Petition from G. Stephen Holmes oppressed Manxman To
:
Adam Wood, Lt Governor (and Queen's representative) at Isle of Man
cc
:
David Doyle, DG; Lord Bishop Robert; AAG John Quinn; Chris Grayling.
Also copied to :
The Private Secretary of Her Majesty the Queen, Lord of Man
Date
:
16th December 2013
Subject
:
Why have you ignored my complaints, Adam?
I wrote to you recently with further evidence of malfeasance (and maladministration) by officers of the Crown. You have done nothing about my complaints and I am not satisfied with my treatment by you. I am continuing to write to you because AK Williamson abused the rights of my children; and if he abused the rights of two Manx children (and abused my civil rights) then the question must be asked “How many children did he abuse in the Isle of Man?” Children's matters were listed by the Family Division as Div matters, where “Div” is short for Divorce, and a divorce has taken place under the Matrimonial Proceedings Act 2003 since 2003/04, the Court Office (the High Court Office) has evidently misgoverned every children's matter; in fact the High Court of injustice in the Isle of Man (the domain of Her Majesty's First Deemster [“D1”] and Clerk of the Rolls [and Deputy Governor, and President of the High Court]) continues to misgovern matters under the CYPA 2001 well into the second decade of the 21st century. On 19th November 2013 the Court Office at the Royal Courts of Justice sent me a letter headed “Re: H (children)” and in September 2013 I copied (downloaded) the judgment from Sir James Munby (President of the Family Division of the High Court) in the matter of Re: J (A Child); but the cretins in the High Court in the Isle of Man still list children's matters in the domain of the Deputy Governor as Kramer v Kramer! It is Dickensian – in fact it is older than Dickensian. The letter I received about 27 th May 2004 was headed Div 2004/144 Holmes v Holmes but the matter was Re: K and B Holmes (children). History of children's law As far as I can establish, there were only 6 sets of Statutes in the Isle of Man in the 15 th and most of the 16th centuries – Customary Laws from 1417, 1419, 1422 (2 of), 1429 and 1430. Deemsters were expected to know these statutes. In the Customary Laws (Act) of 1577 (the first Act of the 16 th century) the term “custody of a child” was used; and historically that right, the right of custody of a child conferred by a court on an adult parent or guardian, was linked with the concept of “access” [being a right conferred by a court on an adult]. The two sections of the 1577 Customary Law (which was the seventh Statute of the Isle of Man) containing the term “custody” [as in “this adult has custody of this child”] remained unaltered until 1953. The Guardianship of Infants Act 1953 was based on two Acts of Parliament – the Guardianship of Infants Act 1886 and Guardianship of Infants Act 1925; indeed section 8 of the 1953 Act is headed “Guardianship in case of divorce or judicial separation: 1886/6”. It reads – In any case where a decree for judicial separation, or a decree nisi for divorce, shall be pronounced, the court pronouncing such decree may thereby declare the parent by reason of whose misconduct such decree is made to be a person unfit to have the custody of the children (if any) of the marriage; and, in such case, the parent so declared to be unfit shall not, upon the death of the other parent, be entitled to custody or guardianship of such children, except with the consent of the court. Also section 4 is headed “Court may make orders as to custody : 1886/5” and includes the phrase – “regarding the custody of such infant and the right of access thereto of either parent”. Notice that the 1953 Act would be repealed came with the passing of the Family Law Act 1991 on 19th March 1991, and the promulgation at Tynwald (St. Johns) on 5 th July 1991. The 1991 Family Law Act was based almost exclusively on the Children Act 1989 [passed 16/11/1989] which was enacted on 14/10/1991 in England & Wales. Two wonderful things happened in England on that date – on 14/10/1991: the words “custody” and “access” fell into the dustbin of history, and England at last had Human Rights Convention compliant law for children. Shortly after, Parliament in Westminster accepted the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as being binding in the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. [This happened on 16/01/1992].
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