Clause 4 - Extension of Part 4 of 1996 Act to non-cohabiting couples
Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords]
3:15 pm
Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Shadow Minister, Home, Constitutional & Legal Affairs; Chesham and Amersham, Conservative)
The Minister is right: we could probably use every one of the 10 sittings to consider the meanings of the terms used in clause 4. However, I maintain that restricting the scope for interpretation by including
''which is or was of significant duration''
unnecessarily fetters the courts. If, as in other parts of the Bill, the aim of the clause is to leave things to the discretion of the courts, this would have been a sensible set of guidelines for judges undergoing their specific training. However, we do not have to shut down this area completely—or change it in a way that creates a possible loophole, because somebody could say that a relationship was not of significant duration.
This was a probing amendment, and I have listened carefully to what the Minister has said. We may want to visit this matter again, but for now I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 4 ordered to stand part of the Bill.