The European Court in Luxembourg enjoys a level of support and quality of facilities that domestic courts, with the possible exception of the UK Supreme Court, can only envy. Before issuing its multi-lingual judgments, the judges have the benefit, not only of a superb modern library, but also the intensively researched opinion of an Advocate General, the nature of whose role is perhaps not as well known as it could be. … Continue reading
Old cases are often the best; but, asks David Burrows, how much does the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) take notice of some of them? … Continue reading
David Burrows considers the recent privacy claim by Cliff Richard against the BBC in the context of family law and the restrictions on the reporting of private hearings.… Continue reading
David Burrows explores issues of privilege arising from recent revelations about the conduct of the US President’s former lawyer… Continue reading
Disclosure: reliance of the family law on common law and civil proceedings rule “Disclosure” has had extensive press recently, mostly in relation to criminal proceedings. In the more narrow legal press, it is of concern to civil lawyers, especially in the burgeoning field of electronic disclosure and electronic access to documents and other material. Family… Continue reading
By David Burrows Clarification of a court judgment Re P (A Child) [2018] EWCA Civ 720 (11 April 2018) saw the Court of Appeal dealing with a very disturbed 16 year old “T” who, with her sister “X” had been adopted by a couple. In 2014 she had said she had been sexually abused… Continue reading
In this guest post, Barbara Rich explains how the Daily Mail missed an opportunity to explain the essential rights of a cohabitant to ask the court to make reasonable provision for her under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, rather than describing the case as a judge simply overturning the deceased’s wishes… Continue reading
As the Home Office gets involved in the government’s plans to tackle domestic abuse, David Burrows considers the terms of the current consultation and looks back over the somewhat uneven history of dealing with the problem since the 1970s. Transforming society’s response to domestic abuse A domestic abuse Bill may finally be in prospect. A… Continue reading
David Burrows considers an old scandal and an even older statute in the context of a persisting impediment on the ability of the press to print lurid accounts of the private lives of those involved in defended divorce disputes. A modern protection for public morals A flurry of tweets and blog traffic earlier this month… Continue reading
David Burrows considers practitioner issues arising in a recent case in which a husband applied for an injunction to prevent a firm of solicitors, with whom he had previously had a preliminary consultation, from acting for his wife in divorce proceedings between them, and ponders an unexplained reference to ‘skull painting’… The ‘blasé’ evidence… Continue reading