David Hodson on International Family Law: The High Court sitting on a beach in Tenerife

Mr Justice Mostyn received thoroughly unfair newspaper criticism last Sunday 24 April 2011 and in a way which did no good for perceptions about family justice. The Mail on Sunday led on its front page story that as the duty judge with responsibility for dealing with emergency applications out of normal court sitting hours he was in fact in Tenerife. The clear inference was that he was unable to do his job properly and that family justice specifically local authority care cases may suffer as a consequence. The Press colourfully referred to the fact that families caught up in dramatic children cases could be perturbed to learn the judge may only have just come off the beach or out of the swimming pool!

The newspaper is rightly known for raising important matters of genuine popular concern. However this criticism so prominently on page 1 on the week before the Royal wedding and in one of...

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