Commentary

As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Legal Aid Act 1949, David Burrows looks at the origins and current state of public funding for legal advice and litigation… Continue reading about Legal aid: a seventieth birthday

Jurisdiction to make and enforce an order Two very different aspects of the reporting restrictions order (RRO) can be seen in case law over the past couple of weeks. In AB (Application for Reporting Restrictions: Inquest) [2019] EWHC 1668 (QB) (27 June 2019) the question of service of an application in civil proceedings and the… Continue reading about Reporting restrictions orders; and contempt of restriction orders

Earlier this month the National Archives, who manage the official online publication of all UK legislation, announced the launch of two new services in connection with EU legislation and Brexit. … Continue reading about Brexit legislation resource: the National Archives

David Burrows explains how parliamentary privilege was designed to stop the courts interfering with Parliament, not to allow parliamentarians to interfere with the work of the courts. He considers Lord Hain’s use of the privilege to trump a court injunction in the light of a recent speech on the matter by the Lord Chief Justice. … Continue reading about Parliamentary privilege and the rule of law

David Burrows considers the massive gulf in the approaches to human rights of two jurisdictions – the United States and the United Kingdom – that share a common law legacy. … Continue reading about Lord Wilson and human rights

David Burrows considers the status of judicially-issued practice guidance in the hierarchy of judge-made and statutory law, and questions its use as a shortcut for more formally generated procedural rules.
… Continue reading about ‘Guidance’ as law

David Burrows examines the recent decision of the President of the Family Division refusing to vary a ‘confidentiality’ injunction protecting the identity and current location of a notorious child killer. … Continue reading about Publicity and Jon Venables: application to vary a confidentiality injunction

In this guest post solicitor-advocate David Rosen records a recent County Court ruling that the appropriate court in which to consider an injunction application dealing with matrimonial property is the Family Court, and recounts his experience of dealing with a litigant in person appearing via videolink. … Continue reading about Case note: Ezuego v Hara — Transferring property injunction proceedings to the family court

A number of changes in marriage and divorce law seem poised to be made by proposed legislation. In three linked posts, we take a quick tour round some of the bills awaiting consideration by Parliament. In this third post, Paul Magrath looks at possible extensions to the law on civil partnerships. … Continue reading about What next in family legislation? Part 3: Civil partnerships