David Hodson on International Family Law: What do you call a judge and how much to pay for the privilege?

Two developments late last year in Australia have interesting reflections for other countries and give timely warnings and alerts of potential government actions. How should judges be described and does it have any impact on the respect for the judicial system or indeed respect by the judges for that system? To what extent should court fees be self-funding?

Federal magistrates who undertake the bulk of the family law work in Australia have a new name. Their court is now the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and they are now circuit judges rather than magistrates. There is a lot behind the change of name.

The Federal Magistrates Courts were set up in Australia in June 2000 to...

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