Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

E&W Court of Appeal: no anonymity for family judges save compelling HRA grounds; Williams J’s order set aside in Tickle & Summers v BBC [2025] EWCA Civ 42

Published on: 05 February 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Family expert

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Article summary

Family court judges’ anonymisation overturned by the Court of Appeal (Tickle & Summers v BBC and others) — Tickle & Summers v BBC and others [2025] EWCA Civ 42

What are the practical implications of this case?

Save in only the narrowest of situations, judges sitting in the family court — including magistrates, district and circuit judges (para [54]) — should be identified by name, even where hearings are held in private. This development will be of particular note to practitioners who also sit as fee‑paid members of the judiciary. There is no distinct ‘shielded justice environment’ for family proceedings; the open justice principle applies across civil, criminal and family jurisdictions (para [45]). Although ChA 1989, s 97 and section 12 of the Administration of Justice Act 1960 impose limits on what may and may not be reported, those statutory restraints do not displace open justice or the requirement that judges are publicly answerable for their decisions. The ruling clarifies that the sole substantive jurisdictional route by which a judge might not be named, in circumstances comparable to those concerning Williams J, is under section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998), in relation to a public authority (ie...

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