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PREDETERMINATION

November 24th, 2025 by James Goudie KC

In C ( Children : Premature Determination ) ( 2025 ) EWCA Civ 1481 the Court of Appeal observed that predetermination, or apparent predetermination, arises where a decision-maker reaches, or appears to reach, a final conclusion before being in possession of all the relevant facts.. The Court says, at paras 6-8, that there is an “ obvious difference “ between disclosure of “ provisional thinking “, for the benefit of the parties, and a “ premature arrival at a settled decision “. The first is “ acceptable “, and may be 2 beneficial “, even “ positively helpful “. The latter is “ inappropriate “ and may well be “ unjust “. This applies in the cases both of fact-finding and of evaluative judgment “. There MUST NOT be a “ premature determination “ that indicates a CLOSED MIND.

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