ABSTRACT
The Children Act (CA) 1989 made major changes in both the public and private law relating to children. Following the marginalisation of the divorce suit, which 50 years ago formed the bulk of ‘family law’, the law relating to children, together with ancillary relief after decree, now forms the major part of the specialist family lawyer’s workload, and some specialise in child law alone. This significant workload is divided between private law (cases about the respective rights and duties of children and parents inter se) and public law (cases about the duties of the local authority in respect of children living in their area, and of the rights of children and parents in relation to the local authority). Thus, an academic student requires:
(a) a sound working knowledge of the private and public law aspects of the CA 1989; (b) some outline knowledge of how the public law provisions impact on and interrelate
with the private law; (c) an ability to watch trends and appreciate the importance of the latest cases (because of
the lack of application of the doctrine of precedent-so that decisions are only a guide to how a court might interpret the exercise of its duty within the statutory framework, particularly since child law can be a fast moving field); and
(d) an ability to research the law where necessary in order to decide whether there are human rights implications which impact upon the established principles of English law.
