Court of Appeal
Published July 2, 2007
In re S (Omission from judgment: Duty of counsel)

Counsel had a duty to point out to a judge any omissions in his judgment so that the matter could be dealt with there and then. It was not appropriate to rely on the alleged omission to seek leave to appeal.

The Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Thorpe, Lord Justice Wall and Mr Justice Hedley) so stated on June 14, 2007 when dismissing an appeal brought by the father and his parents over contact with two children aged five and three from the decision of Judge Bartfield at Bradford County Court on May 2, 2007.

LORD JUSTICE WALL, agreeing with Mr Justice Hedley, said that at the end of his full reasoned judgment, the judge was asked by both counsel for the father and the father’s parents for permission to appeal since the judge had apparently failed to deal with the evidence of a consultant psychologist.

If counsel felt at the end of a judgment that the judge had failed to deal with a material part of the case, it was counsel’s responsibility to point out the alleged defect to the judge and have the matter dealt with.

It was not appropriate to ask for permission to appeal because of the omission.

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