Essex County Council v R
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 18 August 1993 |
| Date | 18 August 1993 |
| Court | Family Division |
Family Division
Children - disclosure of medical reports - legal professional privilege
In cases brought under the Children Act 1989 there was a positive duty on legal advisers in the interests of the child to disclose medical reports containing adverse statements relating to parties. The court had power to override legal professional privilege claimed by the parties.
Mr Justice Thorpe so stated in the Family Division in open court on July 23 following a judgment in chambers in care proceedings.
HIS LORDSHIP said that the investigative powers of the court had not been curtailed by the 1989 Act. The view of Mr Justice Johnson, said to be obiter in In re A (Minors) (Disclosure of material)FLR ((1991) 2 FLR 473) applied in all children cases.
The court considering the welfare of the child had power to override claims of legal professional privilege.
His Lordship wished to make it plain that legal representatives having reports relevant to the determination of a matter but contrary to...
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Oxfordshire County Council v M
...4 AER 59 and a decision of Thorpe J made subsequently and reported in The Times Newspaper on the 18th August 1993, in the case of Essex County Council v R. The court has the advantage of a transcript of the judgment delivered by Thorpe J, which has not yet been reported in the law reports. ......
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A Chief Constable v A County Council
...court. 97 However, the speeches for the majority did not go on to express any opinion on dicta of Thorpe J (as he then was) in Essex County Council v R (Note) [1994] Fam 167, 168–9 when he said: — "For my part, I would wish to see case law go further and to make it plain that the legal repr......
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Vernon v Bosley (No. 2)
...... sender copies of a judgment of HH Judge McNaught given on 6 January 1995 in the Gloucester County Court in certain proceedings under section 8 of the Childrens Act 1989 between Mr and Mrs Vernon ... also had the evidence of Mr Moxham a social worker employed by the Gloucestershire County Council, who had had much to do with the plaintiff. The judge summarised this evidence at p 202 H as ......
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Re EC (Disclosure of Material)
...(Legal Professional Privilege) (Disclosure of Material), Re[1994] 1 FCR 225; [1994] 4 All ER 702; sub nom Essex County Council v R [1994] Fam 167; [1994] 2 WLR R v Cowan [1995] 3 WLR 818. R v D; R v J [1996] 1 WLR 1. S (Minors) (Wardship: Police Investigation), Re [1987] Fam 199; [1977] 3 W......
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Instructions and Case Preparation in Family Proceedings
...is of paramount importance. This includes medical reports unfavourable to a client’s interests, see Essex County Council v R (A Minor) [1993] 2 FLR 826, and Oxfordshire County Council v M [1994] 1 FLR 175, in which the Court of Appeal upheld this principle. Communications between lawyer and......