The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal for all United Kingdom civil cases, and criminal cases from England, Wales and Northern Ireland; hears appeals on arguable points of law of general public importance; concentrates on cases of the greatest public and constitutional importance; and maintains and develops the role of the highest court in the United Kingdom as a leader in the common law world. The UK Supreme Court has assumed the jurisdiction of the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords and the devolution jurisdiction of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It is an independent institution, presided over by twelve independently appointed judges, known as Justices of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court was officially opened at the start of the legal year in October 2009. Website: www.supremecourt.gov.uk/
The issues in the appeal are (1) whether the Court of Appeal erred in law in assessing the lawfulness of the policy guidance by reference to whether it (a) created a real risk of more than a minimal number of children being detained, and/or (b) created a risk which could be avoided if the terms of the policy were better formulated; and (2) whether the Court of Appeal erred in concluding that criterion C, as construed in the context of the relevant policy as a whole, is unlawful.
This case concerned the application of the Hague Convention on child abduction and UK asylum law. The court concluded that a child cannot be removed by a Hague Convention order until after a final determination on the principal applicant's asylum claim.