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Tag: Contact


Contact, contraception, conception and conceptual clarity: Poole J dissects a difficult question

Posted on 11 February 2024 Updated on 12 February 2024

Poole J is rapidly becoming the specialist sexual capacity judge at the Court of Protection.   Following his decisions in Hull… Read more

Posted in Capacity, Case comments, Sexual relations     Tags: assessing capacity, Contact, contraception, Sexual relations     Leave a comment     


When should questioning an ‘independent spirit’ stop? Capacity, contact and the limits of the inherent jurisdiction

Posted on 30 August 2023

The case name – Re RK (Capacity; Contact; Inherent Jurisdiction) [2023] EWCOP 37 – helpfully captures what this difficult case… Read more

Posted in Case comments, Inherent jurisdiction     Tags: capacity, Contact, inherent jurisdiction     Leave a comment     


What place diagnosis? Learning Disability, deafness and the Court of Protection

Posted on 26 July 2023

The case of TW v Middlesbrough Council [2023] EWCOP 30 raises an important issue about diagnosis in the context of Learning… Read more

Posted in Capacity, Case comments, Welfare     Tags: capacity, care, Contact, internet, learning disability, Welfare     Leave a comment     


“Learning to learn” – capacity and the awareness of choice

Posted on 24 November 2021

Re ZK (No 2) [2021] EWCOP 61 is the sequel to one reported upon earlier here, and contains some important observations… Read more

Posted in Capacity, Case comments     Tags: capacity, Contact, residence     Leave a comment     


Capacity, autism and indoctrination – a careful judicial navigation of a minefield

Posted on 22 March 2021

Re EOA [2021] EWCOP 20 is a complex case in relation to a 19 year old man, of wider interest… Read more

Posted in Best interests, Capacity, Case comments, Welfare     Tags: Best interests, capacity, causative nexus, Contact, residence, Social media     Leave a comment     


Care homes and contact restrictions arising out of COVID-19: the Court of Protection pronounces

Posted on 2 April 2020

In BP v Surrey County Council & Anor [2020] EWCOP 17, Hayden J had to grapple with the impact of… Read more

Posted in Case comments, COVID-19     Tags: Best interests, Contact, COVID-19     Leave a comment     


Will, preferences and estrangement

Posted on 27 January 2020

In A Local Authority v PS & HS [2019] EWCOP 60, the court had to decide upon an 80 year-old… Read more

Posted in Best interests, Capacity, Case comments     Tags: Best interests, capacity, Contact     Leave a comment     


The thinnest of legal ice – restricting contact and the MCA

Posted on 16 December 2018

SR v A Local Authority [2018] EWCOP 36 concerned a couple, who had had been married for 58 years, and were… Read more

Posted in Best interests, Case comments     Tags: Best interests, Contact     Leave a comment     


Getting it right in the balance between autonomy and protection

Posted on 3 April 2014 Updated on 3 April 2014

A Local Authority v TZ (No.2)  [2014] EWHC 973 (COP) Summary This is a sequel to a case that we… Read more

Posted in Best interests, Capacity, Case comments, Sexual relations     Tags: Best interests, capacity, Contact, Sexual relations     One comment     


Recent Posts

  • The COVID-19 inquiry – two key healthcare recommendations

    21 March 2026
    I have not written much about the COVID-19 inquiry on this site.  In part this is because, having been very... …Read More »
  • An ‘intolerable’ deprivation of liberty – and the need for reasons

    21 March 2026
    No one will ever entirely fill the shoes of the late Sir James Munby, one of whose defining characteristics was... …Read More »
  • Capacity as a social construct, and the problem of untangling the spider’s web

    21 March 2026
    Many, including, me, who read the judgment of Poole J in SW v Nottingham City Council & Anor [2025] EWCOP 53... …Read More »
  • Switzerland and the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – how many would still travel?

    21 March 2026
    One point quite often lost in the debate about the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill before the Westminster... …Read More »
  • Family Help, Early Help and the myth of ‘non-statutory support’

    21 March 2026
    The Department for Education has published an updated version of Working Together to Safeguard Children (‘Working Together’), the statutory guidance... …Read More »

RSS National Archives Mental Capacity cases

  • Nottinghamshire County Council v JW & Anor 19 March 2026
  • Emerald Josephine Toogood v HM Senior Coroner for the Area of Somerset 17 March 2026
  • BHO, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care & Anor 10 March 2026
  • Lonan Daniel O'Herlihy v Jennifer Mary Taylor & Anor 9 March 2026
  • Shah Ali v General Medical Council 6 March 2026
  • XY, Re 6 March 2026
  • Purani Swami Dharmanandan Dasji v Daveen Mavji Bhudia & Ors 3 March 2026
  • Lesley Barnor Townsend v Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust 3 March 2026
  • EB, R (on the application of) v Director of Legal Aid Casework 25 February 2026
  • Eesa Mohammed v Adam Ali & Anor 24 February 2026

RSS National Archives Mental Health Act cases

  • BA (A Child) (DOLS In Hospital), Re 20 March 2026
  • Eagle Care Services Limited v Care Quality Commission 12 March 2026
  • BHO, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care & Anor 10 March 2026
  • XY, Re 6 March 2026
  • CGT, R (on the application of) v West Sussex County Council 13 February 2026
  • R v Adam Culverwell 10 February 2026
  • MXV, R (on the application of) v The Secretary of State for Home Department 10 February 2026
  • DB v Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust & Anor 5 February 2026
  • R v Maria Kwiatkowska 4 February 2026
  • East Riding of Yorkshire Council v The Mother & Ors 2 February 2026

RSS Mental Health Law Online updates

  • Case (Participation of patient). DB v Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKUT 28 (AAC)
  • Case (JR of legal aid refusal). R (EB) v Director of Legal Aid Casework [2026] EWHC 402 (Admin)
  • Case (Nurse sex offender). R v Andrew Culverwell [2026] EWCA Crim 203
  • Mental capacity law newsletter. 39 Essex Chambers, 'Mental Capacity Report' (issue 156, December 2025)
  • Changes to hearing type. Mental Health Tribunal, 'Late applications to change type of hearing (video/face-to-face)' (23 February 2026)
  • Mental capacity law newsletter. 39 Essex Chambers, 'Mental Capacity Report' (issue 158, March 2026)
  • Law Society MHT practice note. Law Society, 'Practice note: Representation before mental health tribunals' (7 October 2025)
  • Tribunal book. Edward Jacobs, Tribunal Practice and Procedure (6th edn, LAG 2024)
  • Victims guidance. Tribunal guidance T118: Victims of violent or sexual offences (February 2026)
  • Case law update. Jonathan Wilson, 'Mental health case law: update' (Legal Action, June 2025)

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