In Brief

FAMILY AFFAIR

Family court procedures will be simplified and legal language modernised under plans announced this week by the government. A single unified code for family proceedings will be introduced, replacing the three different sets of rules which family court users currently have to consult. Archaic terms will be replaced with easier language: a decree nisi will be known as a conditional order; and a divorce petition will become an application for a divorce order. People involved in family proceedings will be able to serve court documents on each other by e-mail.

SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY

The current legal framework surrounding surveillance is “complex and unsatisfactory” and needs replacing, the Law Society says. The call follows the release of the Rose Report into Surveillance in which Sir Christopher Rose said that since 2005 there had been “no authorities for directed surveillance of legal visits in and to prisoners in custody in relation to terrorism or other matters”. However, the society says the scope of Rose’s inquiry was limited and it is calling for a more thorough review. Society president Andrew Holroyd says: “It is clear…we are living in a surveillance society...we would urge the government to take the opportunity to launch a more thoroughgoing review of the legal and practical safeguards that are needed to ensure our continuing rights and freedoms.”

RETIRING TYPES

The retirement age for recorders, deputy high court judges, deput y district judges, deputy masters and registrars is to be raised from 65 to 70, the lord chancellor, Jack Straw, has announced. It has been the policy since 1998 that those in such judicial posts should retire at 65 instead of their statutory retirement age of 70. However, the lord chancellor has now reviewed this practice and made the changes with the agreement of the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips. This brings the retirement age into line with the statutory retirement age for most judicial posts.