Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Cases
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Nigel Vaughan Lowe: An Appreciation
- Part I Family and Child Law in England and Wales
- Part II International Family Law
- Judging Parental Child Abduction: What Does it Mean to Adopt a Children's Rights-Based Approach?
- Judicial Activism: A 20-Year Evolution
- Globalisation of Adjudication in International Family Law: Serving International Families by Producing International Solutions
- Creating International Families: Private International Law and the Industry of Parenthood
- Issues in International Divorce Cases
- Non-Judicial Divorce in France: Progress or a Mess?
- The Istanbul Convention: Is Domestic Abuse Violence Against Women?
- Nationality and Migration Status in International Children's Law
- The Development of Child Protection Across International Borders for Children at Risk of Harm
- Nigel Lowe and International Family Law: An Immense Contribution
- The Spanish Constitutional Court and Protracted Child Abduction Proceedings: Time is of the Essence
- Non-Recognition of Child Marriages: Sacrificing the Global for the Local in the Aft ermath of the 2015 ‘Refugee Crisis’
- Juvenile Justice in Bulgaria: Reforms and Resistance
- Overriding Mandatory Provisions in EU Family Law Regulations
- Part III The Future for Family and Child Law
Nigel Lowe and International Family Law: An Immense Contribution
from Part II - International Family Law
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 October 2018
- Frontmatter
- Foreword
- Acknowledgements
- Contents
- List of Cases
- List of Contributors
- Introduction: Nigel Vaughan Lowe: An Appreciation
- Part I Family and Child Law in England and Wales
- Part II International Family Law
- Judging Parental Child Abduction: What Does it Mean to Adopt a Children's Rights-Based Approach?
- Judicial Activism: A 20-Year Evolution
- Globalisation of Adjudication in International Family Law: Serving International Families by Producing International Solutions
- Creating International Families: Private International Law and the Industry of Parenthood
- Issues in International Divorce Cases
- Non-Judicial Divorce in France: Progress or a Mess?
- The Istanbul Convention: Is Domestic Abuse Violence Against Women?
- Nationality and Migration Status in International Children's Law
- The Development of Child Protection Across International Borders for Children at Risk of Harm
- Nigel Lowe and International Family Law: An Immense Contribution
- The Spanish Constitutional Court and Protracted Child Abduction Proceedings: Time is of the Essence
- Non-Recognition of Child Marriages: Sacrificing the Global for the Local in the Aft ermath of the 2015 ‘Refugee Crisis’
- Juvenile Justice in Bulgaria: Reforms and Resistance
- Overriding Mandatory Provisions in EU Family Law Regulations
- Part III The Future for Family and Child Law
Summary
INTRODUCTION
Nigel Lowe is truly the father of international family law. His contribution to the development of international family law has been immense, not only at the doctrinal level, but also as a result of his invaluable statistical analysis, especially in regard to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the ‘Hague Convention’). Lowe's contribution is not only important for family law practitioners and academics around the world, it is also essential for the development and improvement of international family law itself.
This chapter will focus on the major themes of Lowe's work on international family law as it applies to children, with a particular emphasis on the need for cooperation and consistency between different countries, for robust administration processes, and for clear empirical data about how international family laws are actually working. The chapter will conclude with an examination of the importance of statistical analysis in determining the gaps that need to be addressed in the future to ensure the efficient and appropriate operation of the Hague Convention.
COOPERATION AND CONSISTENCY IN INTERNATIONAL FAMILY LAW
International family law is extremely complex and encompasses both ‘the laws governing families with a foreign element’ and ‘internationally inspired norms governing domestic family law’. To function in any effective manner, international family law requires a great deal of cooperation between judges from different countries and consistent administrative support. To this end, in his writing about international family law, Lowe has long stressed the importance of judicial cooperation across different legal systems and advocated ways in which such cooperation could be enhanced. As Lowe states, international disputes involving children ‘need bold and incisive action’ to ensure children are not left in jurisdictional limbo.
It can be all too easy for judges to simply deal with the case before them on their reading of the international convention and the papers before them without considering the wider international implications. This creates a number of problems. For example, in cases involving the Hague Convention, courts must trust that children will be safe if they are returned to their countries of habitual residence. This can only be achieved when judges cooperate with each other and understand the thinking processes of judges in other countries.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- International and National Perspectives on Child and Family LawEssays in Honour of Nigel Lowe, pp. 247 - 258Publisher: IntersentiaPrint publication year: 2018