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Wardship and the right to publish
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Publicity and a ward of court
The right to publish details of family proceedings and the operation of the wardship jurisdiction have cropped up recently in the case of A the 5 year old taken by his parents from a hospital in Southsea against medical advice. He was made a ward. Subsequent High Court proceedings were well publicised – with permission the President of the Family Division (later confirmed by Baker J). A is no longer a ward.
These orders prompt two questions at law: what are the local authority’s powers to seek wardship; and what are the High Court’s powers to permit publicity. (None of this can proceed in the Family Court: wardship is a High Court matter only (Senior Courts Act 1981 s 41(1)).
Wardship the common law and application to the...
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