Lan and Hao and Anor

In the matter of *Lan and Hao and Anor*, Rees J of the Family Court of Australia considered a dispute between a husband and wife concerning proceedings in both Australia and China. The wife had sought to restrain the husband from taking further steps in Chinese proceedings, while the husband sought to restrain the wife from proceeding in the Family Court of Australia and to stay those Australian proceedings. An objection was also raised by the second respondent to a subpoena directed to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

The court was required to determine whether to uphold the objection to the subpoena. It also had to decide whether to grant the wife's application to restrain the husband from continuing Chinese proceedings, and conversely, whether to grant the husband's applications to restrain the wife from proceeding in the Family Court of Australia and to stay those proceedings.

Rees J upheld the objection to the subpoena, the precise grounds for which are not detailed in the provided text. The court dismissed the wife's application to restrain the husband from taking further steps in the Chinese proceedings. Similarly, the husband's applications to restrain the wife from proceeding in the Family Court of Australia and to stay those proceedings were also dismissed.

Consequently, the court ordered that the objection of the second respondent to the subpoena be upheld. The applications by the wife and the husband concerning the respective foreign and domestic proceedings were all dismissed.