Is the term ‘transparency’ an unlawful euphemism for open justice? David Burrows reviews the powers of the president of the Family Division to pilot transparency
- In law, are family courts entitled to sit in secret (other than in children cases)?
- What powers has the president of the Family Division to determine that they sit in private and then to ‘allow’ or pilot a scheme for limited attendance of journalists?
Family lawyers have for the past 50 years and more concerned themselves as to whether hearings in most family cases should be in private or not. A history of these concerns was traced recently by Mr Justice Mostyn in Xanthopoulos v Rakshina [2023] 1 FLR 388 (at [73] etc). He explains the illogicality of family lawyers’ position on the subject in law. What he does not do is to explain the continuing present state of affairs (ie nominally ‘private’ hearings for many types of family case) in family cases, nor does he explain how family proceedings rule-makers have been able
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