B & Anor (Children), Re

An application to review a refusal to extend time for appealing care orders may be dismissed where the delay is extreme and the proposed appeal has no realistic prospect of success. That conclusion is particularly compelling where the underlying orders were discretionary and disclose no apparent error of law. Once the application is shown to be hopeless, the proper course is to dismiss it.

The applicant mother sought review by the Court of Appeal of the Registrar of Civil Appeals’ refusal, on 26 September 1995, to extend time for an appeal against care orders made by Mr Justice Cazalet on 28 September 1993 concerning three children. The applicant was already more than a year out of time when the Registrar decided the matter, and a further five years had passed by the hearing. The central issue was whether the refusal should be reopened despite the prolonged delay and the absence of any apparent error of law in the discretionary care orders.

Lord Justice Thorpe delivered the judgment. Lord Justice Buxton agreed.

1. The application to review the Registrar’s decision was dismissed unanimously. The Court considered it hopeless and concluded that it had no proper function other than to dismiss it.
2. The delay was decisive in practical terms. The applicant had been more than a year out of time when the Registrar refused an extension, and the review came after a further five years.
3. The underlying care orders had been made in the exercise of a wide discretion. The Court identified no apparent error of law in those orders.
4. The proposed appeal therefore had no realistic prospect of success. The Registrar had correctly drawn that consequence to the applicant’s attention, and the same assessment remained true when the application was reviewed.
5. The Court stated that the dismissal brought the relationship between the applicant and the Court of Appeal to an end. Any remedy the applicant might seek elsewhere was outside the scope of the application.

• High Court of Justice, Family Division: Mr Justice Cazalet made care orders concerning three children on 28 September 1993.
• Registrar of Civil Appeals: on 26 September 1995, refused an extension of time to appeal.
• Court of Appeal (Civil Division): reviewed the Registrar’s decision and dismissed the application on 7 February 2001.