Andrew Bagchi QC represented a father of a child who had been the subject of an adoption order in Nepal which could not be recognised by the English courts as an overseas or Convention (Hague) adoption because of Nepal’s status.

An application was made for a declaration that the adoption order be recognised under the inherent jurisdiction of the High Court but faced the difficulty that the strict application of the old common law rule in the case of Re Valentine’s Settlement [1965] Ch 831 precluded recognition because neither prospective adoptive parent was domiciled in the country in which the foreign adoption order was made. This is the first reported instance of the court not following this (problematic) common law rule on human rights (and indeed any other) grounds.