Application by the mother of three children for permission to appeal against an order for unsupervised contact by their father to the two youngest of the children.
Held: Granted. H’s counsel went to see the judge to obtain from him an indication of the nature of his views in relation to the allegations made by the mother: ‘I do not wish to say more about this than is strictly necessary, but in my judgment the days for such private consultations between the judge and counsel are long over. I simply do not see how such discussions can properly survive the Human Rights Act and, equally, I do not think it right or appropriate — even if, as is undoubtedly the case, counsel obtained instructions to go and see the judge — that they should have done so. In my judgment, in cases involving children everything should be done in court and should be on the record. There should not be private discussions between the judge and counsel, particularly, as in this case, it appears that the judge gave an indication, although he went on to hear the case, that the allegations made by the mother did not, in his mind, amount to very much.’
Lord Justice Wall
[2009] EWCA Civ 430, [2009] 3 FCR 80, [2009] Fam Law 662, [2009] 2 FLR 877
Bailii
England and Wales
Updated: 14 October 2021; Ref: scu.346795