Vesting Rights of Custody in Foreign Court

In Re H (A Child) (Abduction: Rights of Custody) (CA TLR 16 November)

The parents were born and bred in Ireland, they never married but had a daughter now aged seven. The father commenced proceedings in Ireland in respect of his daughter to formalise contact but the mother and daughter disappeared and were not found until three years later in England. The father applied to the English court for an order that the child be returned to Ireland on the basis of breach of rights of custody vested in the Irish District Court. The court gave general guidance on the dividing line between what did and did not vest rights of custody in a court: