Sep 26th 2016, 20:11

A VERY TIMELY AND USEFUL BOOK ON CHILDREN AND WARDSHIP NOW MORE FULLY COVERED

An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers

James Munby reminds readers that it is surprising that so little has been written about wardship and the inherent jurisdiction in modern legal publications. So we welcome this new paperback from Family Law, an imprint of Jordan Publishing, written by Michael D Jones of Deans Court Chambers which explores the issues most effectively.

We did like the splendid Foreword from Munby which bears repetition here for the continuing problems which practitioners and advisers at the Family Bar face with this most difficult jurisdiction. He reminds us that Lord Eldon, 200 years ago, was familiar with the use of wardship “to protect impressionable teenagers from the follies of youth”.

Munby goes on to observe that “everything has changed but nothing changes”. It seems a bit like history repeating itself! We particularly liked the images conjured up of a ‘hot pursuit’ in the days of Eldon which would have been the coach and four (horses) “labouring over Shap Fell carrying the teenage heiress and her unsuitable paramour to the Scottish border and the blacksmith’s forge at Gretna Green” where, if readers are unaware, is the location of a place for the ‘quickie’ marriage just between England and Scotland.

Today, of course, things are different as Munby says with the pursuit by way of an aeroplane and bus “carrying the would-be teenage jihadist to the border between Turkey and Syria”. And the point of this story is that the approach we take, explained so well by Jones, is and must remain as Lord Eldon expressed it all those years ago as “it has always been the principle of this court, not to risk the incurring of damage to children which it cannot repair, but rather to prevent the damage being done”.

Another great aspect to this paperback are the appendices which set out a most useful selection of statutory and other materials which enhances the “great utility of the book for practitioners” with its modern treatment of this jurisdiction. Sir James also repeats remarks he has made about the inherent jurisdiction that “despite its antiquity, (it) has shown, is showing and must continue to show a remarkable adaptability to meet the ever emerging needs of an ever changing world”. And that, in a nutshell is what this book is all about.

One point many readers will find helpful is that Jones does not fail to raise “analytically challenging issues” with this observation that he asks why is the power to make orders restraining publicity still so often conceived as being part of the inherent jurisdiction? A question many journalists continue to raise at the present time.

This is a most topical book as we grapple with subject-matter “as diverse as the internet and radicalization” (Munby’s words again). It is 30 years since Lowe and White published “Wards of Court” so we are most fortunate to benefit from this first class modern book from Michael Jones.

The publication date is given as April 2016.