Xydhias v Xydhias
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judgment Date | 21 December 1999 |
| Date | 21 December 1999 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, Lord Justice Thorpe and Lord Justice Mummery
Matrimonial law - divorce - whether agreement for ancillary relief concluded - ordinary contractual principles not apt
Ordinary contractual principles did not determine the question whether parties had concluded an agreement for ancillary relief in divorce proceedings.
If there was a dispute as to whether negotiations led to an accord abbreviating ancillary relief proceedings, the court had a discretion in determining whether an accord had been reached.
The Court of Appeal so stated in a reserved judgment, dismissing an appeal by Harry Costas Xydhias from the dismissal by of Judge Hamilton on November 5, 1997 in Birmingham County Court, of his appeal against the order of District Judge Hargreaves on November 25, 1996, and holding that pre-trial negotiations between the husband and his wife, Chrystalla Xydhias, amounted to an agreement for the purposes of an abbreviated ancillary relief hearing under section 23 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973.
The wife had petitioned for divorce in 1994 and applied for ancillary relief. Lengthy and detailed pre-trial negotiations took place shortly before the hearing and the amount of the lump sum and the number of instalments appeared to be agreed together with other details, although no document setting out the terms was signed by the parties and no agreement was reached as to how the payments should be secured. Various draft orders were prepared but not signed by the parties.
The wife's solicitors wrote to the court requesting a short appointment. But a few days before the hearing the husband sought to resile from the agreement and to vary the terms of the instalments.
The wife applied for an order that the husband show cause why an order should not be made in the terms of the agreement reached. The application was heard as a preliminary issue.
Mr Patrick Eccles, QC and Mr Edward Hess for the husband; Mr Michael Horowitz, QC and Mr Timothy Bishop for the wife.
LORD JUSTICE THORPE said that counsel for the husband submitted that the ordinary contractual principles summarised in Pagnan SpA v Feed Products LtdUNK ((1987) 2 Lloyd's Rep 601) applied.
His Lordship's cardinal conclusion was that ordinary contractual principles did not determine the issues in the appeal.
That was because of the fundamental distinction that an agreement for the compromise of an...
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