Dear all

The EWCA today published its judgment in Harb v HRH Prince Abdul Aziz
Bin Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz [2016] EWCA Civ 556
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2016/556.html.

The Court of Appeal allowed the Respondant's appeal on a number of
grounds, relating to Peter Smyth J's approach to the evidence
(particularly the refusal of the respondant Prince to make himself
available for cross examination) and approach to the legal issues in
the case.

The apparent bias point which I noted on the list before relating to
the learned judge's correspondence with Blackstone Chambers did not
need to be resolved to decide the case. Nevertheless, the Court of
Appeal dealt with that ground of appeal from paragraph 49 onward, in
terms which are to be commended in my view.

The Court would not have allowed the appeal on this point because the
judge's judgment had been largely finalized before the matters said to
give rise to apparent bias occurred.

However, the Court was extremely critical of the learned judge's
conduct. For those interested, the relevant section of the judgment
should be read in full.

Kind regards

Ger