Establishment of family Courts — Family Courts Act, 1984 Constitution, power and functions Administration of gender justice

Picture the corridor of an ordinary civil court: bundles of files, adjournments, a lawyer for each side, a hearing that begins and ends in six minutes. Now picture a husband and wife who are at war over custody of a child and a flat. Would you want that dispute to sit in that corridor for eight years? Parliament said no in 1984, and created a court that is meant to try to settle family disputes before it tries to decide them.

In two minutes

The Family Courts Act 1984 provides for courts whose first duty is to promote conciliation and speedy settlement of marriage and family disputes, with relaxed procedure, in camera hearings and an appeal straight to the High Court.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Family Law – II on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.