ABSTRACT
The 1984 Act makes child abduction a criminal offence, and the FLA 1986 enables custody orders obtained in one part of the UK to be enforced in others, and also increases the chances of finding lost children, with the assistance of publicity and a judicial power to require information. The two Conventions set up a regime by which central authorities in signatory countries co-operate to secure the return of children under 16 for decisions about their future to be determined by the courts of their habitual residence. This doctrine depends on a theory of judicial comity which assumes a fair trial of the issues in jurisdictions other than our own.
