12 January 2012
R (on the application of CJ) v Cardiff City Council [2011] EWCA Civ 1590, [2011] All ER (D) 156 (Dec)
Where the issue was whether the claimant was a child for the purposes of the Children Act 1989, the application of the legal burden was not the correct approach. There was no hurdle which the claimant had to overcome. The court would decide whether, on a balance of probability, the claimant was or was not at the material time a child. The court would not ask whether the local authority had established, on a balance of probabilities, that the claimant was an adult, nor would it ask whether the claimant had established, on a balance of probabilities, that he was a child.
