Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Citation of Authorities in the Family Courts of England and Wales: 2001/2012 rules, 2024–2026 transparency and bundles, and 2025 citability of circuit and district judges’ judgments

Published by a LexisNexis Family expert

Practice notes

This Practice Note explains the practice and procedure that regulate citing authorities in the family courts. It reviews the 2001 Practice Note (citation of cases: restrictions and rules) (the 2001 Practice Note on the citation of authorities) together with the 2012 Practice Direction (Citation of Authorities) (the 2012 Practice Direction on the citation of authorities). It also outlines the President of the Family Division’s guidance, issued on 27 February 2025, on citing authorities and the judgments of circuit and district judges (the 2025 guidance). That guidance makes clear that judgments at circuit judge and district judge level are not to be cited unless they include an express statement, approved by the relevant leader. Instances of cases cited retrospectively are identified.

Judgment publication guidelines

It is ordinarily in the public interest that judgments are published, including those stemming from private proceedings, and even where there is no specific public interest in the individual matter or decision, subject to any countervailing European Convention on Human Rights, Art 8 considerations, which may warrant some anonymisation but do not inevitably rule out publication entirely. Set against the core principle of open justice, the practical reality remains that it is not feasible at all for...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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