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I can see clearly

11 November 2016 / David Burrows
Issue: 7722 / Categories: Features , Family
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David Burrows reports on clarity, fairness & the judgment summons procedure

  • Precedent and the common law apply to family proceedings as to any other case law.

  • The role of precedent, predictability, clarity and fairness in judgment summons procedures under Debtors Act 1869, s 5.

  • Committal proceedings: proof to the criminal standard and subject to European Convention 1950, Art 6(3).

Like any proceedings in an English court, family proceedings are governed by the rule of law. This assumes that court process is fair and governed by the common law. For example, in Richardson v Richardson [2011] EWCA Civ 79, [2011] All ER (D) 86 (Feb) Sir James Munby P—then Munby LJ—said: “The Family Division is part of the High Court. It is not some legal Alsatia [a lawless part of London just to the west of the City of London (alongside Blackfriars and Fleet Street), so named in the early 17th century when the Thirty Years War was raging in Alsace] where the common law and equity do not apply. The

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Birketts—trainee cohort

Birketts—trainee cohort

Firm welcomes new cohort of 29 trainee solicitors for 2025

Keoghs—four appointments

Keoghs—four appointments

Four partner hires expand legal expertise in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Brabners—Ben Lamb

Real estate team in Yorkshire welcomes new partner

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Writing in NLJ this week, Thomas Rothwell and Kavish Shah of Falcon Chambers unpack the surprise inclusion of a ban on upwards-only rent reviews in the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill
Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve charts the turbulent progress of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Lords, in this week's NLJ
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