Commentary

News, analysis, comment and updates from ICLR's case law and UK legislation platform

Family law: Mrs Owens – a divorce in 2017

The concept of “no fault divorce” has gained traction in recent years, but the recent case of Owens v Owens and the image it conjures up of a wife trapped in a loveless marriage has concentrated people’s minds on the issue. As the case heads towards a further appeal hearing in the Supreme Court, David Continue reading

Family Law No Island: Legal professional privilege and family law

Continuing his series discussing the impact on family law and practice of legal developments in other areas, David Burrows considers the effect of legal professional privilege in the context of advice given by lawyers to those engaged in family law disputes and the circumstances in which the right to confidentiality of such advice may be Continue reading

Family Law No Island: Partial disclosure of material in family proceedings

Continuing his series discussing the impact on family law and practice of legal developments in other areas, David Burrows considers the grounds on which one party in proceedings may restrict the disclosure to one or more other parties of documents and other materials before the court, and the scope and procedure for doing so. Disclosure and Continue reading

Bad Faith Bunnies – A bitter/sweet Easter Tale

Weekly Notes, the ICLR roundup of recent legal news and commentary, is currently on holiday. We’ll resume publication in the next law term, which begins on Tuesday, 25th April. In the meantime, here’s an Easter-flavoured tale from the archives of the Business Law Reports (Bus LR). It’s all about that most festive of confections, the chocolate Continue reading

Is reporting EU case law now a waste of time?

Brexit will have a decisive effect in altering the relationship between the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU or ECJ) and that of England and Wales, but it would be a mistake to assume that European case law will shortly become irrelevant. Paul Magrath comments on the forthcoming Great Continue reading

Family law no island: Statutory charge or Pyrrhic damages

Continuing his series discussing the impact on family law and practice of legal developments in other areas, David Burrows considers the origins of the legal aid statutory charge in an old common law remedy developed in cases by reference to which the statutory provisions should still be construed. Human Rights Act 1998 damages and legal aid It is Continue reading

Family law no island (5): Precedent — a search for certainty in law

David Burrows continues his series discussing the impact on family law and practice of legal developments in other areas, with the first of two articles on the common law doctrine of precedent. 1. Precedent: a search for certainty in law Certainty and the law In his Sir David Williams lecture The Rule of Law 2016 (PDF) Lord Bingham Continue reading