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Precedent and citation of authority in family proceedings
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Limits on citation of
cases
Rules about citation of authorities in civil proceedings
(including family proceedings) has not been updated since introduction of the
new administrative tribunals system (Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act
2007) and of the Family Court; and even before this development family courts
and judges were perhaps not as crisp in observation of the rules of citation
and precedent as they might be.
Practitioners must be aware that publishers routinely
publish cases which are of no precedent value, and which it is unlawful to
cite; though a case may be of press or other value. This is no criticism of a
publisher: often they receive the case from judges where it would be churlish
not to publish.
AB v CB [2014] EWHC 2998 (Fam) (see below) illustrates the point. Permission to appeal was refused
so that citation of the case is not permitted (as explained below); yet the
report is fully reported at least on Bailii, by
Read the full article here.
