EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Case Law Updater – Private children law (March 2015)

Please find attached the March 2015 Private children law case update.

This has been compiled by Ricky Seal of No.5 Chambers.

Private law case updates will be posted on the website on a bi-monthly basis.

Cases on threshold should be supported by facts – the impact of Re J (A Child) and Re A (A Child)

The Court of Appeal has recently determined the appeal of a mother against a care and placement order regarding her 8 month old son in the case of Re J (A Child)  [2015] EWCA Civ 222. The parents disputed some of the matters relevant to the threshold criteria and argued at the appeal that the analysis and evaluation of the local authority’s plan by the judge was not adequate. The appeal was allowed and the case was remitted to be heard by a different judge.

In his judgment Lord Justice McFarlane stated that the judgment in the first instance family court was “by a wide margin, wholly inadequate.”

Lord Justice McFarlane also summarised and endorsed the matters highlighted by Sir James Munby in his judgment in Re A (A Child) [2015] EWFC 11.  In that case the President of the Family Division stated:

“The second fundamentally important point is the need to link the facts relied upon by the local authority with its case on threshold, the need to demonstrate why, as the local authority asserts, fact A + B + C justify the conclusion that the child has suffered, or is at risk of suffering, significant harm of types X, Y or Z.”

Practice Direction: Committal for Contempt of Court – Open Court

Please find attached the Practice Direction: Committal for Contempt of Court – Open Court dated 26th March 2015 for your reference. It provides very useful direction regarding the appropriate procedures for committal proceedings in open court; in private; and the delivery of the court’s judgment in such cases.

The Practice Direction applies to all proceedings for committal for contempt of court, including contempt in the face of the court, whether arising under any statutory or inherent jurisdiction and, particularly, supplements the provisions relating to contempt of court in the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, the Family Procedure Rules 2010, the Court of Protection Rules 2007, and the Criminal Procedure Rules 2014 and any related Practice Directions supplementing those various provisions.

The Practice Direction applies in all courts in England and Wales, including the Court of Protection, and supersedes the Practice Guidance: Committal for Contempt [2013] 1 WLR 1326, dated 3 May 2013; Practice Guidance (Committal Proceedings: Open Court) (No. 2) [2013] 1 WLR 1753, dated 4 June 2013; and President’s Circular: Committals Family Court Practice 2024 at 2976, dated 2 August 2013.

Case law updater: Private children law

Please find attached Private children law updates.

This has been compiled by Ricky Seal of No.5 Chambers.

Private law case updates will be posted on the website on a bi-monthly basis.