Court of Appeal

Published June 27, 2007

A (Child)(Change of residence)

Court of Appeal judges were available out of hours for the consideration of an immediate stay of an order from the county court.

The Court of Appeal (Lord Justice Wilson and Mr Justice Hedley) so stated on June 15, 2007 when dismissing an appeal brought by the mother against the decision of Mr Recorder Pullman, QC, at Canterbury County Court on March 30, 2007 transferring the residence of the child from the mother to the father.

LORD JUSTICE WILSON said that it was in principle unsatisfactory that their Lordships should be considering criticisms of a judgment which had already been implemented.

Counsel then appearing for the mother before the recorder had asked for a limited stay to give time to approach the Court of Appeal for a more extended stay. The recorder had refused a stay.

Their Lordships wished to draw attention to the fact that Court of Appeal judges were available even out of hours through either the security officers or Deputy Master De Mambro for the consideration of an immediate stay.

That would have given time for documents to be sent through to the Court of Appeal. Subsequent short stays might then have been granted which would have resulted in an earlier hearing and an earlier dismissal of the appeal.

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