*Re S (A Child) (Abduction: Hearing the Child)

Minor – Abduction. In an appeal by the mother against an order granted by the High Court for the summary return of a child, A, to Russia, the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, considered whether the principle of effective access to justice for a child was engaged in the exercise of the inherent jurisdiction relating to the abduction or retention of a child where neither the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction nor Council Regulation (EC) 2201/2003 (concerning jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility, repealing Regulation (EC) No 1347/2000) applied. In allowing the appeal, the court held that there was an obligation in principle on the High Court sitting in its inherent jurisdiction in relation to an abduction application to consider whether and how to hear the child concerned.