Autrefois Acquit – Double Jeopardy
Those of you who are studying criminal law or working in a criminal law department may not have come across the concept of ‘Autrefois Acquit’ before. In fact, it is very rare, but I mention it here because it has reared its head in the past year. I also mention it because when I was a law student, in the long distant past, legal maxims in a language other than English (mainly in Latin or French) were certainly not uncommon. Indeed, when I very first started to learn law - Roman Law was a compulsory subject for a law degree and the paper was written in Latin. I had come across Latin as a schoolboy, but I wasn’t very good at it. You will, therefore, understand my great relief when the law degree requirement for a pass in Roman Law was abolished very soon after I started my legal studies.
In the increasingly complex world of the private client lawyer there are many challenges, both old and new. This month we will consider four of these potentially challenging areas and review what recent developments have occurred. 
In last month’s publication of our journal, there was an article on the “Top Three Legal Myths’, which included the myth regarding cohabitation, i.e. of there being no such thing as a ‘common law wife’, or a ‘common law husband’, or indeed a ‘common law marriage’, that is to say a couple who are living together, with or without their children, and are not married or under a civil partnership. As was shown, the conception of such a thing is, in fact, a misconception – and it can be a serious one at that. If that relationship breaks down, such couples have extremely few rights when it comes to aspects such as finances, property and most seriously of all, the children of their relationship,
Many of us have a basic understanding of some aspects of the law, but there are a few areas where myths seem to persist. For example, is there such a thing as a Common Law wife or husband? Does a Will guarantee your wishes will be followed after your death? And if you break the law unwittingly because you genuinely didn’t know the action you took was illegal, the courts will be lenient. These are three commonly held beliefs – but how accurate are they?
Partly because of the pandemic and perhaps because of years of chronic under-investment, the UK court system is under pressure. Case numbers are rising and the time taken for claims to reach trial is increasing year on year. More use of alternative dispute resolution is seen as a solution, so there is a proposal to make it compulsory in commercial disputes. We will consider the case for this and compare how compulsory mediation has worked in family matters where it has been a feature for nearly 10 years.
This is the third and final article this year on reforms to civil procedure where we will outline the Court’s expanding use of online case management systems. 
In a previous article on reforms to civil litigation, we looked at the expanding use of fixed costs. This month, we will consider the Civil Justice Council (CJC) review of pre-action protocols.
This month we will consider some changes to Part 45 of the Civil Procedural Rules (CPR) that will affect how legal costs are recovered in some civil cases. These changes were first suggested in the 2013 Jackson report, which considered whether more proportionate costs could be achieved with changes to procedures. Following consultations in 2019 it is now expected that in October 2022 there will be a significant development in expanding the use of fixed costs making way for the creation of “intermediate” cases. 
The introduction of “no-fault” divorce at the beginning of 2022 brought one of the biggest changes to matrimonial law for 50 years. There are more changes afoot; this month we will consider one reform that has already been enacted and one that like “no-fault” divorce is long overdue.
The long-anticipated era of “no-fault” divorce came into force on 6 April 2022, nearly two years after the passing of the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act.