Evidence, Practice and Procedure: Committal for contempt; non-disclosure

Two recent cases point up the pitfalls for judges and advocates alike in the area of civil proceedings committals to prison; and in Zuk (below) serious errors of law were made by a circuit judge and exposed in the Court of Appeal. Advocates must draw all relevant law to a judge's attention; but judges may soon find themselves to be the only lawyers in court. Self-represented parties will rely on the judge to know the law. Both men who were sent to prison were self-represented; though Mr Young had had a miscellany of legal advice before his committal hearing (Young v Young [2013] EWHC 34 (Fam)).

In this context a litigant may only be committed to prison if in law he can be shown according to be in contempt of a court order (Debtors Act 1869 s 5 under which Mr Zuk could have been committed uses the language...

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