Following Mr Justice Mostyn’s application for an urgent preliminary ruling from the CJEU in the case of SS v MCP [2020] EWHC 2971 (Fam), Anthony Metzer QC and Dr Charlotte Proudman represented the Mother at a hearing before the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”). The original case concerned a child abduction matter in which the Father had applied for the immediate return of the child from India to the UK, which the Mother opposed. The Mother alleged domestic abuse and coercive control by the Father, which the Father denied. The High Court found that the child was habitually resident in India having spent around two years there. However, there was ambiguity in relation to the territorial reach of Article 10 of Brussels IIa, principally whether its provisions applied between Members States and Third States, such as India. Mostyn J made an application to the CJEU to determine the matter. The CJEU invited written observations from the parties on Mostyn J’s question, as well as additionally requesting written observations on whether Article 8, Article 12 and International Conventions were engaged on such occasions. Oral arguments were made to the CJEU on 4th February 2021. The Advocate General handed down his opinion on 23 February 2021.
This is believed to be the penultimate case referred to the CJEU from the UK, before the UK officially left Europe in December 2020.
Chambers is delighted to announce that Mr Metzer QC and Dr Proudman won the case on behalf of the Mother.
The CJEU concluded that Article 10 of Brussels IIa applied to member states and not third states, such as India. To conclude, Article 10 is not applicable to the situation where a finding is made that a child has, at the time when an application relating to parental responsibility is brought, acquired his or her habitual residence in a third State following abduction to that State. The third state is therefore likely responsible for making decisions relating to the child’s welfare. There will be a final hearing before Mostyn J in the High Court in the next 4-8 weeks.
You can read the judgment here.
A fuller summary of the case can be found here written by Jamie Brotherton, Chambers’ naval pupil, who provided considerable assistance to Anthony and Charlotte in preparation for the hearing.
This case has been reported in The Times and can be read here.
Related barristers: Anthony Metzer KC, Dr Charlotte Proudman
