The Family Procedure Rules 2010

SECTION 2 E+W Committal and injunction

General rule - committal hearings to be in public E+W

33.5.—(1) The general rule is that proceedings in the High Court for an order of committal will be heard in public.

(2) An order of committal may be heard in private where this is permitted by rule 6 of Order 52 of the RSC (cases in which a court may sit in private).

Proceedings in the principal registry treated as pending in a designated county court E+W

33.6.—(1) This rule applies where an order for the warrant of committal of any person to prison has been made or issued in proceedings which are—

(a) in the principal registry; and

(b) treated as pending in a designated county court or a county court.

(2) The person subject to the order will, wherever located, be treated for the purposes of section 122 of the County Courts Act 1984 M1 as being out of the jurisdiction of the principal registry.

(3) Where—

(a) a committal is for failure to comply with the terms of an injunction^(GL); or

(b) an order or warrant for the arrest or committal of any person is made or issued in proceedings under Part 4 of the 1996 Act in the principal registry which are treated as pending in a county court,

the order or warrant may, if the court so directs, be executed by the tipstaff within any county court.

Marginal Citations

M1 Section 122 was amended by section 10 of and paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 2 to the Civil Procedure Act 1997 and sections 74(1) and (3) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.

Specific modifications of the CCR E+W

33.7.—(1) CCR Order 29, rule 1 (committal for breach of an order or undertaking) applies to—

(a) section 8 orders, except those referred to in paragraph (2)(a); and

(b) orders under the following sections of the 1989 Act M2 —

(i) section 14A (special guardianship orders);

(ii) section 14B(2)(b) (granting of permission on making a special guardianship order to remove a child from the United Kingdom);

(iii) section 14C(3)(b) (granting of permission to remove from the United Kingdom a child who is subject to a special guardianship order); and

(iv) section 14D (variation or discharge of a special guardianship order),

as if paragraph (3) of that rule were substituted by the following paragraph—

“(3) In the case of a section 8 order (within the meaning of section 8(2) of the Children Act 1989) or an order under section 14A, 14B(2)(b), 14C(3)(b) or 14D of the Children Act 1989 enforceable by committal order under paragraph (1), the judge or the district judge may, on the application of the person entitled to enforce the order, direct that the proper officer issue a copy of the order, endorsed with or incorporating a notice as to the consequences of disobedience, for service in accordance with paragraph (2), and no copy of the order shall be issued with any such notice endorsed or incorporated save in accordance with such a direction.”.

(2) CCR Order 29, rule 1 applies to—

(a) contact orders to which a notice has been attached under section 11I of the 1989 Act M3 or under section 8(2) of the Children and Adoption Act 2006;

(b) orders under section 11J of the 1989 Act (enforcement orders); and

(c) orders under paragraph 9 of Schedule A1 to the 1989 Act (orders following breach of enforcement orders),

as if paragraph (3) were omitted.

Marginal Citations

M2 Sections 14A, 14B, 14C and 14D were inserted by section 115(1) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and amended by section 38 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2008.

M3 Section 11I was inserted by section 3 of the Children and Adoption Act 2006.

Section 118 County Courts Act 1984 and the tipstaff E+W

33.8.  For the purposes of section 118 of the County Courts Act 1984 M4 in its application to the hearing of family proceedings at the Royal Courts of Justice or the principal registry, the tipstaff is deemed to be an officer of the court.

Marginal Citations

M4 Section 118 was amended by the Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1986 and sections 17(3) and 101(1) of and paragraph 6 of Schedule 12 to the Criminal Justice Act 1991 and section 74(6) of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990.