Judging the Children Act 1989: courts and the administration of family justice
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/jcs.2010.0301 |
| Pages | 52-59 |
| Published date | 30 June 2010 |
| Date | 30 June 2010 |
| Author | Judith Masson |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care,Sociology |
Journal of Children’s Ser vices • V olume 5 Issue 2 • June 2010 © Pier P rofessional Ltd
52
10.5042/jcs.2010.0301
Abstract
this article outlines the development over the last 20 years of the family courts and the court
welfare system (now CAFCASS – Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service),
and the operation of two provisions: section 1(5) the ‘no order’ principle and section1(2) the
avoidance of delay. Neither of these provisions have delivered what they promised and further
procedural change through the Public Law Outline and the Private Law Programme have
been introduced to divert cases from proceedings and reduce delay. The foundations for a
family court set down in the Act appear at last to be being developed. However, the recently
announced Family Justice Review means that the role and function of family courts is again
uncertain.
Key words
appropriate when they were last reformed. It was
impossible to speak of a family justice system –
family justice was piecemeal not systematic, nor
were the courts functioning well. Decisions relating
to children took far too long, with local authority
applications in wardship taking 38 weeks to reach a
full hearing (Masson & Morton, 1989) and a ‘culture
of acceptable delay’ pervading magistrates’ courts
(Murch & Mills, 1987: 41).
The Children Bill merely outlined the way the
court system would operate, leaving the detail of
court rules to be made by the Lord Chancellor. It
provided for a system of triple jurisdiction, where
courts at each tier (magistrates’ court, county
court or the High Court) could hear the same
types of disputes and make the same orders,
Introduction
of the substantive child law but this necessarily
raised questions about procedure. Which courts
would have jurisdiction? Who would hear cases?
And how would cases be decided? There had
been a long campaign to establish a family court
in England and Wales, with strong support for
the idea but no clear consensus about the form
or function of such a court (Hoggett, 1986). The
existing system for family justice was excessively
complex and uncoordinated. Not only were
children’s cases heard in all the civil courts under
different statutory powers, but other aspects
of family law such as divorce and domestic
violence were also distributed between different
courts according to the views about what was
Judging the Children Act 1989:
courts and the administration
of family justice
Judith Masson
School of Law, University of Bristol, UK
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