Clause 66 - Judges having powers of District Judges - (Magistrates' Courts)
Courts Bill [Lords]
9:45 am
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
We are considering an important part of the Bill that deals with the way in which family matters are considered. There is a number of further such issues to which we will return. I have detailed knowledge of them because during my years of practice at the Bar I worked in family law. The purpose of our amendments Nos. 70 and 71 is to question the Minister about whether it is wise to extend so widely the jurisdiction over family matters. These are specialised areas—too specialised to have the general extensions that are set out in clause 66(1)(b) and subsection (4).
The safeguards that we need are not sufficiently set out in the Bill. I am probing the Minister about that, and I will listen with interest to what he says in response. If every holder of a judicial office as specified in subsection (2) has the powers of a JP who is a district judge in relation to family proceedings, that will be too wide. Specific skills are involved in hearing family law cases. Therefore, the Bill should not give a general power that is very wide.
I am not suggesting that, in practice, all holders of judicial office will find themselves hearing family cases, but I am sure that the Minister is well aware from the briefings that he has had in his short time in his new position that there are great sensitivities about family proceedings. The fact that so much parliamentary time has recently been taken up with issues such as domestic violence reinforces that point.
There was a time when I found myself regularly doing a number of tragic domestic violence cases. Domestic violence injunctions are a particularly harrowing aspect of the law. Back in the days when I was in practice, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, some judges were much better at hearing those harrowing matters than others.
I am sure that the Minister understands the spirit behind what we are doing. It is worth while to query the provision, to hear what the Minister has to say and for that to be on the record. These are probing amendments. We want a categoric assurance from the Minister on what is an important issue.