Practice

Citation of authority - court referred to summaries report of High Court judgment - unsatisfactory way to put judicial decisions before the court - practice not to be toleratedHamblin v Field: CA (Peter Gibson, Chadwick and Tuckey LJJ): 11 April 2000

The trustee in bankruptcy of the defendant's deceased husband of the applied for an order against the defendant under s.339 of the Insolvency Act 1986.

A district judge dismissed it for want of prosecution.

A deputy High Court judge, who had been referred to a Lawtel summary of a case on which the trustee now relied, upheld that decision.

The trustee appealed.PM Emerson (Blake Lapthorn for Anthony Collins, Birmingham) for the trustee in bankruptcy.

David Mitchell (Doggett & Co, Basingstoke) for the defendant.Held, dismissing the appeal, that to present a Lawtel summary was not a satisfactory way to put a judicial decision before the court; and that the use of such summaries, particularly in a form where it did not appear from the summary whether the judgment had been summarised by a professional lawyer, still less a member of the Bar, was not to be tolerated.