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View from the Foot of the Tower: If I was a sculptor, but then again no
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As you might have detected the author of this piece likes case law – perhaps to a point which is beyond the lethal dose for most well-balanced adults. With that in mind the central question of this column might seem unusual.
'Has case law in family cases been helpful for families or is it largely a waste of time?'
Judges end up having a twin function in our system. The first function and the one which occurs most of the time is in marshalling the evidence and hearing it and reaching a decision applying the law. The second function which tends to fall to the Court of Appeal and sometimes High Court Judges is to take a piece of statutory law which is opaque or ambiguous or uncertain and to clarify.
As Sir James Munby President of the Family Division has said: 'Under our system Parliament makes the law in passing...
Read the full article here.
