The court was asked whether the ten year old girl’s widowed mother, as her guardian for nurture, had a legal right to custody against the wishes of the girl, however intelligent she was, or whether the court was bound to examine the child to ascertain whether she had the mental capacity to make a choice. There was no argument but that children under seven were delivered to the guardian without any such examination; the argument was about those between the ages of seven and 14 (when guardianship for nurture ended). The court held that the guardian was absolutely entitled to the custody of the child until the age of 14, irrespective of the child’s capacity. Lord Campbell said: ‘Lord Denman, Littledale J, Williams J and Coleridge J all make age the criterion, and not mental capacity, to be ascertained by examination. They certainly do not expressly specify the age: but they cannot refer to seven as the criterion; and there is no intervening age marking the rights or responsibility of an infant till 14, when guardianship for nurture ceases, upon the supposition that the infant has now reached the years of discretion.’ Lord Campbell CJ interpreted R v Greenhill as having: ‘laid down the rule that, where a young person under the age of 21 years of age is brought before the court by habeas corpus, if he be of an age to exercise a choice, the court leaves the infant to elect where he will go, but, if he be not of that age, the court must make an order for his being placed in the proper custody.’
Judges:
Lord Campbell Cj
Citations:
[1857] EngR 140, (1857) 7 El and Bl 186, (1857) 119 ER 1217
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Applied – Rex v Greenhill 29-Jan-1836
The children were all under six years of age and were with their mother. Their father obtained an order for them to be delivered up to him and their mother applied for that to be set aside.
Held: She was unsuccessful, a father being entitled . .
Cited by:
Cited – In re D (A Child) SC 26-Sep-2019
D, a young adult had a mild learning disability and other more serious conditions. He was taken into a hospital providing mental health services. The external door was locked, and a declaration was sought to permit this deprivation of his liberty, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Children
Updated: 26 April 2022; Ref: scu.289886