Craig Barlow and Jason M Hadden consider judicial bias and the flying carpet
The Court of Appeal’s recent decision in El Farargy v El Farargy [2007] EWCA Civ 1149, [2007] All ER (D) 248 (Nov) was always going to make the national press, especially as the court held that—as a matter of law—an experienced Family Division High Court judge (Mr Justice Singer) should be recused from adjudicating upon the division of assets in a big money divorce case because of remarks he had made during a number of interlocutory applications in the same proceedings.
COLOURFUL VIEWS
The newspapers did not spare Singer J’s blushes and reported in lurid detail the remarks he had made about the Egyptian and Muslim husband. Contextually viewed, the judge’s remarks, while sometimes colourfully expressed, were—some might feel— justified. Singer J found himself squarely confronted by an allegedly rich husband who had—not merely on Singer J’s findings, but on the previous judge’s findings—consistently and flagrantly defied the court’s orders to the potential expense and detriment of his former wife:
