TIRE v Carmarthenshire County Council [2024] EWCOP 81 (T2) is, as far as I know (but we would welcome correction) the first published judgment from the Court of Protection in Welsh (although many will have been delivered orally). As this Practice Direction makes clear, Court of Protection proceedings in or having a connection with Wales must be conducted on the basis that the Welsh and English languages are treated on the basis of equality.
The case itself was a relatively ‘routine’ s.21A application, although characterised by a very clear desire on the part of HHJ Edwards to understand the perspective of P, and to recognise the impact upon her of the decision that she should remain in a care home[1]. Of particular – wider – assistance is the appendix to the judgment in which the judge set out an agreed translation by the bilingual Counsel involved (Nia Gowman and Lewis Harrison) of the legal framework and key cases concerning best interests.
[1] I do not, unfortunately, profess Welsh language abilities – the website used to allow me to navigate through did, perhaps rather tellingly, translate the “Court of Protection” as “the custody court.”
