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Evidence in family proceedings 2018

29 November 2018 / David Burrows
Issue: 7819 / Categories: Features , Family
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David Burrows shines the spotlight on the latest developments in evidence & family law

  • Standard of proof: overall assessment on the preponderance of evidence.
  • Obtaining evidence from the police in care proceedings.
  • Expert evidence: a worsening squeeze on legal aid payments in children proceedings.

The law of evidence is mostly defined by the common law, and can only be changed by statute or by higher common law authority. Court rules may define the common law, but they cannot change it. In ‘Achieving best evidence in the civil courts’, NLJ 19 October 2018 at p15, Richard Samuel illustrates this in relation to oral evidence in cases where it ‘really counts’, under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR 1998) (ie CPR 1998 rr 32.4(1) and (2) (witness statements as a summary of oral evidence), 32.5(2) (statements as evidence in chief) and 32.10 (witnesses with served statements only to give evidence).

The Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010) repeat these rules verbatim at rr 22.4, 22.5 and 22.5(2). Meanwhile, achieving of best evidence (ie Achieving

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

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Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors examine recent international relocation cases where allegations of domestic abuse shaped outcomes
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