AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE ATTITUDES OF THE JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF ONTARIO REGARDING THE WORKINGS OF THE PRESENT CHILD CUSTODY ADJUDICATION LAWS

Abstract

Adrian Bradbrook’s unique survey of the workings of the present child custody laws is based upon interviews with twelve Ontario Supreme Court justices and the written correspondence of another. He concludes that because there are no universally applicable principles in custody disputes, the law in this area must appear very arbitrary from a litigant’s standpoint. What is needed, he suggests, is for the custody adjudication laws to be amended in order to give some degree of objectivity and sense of justice to the parties without introducing inflexible, dogmatic rules that fail to account for the circumstances of each case. A model for statutory reform is propounded.