA (A Baby): FD 30 Jul 2012

Orse Coventry City Council v C, B, CA and CH
This concerned the removal of a baby from her mother on the day of her birth, but the mother, having at first refused to do so, had given her consent to the baby being accommodated. The local authority accepted that they should not have sought her consent so soon after the birth, when she had not only undergone surgery but also been given morphine. They therefore conceded that they had acted in breach of her article 8 rights, in that removing the baby was not only unlawful but also not a proportionate response to the risks as they were at that time. In the course of a judgment which approved the settlement of that claim, Hedley J gave detailed guidance about the use of section 20 agreements, guidance which had been seen and presumably approved by Sir James Munby P.
Hedley J emphasised three points: (i) that the use of section 20 ‘must not be compulsion in disguise’; (ii) that ‘In order for such an agreement to be lawful, the parent must have the requisite capacity to make that agreement’; and (iii) ‘even where there is capacity, it is essential that any consent so obtained is properly informed and, at least where it results in detriment to the giver’s personal interest, is fairly obtained’
Hedley J
[2012] EWHC 2190 (Fam), [2013] 1 FCR 54, [2012] Fam Law 1316, [2013] 2 FLR 987
Bailii
Children Act 1989 20
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.463343

Rinau (Area of Freedom, Security and Justice): ECJ 11 Jul 2008

Europa Judicial co-operation in civil matters Jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments Enforcement in matrimonial matters and matters of parental responsibility Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 Application for non-recognition of a decision requiring the return of a child wrongfully retained in another Member State Urgent preliminary ruling procedure
C-195/08, [2008] EUECJ C-195/08, [2009] 2 WLR 972, [2008] All ER (EC) 1145, [2009] Fam 51, ECLI:EU:C:2008:406, [2008] Fam Law 1080, [2008] 3 FCR 370, [2008] ILPr 51, [2008] 2 FLR 1495
Bailii
European

Updated: 06 August 2021; Ref: scu.270885

Regina v Cambridge and Huntingdonshire Health Authority Ex Parte B (No 2): CA 27 Oct 1995

A child’s anonymity could removed, where publicity could generate cash for required treatment.
Times 27-Oct-1995
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Regina v Cambridge and Huntingdon Health Committee Ex Parte B CA 10-Mar-1995
A decision by a Health Authority to withhold treatment for a patient could be properly so made. It was not ordinarily to be a matter for lawyers. A Health Authority’s withholding of treatment, which might not be in a child’s simple best interests . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 August 2021; Ref: scu.86274

Bell and Another v The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust: Admn 1 Dec 2020

Claim for judicial review of the practice of the defendant through its Gender Identity Development Service and the first and second Interveners (the Trusts) of prescribing puberty-suppressing drugs to persons under the age of 18 who experience gender dysphoria.
Dame Victoria Sharp P., Lord Justice Lewis, Lieven J.
[2020] EWHC 3274 (Admin), [2020] WLR(D) 655, [2021] PTSR 593
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales

Updated: 05 August 2021; Ref: scu.656781

W (Children), Re; SW and KSW v Portsmouth City Council and ISW, AJW, EDW; Re W (children: concurrent care and criminal proceedings): CA 1 Jul 2009

Thorpe, Wall, Elias LJJ
[2009] EWCA Civ 644, [2009] 2 Cr App R 23, [2009] Fam Law 795, [2009] 3 FCR 1, [2009] 2 FLR 1106
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – In re W (Children) (Family proceedings: Evidence) (Abuse: Oral Evidence) SC 3-Mar-2010
The court considered the approach to be taken when considering whether to order a child’s attendance at court in care proceedings. It was argued that the starting point of assuming that a child should not attend, failed to respect the human right to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 04 August 2021; Ref: scu.347300

Leeds City Council v YX (Assessment of sexual abuse): FD 14 Mar 2008

Holman J
[2008] 2 FLR 869, [2008] EWHC 802 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
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.
Updated: 03 August 2021; Ref: scu.267144

GB v RNB: FD 27 Feb 2013

M’s appeal from registration here of order from Romania awarding care of child to F.
Mr Justice Peter Jackson
[2013] EWHC 414 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales

Updated: 04 August 2021; Ref: scu.471692

Re T (A Child): SC 30 Jul 2021

This appeal concerns a particular aspect of the use of the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court to authorise a local authority to deprive a child of his or her liberty.
Lady Black, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lady Arden, Lord Hamblen, Lord Stephens
[2021] UKSC 35
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Re T (A Child) CA 4-Oct-2018
. .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 31 July 2021; Ref: scu.666312

A v United Kingdom: ECHR 1 Oct 1998

The beating of a child aged 9, by his father, with a cane repeatedly, and so as to leave bruising, was inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and was not capable of being reasonable chastisement. UK law failed properly to protect the child’s human rights. Articles 1 and 3 of the Convention, together, impose a positive obligation on the state to make provision through the criminal law for the protection of children and other vulnerable people against abuse that amounts to torture, inhuman or degrading treatment. Ill-treatment must attain a minimum level of severity if it is to fall within the scope of the expression ‘inhuman or degrading treatment’.
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 3; Not necessary to examine Art. 8; Not necessary to examine Art. 13; Not necessary to examine Art. 14; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings
Times 01-Oct-1998, (1999) 27 EHRR 611, [1998] ECHR 85, 25599/94, [2009] ECHR 1690
Bailii, Bailii, Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights Art 3
Human Rights
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Ashworth Hospital Authority (Now Mersey Care National Health Service Trust) ex parte Munjaz HL 13-Oct-2005
The claimant was detained in a secure Mental Hospital. He complained at the seclusions policy applied by the hospital, saying that it departed from the Guidance issued for such policies by the Secretary of State under the Act.
Held: The House . .
Cited – Adam, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Limbuela v Same; Tesema v Same HL 3-Nov-2005
The applicants had each entered the UK with a view to seeking asylum, but having failed to seek asylum immediately, they had been refused any assistance, were not allowed to work and so had been left destitute. Each had claimed asylum on the day . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 30 July 2021; Ref: scu.77589

Smallwood v United Kingdom: ECHR 21 Oct 1998

(Commission – Admissibility) The difference in treatment between mothers, married and unmarried fathers in the context of the jurisdiction of the court to make an order which removes an unmarried father’s parental responsibility is not a violation of article 8 ECHR [the Convention] taken in conjunction with article 14.
Pellonpaa, P
29779/96
ECHR
European Convention on Human Rights 8 14
Human Rights
Cited by:
Cited – Re D (A Child) CA 26-Mar-2014
F appealed against the removal of his parental responsibility for his son. M and F were not married, but F had been named on the birth certificate. He had later been convicted of sexual assaults against two daughters of M by an earlier relationship. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 29 July 2021; Ref: scu.523340

TG, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Lambeth: CA 6 May 2011

The claimant appealed against an order finding him not to be a ‘former relevant child’ and owed duties under the 1989 Act by the respondent.
Lord Neuberger MR, Wilson, Toulson LJJ
[2011] EWCA Civ 526, (2011) 14 CCL Rep 366, [2011] 4 All ER 453, [2011] 2 FCR 443, [2011] HLR 33, [2012] PTSR 364, [2011] Fam Law 808
Bailii
Children Act 1989 23C(1)
England and Wales

Updated: 28 July 2021; Ref: scu.434847

In The Petition of The Christian Institute and Others for Judicial Review of The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014: SCS 22 Jan 2015

The claimants challenged the 2014 Act saying that in appointing a nominated professional individual for every child, the human rights of the family had been disproportionately interfered with.
[2015] ScotCS CSOH – 7
Bailii
Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014
Scotland
Cited by:
Appeal from – The Christian Institute, Family Education Trust and similar, Mcintosh and Thomas v The Scottish Minister SCS 3-Sep-2015
(Second Division, Inner House) The petitioning charities challenged the validity of the 2014 Act saying that it was an unwarranted intrusion on the private lives of families in Scotland. . .
At Outer House – The Christian Institute and Others v The Lord Advocate SC 28-Jul-2016
(Scotland) By the 2014 Act, the Scottish Parliament had provided that each child should have a named person to monitor that child’s needs, with information about him or her shared as necessary. The Institute objected that the imposed obligation to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 26 July 2021; Ref: scu.541993

In re F (a Minor) (Wardship: Appeal): CA 1976

Bridge LJ said: ‘The judge was exercising a discretion. He saw and heard the witnesses. It is impossible to say that he considered any irrelevant matter, erred in law or applied any wrong principle. On the view I take, his error was in the balancing exercise.
He either gave too little weight to the factors favourable, or too much weight to the factors adverse to the father’s claim that he should retain care and control . .
If in any discretion case concerning children the appellate court can clearly detect that a conclusion, which is neither dependent on nor justified by the trial judge’s advantage in seeing and hearing witnesses, is vitiated by an error in the balancing exercise, I should be very reluctant to hold that it is powerless to interfere.’
Bridge LJ
[1976] Fam 238
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – In Re P (Minors) (Contact) CA 15-May-1996
The father appealed an order refusing him direct contact with the child. The judge had made the order because he considered that the mother’s hostility to contact made it likely that her health would suffer if contact was ordered, and that the . .
Cited – G v G (Minors: Custody Appeal) HL 25-Apr-1985
The House asked when a decision, on the facts, of a first instance court is so wrong as to allow it to be overturned on appeal.
Held: The epithet ‘wrong’ is to be applied to the substance of the decision made by the lower court. ‘Certainly it . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 25 July 2021; Ref: scu.241339

In re D (A Minor); D v Berkshire County Council: HL 1986

A baby was taken into care suffering from drug withdrawal symptoms from birth. On a literal reading of the phrase, ‘baby’s heath is being impaired’, the statutory test could never be met on the particular facts of the case.
Held: The phrase applied to the continuous period from birth and was continuing at the time the Order was made. The Order was valid.
Lord Brandon analysed the statute, which provided for a place of safety order, an interim order and, finally, a full care order, saying: ‘With regard to the second question relating to the expression ‘is being’, it is in my opinion necessary to have in mind the purpose sought to be achieved not only by Section 1 but also by Section 28 of the 1969 Act. The effect of Section 28, when combined with that of Section 1, is to create a process for the protection of children which may often include three separate but connected stages . . Against the background of these three possible stages . . it is, in my view, clear that the Court, in considering whether a continuing situation . . exists, must do so at the point of time immediately before the process of protecting the child concerned is first put into motion. To consider that matter at a point of time when the child has been placed under protection for several weeks . . would . . defeat the purpose of Parliament.’
Lord Brandon
[1987] AC 317, [1987] 1 All ER 20, [1986] 3 WLR 1080, (1986) 151 JP 313, (1986) 85 LGR 169, [1987] Fam Law 202
Children and Young Persons Act 1969
England and Wales
Cited by:
Applied – Re M (A Minor) (Care Orders: Threshold Conditions) HL 7-Jun-1994
The father had been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of the child’s mother. Application was made for the child to be made subject to a care order. The father appealed refusal of an order.
Held: When an application was made on the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 25 July 2021; Ref: scu.182987

Woolfe, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Islington: Admn 15 Jul 2016

The claimant sought judicial review against Islington under three discrete heads of claim that (1) an aspect of Islington’s scheme is unlawful in that it prevents applicants to whom reasonable preference must be given, but who have fewer than 120 points, from bidding at all for available properties; (2) additionally or alternatively, that points threshold for bidding is unlawful, being in breach of section 11 of the Children Act 2004; and (3) in relation to herself, Islington in any event misapplied their own policy and failed to award her the 90 ‘New Generation’ points to which she says she is entitled under Islington’s own policy and scheme.
Holman J
[2016] EWHC 1907 (Admin)
Bailii
Children Act 2004 11
England and Wales

Updated: 24 July 2021; Ref: scu.567657

Lachaux v Lachaux: FD 2 Mar 2017

Mostyn J
[2017] EWHC 385 (Fam), [2017] 4 WLR 57, [2017] 2 FCR 678, [2017] WLR(D) 171, [2018] 1 FLR 380
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Duhur-Johnson v Duhur-Johnson FD 3-May-2005
The husband sought to stay divorce proceedings commenced here by his wife, saying that they had already been divorced in Nigeria. The wife said the Nigerian proceedings should not be recognised in English law.
Held: The cases established: 1) . .

Cited by:
Cited – Radseresht v Radseresht-Spain FD 13-Oct-2017
Applications by H for declarations that a divorce granted in 2009 in Dubai is entitled to recognition in England and Wales under s.45 of the 1986 Act, and of status under s.55 of the Act, and going with that his application to strike out the prayer . .
Appeal from – Lachaux v Lachaux CA 1-May-2019
Recognition of an overseas divorce, and whether UK court had jurisdiction. . .
Cited – Hijazi v Yaxley-Lennon (Orse Tommy Robinson) QBD 22-Jul-2021
No Valid Evidence to Support Serious Accusations
The claimant was filmed being assaulted in the school playground. The film was published on the internet, and the defendant right wing politician re-published it, but falsely said that the claimant had himself been violent.
Held: The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 23 July 2021; Ref: scu.579929

W (A Minor), Regina (on The Application of) v Leeds Crown Court: Admn 28 Jul 2011

The Claimant aged 14 appeared before the Magistrates’ Court with a 20 year old Co-Defendant. The Magistrates declined jurisdiction in his case and the Claimant indicated Not Guilty pleas. The Magistrates concluded that it was in the interest of justice for the Claimant to be committed alongside the adult under Section 24(1)(b) of the Magistrates Courts Act 1990 and both Defendants were therefore committed under Section 6 (2) of the 1980 Act to the Crown Court. In the Crown Court the adult Defendant pleaded guilty and his case was accordingly adjourned for sentence. The Claimant pleaded not guilty and it was submitted on his behalf that as the effective link with the adult had been broken, his case should be remitted to the Youth Court for trial. The Crown Court Judge concluded he had no power to do so. He now sought judicial review.
Held: Youth Courts are a specialist subset of the Magistrates Court and a Court of Summary Jurisdiction constituted in accordance with section 4 of The Children and Young Persons Act 1933, as subsequently amended. They sit for the purpose of hearing any charge against a child or a young person or for the purpose of exercising any other jurisdiction conferred on the Youth Courts by or under any Act.
Sir Anthony May P said: ‘There are, I think in theory at least, two possible approaches. The first would be to identify a plain legislative oversight and read the legislation so as to supply an omitted provision which Parliament must have intended but failed by mistake to provide. The second possibility might be to resort to Section 3 of the The Human Rights Act 1998 so as to read the legislation in a way that is compatible with the convention. There is no suggestion in the present case that there might be a declaration of incompatibility, but for my part I think the Claimant’s advisors were right not to press the Human Rights Act route. An over ingenious human rights lawyer might make something of a case for an infringement here of Article 6, or conceivably Article 8, of the European Convention on Human Rights, but the reality is the Claimant would get a fair trial in the Crown Court, and that is accepted. It is only that it would be strongly preferable for policy reasons if he were in the Youth Court’.
Sir Anthony May P QBD, Langstaff J
[2011] EWHC 2326 (Admin), [2012] Crim LR 160, [2012] ACD 8, [2012] 1 WLR 2786, [2012] 1 Cr App R 13, (2011) 175 JP 467
Bailii
Magistrates Courts Act 1990 24(1)(b), Magistrates Courts Act 1980 6(2), Children and Young Persons Act 1933 4
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – ZN and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Bromley Youth Court Admn 9-Jul-2014
The applicants, both aged 16, sought permission to bring judicial review of a decision to commit thme for trial at the adult Crown Court on theft charges along with a co-defendant adult (though 18).
Held: Permission was granted.
Hayden J . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 21 July 2021; Ref: scu.443636

IPH v Chief Constable of South Wales: QBD 1987

The 11 year old defendant joined others in smashing the windows of a motor van, scraping its paintwork and pushing it into a post. He appealed his conviction for malicious damage.
Held: The conviction was quashed. There had been no evidence before the Magistrates that he knew that what he was doing was wrong.
[1987] Crim LR 42
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – JTB, Regina v HL 29-Apr-2009
The defendant appealed against his convictions for sexual assaults. He was aged twelve at the time of the offences, but had been prevented from arguing that he had not known that what he was doing was wrong. The House was asked whether the effect of . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 21 July 2021; Ref: scu.341826

AF v M B-F: FD 22 Feb 2008

The father sought the return of the two children to Poland after they had been brought to England by the mother. She said that she had come to seek work as a dentist, and had been unable to support the family in Poland. She said that her Polish solicitor had advised her that the effect of court orders in Poland would not restrict her actions. The father said that the contact rights given by the polish Court amounted to rights of custody.
Held: The father’s rights included ‘parental authority’. The court took this to ‘award parental authority to the mother in the sense of responsibility for the day to day care and problems of the two children while providing/ reserving to the father restricted (parental) authority to ‘co-decide’ with the mother ‘vital problems’ in connection with upbringing, education and medical treatment’ ‘ and ‘the father’s (restricted) custody right is to be found in his right of veto and not in a mere right to apply to the court.’ The removal of the children to England was in breach of the father’s rights of custody. The wife had not shown acquiescence. The father pointed toa report saying that the mother had poisoned the children’s minds against him, but the child welfare officer found the objections genuine. The father had not challenged three issues of substance supporting the children’s views. The deciding factor was the contrast between the success of the children in their schooling in England and in Poland. No order for return was to be made.
Sir Mark Potter P
[2008] EWHC 272 (Fam), [2008] Fam 75, [2008] 2 FLR 1239, [2008] 3 WLR 527, [2008] Fam Law 966, [2008] 2 FCR 120
Bailii
Child Abduction and Custody Act 1985
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – C v C (Minor:Abduction: Rights of Custody Abroad) CA 1989
The English mother married the Australian father in Australia and bore their child their. After divorce both parents had custody with no right to remove the child. The mother brought the child to England without the father’s consent.
Held: The . .
Cited – 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 . .
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 – S v S (Child abduction) (Child’s views) 1992
Where a parent objects to the child being returned under the Act to a home country on the basis of the child’s objections, if the objections result solely from a desire to remain with the abducting parent, who in turn does not wish to return, then . .
Cited – Re M (A Child) CA 27-Mar-2007
The Court reviewed the questions which need to be explored when considering a defence of Child’s Objections to a claim under the Act for their return to a home country. It shouls ask:
(1) Are the objections to return made out? In this connection . .
Cited – Re M and another (Children) (Abduction; Rights of Custody) HL 5-Dec-2007
Three children had been brought from Zimbabwe by their mother against the wishes of the father and in breach of his rights there. The mother appealed an order for their return.
Held: The mother’s appeal was allowed. The House had to consider . .
Cited – Klentzeris v Klentzeris CA 10-May-2007
In the exercise of a discretion under the Hague Convention in a child’s objections case, an additional test or requirement of ‘exceptionality’ is appropriate when the Court comes to weigh the policy considerations underlying the Convention against . .
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 – Zaffino v Zaffino 2006
The court considered the treatment of a child’s objections to being returned to a home country by an order under the Act. . .
Cited – Vigreux v Michel and Another CA 18-May-2006
The mother sought the return of her children to France. Her summons had been dismissed after balancing the policy of the Convention against the strength of the child’s objection to return together with certain welfare considerations. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 21 July 2021; Ref: scu.264661

Re F (Children) (DNA Evidence): FD 20 Dec 2007

The court considered the difficulties which can arise from the use of DNA testing in family proceedings. Experts need to bear in mind that their reports should be expressed in terms which can be understood by lay people and in terms which explain clearly the scientific justification (and limitations) for the opinions being expressed.
Anthony Hayden QC HHJ
[2007] EWHC 3235 (Fam), [2008] 1 FLR 328
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – London Borough of Richmond v B and Others FD 12-Nov-2010
Caution in Use of Hair Samples to Test Alcohol
The court considered the extent to which reliance could be placed on tests of hair samples for alcohol in care proceedings.
Held: Such evidence should be used with caution: ‘(i) When used, hair tests should be used only as part of the . .

These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 18 July 2021; Ref: scu.264662

DT v LBT: FD 7 Dec 2010

Peter Jackson J
[2010] EWHC 3177 (Fam), [2011] Fam Law 220, [2011] 1 FLR 1215
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Neulinger And Shuruk v Switzerland ECHR 6-Jul-2010
(Grand Chamber) The Swiss Court had rejected the claimant mother’s claim, under article 13b of the Hague Convention, that there was a grave risk that returning the child to Israel would lead to physical or psychological harm or otherwise place him . .

These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 18 July 2021; Ref: scu.430395

C v D: FD 24 Feb 2011

The father resisted an application by the mother to be allowed to remove the children to the USA to live with her.
Theis J
[2011] EWHC 335 (Fam), [2011] Fam Law 588, [2011] 2 FLR 701
Bailii
England and Wales

Updated: 18 July 2021; Ref: scu.441891

Rhodes v OPO and Another: SC 20 May 2015

The mother sought to prevent a father from publishing a book about her child’s life. It was to contain passages she said may cause psychological harm to the 12 year old son. Mother and son lived in the USA and the family court here had no jurisdiction to grant orders protecting the child’s welfare. Instead, these proceedings were brought in his name, originally by his mother and now by his godfather as his litigation friend, alleging that publication would constitute a tort against him.
Held: The appeal was allowed, and the original order striking out the claim was restored, clearly failing to meet all but one of the requirements. ‘there is plainly a powerful case for saying that, in relation to the instant tort, liability for distressing statements, where intent to cause distress is an essential ingredient, it should be enough for the claimant to establish that he suffered significant distress as a result of the defendant’s statement. It is not entirely easy to see why, if an intention to cause the claimant significant distress is an ingredient of the tort and is enough to establish the tort in principle, the claimant should have to establish that he suffered something more serious than significant distress before he can recover any compensation. Further, the narrow restrictions on the tort should ensure that it is rarely invoked anyway.’
Lord Neuberger, President, Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Clarke, Lord Wilson, Lord Toulson
[2015] 2 WLR 137, [2015] UKSC 32, [2016] AC 219, [2015] EMLR 20, [2015] HRLR 11, [2015] WLR(D) 227, [2015] 4 All ER 1, UKSC 2014/0251
Bailii, WLRD, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary, SC Video Summary
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Wilkinson v Downton 8-May-1997
Thomas Wilkinson, the landlord of a public house, went off by train, leaving his wife Lavinia behind the bar. A customer of the pub, Downton played a practical joke on her. He told her, falsely, that her husband had been involved in an accident and . .
Cited – Wainwright and another v Home Office HL 16-Oct-2003
The claimant and her son sought to visit her other son in Leeds Prison. He was suspected of involvement in drugs, and therefore she was subjected to strip searches. There was no statutory support for the search. The son’s penis had been touched . .
Cited – In re Guardian News and Media Ltd and Others; HM Treasury v Ahmed and Others SC 27-Jan-2010
Proceedings had been brought to challenge the validity of Orders in Council which had frozen the assets of the claimants in those proceedings. Ancillary orders were made and confirmed requiring them not to be identified. As the cases came to 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 – Cream Holdings Limited and others v Banerjee and others HL 14-Oct-2004
On her dismissal from the claimant company, Ms Banerjee took confidential papers revealing misconduct to the local newspaper, which published some. The claimant sought an injunction to prevent any further publication. The defendants argued that the . .
At First Instance – OPO v MLA and Another QBD 18-Jul-2014
A boy now sought an interim injunction to restrain his father, the defendant classical musician, from publishing his autobiography which mentioned him. The book would say that the father had suffered sexual abuse as a child at school.
Held: . .
Cited – Janvier v Sweeney 1919
During the First World War Mlle Janvier lived as a paid companion in a house in Mayfair and corresponded with her German lover who was interned as an enemy alien on the Isle of Man. Sweeney was a private detective who wanted secretly to obtain some . .
Cited – McLoughlin v O’Brian HL 6-May-1982
The plaintiff was the mother of a child who died in an horrific accident, in which her husband and two other children were also injured. She was at home at the time of the accident, but went to the hospital immediately when she had heard what had . .
Cited – Khorasandjian v Bush CA 16-Feb-1993
The plaintiff was an eighteen year old girl who had had a friendship with the defendant, aged 28. The friendship broke down and the plaintiff said she would have no more to do with him, but the defendant did not accept this. There were many . .
Cited – Bromage And Another v Prosser 1825
Bayley J distinguished ‘malice in law’, inferred from the defendant’s intentional interference with the plaintiff’s rights, from ‘malice in fact’ and Malice in common acceptation of the term means ill-will against a person, but in its legal sense it . .
Cited – Regina v Martin CCCR 1881
r_martin CCCCR
The defendant was accused of unlawful conduct in causing panic at a theatre (by turning off the lights and barring the doors) in the course of which a number of people were injured by trampling as they stampeded down a stairway. His conduct was . .
Cited – The Capital and Counties Bank Limited v George Henty and Sons HL 1882
The defendant wrote to their customers saying ‘Henty and Sons hereby give notice that they will not receive in payment cheques drawn on any of the branches of the Capital and Counties Bank.’ The contents of the circular became known and there was a . .
Cited – Mogul Steamship Company Limited v McGregor Gow and Co QBD 10-Aug-1885
Ship owners formed themselves into an association to protect their trading interests which then caused damage to rival ship owners. The plaintiffs complained about being kept out of the conference of shipowners trading between China and London.
Cited – Mayor of Bradford v Pickles HL 29-Jul-1895
The plaintiffs sought an injunction to prevent the defendant interfering with the supply of water to the city. He would have done so entirely by actions on his own land.
Held: The plaintiffs could have no property in the water until it came on . .
Cited – Allen v Flood HL 14-Dec-1898
Tort of Malicicious Inducement not Committed
The defendant, on behalf of a group of ironworkers, persuaded their employers in Milwall to stop employing the plaintiff shipwrights. There was no breach of contract. The plaintiffs alleged that this conduct gave rise to liability in tort on the . .
Not good law – Director of Public Prosecutions v Smith HL 1960
The defendant tried to avoid arrest and killed a policeman by driving off with the policeman clinging to the car.
Held: (1) The defendant committed murder because death or grievous bodily harm was foreseen by him as a ‘likely’ result of his . .
Cited – Allsop v Allsop 25-Apr-1860
Complaint was made of illness allegedly caused by a slanderous imputation of unchastity to a married woman. The woman heard the slander at third hand. It was held that the woman could not claim special damages for her illness in an action for . .
Cited – Lynch v Knight HL 17-Jul-1861
Lord Wensleydale said: ‘Mental pain or anxiety the law cannot value, and does not pretend to redress, when the unlawful act complained of causes that alone; though where material damage occurs, and is connected with it, it is impossible a jury, in . .
Cited – Victorian Railway Commissioners v Coultas PC 21-Jan-1888
(Victoria) The appellant’s gatekeeper had negligently invited the plaintiffs to cross a railway line as a train approached. There was no collision, but the plaintiff sought damages for physical and mental injuries from shock.
Held: The . .
Cited – Pugh v London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Co CA 1896
The plaintiff signalman saw that there was something wrong one of the carriages of a train approaching at full speed so that the train was in danger. He leant from the window of his signal-box and waved a red flag so that the driver might stop the . .
Cited – Dulieu v White and Sons KBD 1901
A pregnant barmaid suffered nervous shock causing her to give premature birth as a result of the tortfeasor’s horse van bursting into her bar at the Bonner Arms in Bethnal Green from the roadway. The defendant pleaded that the damages claimed were . .
Cited – Stevenson v Basham 1922
(New Zealand) The defendant made a threat to the plaintiff’s husband inside the house that she and her husband were occupying to burn it down, the threat being overheard by her when she was in a bedroom where she was lying and when she was pregnant . .
Cited – Hambrook v Stokes Brothers CA 1925
The defendant’s employee left a lorry at the top of a steep narrow street unattended, with the engine running and without having taken proper steps to secure it. The lorry ran violently down the hill. The plaintiff’s wife had been walking up the . .
Cited – Bunyan v Jordan 1-Mar-1937
(High Court of Australia) The plaintiff sought damages having been put to severe fright by a shot fired by her employer, the defendant, who had stated an intention to shoot someone, gone to a local thoroughfare with a gun, produced it and fired it. . .
Cited – Rahemtulla v Vanfed Credit Union 1984
(British Columbia Supreme Court) The plaintiff had been harassed at work, falsely accused of theft in threatening circumstances and summarily dismissed without proper cause in a humiliating fashion. The defendant submitted that to be liable for . .
Cited – Bradley v Wingnut Films Ltd 1993
(New Zealand High Court) The plaintiffs complained that a relative’s tombstone was depicted in a satiric film set in part in a cemetery, and containing a significant degree of gore and violence. The tombstone was never shown in its entirety, . .
Cited – Hedley Byrne and Co Ltd v Heller and Partners Ltd HL 28-May-1963
Banker’s Liability for Negligent Reference
The appellants were advertising agents. They were liable themselves for advertising space taken for a client, and had sought a financial reference from the defendant bankers to the client. The reference was negligent, but the bankers denied any . .
Cited – Wong v Parkside Health NHS Trust and Another CA 16-Nov-2001
The claimant had sued her former employer for post-traumatic stress resulting from alleged harassment at her place of work. The claimant appealed against an order refusing damages. The court had held that outside the 1997 Act which was not in force . .
Cited – Her Majesty’s Attorney General v Punch Limited and another HL 12-Dec-2002
A former MI5 agent, Mr Shayler, was to be prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act, and an injunction against publication was granted. The respondent published further works by Mr Shayler, and now appealed a finding that it had acted in contempt of . .
Cited – Regina v G and R HL 16-Oct-2003
The defendants, young boys, had set fire to paper and thrown the lit papers into a wheelie bin, expecting the fire to go out. In fact substantial damage was caused. The House was asked whether a conviction was proper under the section where the . .
Cited – High Parklane Consulting Inc v Lewis 16-Jan-2007
(Ontario – Superior Court of Justice) . .
Cited – Napier and Another v Pressdram Ltd CA 19-May-2009
napier_pressdramCA2009
The claimant solicitors appealed against the refusal to grant them an injunction to prevent the publication of the outcome of a complaint against them to the Law society, and of the Ombudsman’s report. They said that the material remained . .

Cited by:
Cited – Bains and Others v Moore and Others QBD 15-Feb-2017
The claimant anti-asbestos campaigners complained that the defendant investigators had infringed their various rights of privacy. They now sought discovery to support the claim.
Held: the contents of the witness statements do show that it is . .
Cited – NT 1 and NT 2 v Google Llc QBD 13-Apr-2018
Right to be Forgotten is not absolute
The two claimants separately had criminal convictions from years before. They objected to the defendant indexing third party web pages which included personal data in the form of information about those convictions, which were now spent. The claims . .
Cited – HRH The Duchess of Sussex v Associated Newspapers Ltd ChD 11-Feb-2021
Defence had no prospect of success – Struck Out
The claimant complained that the defendant newspaper had published contents from a letter she had sent to her father. The court now considered her claims in breach of privacy and copyright, and her request for summary judgment.
Held: Warby J . .

These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 16 July 2021; Ref: scu.546914

Re C (Care Order: Appropriate Local Authority): 1997

A local authority which permitted children in care to remain at home with their mother was not providing accommodation within the meaning of section 23(1)(a) of the Children Act 1989 and accordingly section 105(6)(c) did not apply. The court considered a local authority placement with a mother whose classification for the purposes of section 23 is established by subsections (3) and (4) as follows: ‘(3) Any person with whom a child has been placed under subsection (2)(a) is referred to in this Act as a local authority foster parent unless he falls within subsection (4). (4) A person falls within this subsection if he is: (a) a parent of the child; (b) a person who is not a parent of the child but who has parental responsibility for him; or (c) where the child is in care and there was a residence order in force with respect to him immediately before the care order was made, a person in whose favour the residence order was made.’
Wall J
[1997] 1 FLR 544
Children Act 1989 23(6) 105(6)(c)
England and Wales
Cited by:
Applied – H (Child), Re (Care Order: Appropriate Local Authority) CA 18-Nov-2003
The court had to decide to which of two local authorities, responsibility for supervising a care order should be assigned. The child had moved to live with his grandparents.
Held: The judge had been correct to find that family circumstances . .

These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 15 July 2021; Ref: scu.187987

Re Shanavazi: ChD 7 Jul 2021

Part 8 claim seeking an order authorising the claimant, on behalf of her minor son, to enter into a contract of sale of a property in Germany, and to convey the property to the purchaser.
Master Clark
[2021] EWHC 1832 (Ch)
Bailii
England and Wales

Updated: 10 July 2021; Ref: scu.663857

In Re T (A Child: Article 15 of B2R) ((Care Proceedings: Request to Assume Jurisdiction): FD 13 Mar 2013

A pregnant 17 year old Slovakian girl ran away from a children’s home in Slovakia and gave birth to the baby in the UK.
Held: Although the court decided to transfer the case to Slovakia under article 15, Mostyn J said: ‘It is not disputed that the mother’s habitual residence is Slovakia and this must be so in circumstances where she is subject to a Slovakian care order, came here on false papers, and intends to return. Were I considering the issue from first principles I would instinctively conclude that an infant’s habitual residence derives from his mother. However, it is a fact that T has not spent a day of his existence in his homeland.’
Mostyn J
[2013] 2 WLR 1263, [2013] Fam 253, [2013] Fam Law 788, [2013] 2 FLR 909, [2013] EWHC 521 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – A v A and another (Children) (Children: Habitual Residence) (Reunite International Child Abduction Centre intervening) SC 9-Sep-2013
Acquisition of Habitual Residence
Habitual residence can in principle be lost and another habitual residence acquired on the same day.
Held: The provisions giving the courts of a member state jurisdiction also apply where there is an alternative jurisdiction in a non-member . .
Cited – In Re N (Children) SC 13-Apr-2016
The Court considered whether the future of two little girls, aged four and two years, should be decided by the courts of this country or by the authorities in Hungary. Both children were born in England and lived all their lives here. But their . .

These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 July 2021; Ref: scu.471937

AB and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v The London Borough of Haringey: Admn 13 Mar 2013

The claimant parents, themselves child protection workers, sought judicial review of a decision by the respondent to institute a section 47 enquiry as to whether their child was at risk of significant harm, after an anonymous allegation.
Held: There had been several serious errors in the procedures adopted by the respondents. There never was a section 47 enquiry decision and LBH’s insistence that one was taken is both erroneous and unlawful, and ‘, had it been taken, would have been wholly unreasonable and unsustainable since it would have failed to take account most of the crucial matters required of a section 47 decision and there was no reason for taking the decision in the way it is now suggested it was taken.’
Anthony Thornton J
[2013] EWHC 416 (Admin)
Bailii
Children Act 1989 47
England and Wales

Updated: 09 July 2021; Ref: scu.471738

Durham County Council v D and others: FD 11 Jun 2008

Having given his judgment in private in a very complex matter, Munby J went out of his way to publicise his admiration for the work of the professionals involved.
Munby J
[2008] EWHC 1306 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – In re X, (Emergency Protection Orders) FD 16-Mar-2006
Within two hours of a case conference which mentioned possible removal of children, but agreed other steps, the local authority applied for an emergency protection order, and forcibly removed the child from the family.
Held: The decision . .
Cited – Re B; X Council v B and others FD 6-Jul-2007
. .

These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 08 July 2021; Ref: scu.269948

Neustadt v Neustadt (Child Abduction): FD 19 Dec 2014

‘fact-finding hearing following the abduction of two boys, D J (8) and J (6). They were taken to Russia by their father, on Christmas Day 2012 and were only returned to the care of their mother, on 26 June 2014 after strenuous efforts by the authorities in England and in Russia. The father now seeks to resume contact with the boys and their younger brother M (2). The purpose of this hearing has been to establish the facts and to assess whether the father’s expressions of regret are genuine.’
Peter Jackson HHJ
[2014] EWHC 4307 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales

Updated: 08 July 2021; Ref: scu.547117

Wigan Borough Council v Fisher and Others: FD 6 Dec 2013

‘application for a care order in relation to A, a 3-year-old girl now in foster care. Her mother is aged 25 and her father 29. Her baby sister E died in February 2013. Evie was found to have a large number of serious injuries, which have been the focus of this eight day hearing. Each parent denies responsibility for or knowledge of the injuries and says that the other must be responsible. ‘
Peter Jackson J
[2013] EWHC 3770 (Fam)
Bailii
England and Wales

Updated: 08 July 2021; Ref: scu.547121

X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council: QBD 24 Nov 1993

A local authority has no duty of care in negligence as to the education of children beyond its statutory obligations to children in its care.
Independent 23-Dec-1993, Times 24-Nov-1993
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – M and Another v Newham London Borough Council and Others; X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council CA 24-Feb-1994
A local authority was not liable in damages for breach of a statutory duty in Social Services. The policy which has first claim on the loyalty of the law is that wrongs should be remedied. The court would not go so far as to hold that the education . .

These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 July 2021; Ref: scu.90641

Regina v Justices of Luton Family Proceedings Court; Her Honour Judge Pearce of Luton County Court; Director of Social Services of Bedfordshire County Council ex parte Abdul Rahman and Azra Bi: Admn 16 Dec 1996

In the course of urgent children proceedings, counsel advised solicitors inappropriately to seek judicial review of a court decision. The application was persisted with despite warnings from the respondents that they intended to seek a wasted costs order against the solicitor and counsel personally. Such an order was made, and appealed.
Held: The proposition that a solicitor who acts on counsel’s advice must bear responsibility for that advice in all circumstances cannot be supported. Earlier orders had not been entirely correctly obtained. The local authority had made a decision which would have made any proceedings unnecessary, but did not communicate it to the solicitors. The order against the solicitor could not stand. Similarly the procedure for claiming an order against counsel had not been followed. Both orders were set aside.
The Master Of The Rolls (Lord Woolf) Lord Justice Aldous Lord Justice Chadwick
[1996] EWHC Admin 368
Bailii
Supreme Court Act 1981 51, Courts and Legal Services Act 1990 4
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Ridehalgh v Horsefield; Allen v Unigate Dairies Ltd CA 26-Jan-1994
Guidance for Wasted Costs Orders
Guidance was given on the circumstances required for the making of wasted costs orders against legal advisers. A judge invited to make an order arising out of an advocate’s conduct of court proceedings must make full allowance for the fact that an . .
Cited – Locke v Camberwell Health Authority CA 23-May-1991
The court discussed the relative duties of solicitor and counsel. Taylor LJ set out the principles that: 1) In general a solicitor, is entitled to rely upon the advice of counsel properly instructed;
2) For a solicitor, without special . .

These lists may be incomplete.
Updated: 02 July 2021; Ref: scu.136916