Court of Appeal judgment overturning a judgment which had found that a wife had acquired a domicile of choice in England.
In this case domicile was critical to the wife's ability to pursue divorce and financial remedy proceedings. Lady Justice King determined on appeal from Mr Justice Cobb that the evidence could not have led to a decision that the wife was domiciled in England, because the wife had "little if any affection" for England and, "whilst maintaining advantageous fiscal ties", the wife chose "only to visit for medical treatment" (paras 70 and 74).
Lady Justice King recognised the danger of an appellate court interfering or substituting its own view in a case that is dependent upon findings of fact and inferences by the first instance judge. Nonetheless, Lady Justice King found that, "[o]n the evidence before the judge", it "could not possibly have been said about the wife" that "England would truly be 'home'" (para 74).
Read the full summary here.