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Statutes of Northern Ireland


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URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/legis/num_act/coca1891205.txt

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CUSTODY OF CHILDREN ACT 1891

CUSTODY OF CHILDREN ACT 1891 - LONG TITLE

An Act to amend the Law relating to the Custody of Children.
[26th March 1891]
Power of Court as to production of child.

CUSTODY OF CHILDREN ACT 1891 - SECT 1

1. Where the parent of a child applies to the High Court ... for
a writ or order for the production of the child, and the Court is
of opinion that the parent has abandoned or deserted the child, or
that he has otherwise so conducted himself that the Court should
refuse to enforce his right to the custody of the child, the Court
may in its discretion decline to issue the writ or make the order.

CUSTODY OF CHILDREN ACT 1891 - SECT 2
Power to Court to order repayment of costs of bringing up child.

2. If at the time of the application for a writ or order for the
production of the child, the child is being brought up by another
person, or is boarded out by the guardians of a poor law union,
... the Court may, in its discretion, if it orders the child to
be given up to the parent, further order that the parent shall pay
to such person, or to the guardians of such poor law union, ...
the whole of the costs properly incurred in bringing up the child,
or such portion thereof as shall seem to the Court to be just and
reasonable, having regard to all the circumstances of the case.

CUSTODY OF CHILDREN ACT 1891 - SECT 3
Court in making order to have regard to conduct of parent.

3. Where a parent has

(a)abandoned or deserted his child; or

(b)allowed his child to be brought up by another person at that
person's expense, or by the guardians of a poor law union, for
such a length of time and under such circumstances as to satisfy
the Court that the parent was unmindful of his parental duties;

Power to Court as to child's religious education.

CUSTODY OF CHILDREN ACT 1891 - SECT 4

4. Upon any application by the parent for the production or custody
of a child, if the Court is of opinion that the parent ought not
to have the custody of the child, and that the child is being
brought up in a different religion to that in which the parent has
a legal right to require that the child should be brought up, the
Court shall have power to make such order as it may think fit to
secure that the child be brought up in the religion in which the
parent has a legal right to require that the child should be
brought up. Nothing in this Act contained shall interfere with or
affect the power of the Court to consult the wishes of the child
in considering what order ought to be made, or diminish the right
which any child now possesses to the exercise of its own free
choice.

CUSTODY OF CHILDREN ACT 1891 - SECT 5
Definitions of ""parent'' and ""person.''

5. For the purposes of this Act the expression "parent" of a child
includes any person at law liable to maintain such child or
entitled to his custody, and "person" includes any school or
institution.

CUSTODY OF CHILDREN ACT 1891 - SECT 6
Short title.

6. This Act may be cited as the Custody of Children Act, 1891.


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URL: http://www.bailii.org/nie/legis/num_act/coca1891205.txt