The court dealt with points of principle relating to how the courts in England and Wales determine family cases that involve nationals of other countries, in particular Member States of the European Union and for that reason, permission to appeal was granted by Mostyn J in accordance with CPR 52.3(6) (b).
Sir James Munby P said: ‘The language of article 15 is clear and simple. It requires no gloss.’ and ‘As Lady Hale observed in Re I, para 36, . . the task for the judge under article 15, ‘will not depend upon a profound investigation of the child’s situation and upbringing but upon the sort of considerations which come into play when deciding upon the most appropriate forum’.’
He continued: ‘I wish to emphasise that the question of whether the other court will have available to it the full list of options available to the English court – for example, the ability to order a non-consensual adoption – is simply not relevant to either the second or the third question. As Ryder LJ has explained, by reference to the decisions of the Supreme Court in In re I (A Child) (Contact Application: Jurisdiction) [2009] UKSC 10; [2010] 1 AC 319 and of this court in In re T (A Child) (Care Proceedings: Request to Assume Jurisdiction) [2013] EWCA Civ 895, [2014] Fam 130, the question asked by article 15 is whether it is in the child’s best interests for the case to be determined in another jurisdiction, and that is quite different from the substantive question in the proceedings, ‘what outcome to these proceedings will be in the best interests of the child?’.’
Sir James Munby P, Lewison, Ryder LJJ
[2014] EWCA Civ 152, [2014] WLR(D) 92, [2014] 2 FLR 1372, [2014] Fam Law 966, [2014] 2 FCR 585
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales
Cited by:
Emphasised – 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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Children, European
Updated: 30 November 2021; Ref: scu.521497