Court of Appeal (Civil Division) judgments, 2004

An appeal against a county-court committal order lies to the Court of Appeal under section 13 of the Administration of Justice Act 1960, and permission to…

In secure-tenancy possession proceedings under the Housing Act 1985, the court must keep in mind the statutory powers to postpone or suspend possession and…

A statutory power to make the best use of market assets may authorise uses beyond the market’s core activity, but its general wording must be read in context.…

Under Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, responsibility for providing airport access services may rest concurrently on the airport owner and…

Where an inmate under 18 in a young offender institution faces removal from association for good order or discipline, fairness normally requires an opportunity…

A rule governing additions to income-based jobseeker’s allowance unlawfully discriminates against men where it makes entitlement depend on receipt of child…

Article 14 does not require equal treatment where the pension rights being compared are legally different. Before the protection introduced by the Welfare…

Section 33 of the Limitation Act confers a broad equitable discretion. The court must weigh potential prejudice and consider all the circumstances, including…

Deliberate sexual abuse by an employee may be sufficiently connected with employment to make the employer vicariously liable, but that does not convert the…

A lawful fixed-term contract may end by effluxion of time. That expiry, and the resulting dismissal, do not of themselves amount to less favourable treatment…

Before a court is satisfied that a landlord is entitled to possession under ground 8, it retains a power to adjourn. It must not ordinarily use that power…

The formation and scope of a construction contract depend on objective interpretation of the parties’ communications, read in context. Uncommunicated…

An option agreement must be construed as a whole and complied with strictly. Where the option holder is defined as several parties and the option is personal…

An appellate court should not order a retrial merely because a trial judge made an unnecessary and potentially unfair finding about a party’s motivation. The…

On an annulment under section 282(1)(a) of the Insolvency Act 1986, the court retains a broad discretion as to the trustee’s proper costs. It may require the…

Hearsay evidence is admissible in civil possession proceedings involving anti-social behaviour. Its use is compatible with a fair hearing where the court…

For the purposes of section 141(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925, the person entitled to enforce lease rent, covenants and re-entry conditions is not…

When exercising its discretion under section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the court must balance planning enforcement, individual hardship…

Compensation following an accepted offer to make amends is assessed under section 3(5) of the Defamation Act 1996 on the ordinary principles governing…

A local authority’s statutory powers and duties do not, without more, create or reinforce a common-law duty of care. The court must first determine whether the…

An asylum decision must assess the claimant’s risk at the date of hearing, on the precise facts and in light of material changes since departure. Where a…

A mortgagee exercising a power of sale must take reasonable care to obtain the best price reasonably obtainable at the time. Where the purchaser is an…

At the permission stage, an arguable case that an earlier communication contained the bare bones of a notice of appeal, with a later document supplying the…

An exclusion appeal panel must decide whether permanent exclusion is a reasonable response in the circumstances. A school policy requiring permanent exclusion…

The Court of Appeal has jurisdiction to determine appeals from an order or judgment of the High Court, not from reasons or findings which have no operative…

For the purposes of regulation 8(2), a deficiency in an original homelessness decision is not confined to a legal or procedural error. It includes an important…

Under the Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995, the law of the place where a tort occurs governs all issues unless another law is…

Article 3 requires the State to take reasonable steps to protect individuals from sufficiently grave ill-treatment by private persons. The content of that duty…

A product shape does not possess inherent distinctive character merely because it is unusual, striking or memorable. The decisive question is whether the…

In assessing credibility, a fact-finder may take account of the inherent probability or improbability of an account. Improbability alone does not establish…

A solicitor who dishonestly deals with client funds will ordinarily be struck off the Roll. The sanction is all but automatic, notwithstanding mitigation…

Where an appeal turns on disputed facts and the necessary inquiry may depend on credibility, the Court of Appeal may refer the issue to a High Court judge…

Where Parliament provides a statutory alternative to judicial review, the court may decline judicial review if that alternative gives adequate and…

Under the statutory regime for care-home managers, the applicant must demonstrate that he is a fit person before registration can be granted. The registration…

Under the costs regime applying to road traffic accidents before 5 October 2003, the reasonableness of a conditional fee agreement success fee is assessed by…

For a person unlawfully present in the United Kingdom who is not an asylum-seeker, Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 Schedule 3 generally excludes…

For vulnerability under section 189(1)(c) of the Housing Act 1996, the question is a composite comparative assessment. The authority must ask whether, on the…

A certificate of contested patent validity engages the special costs regime in section 65(2) of the Patents Act 1977 in subsequent first-instance proceedings…

Sentences for breach of a non-molestation order under section 42 of the Family Law Act 1996 should reflect contemporary recognition of the seriousness of…

Legislation controlling the use of property complies with Article 1 of the First Protocol where it strikes a fair and proportionate balance between the…

In a scheme of arrangement, the court must identify at the meeting stage the classes whose rights are sufficiently aligned for a single arrangement. Creditors…

An insurance proposal declaration which cannot be given an ordinary grammatical meaning must be construed objectively to identify its intended commercial…

Whether non-compliance with a statutory notice requirement invalidates the notice depends on the substance, purpose and legislative context of that…

An appellate court should not substitute its view of disputed facts merely because it might assess the printed evidence differently. Intervention is justified…

A solicitor’s removal from the court record does not, by itself, end actual authority conferred by the client. The authority continues unless revoked, although…

The extended definition of employment under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 covers a binding contract personally to do work, even where the worker is…

Where damages for negligent advice about title are assessed on a diminution in value basis, the claimant cannot recover additional interest or finance charges…

A magistrates’ court has no general common-law power to reopen a valid civil liability order merely because a party or adviser negligently failed to attend. A…

Section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925 gives the Lands Tribunal jurisdiction over restrictions on land use, not positive obligations enforceable in…

For a negligence claim arising from an accountant’s report concerning a solicitor’s practice, a compensation fund does not suffer actionable loss merely…

A court considering strike-out for procedural non-compliance, or relief from a strike-out sanction, must exercise its discretion in a measured and…

Affirmation or election following undue influence is a matter of fact and degree. A party does not lose the right to set aside a transaction merely because…

In an asylum appeal, an appellate tribunal must address each distinct basis on which the first-instance decision allowed the claim. That includes risk on…

After the 21-day period for unfettered acceptance of a Part 36 offer has expired, acceptance requires permission unless the parties agree liability for costs.…

Under amended occupational pension rules, an employer’s consent to ill-health retirement may operate as a filter, rather than as a primary determination of…

A civil restraint order may be made where a party persistently pursues applications which have no realistic prospect of success and waste court resources. It…

Costs in a permission application ordinarily follow the event. The successful respondent should receive her reasonable costs unless an exceptional reason makes…

An arbitral determination creates an issue estoppel only if it was necessary and fundamental to the award. A conclusion stated after the tribunal has decided…

The existence of matrimonial jurisdiction under Article 2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1347/2000 does not depend on the grounds pleaded in a divorce petition.…

A judgment handed down in public is not invalid merely because the copy supplied is headed “Draft”, unsigned or later subject to minor amendment. The later…

Where a contractual warranty concerning an income-producing business proves false, loss of profits may be recovered while the business trades. Once the…

Under section 14A of the Limitation Act 1980, knowledge that damage is attributable to an alleged act or omission requires facts causally relevant to an…

A refusal by a local authority to revise an original housing benefit decision for official error is not an appealable decision where the statutory appeal…

A professional defendant may give admissible opinion evidence explaining why the defendant’s conduct met the required standard of care. A lack of independence…

Proportionality under article 1 of the First Protocol is context-sensitive. Where a statutory regulator has lawfully decided that property must be transferred…

An appellate immigration tribunal must respect the adjudicator’s primary findings. It may substitute a different factual conclusion only where objective…

The police may take reasonable preventive action at common law where a breach of the peace is reasonably apprehended. The required imminence depends on all the…

A police authority does not obtain qualified privilege merely because it is pursuing crime prevention or because the recipient has a commercial interest in the…

Where proceedings concern a matter covered by a valid arbitration agreement, the court must grant a stay under section 9(4) of the Arbitration Act 1996. The…

For tax purposes, a payment under a consent order settling an unfair-dismissal claim must be characterised by its true connection, not merely by the…

A mistake of fact causing unfairness can constitute a separate ground of challenge on an appeal on a point of law in asylum proceedings where the parties share…

An indemnity against a party’s own negligence requires very clear language, construed in the context of the whole contract. Comprehensive causal words such as…

For an application under Environment Act 1995, Schedule 13 paragraph 9(2) identifies the information required for a valid application. Where that information…

A person detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 must have access to a court to challenge detention even where incapacity prevents the person initiating…

When deciding whether a statutory management receivership should continue, the court must identify its specific purposes, assess what has been achieved…

In a contract of motor insurance, the duty of disclosure is shaped by the questions in the proposal form. An insurer may avoid for an innocent material…

Where an arbitration is governed by a chosen system of foreign law, and that law gives an interim freezing order only personal effect, English law does not…

Proceedings whose principal focus or essential subject matter is arbitration fall within the arbitration exception in article 1.2(d) of the EC Judgments…

Persecution is not established by every interference with a core human right or by simple deprivation of rights. It requires a real risk of serious harm…

A suspended committal order may properly enforce a contact order where a parent persistently and deliberately refuses to comply. Faced with open defiance, the…

A mortgagee or receiver is not required to accept a proposal merely because it may reduce the borrower’s burden. Any alleged duty must be assessed objectively…

Section 50 of the Law of Property Act 1925 permits a mortgagee exercising a power of sale to obtain an order freeing land from another encumbrance after paying…

On a second appeal, permission requires an important point of principle or practice or another compelling reason. That threshold applies to the decision…

An unsuccessful appellant will ordinarily be ordered to pay the respondent’s costs of the appeal. Permission for a further appeal may be refused where the case…

In deciding prior approval for a telecommunications mast, a planning decision-maker may consider alternative sites, but need not treat a statutory power to…

For VAT purposes, whether a transfer of land is a supply by a partnership is determined from the whole factual and legal context, not from the transfer form in…

An application for permission to appeal must identify an arguable error of law in the lower court’s decision. It cannot be used to reargue the merits of an…

An absolute assignment of a debt may be proved on the balance of probabilities by considering the deed, identified schedules, evidence of execution, notice and…

Where the prescribed conditions are satisfied, posting a claim form to an individual’s usual or last known residence constitutes good service under rule 6.5(6)…

Under section 9(1A)(d) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, the enfranchisement price is reduced only by the increase in value caused by the tenant’s actual…

In a direct sex-discrimination claim, an Employment Tribunal should identify the actual or hypothetical comparator, make findings on the alleged less…

Where a conveyance describes land by reference to identified properties and the accompanying plan is for identification only, the land should be identified…

On an appeal from a case-management order, an appellate court should ordinarily be slow to interfere. It must intervene where the judge’s reasoning is…

A prior-art document does not anticipate a later patent claim unless, read as a whole and without hindsight through the eyes of the skilled person, it gives…

Permission to appeal should be granted where the proposed appeal raises properly arguable issues. In a property dispute, arguable questions concerning…

The Court of Appeal has jurisdiction under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR 52) to consider an out-of-time application for permission to appeal from the…

Under Companies Act 1985 s.151(1), financial assistance must be given before or at the same time as the acquisition of shares. A company is not treated as…

In proprietary estoppel, relief is discretionary but must be calibrated to the equity actually raised and limited to what is necessary to avoid an…

A constable may arrest under section 24(6) only where the officer actually suspects guilt, has objectively reasonable grounds for that suspicion, and exercises…

A director’s service agreement is not necessarily subject to the same approval requirement as remuneration paid to a director in that capacity. Summary…

Proceedings founded on alleged crimes or assaults committed in Australia are not made justiciable in England merely because the alleged defendant is said to be…

Permission to appeal may exceptionally be granted in a fact-sensitive building contract dispute where the evidence arguably supports a different conclusion…

In an individual voluntary arrangement, a power allowing a supervisor to exclude property considered onerous ordinarily controls property entering the…

On a renewed application in a pending appeal, a party who deliberately chose not to call evidence at trial cannot ordinarily introduce it on appeal merely…

Under the Conservation (Natural Habitats etc) Regulations 1994, a licence application must be assessed by reference to the purpose forming its basis. A…

A bank that receives notice of a freezing injunction over its customer’s account owes the claimant a duty of care to take reasonable care to prevent funds…

The territoriality principle is a strong rule of statutory construction. It applies particularly to provisions imposing a duty on a person outside the United…

Where a listed application is called on after its earliest hearing time and the applicant is absent without communicating any reason for non-attendance, the…

A solicitor retained to advise on litigation must survey the whole scene, ascertain the relevant facts and give complete advice on viable responses. Where the…

A clear and unequivocal disclosure order must be obeyed unless it is set aside or varied. Blatant, unexcused non-compliance may activate an unless order…

Under the applicable housing-benefit rules, the general £20 disregard for voluntary payments is the starting rule. A whole payment may be disregarded under…

A restrictive covenant prohibiting vehicles being parked on a roadway over which others have rights of way is not necessarily an absolute prohibition. Its…

Contractual delivery is assessed by the terms on which the supplier agreed to supply the goods. Where the buyer’s purchase order directs delivery to a named…

A sentence of imprisonment may lawfully carry restrictions on a prisoner’s freedom of expression as natural incidents of penal imprisonment, including…

Whether a VAT assessment has been made under section 73 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 is determined objectively by what the Commissioners have done. A…

General words expressly incorporating a collective agreement into an employment contract do not necessarily incorporate every provision. Each provision must be…

A court drawing a consent order must remain within the parties’ agreed terms. Additional enforcement provisions, particularly those supported by a penal…

In deciding costs of a procedural application, the court should focus on who caused the costs, rather than merely on which party formally required permission.…

An application to set aside permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed appeal raises important points of practice requiring guidance, even…

Under PPG8, compliance by a proposed mobile phone base station with the ICNIRP public-exposure guidelines ordinarily removes the need for a planning authority…

Proceedings concerning the composition of a company’s board fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the state in which the company has its…

For housing benefit, an owner is the person who is for the time being entitled to dispose of the fee simple, as defined by regulation 2(1) of the Housing…

A fast-track asylum system must provide a fair opportunity for applicants to present their claims across the full range of cases entering it. Its risk of…

A contractual power to review and adjust margins, fees or allowances is not confined to site-specific matters where the language is neutral. It may address…

For liability under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, the question is whether the highway was in a condition in which danger could reasonably have been…

In medical-negligence causation cases, the likely effect and timing of treatment must be assessed by reference both to the individual facts and to the…

Article 8(b) of the Landfill Directive was effective in domestic law through the existing waste-planning regime. It did not, however, make compliance with the…

A statutory power to disclose material seized during a fraud investigation may satisfy Article 8(2)’s requirement that interference be in accordance with law…

For a constructive dismissal based on a last straw, the employer’s conduct must cumulatively amount to a repudiatory breach, usually of the implied term of…

In child-relocation cases, the principles governing an application to move children abroad do not cease to apply merely because the proposed move is described…

In committal proceedings for repeated breaches of protective orders, immediate imprisonment may be justified where threats, harassment and intimidation…

Whether a vehicle is being used for social, domestic or pleasure purposes depends on the essential character or primary purpose of the journey. The inquiry is…

Cause of action estoppel, issue estoppel and the Henderson principle are distinct. A court must first decide whether a cause of action estoppel exists; if it…

For the purpose of determining eligible housing costs under Child Support (Maintenance Assessments and Special Cases) Regulations 1992, costs must be…

In negligence claims involving vulnerable persons, the safety of a collection or transport system must be assessed against the individual’s established…

The phrase “for the benefit of the child” in paragraph 1(2) of Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989 has a wide meaning. It may include financial provision…

A person is aggrieved for the purposes of section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 if that person was the planning appellant, participated…

For an asylum claim, the decision-maker must identify the real reason for feared persecution, meaning the reason operating in the persecutor’s mind. An imputed…

The derogation from a worker’s entitlement to a rest break where activities require continuity of service or production focuses on the worker’s activities, not…

A county court hearing an appeal under section 204 of the Housing Act 1996 exercises a statutory judicial-review jurisdiction. It may correct a truly perverse…

In child-arrangements litigation, a residence decision may rely on findings about each parent’s capacity to promote the child’s relationship with the other…

Under section 21(2) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, a service provider must assess whether a physical feature makes a service impossible or…

In a defamation action, the court will not restrain publication before trial unless it is clear that no defence will succeed. A defendant’s stated intention to…

Under section 423(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986, an order must both restore the position that would have existed without the impugned transaction and protect…

A highway authority’s statutory power to salt roads, together with a maintenance scheme and general public expectation, does not by itself create a private-law…

Under Criminal Justice Act 1988 section 83(1), a defendant seeking a certificate of inadequacy bears the burden of proving that his current realisable…

In an application to remove a child temporarily from the jurisdiction, the court must not automatically apply the demanding principles developed for permanent…

Permission to appeal may be refused without deciding a pure question of law where the proposed appeal is an unsuitable vehicle. Relevant considerations include…

Under Civil Procedure Rules r 19.5(3)(a), a party may be substituted after expiry of a limitation period where the claimant intended to sue a defendant…

Where parties settle an appeal, the Court may give effect to an agreed order allowing or dismissing appeals without deciding their merits. The order may also…

For Refugee Convention purposes, Falun Gong practitioners did not, on the evidence before the court, form a particular social group merely because public…

When deciding whether contempt proceedings should be instituted in circumstances affecting a child, the child’s welfare is important but is not automatically…

A limited civil restraint order is a regulatory direction protecting the court process from abuse. It controls the issue of further applications by requiring…

For a second appeal, permission requires more than an arguable issue. The appeal must significantly centre on an important point of principle or practice, and…

Article 2 is engaged where reasonable grounds objectively justify a witness’s genuine fears for life. The court should avoid rigid risk formulas: the real and…

On an employer’s complete failure to comply with a reinstatement order, the sum specified for pre-reinstatement pay and benefits under section 114(2)(a) of the…

In an asylum appeal, the low standard of proof concerns whether there is a real risk of persecution. It does not require every disputed evidential detail to be…

Delay in seeking an interim injunction is a relevant factor when deciding whether to grant a final mandatory injunction, but it does not generally bar relief.…

Under Article 8 and the Human Rights Act 1998, the legality of restrictions on a prisoner’s external correspondence is a question for the court, including…

Paragraph 9(2) of an adjudication scheme, included to prevent inconsistent findings by different adjudicators on the same issue, does not apply where the…

In a claim for physical pain and suffering caused by an injury, the claimant may recover for pain heightened by an enduring trait of anxiety or unusual…

Whether development on Crown land is carried out by or on behalf of the Crown is not determined by the private-law relationship between the Crown and the…

For statelessness claims, the burden lies on the claimant and the standard is reasonable likelihood, not balance of probability. A tribunal cannot reverse that…

The rule against apparent bias applies to construction adjudicators. The question is whether a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered all…

A foreign state retains immunity from a civil claim in the United Kingdom for torture committed abroad where no statutory exception applies. The prohibition of…

For adverse possession under the Limitation Act 1980, “adverse” describes the claimant’s capacity, not hostility. The claimant must prove factual possession…

A statutory review of accommodation suitability must consider the facts known at the review date and apply the local authority’s published allocation scheme.…

On an appeal from an Immigration Appeal Tribunal, the question is whether the Tribunal’s decision contains an error of law. The Court of Appeal does not re-try…

On an application pending appeal, the governing question for a stay is whether granting or refusing it creates a risk of injustice to either party. A…

A resulting trust arising on a purchase in one person’s name crystallises when the property is acquired. Subject to contrary intention, loan, gift or…

In assessing whether a claimant acted reasonably in refusing medical treatment said to mitigate personal-injury loss, the court must evaluate the claimant’s…

A judge deciding whether interference with a Convention right is proportionate must give reasons which enable the parties to understand the decision. Where…

A commercial warranty-notice clause should be construed in light of its preliminary notification purpose. A notice must identify the warranty claim and the…

For statutory repair rights to arise, a tenant’s notice must be served on the person who is the landlord under the governing legislation, or on a current agent…

Damages for future care must reflect the claimant’s reasonable needs, rather than the court’s independent view of the claimant’s best interests. The court…

An amendment to an Employment Tribunal originating application must be judged by the whole document. A general reference to race discrimination does not…

A contractual jurisdiction clause covering the validity, construction and performance of a patent licence may confer jurisdiction on the chosen English court…

Section 29 of the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002 permits the Council to refer a disciplinary acquittal to the High Court…

On judicial review of a refusal of permission to appeal, the court must consider both whether the refusal was legally flawed and whether the proposed appeal…

Fresh evidence on review or appeal must satisfy a stringent test. It must be relevant and probative, and capable of having an important influence on the…

For Article 12(2) of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction, settlement requires more than physical integration. The court must also…

Permission to serve an Internet libel claim outside the jurisdiction depends on whether England is clearly the appropriate forum. The place of publication is…

Where child-support regulations require a self-employed parent’s earnings to be taken from the tax return, the relevant figure is the total taxable profit…

A retrial for procedural unfairness requires a fundamental defect in the trial judge’s approach, such that the judge lost, or appeared to lose, the ability to…

The Human Rights Act 1998 applies wherever the United Kingdom has jurisdiction under article 1 of the Convention, including exceptional exercises of authority…

The apparent-bias inquiry requires the court to identify all relevant circumstances and ask whether a fair-minded and informed observer would see a real…

Statutory notices under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 are construed objectively and in their factual and documentary context.…

Applications to adduce fresh evidence on appeal remain governed by the principles in Ladd v Marshall, although under the CPR they are principles guiding the…

Article 14 is not freestanding. A discriminatory measure must fall within the ambit of another Convention right, assessed by reference to the specific measure…

A court has a discretion under section 51 of the Supreme Court Act 1981 to set off opposing costs orders made within the same proceedings. The rules requiring…

A defendant’s written offer to settle a money claim does not automatically attract the consequences of a payment into court under Part 36 of the Civil…

A length-of-service criterion which disadvantages women may require objective justification under equal pay law. European authority exempting that criterion…

When an unless order provides for a claim to be struck out for non-compliance, the court must decide whether to enforce the sanction in light of the…

An appellate tribunal must engage with the factual basis accepted by the first-instance decision-maker and give intelligible reasons for reversing the result.…

A director’s equitable duty of care to a company is governed by the law of the company’s place of incorporation. It is an incident of the office of director…

Under the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995, a covenant remains a landlord covenant where it binds successors in title. A term stating that the original…

A discretionary bonus clause in an employment contract may confer a real contractual benefit even where payment and amount are expressed to be discretionary.…

Article 14 is not freestanding: the alleged discrimination must fall within the ambit of another Convention right. By a majority, the Court of Appeal held that…

In clinical negligence, whether a late-pregnancy ultrasound should have been ordered must be judged by the information available at the time, without…

Article 6 fairness is assessed by examining the proceedings as a whole, including how evidence was taken and all relevant circumstances. A court should not…

In a removal case, the Article 3 inquiry is prospective. The question is whether substantial grounds show a real risk of torture or inhuman or degrading…

In assessing whether an asylum claimant has a well-founded fear on return, a lack of a high profile is relevant but not determinative. Present risk must be…

A material change of use may result from changes in the intensity and overall character of a mixed use, although its generic components remain unchanged. The…

Transitional provisions made for EU enlargement may permit a member state to regulate access to its labour market for nationals of a new member state. The…

Registered title plans normally show general boundaries; they do not, by themselves, establish the precise legal line. Where a boundary agreement indicates…

An appellate court should not interfere with routine case-management or costs decisions falling within the first-instance judge’s discretion unless good…

A defect in a statutory demand does not itself require the demand to be set aside. Under rule 6.5(4)(d) of the Insolvency Rules 1986, the court must decide, on…

Applications to set aside permission to appeal are generally discouraged, but the court may reconsider a substantial extension of time where the grounds…

Appellate courts should be slow to interfere with trial judges’ case-management decisions concerning late evidence. In deciding whether to admit such evidence…

The rule against recovering sums accruing after issue is generally a rule of practice, not an inflexible rule of law. The court may permit an amendment to…

Costs are ordinarily recoverable only by parties, although an interested non-party may receive costs in appropriate circumstances. Where the non-party’s…

Where a transfer under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981 excludes occupational-pension terms, an equal-pay claim…

An immigration tribunal must give sufficient reasons to show how it evaluated general objective evidence and applied it to the claimant’s circumstances. It may…

An Employment Tribunal hearing a discrimination complaint must decide the specific act identified in the originating application and may grant relief only for…

An outline planning permission must be construed from its language, conditions and stated reasons, read as a whole and in context. Where it expressly permits…

Mediation remains potentially appropriate and capable of success in highly conflicted family litigation at appellate level, even where it was not attempted or…

In an asylum appeal, an adjudicator may question a witness after examination-in-chief, cross-examination and re-examination to clarify matters arising from the…

A successful appellant will ordinarily receive the costs of the appeal and the relevant proceedings below. A possible future application based on alleged abuse…

An absolute statutory safety obligation carrying strict criminal liability does not by itself set the civil standard of care or create a private damages…

A company director’s fiduciary duty of loyalty may require disclosure of the director’s own misconduct. The duty is not a separate, free-standing duty of…

In reviewing an immigration adjudicator’s assessment of risk on return, an appellate court must not substitute a view it merely prefers. Intervention is…

Where planning enforcement interferes with a gypsy family’s existing home, the decision-maker must determine whether the interference is justified under…

Payment of a judgment sum as a condition of pursuing an appeal under CPR 52.9 requires a compelling reason. Ordinarily, non-payment by a UK appellant after…

An appeal notice may be struck out under CPR 52.9(1)(a) in an unless form where persistent breaches of maintenance or other court orders create a compelling…

This was a case-specific consent order concerning costs. It established no considered rule on protective or pre-emptive costs orders. The court stressed that…

Where an immigration tribunal assesses risk on return after alleged torture, the nature of the torture may require explicit findings before the tribunal…

An adult with capacity may make an advance refusal of treatment which binds future practitioners. The refusal must be clearly established and applicable to the…

A court may grant a local planning authority an injunction under section 187B of the Town and County Planning Act 1990 against persons whose identities are…

The Court of Appeal should impose a condition requiring payment of a judgment debt before an appeal may proceed only where compelling reasons justify that…

A protective costs order may be appropriate for an imminent public-interest hearing where the claimant has limited funds, is pursuing a systemic challenge, is…

When an appeal court refuses permission to appeal to itself, section 54(4) of the Access to Justice Act 1999 prevents a further appeal to the Court of Appeal.…

On an asylum appeal, the Immigration Appeal Tribunal may reassess objective country evidence and reach a different view from an adjudicator where its…

An exclusive jurisdiction clause covering disputes in connection with an agreement receives a wide and generous interpretation. It may govern a factual dispute…

An expert’s earlier report, prepared for legal advice or discussion in litigation, remains protected by litigation privilege. Rule 35.13 of the Civil Procedure…

An appellate court may extend time for an appellant’s notice where the circumstances justify it, taking account of the explanation for delay, the parties’…

For indirect sex discrimination under Article 141, the statistical pool should normally comprise the entire workforce to which the disputed condition applies.…

Construction and safety regulations directed primarily to protecting people working on a construction site do not, on the construction of the provisions relied…

A restrictive covenant’s natural wording may cover the same use as a more specific prohibition. Apparent redundancy is not decisive where drafting practice and…

In exceptional children proceedings, the constraints ordinarily governing fresh evidence on appeal may be applied flexibly where justice and the child’s…

Under the Race Relations Act 1976, less favourable treatment and an inadequate explanation do not automatically require an inference of racial discrimination.…

When a local authority decides that a person must leave an established home for nursing accommodation, a professional assessment of nursing needs is only one…

An Employment Tribunal assessing an employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments must identify the substantial disadvantage caused by the employer’s…

A court sentencing for contempt to imprisonment must impose a fixed term, subject to the statutory early-release regime. It cannot require the contemnor to…

In care proceedings where children are subject to care orders and the approved care plan is adoption, the unresolved question of post-adoption contact does not…

In a renewed, ex parte application for permission to appeal against an order allowing substantial amendments, the Court of Appeal granted permission where the…

An appellate court should grant permission to appeal against a family judge’s discretionary welfare decision only where there is a proper basis for…

In an ill-health dismissal case, the reason for dismissal is the set of facts known to the employer, or beliefs held by it, which caused the dismissal.…

To set aside a consent order for material non-disclosure, an applicant must establish both a duty to disclose and a breach of that duty. The undisclosed…

In committal proceedings, procedural rules requiring particularised notice protect fair notice, rather than create a technical obstacle to a hearing. Where…

Damages for assault may compensate both physical injury and injury to feelings, including indignity, distress, humiliation, anger and indignation. The…

Permission to appeal may be granted where further submissions show that the proposed appeal is a proper case for consideration. Related appeals may be…

For VAT, a transaction involving education and course materials must be characterised objectively by reference to all the circumstances and the essential…

Further evidence on appeal should be admitted where it would probably have an important influence on the result. Admission may be refused where the evidence…

In exercising the statutory discretion on a deportation appeal, an adjudicator must balance the public interest against compassionate circumstances, including…

A company holding a standard operator’s licence must have a transport manager who actually assumes continuous and effective responsibility for its transport…

An ancillary relief order, including a consent order, may be reopened where a party breached the duty of full and frank disclosure or where a qualifying new…

In a direct race discrimination claim, a tribunal must first determine whether the claimant received less favourable treatment than an actual or hypothetical…

Permission to appeal against findings of fraudulent misrepresentation will not be granted where the trial judge’s findings are supported by accepted evidence…

For rectification, a corporate public body's relevant intention is that expressed through the persons and process authorised to approve the transaction. The…

In an Article 8 removal case, the tribunal must consider the human rights of the person facing removal under section 65(1) of the Immigration and Asylum Act…

In an employment contract not made for an illegal purpose and not prohibited by statute, illegal performance does not make the contract unenforceable merely…

Whether family life exists for article 8(1) purposes is a question of fact and degree, turning on the real existence of close personal ties. A foreign adoption…

A bank cannot refuse to follow its customer’s payment instructions merely because it has an arguable case that the customer holds the account for another…

Deemed planning permission under section 173(11) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is confined to a breach of planning control alleged in the…

A covenant requiring development works to be carried out and completed as expeditiously as possible may, on its proper construction and contractual context…

Section 43C of the Finance Act 1996 exempts qualifying material used in restoring a licensed landfill site, but the exemption begins only after waste-disposal…

Unreasonable, unfair or hostile treatment does not itself justify an inference of direct race or sex discrimination. An inference may arise where no…

A bonus issue is void for common mistake where its resolution proceeds on the fundamental assumption that all shareholders will receive fully paid shares, but…

Under section 115(7) of the Police Act 1997, a chief police officer must disclose information which might be relevant to the protected employment and ought to…

Whether one person controls another for the related-persons rules governing import quota applications is a question of fact and degree. Control exists where a…

An employment discrimination claim may be barred by illegality where it arises from, or is so clearly connected or inextricably bound up with, the claimant’s…

A document does not lose legal privilege by voluntary waiver merely because a party agrees to a procedure under which a court may later order its public…

In a mortgage shortfall claim, the absence of an express covenant to repay the whole advance does not prevent the court implying one where the deed and…

Where separate acts of negligence by different defendants cause distinct losses, a prior recovery from one defendant does not necessarily reduce damages for a…

Article 81(1) applies only where allegedly anti-competitive conduct is the subject of an agreement, decision or concerted practice between undertakings. A…

A matrimonial court’s statutory power to vary an ante-nuptial or post-nuptial settlement derives from the matrimonial jurisdiction, not from the settlement…

A patent claim must be construed purposively through the eyes of the skilled person reading the specification as a whole. Language requiring a connection to be…

A national appellate court may use its ordinary domestic appeal jurisdiction to review a lower court’s decision to refer a question of Community law. Where the…

Under regulations 12(1) and 12(3) of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, suitability and obstruction are assessed contextually. The…

Permission to appeal was refused where the lower judge’s findings were clearly expressed and the alternative legal basis for making a charging order disclosed…

Under sections 30(7) and 30(8) of the Family Law Act 1996, matrimonial home rights do not automatically disappear merely because the nature of a spouse’s…

Sections 44 and 45 of the Terrorism Act 2000 permit random stop and search without reasonable suspicion, but only for preventing terrorism and subject to…

Delay in delivering judgment does not itself justify appellate intervention. The appellate court must determine whether the judgment is unsafe and whether…

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the duty to make reasonable adjustments addresses a particular disadvantage arising from disability. It does not…

In an indirect discrimination claim, the applicant identifies the requirement or condition. The pool for assessing disproportionate impact is selected by…

Where a redundancy dismissal is unfair because of defective selection or consultation, compensation depends on the loss attributable to the employer’s action.…

Under the special VAT scheme for travel agents, the total amount attributable to a package holiday includes a directly linked payment made by an intermediary…

An independent assessor determining statutory compensation for a miscarriage of justice must apply common-law damages principles where they are clear and…

Listed social-security benefits must be disregarded when damages are assessed. This prevents a defendant from requiring a claimant to use a future mobility…

A common mistake of law may in principle vitiate a contractual compromise. A state of doubt about the law is distinct from an operative mistake. A party who…

Under paragraph 22 of Schedule 1 to the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2000, the obligation to promote positive well-being is qualified by the…

Harbour authority powers cannot be used to impose a parking scheme whose main purpose is town-centre congestion control or pedestrian safety. The directions…

A contractual obligation to contribute equally to property outgoings may create an immediate right of reimbursement when one party bears more than the agreed…

For refugee status based on membership of a particular social group, the group must be identified using the ejusdem generis and immutable-characteristic…

Under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, prior consent to a child’s removal is an Article 13 exception. It does…

In asylum appeals, an appellate court reviews the decision properly before it and does not restart the underlying determination as though deciding the claim at…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the court held that arguable issues arose as to the proportionality test under article 1 of the First…

The statutory scheme distinguishes between a challenge to seizure, which triggers condemnation proceedings under Schedule 3 of the Customs and Excise…

An appellate immigration tribunal must make findings on the material facts on which risk on return depends. Where a claimant’s release from detention is…

An insured loss may have more than one proximate cause. The court should identify the effective or dominant cause by applying common sense. It should not…

An administrative body exercising functions affecting the rights or interests of others must act fairly. Fairness is closely connected with Wednesbury…

A trustee’s breach of trust does not, without more, destroy its enforceable rights against a transferee of trust property. Where the transfer itself…

The Parole Board may, under the Criminal Justice Act 1991, adopt a specially appointed advocate procedure without express statutory wording. The power is…

A vessel must not cross a narrow channel or fairway if doing so would impede a vessel which can navigate safely only within it. A vessel approaching in…

Under a contractual acceleration clause, an obligation to repay immediately arises only when the specified conditions, including an Event of Default, exist. A…

Proprietary estoppel requires a holistic assessment of assurance, reliance, detriment and unconscionability. The nature of an assurance must be determined in…

Section 1(1ZB) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 addresses competing enfranchisement rights between different tenants. It does not apply where the tenant of the…

For the purpose of deciding whether a claimant has bettered a Part 36 payment, the court must compare like with like. It must identify what the payment…

For the purposes of section 3(6) of the Trade Marks Act 1994, bad faith is not confined to dishonesty and cannot be assessed by a purely subjective standard.…

An appellate court may protect its process from abuse, provided that the essence of a litigant’s access to the court is not impaired. Article 6(1) of the…

Summary judgment is appropriate where the claimant has no real prospect of success. An appellate court considers whether the lower court was wrong on the claim…

A highway authority’s statutory duty to maintain a highway is a narrow duty to repair its physical fabric when it is out of repair. It is not a general duty to…

An assessment is made to the best of the Commissioners’ judgment where the officer makes an honest and genuine attempt to reach a reasoned assessment of VAT…

A standard-form insurance term such as Robbery must be construed through the eyes of an ordinary commercial person, by reference to the clause and policy as a…

On a statutory appeal from the Immigration Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Appeal may intervene only for an error of law. The need for anxious scrutiny in asylum…

Under the Trade Marks Act 1994, a limitation under section 13 concerns the scope of rights conferred by registration. It cannot add essential features to the…

An action on an existing judgment is not inherently an abuse of process. A judgment creditor may bring such proceedings within the six-year period allowed by…

Summary judgment must be refused where a defence or counterclaim has a real prospect of success and the meaning, significance or reliance attributable to oral…

In a redundancy dismissal, consultation is generally required as part of a fair procedure. However, a dismissal may remain fair where the tribunal finds that…

A fair hearing requires a competent interpreter where a litigant cannot understand the language used in the proceedings. A responsible complaint about…

Under English common law, unlawful state action does not by itself create a damages claim against the Crown as an institutional tortfeasor. The Crown…

A statutory duty which does not prescribe a time for performance does not automatically import a duty to act within a reasonable time. Whether delay amounts to…

Under section 101 of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, the Immigration Appeal Tribunal may overturn an adjudicator only for an error of law.…

An appellate court should not rehear factual disputes or reassess witness credibility. It should interfere with trial findings only where the judge was plainly…

An employment tribunal must give a claimant a fair opportunity to address the material relied on before striking out a claim for want of prosecution. Where the…

Permission to appeal from an Immigration Appeal Tribunal may be granted where it is properly arguable that the Tribunal adopted an approach inconsistent with…

In libel proceedings, capability of meaning is assessed by the natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the ordinary reasonable reader, reading the publication…

For compensation under section 10 of the Compulsory Purchase Act 1965, the claimant must show that, absent statutory protection, the authorised works would…

A court may hear an unpurged contemnor where the interests of justice favour doing so. In committal proceedings, an alleged contemnor must receive a fair…

A whistleblowing disclosure is made in good faith when its dominant or predominant purpose accords with the statutory purpose of exposing and remedying…

Land may become a town or village green after the original registration period under the Commons Registration Act 1965. Section 13 permits the register to be…

Misfeasance in public office is not confined to cases involving provable financial or physical damage. It operates in two classes: claims for economic or…

Under the Access to Justice Act 1999 (Destination of Appeals) Order 2000, the destination of an appeal is determined from the language of the lower court’s…

For implied waiver under section 18(3)(c) of the Marine Insurance Act 1906, an assured must show a clear case that the information disclosed would put a…

Absolute immunity for judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings is not confined to defamation. It ordinarily bars collateral claims based on acts or omissions in…

A secure tenancy under Part IV of the Housing Act 1985 requires a direct landlord and tenant relationship. Security is grafted onto the underlying contractual…

Absolute immunity for judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings is a true immunity protecting the integrity of the process. It covers acts and omissions in the…

Under Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, the Immigration Appeal Tribunal may entertain an appeal only on a point of law. Permission to appeal does…

Where consent orders made in ancillary relief proceedings regulate the division of business assets, disputes about their implementation and alleged breach…

In child-contact proceedings, arrangements should reflect the children’s increasing age and maturity, and their interests may favour unsupervised contact.…

Under the statutory cost-sharing scheme, “allowable costs” are not confined to the physical execution of works protecting utility apparatus. They include…

Under section 28(3) of the Arbitration Act 1996, delay in seeking assessment or repayment of arbitrators’ fees is relevant but does not create an automatic…

Where each side has achieved partial success and partial failure on an interlocutory or appellate hearing, the appropriate costs order may be no order as to…

For the purposes of section 13 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, “member” and “membership” bear their ordinary meaning in context. A purposive…

A false statement induces the grant of a secure tenancy under Ground 5 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1985 if it plays a real and substantial part in the…

Suitability of accommodation under the Housing Act 1996 is a broad, fact-sensitive concept. It includes the accommodation’s nature, location, condition and…

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the justification defence in section 5(4) cannot justify a failure to make reasonable adjustments under section 6…

For unregistered design right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, a selection and juxtaposition of colours on an existing garment is neither an…

Wholly without-prejudice negotiations remain inadmissible when the court determines costs unless every party agrees to disclosure. The court cannot compel…

In a damages claim for breach of Articles 81 and 82 of the Treaty of Rome, losses caused by the claimant’s unreasonable and substantially independent conduct…

For limitation purposes, an acknowledgment of a debt need not state the precise amount, provided the debt can be identified and its amount ascertained by…

Permission to appeal may be made conditional on payment or security where there is a compelling reason. The jurisdiction requires caution and does not create a…

Where a statutory time limit governs an application for a new business tenancy, CPR r 19.5 is the exclusive regime for adding or substituting parties after its…

In private nuisance, the common enemy rule permits a landowner to protect land against floodwater, even where water that would otherwise enter is diverted to…

For the purposes of Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 s249(6)(b), “income” may bear its trust-law meaning where the statutory context requires it. Bonus…

A Part 36 payment is a procedural offer whose withdrawal or reduction requires the court’s permission. Within the initial 21-day period, a claimant may accept…

A charging order is ordinarily enforced by an application for sale. A prior direction controlling enforcement of an interim costs order does not require…

In an Article 8 removal case, proportionality requires a fair balance between the individual’s protected family life and the substantial public interest in…

Where competing family members claim succession to a statutory tenant’s assured tenancy, no assured tenancy by succession exists until the successor is…

Article 8 protects the home, including its environmental setting, but it does not confer an absolute right to retain existing residential amenities. A…

Classification of a charge as fixed or floating involves two stages. The court first construes the instrument to identify the parties’ rights and obligations.…

An application for permission to appeal should be dismissed where the proposed challenge to an ombudsman’s decision has no real prospect of success. A…

A farmer who grazes cattle near a public road must take all reasonable precautions to prevent their escape and ordinary negligence principles apply. Where a…

At the permission stage, an appeal is arguable where contractual performance warranties may have been construed too narrowly by separating measurable…

For the purposes of section 11(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976, the residual category of ‘any other organisation’ is mutually exclusive from organisations of…

In a voyage charterparty, breakdown of equipment is construed in the context of the contract and its factual matrix. A discharge pipeline is equipment in or…

An appellate court should not interfere with careful and evidence-based findings of fact unless the proposed appeal identifies a substantial basis for…

The Court of Appeal treated the scope of the slip rule as arguable where a corrected order reduced damages to account for a prior settlement. Permission could…

A constructive dismissal is assessed objectively. An employer’s persistent failure to make reasonable adjustments may fundamentally breach the implied term of…

Where solicitors negligently cause underlying litigation to be struck out, the court must first decide whether the client lost a claim with better than…

When income substantially exceeds both spouses’ needs but existing capital cannot secure an immediate clean break, periodical payments may exceed the…

A party asserting that cargo was contaminated at contractual handover must prove that fact on the balance of probabilities. Rejecting the opposing party’s…

A promissory note payable on demand is enforceable from execution, so limitation runs from execution rather than demand. That rule applies to a note executed…

Where the time for an employment appeal runs from the date extended reasons were sent, the date is the date on which the tribunal posts them. It is not the…

A person is sufficiently informed of the ground of arrest when, assessed objectively in all the circumstances, the person receives in simple, non-technical…

A restrictive covenant requiring land to be used as a private residence only may govern the whole conveyed land and each part of its curtilage, including…

For a transaction at an undervalue under section 339(3)(c) of the Insolvency Act 1986, incoming and outgoing value must be compared in money or money’s worth…

In contempt proceedings, the applicant bears the burden of proving the alleged breach to the criminal standard. A factual error concerning one alleged incident…

For the purpose of the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, the categories of workers treated as employed under…

A loss-of-income insurance policy must be construed as a coherent whole, including its distinct covers, measures of indemnity, deductibles and limits. Cover…

A tenant may breach a covenant not to suffer a nuisance without having a legal power to prevent it. It is sufficient that the tenant has influence which, on…

The welfare of the children remains paramount in relocation cases. There is no separate category for a move based on lifestyle preference. One standard…

An asylum adjudicator who finds no real possibility that established persecution had a Convention-related motive need not identify and compare every…

An English court may temporarily restrain foreign proceedings to protect its own process where the proceedings duplicate issues already submitted to England…

Certification of a human-rights claim as clearly unfounded is a screening decision. Under the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, the threshold is…

Rules requiring Children Act proceedings to be heard in chambers are compatible with the Convention. Although a private hearing interferes with freedom of…

Under the Occupiers Liability Act 1984, the question whether an occupier had reasonable grounds to believe that a trespasser might come into the vicinity of a…

A general civil restraint order may be made in an extreme case of persistent and vexatious litigation where necessary to protect court processes and other…

A Special Educational Needs Tribunal's decision and order must be sufficiently specific and clear, read as a whole, to leave no doubt about what provision it…

Serious delay in complying with appellate directions does not necessarily bar reinstatement where the delay is satisfactorily explained and was not the…

Deliberate non-compliance with an unless order may justify refusing relief even where the defaulting party has an arguable defence and a fair trial remains…

A later human-rights application must be decided independently on its current merits. An earlier asylum determination is the authoritative starting point for…

A solicitor’s duty is governed by the retainer and the conduct expected of a reasonably competent practitioner. A solicitor is not generally obliged to…

For Schedule 2 development, a valid screening opinion by the local planning authority can satisfy the statutory screening stage when an application is called…

An appeal court may allow an appeal only where the lower court’s decision was wrong, or unjust because of a serious procedural or other irregularity. Grounds…

In possession proceedings against a secure or assured tenant, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 may apply where the conduct relied on for possession…

A separate personal undertaking is not conditional upon an identical undertaking by another surety merely because all parties expected them to be identical or…

An ancillary-relief order transferring a former matrimonial home cannot stand where its practical operation depends on mortgage finance that later evidence…

Permission to appeal to the House of Lords is a matter for the House itself. That includes deciding whether the proposed challenge should be brought and…

A person who repeatedly initiates and conducts hopeless litigation for an insolvent company may, in exceptional circumstances, be ordered to pay the opposing…

A winding-up petition is demurrable where the petition debt is disputed in good faith and on substantial grounds. Separately, where the company or LLP has a…

A restrictive covenant regulating the use of buildings on land, or on any part of it, for purposes other than as a private dwellinghouse does not, without…

The resident landlord exception to collective enfranchisement requires a continuous qualifying interest from before conversion of the premises into flats until…

A mortgage obtained through undue influence and voidable against a lender with constructive notice may also invalidate a replacement mortgage granted to the…

When documents disclosed in civil proceedings are required under a Serious Fraud Office notice, the court must balance the public interest in the…

Under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, an embryo created in vitro may be stored or used only while both gamete providers give effective…

Participants in consensual, vigorous horseplay owe one another a duty of reasonable care. The standard is informed by the activity’s tacit conventions and…

On an application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal will not interfere with a trial judge’s factual conclusions merely because evidence can be…

A reference to the Lands Tribunal for disputed statutory compensation is an action to recover a sum within section 9(1) of the Limitation Act 1980, ordinarily…

Special removal under s 15 of the Licensing Act 1964 is exceptional and must be strictly construed. The statutory conditions must exist when the application is…

An appellate immigration tribunal may prefer one body of objective country evidence to another. However, where it overturns a fully reasoned adjudicator's…

The statutory appeal machinery governing tax assessments and determinations by the General Commissioners is exclusive. A county court hearing proceedings to…

Under section 53(1) of the Marine Insurance Act 1906, a broker’s right to recover premium from the assured ordinarily depends on when the broker’s obligation…

The rule against reflective loss bars recovery of loss which would be made good if the company enforced its own rights against the wrongdoer. It applies even…

The statutory scheme creates two distinct processes. A parent’s qualified right to insist on a particular school under paragraph 3 of Schedule 27 to the…

Costs in a contractual construction appeal are not determined on an all-or-nothing basis. A party may be substantially successful even though its precise…

The discretion under section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980 requires an overall assessment of all circumstances and the competing prejudice caused by allowing…

An appellate court should be slow to interfere with a case-management decision, particularly one made by an experienced judge. Intervention is justified where…

A contractual provision requiring payment into a jointly agreed and designated bank account may regulate the method of payment and displace the common-law rule…

A Secretary of State operating a domestic violence concession outside the Immigration Rules may define its scope and impose specific evidential conditions.…

For the purposes of Road Traffic Act 1988 section 151(8)(b), a vehicle owner permits use when consent is actually given, even if it rests on an honest but…

Commercial contracts must be construed by reference to the meaning conveyed to a reasonable person with the background knowledge reasonably available when the…

Equitable subrogation is a restitutionary remedy available where a defendant has been unjustly enriched at a claimant’s expense. Enrichment is at the…

Where a commercial settlement makes time of the essence and prescribes consequences for late payment, equity will hold the parties to their bargain. Relief…

Where an appeal turns on unresolved questions of European trade mark law concerning parallel-imported pharmaceutical products, the Court of Appeal may refer a…

In an ill-health capability dismissal, the central question is whether, in all the circumstances, the employer can reasonably be expected to wait longer and…

In an unfair dismissal claim, the tribunal must apply the objective range of reasonable responses test. It must ask whether dismissal was a response which a…

Where a contract provides for an internal disciplinary appeal and permits dismissal to be replaced by demotion, a successful appeal ordinarily revives or…

A claim should be struck out only where it is clear that there is no prospect of success. On an application for permission to appeal against a strike-out, the…

Under section 1(3) of the Occupiers Liability Act 1984, a duty to a non-visitor arises only where the occupier knew, or had reasonable grounds to believe, that…

An adjudicator’s determination need not address every item of evidence expressly. The court must read it as a whole and may infer findings. Judicial review is…

A user covenant must be construed by reference to the character of the permitted use at the material date. Sales of tobacco or confectionery may be ancillary…

Where parties settle pending proceedings by an agreement intended to dispose of the claim, the proceedings end and the agreement creates a new contractual…

A local authority landlord is not liable in negligence merely because a tenant reports a foreseeable risk and the authority declines to depart from a generally…

Prospective loss of profits following a failure to supply a product may require an informed commercial estimate where there are no comparable sales of the…

A prima facie case of undue influence requires proof that the complainant reposed trust and confidence in the other party, or that the other party acquired…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed grounds disclose no real prospect of success. An adjournment is a discretionary case-management…

Under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1992, “work equipment” is not every object involved in an employee’s work. Regulation 2’s definition…

A barrister’s tactical decision at trial does not automatically become negligent because another course might have been taken. It may be reasonable not to draw…

Where a defendant succeeds in strike-out proceedings on the pleaded issue, the defendant may recover the costs of the application, appeal and related…

Judicial review cannot be used as a general appeal from an immigration adjudicator. The Court of Appeal considers points of law arising from the decision below…

An application for permission to appeal may be dismissed as an abuse of process where it is wholly without merit. Formulaic assertions that evidence, law or…

Qualified privilege is defeated by malice where the publisher lacked a positive belief in the truth of the defamatory material or published it recklessly…

Permission to appeal requires a real prospect of success or another compelling reason for the appeal to proceed. Courts and tribunals control hearing time and…

In apportioning responsibility for injury where both parties are at fault, the court must assess the relative causative potency of their faults, including…

A litigant in person must be given a fair opportunity to present the case, but a trial judge may control proceedings, prevent repetition and require the…

For defamation claims, the primary one-year limitation period runs afresh from each publication, but retaining a document on a confidential file does not…

Entitlement to paid time off for safety-representative training under regulation 4(2) involves a two-stage inquiry: whether further training is reasonable in…

On a second appeal, permission should be granted only where the proposed appeal raises an important point of principle or practice, or there is another…

A party may adduce further evidence on appeal where the opposing party was permitted at the hearing to amend its case and the evidence responds to an issue…

A solicitor may be restrained from acting for a person whose interests are adverse to those of a client where connected matters create a real potential…

On an appeal concerning contempt, the appellate court has a broad statutory discretion to do justice. A breach of a procedural requirement governing service of…

A child wrongfully removed between parts of the United Kingdom remains deemed habitually resident in the original part for one year under section 41 of the…

Domestic procedural rules cannot defeat a claim based on directly effective Community rights where compliance would be practically impossible or excessively…

A contribution under section 2 of the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 must be just and equitable having regard to each person's responsibility for the…

Section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 applies to unfair dismissal legislation governing disputes between private parties. An employment tribunal must…

A company voluntary arrangement must preserve the statutory priority of preferential debts, but section 4(4)(a) of the Insolvency Act 1986 concerns the…

The Court of Appeal may reopen concluded proceedings where there is a real prospect that a significant injustice has occurred in exceptional circumstances and…

Where a bailee’s property policy covers goods held in trust for which the insured is responsible, those words may restrict cover to loss for which the bailee…

A commercial agreement expressed to be for three years rolling must be construed in its commercial and contractual context, including annual planning…

For the statutory defence following a rejected offer to make amends, the expression “knew or had reason to believe” that the statement was false in section…

Where a trial judge decides an amended pleading by reference to an earlier version and thereby fails to determine a material claim, the appellate court may…

A court may intervene to restrain a public authority from abusing statutory powers and unlawfully depriving a person of liberty. The applicant must provide…

At the permission stage, the court need only be satisfied that the proposed appeal is arguable. Permission does not imply that the appeal will succeed. In…

Under section 28 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, English Nature must notify land when, on its expert judgment, it is of special scientific interest…

Where no issue concerning a child’s welfare remains for determination in ongoing proceedings, and the child is not in care, the court has no role in deciding…

In immigration judicial review proceedings, filing a notice of appeal against refusal of permission to apply for judicial review does not itself stay…

Insurance against contractual liability falls within the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 1930. The statutory language is not confined to tortious…

A timely application to extend the period for serving a claim form under rule 7.6(2) is not subject to a threshold requirement that the claimant show a good…

Where a trial is adjourned through a dispute between an assisted claimant and his solicitors, and the opposing party did not cause the adjournment, the…

Article 41(1) of the Additional Protocol to the Ankara Agreement prevents the United Kingdom from subjecting a Turkish national’s proposed establishment to…

Where a Member State exercises the derogation in Article 28(2)(a) of the Sixth Directive by zero-rating specified goods but expressly excludes identified…

An appellate court should rarely interfere with a trial judge’s finding on the balance of probabilities where the judge directed himself correctly, evaluated…

For the purposes of section 459 of the Companies Act 1985, the affairs of a holding company may include the affairs of its wholly owned subsidiary. The court…

A counterclaim for disparate remedial items must be proved on the balance of probabilities by reference to specific items. General impressions cannot justify a…

On a preliminary costs issue, an award must be fair and proportionate to the costs reasonably attributable to the relevant attendance. A party cannot justify a…

An appellate court will not interfere with a trial judge’s case-management rulings where they fall within the wide ambit of the judge’s discretion and disclose…

Under regulation 70(3A) of Income Support (General) Regulations 1987, an asylum claim was not made ‘on his arrival’ where an entrant used an agent to obtain…

Under Article 81 of the EC Treaty, a national court determining whether a beer-supply network forecloses a market must give substantial deference to the…

In determining direct racial discrimination, an employment tribunal must identify sufficient primary facts but assess their cumulative effect. It may consider…

An appellate court reviews whether a lower court’s factual decision was wrong, but the intensity of review depends on the nature of the finding. Particular…

Denial of asylum support may constitute inhuman or degrading treatment where the claimant has no effective charitable support or lawful means of subsistence…

A public authority may devise a policy, but must not apply it rigidly or without considering the individual case. Standard protection-based reasoning in an…

A charging order is not a nullity merely because it was made without prior notice, of the court’s own motion, or against a person who had not formally become a…

For TUPE, the question is whether the employee was assigned to the undertaking or part transferred at the time of transfer. That inquiry is functional and…

Where non-partners claim beneficial interests in partnership assets through a constructive trust, the claim requires evidence establishing the factual basis…

Input tax is attributable to taxable supplies only where the relevant goods or services have a direct and immediate link with those supplies or are cost…

Under section 29 of the Access to Justice Act 1999, recoverable insurance premium costs are confined to the sum paid to the insurer for cover against the…

Under rule 21 of the Immigration and Asylum Appeals (Procedure) Rules 2003, a party seeking to rely before an immigration tribunal on evidence not placed…

On bankruptcy, a statutory discrimination claim seeking financial compensation is ordinarily a hybrid chose in action which vests as a whole in the trustee.…

Contractual exclusion and limitation provisions must be construed as a whole, with the court seeking to give effect to each limb. Where a clause accepts…

The standard of proof in children proceedings is the balance of probabilities. The seriousness and inherent improbability of an allegation inform the…

When Rule 36.21 applies, indemnity-costs consequences are subject to the court’s power to withhold them where it would be unjust. The court must consider all…

In proportional reinsurance, the reinsurer’s liability is proportionate to the liability under the underlying policy. A material misdescription of that policy…

Part III of the New Roads and Streetworks Act 1991 establishes a comprehensive code for the street works within its scope. Major highway works and major…

Where defamatory words may convey both that a person is under investigation and that there are objectively reasonable grounds for suspicion, a justification…

Where fire or another event makes rented premises unsafe, a court may require the tenant temporarily to vacate so that inspection and remedial works can safely…

Whether family life exists between adult siblings for the purposes of Article 8 is a fact-sensitive question. Adult status and financial independence do not…

For council tax purposes, residence means actual residence in the dwelling. A person who owns a property but has never lived there cannot be its sole or main…

An injunction under section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 need not be confined to land covered by an enforcement notice. The court may grant…

In a reinsurance policy, a claims-control clause stating that reinsurers shall control negotiations and settlements, and will not be liable for a claim not so…

The tort of actionable interference with contractual relations requires more than a supplier’s dealing with a contracting party that happens to result in…

Terms are not implied into a commercial contract merely because later conduct appears unfair or commercially damaging. The proposed term must be reasonable and…

The standard of proof in care proceedings is the balance of probabilities. Serious allegations require cogent evidence, with inherent probabilities assessed…

For VAT purposes, the actual contractual structure of transactions is the starting point, although the legal character of the resulting supplies is a matter of…

On an interlocutory application for a worldwide freezing injunction, the court may take an arbitration award into account against a person who was not formally…

An appellate court may vary a tribunal’s costs order so that liability is confined to costs incurred after a specified procedural event. Where an appellant…

The power to grant declaratory relief is discretionary and is not confined by an artificial jurisdictional bar. A declaration may be made where the underlying…

Damages for trespass by wrongful use of land may reflect the value of the owner’s lost bargaining opportunity: the reasonable price for a compulsory…

Withdrawal of an employment tribunal claim does not itself amount to unreasonable conduct or create a general liability for costs. The tribunal must consider…

A principal mortgagee’s right to possession is not displaced merely because it grants a sub-charge. Whether the sub-charge transfers or suspends the principal…

For an agreement excluding security of tenure under sections 24 to 28 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 to be valid, the court must have authorised the…

For the purposes of Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, a company may deal as a consumer. The question is whether it made the contract in the course of a business…

A successful party who refused alternative dispute resolution should be deprived of costs only where the unsuccessful party proves that the refusal was…

A tribunal assessing disturbance loss after compulsory purchase may, in principle, consider whether a claimant reasonably failed to use time released by a…

A person who arranges for an independent contractor to provide medical treatment does not ordinarily guarantee that the contractor will exercise reasonable…

A homelessness review is an administrative decision which must be reached fairly and in accordance with natural justice. The applicant must have the substance…

On an unsuccessful appeal, the usual order for costs remains appropriate where the appellant’s own failure to bring all relevant parties before the court…

An employer who engages an independent contractor must ordinarily take reasonable steps to select a competent contractor, but has no free-standing duty to…

A judgment in personam determining title to goods binds a person claiming through a litigant as a privy only where the relevant interest was acquired after…

Where unmarried cohabitants acquire a home in one name without an express declaration of trust, the court must first determine whether they communicated a…

Professional expenditure incurred by an investment company while investigating and deciding whether to acquire a particular investment may qualify as expenses…

Where a restricted patient’s conditional discharge depends on community treatment, supervision or accommodation which the tribunal treats as an essential…

An appeal may be dismissed with costs where the appellants accept that dismissal is appropriate, even without formally consenting to it. Permission to appeal…

An adjournment should be granted where refusing it would cause an appeal to proceed by default and the respondent faces no substantial prejudice that cannot be…

In prolonged contact litigation, the court must act proactively where delay risks making the loss of a parent–child relationship effectively conclusive. An…

The exceptional causation approach for mesothelioma is not confined to cases in which every possible source of exposure was another person’s tortious conduct.…

An appellate court may interfere with a trial judge’s costs discretion where the judge made an error of principle, considered an irrelevant matter, omitted a…

An infirm, destitute asylum seeker with dependent children may fall within two complementary support regimes. A local authority remains responsible under…

A court may use case-management powers to order disclosure in the context of a strike-out application where missing or destroyed documents also bear on…

A claim by a debtor against the creditor is a “cross demand” under rule 6.5(4)(a) of the Insolvency Rules 1986. Its status does not depend on the nature of the…

A driver must adjust speed to the particular road conditions, even when travelling below the applicable speed limit. On a narrow country road with restricted…

Committal proceedings involving possible imprisonment amount to a criminal charge for the purposes of article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights.…

The divisibility of the Crown does not determine whether a Secretary of State acts in right of the United Kingdom or an overseas territory. That question…

For the purposes of Article 14 of the ECHR, a prisoner’s release process falls within the ambit of Article 5 where the arrangements materially affect the…

A renewed application for permission to appeal should ordinarily remain within the issues for which permission was granted. A challenge to an Immigration…

When a lease requires consent to structural alterations, the tenant must describe the proposed works sufficiently clearly for the landlord to make an informed…

An unlawful placement for adoption may nevertheless be an effective placement for the purposes of section 20(1)(b) of the Adoption Act 1976. Section 56 may…

Equitable subrogation is a restitutionary remedy available where the defendant is enriched at the claimant’s expense, the enrichment is unjust, and no policy…

Article 7 of the Working Time Directive 93/104/EC does not require holiday pay to be paid when annual leave is taken. A transparent contractual arrangement may…

A body with commercial objectives does not become a public authority merely because it is created by private statute, regulates its members, or is subject to…

When a consent order depends on future events, it should be construed and implemented in accordance with its original spirit and the parties’ and court’s…

In an asylum appeal, factual errors do not automatically invalidate a determination. They may do so where they are strange, material and unexplained…

Compensation for statutory victimisation is confined to loss caused by the victimisation. A tribunal may find that employment loss resulted from a fair…

An individual falls within the extended definition of a worker in regulation 2(1)(b) of the Working Time Regulations 1998 only if the contract requires…

An express right of way must be construed from the language of the grant, read with the conveyance as a whole and the circumstances existing when it was made.…

In an Article 8 proportionality assessment, administrative delay in deciding an asylum claim is relevant but is not ordinarily decisive. It may carry decisive…

On an application for pre-action disclosure under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 rule 31.16, the court should be hesitant to determine substantive issues…

Damages for breach of a landlord’s repairing covenant compensate an occupying tenant for the loss of comfort and convenience caused by the disrepair. They may…

A products liability indemnity for liability in respect of physical loss of or damage to property is confined to the physical consequences of the insured…

Whether an occupation agreement is on a commercial basis for housing-benefit purposes is a factual inquiry. All relevant features of the arrangement must be…

For a primary victim, reasonable foreseeability of a risk of physical injury is sufficient to establish a duty of care, even where the injury actually suffered…

A special hours certificate cannot lawfully be used to extend licensing hours for premises that are, in substance, a late-night drinking venue. The statutory…

A patent injunction may cover narrower claims where a wider claim encompasses them and the narrower claims were previously invoked, even if allegations…

Section 218(5) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 preserves continuity of employment when the membership of a partnership changes. It applies where a…

In assessing damages for deceit, the claimant may recover all loss directly flowing from the venture induced by the fraud, but must give credit for benefits…

A standard follow-the-settlements clause does not make a reinsurer liable merely because the insurer has settled an underlying claim, even where the insurance…

An automatic stay imposed under Practice Direction 51 is a sanction for the purposes of relief under the Civil Procedure Rules. The court must consider all…

The appeal was adjourned so that the appellant’s counsel could consider a judgment in another case and address its relevance when the appeal was relisted. No…

Judicial review applications must be brought within the prescribed time unless special circumstances justify an extension. A tribunal’s warning that an appeal…

In a reinsurance pool, entitlement to reinsurance proceeds depends on the proper construction of the agency and reinsurance contracts. A fronting arrangement…

In a non-Convention application under Children Act 1989, section 8, the child’s welfare is paramount. The court must decide, on the competing applications…

Under section 35 of the Limitation Act 1980, an amendment advancing a new cause of action cannot be allowed after the limitation period has expired unless the…

Where a company claims an equitable interest in registered land acquired in an individual’s name, it must prove the asserted basis of entitlement. A resulting…

For the purposes of section 14(2A) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979, the reasonable person is a reasonable buyer in the buyer’s position and with knowledge of all…

A continuing duty of disclosure requires a party to disclose a material change affecting the likely duration of employment lost through dismissal. A claimant…

A local authority may accommodate an unlawfully present adult who has a dependent child and has not failed to co-operate with removal directions. The power…

Rectification for unilateral mistake requires proof that one party misunderstood the document, the other had actual or shut-eye knowledge of that mistake, and…

A late amendment may be refused where it substantially changes the case, is inadequately particularised and has no substantial prospect of success. In an…

The statutory presumption that property acquired with partnership money is partnership property does not conclusively determine the partners’ beneficial…

Under section 78(1) of the Law of Property Act 1925, the benefit of a restrictive covenant is annexed only to land intended to be benefited. That land must be…

A guarantee is interpreted in the same way as any other contract. The court must ascertain what the document would convey to a reasonable person possessing the…

Patent claims must be construed purposively through their language, description and drawings. The general inventive purpose matters, while deliberate claim…

In a multipartite research agreement, intellectual-property provisions must be construed in the light of the factual background, commercial purpose and…

In a non-traditional relationship, a rebuttable evidential presumption of undue influence arises where the donor placed trust and confidence in the recipient…

Procedural rules in asylum appeals must be applied in their procedural and practical context. Rules requiring notification of a change of representative remain…

In compulsory-purchase valuation, land must be valued by reference to the open-market transaction at the valuation date. A tribunal cannot directly use later…

For capital allowances, an item qualifies as plant only if it functions as apparatus with which the trade is carried on, rather than as premises in or on which…

For intentional-homelessness decisions, a local housing authority must apply the distinct questions in Housing Act 1996, section 191. It must identify an act…

A conveyance expressed to include a plan for identification only must be construed by reference to its language, the plan and the relevant physical and…

Where an employer exposes employees to dangerously excessive vibration, it must take appropriate steps to reduce that exposure. The employer must justify by…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, permission should be refused where the proposed claims have no real or reasonable prospect of success. An…

In an asylum appeal, an Immigration Appeal Tribunal’s acceptance of a factual event does not necessarily displace the adjudicator’s finding. The material…

The Convention right to education takes the form of the educational provision made by domestic law. A breach of school-exclusion rules does not automatically…

Section 2(1) of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 is confined to contracts in which an interest in land is the actual subject of a sale…

Under an implied term requiring reasonable care and skill, a travel agent’s responsibility may continue after tickets are issued. If the agent learns that an…

Damages for negligence compensate the claimant’s net loss. Payments received because of the injury are prima facie deductible unless a clearly justified…

An alleged agent bears the burden of proving that the principal consented to the agency, expressly or by conduct. Implied authority is assessed objectively.…

For planning purposes, gypsy status under section 16 of the Caravan Sites Act 1968 depends on whether the applicant has a nomadic habit of life at the date of…

An appellate court may remit a disciplinary matter to a fresh tribunal for pragmatic reasons, including avoiding further cost, delay and procedural difficulty…

An appeal on a point of law cannot succeed because material relevant to the claim was unavailable to the tribunal when it made its decision. New evidence or…

For duty-suspended movements of excise goods, Council Directive 92/12/EEC did not prevent national legislation imposing joint and several liability on a person…

For statutory holiday pay, overtime forms part of an employee’s “normal working hours” only where the employment contract obliges the employer to provide it…

Civil Procedure Rules 1998 r 62.10 makes privacy the starting point for most arbitration claims, but it does not create automatic or permanent secrecy. Once…

An employer’s safe system of work is assessed across the work the employee is required to perform. A system may be unsafe where routine work on most access…

When imposing imprisonment for breach of a family injunction, the court must balance the coercive purpose of securing future compliance against the punitive…

Interest on a statutory charge may be awarded under County Courts Act 1984, section 69, but the award remains discretionary. A charge-holder’s errors may…

Foreseeability of injury is necessary but insufficient to establish a duty of care for harm caused by third-party wrongdoing. The court must assess the nature…

When a prisoner’s Home Detention Curfew licence is revoked and the prisoner is unlawfully at large, the period at large is excluded from calculating the period…

Litigation privilege requires litigation to be reasonably in prospect. There must be a real prospect rather than a mere possibility, although litigation need…

A claimant should not lose claims against potentially liable defendants merely because another defendant appears likely to be liable. This is especially so…

An appeal cannot ordinarily be brought against an order made by consent where the parties were represented and gave undertakings. A party seeking release from…

A mortgagee exercising a power of sale must take reasonable care to obtain the best price reasonably obtainable at the time. The duty requires reasonable steps…

Contributory negligence is not established merely because a cyclist could foresee, in a general sense, that a driver might open the door of a stationary…

An appellate tribunal’s refusal to adjourn is a discretionary case-management decision. An appellate court may intervene only on established grounds for…

Equitable relief concerning confidential legal communications is founded on confidence rather than privilege. It may require documents to be returned and…

Recognition of a foreign bankruptcy order may affect a bankrupt’s standing to pursue litigation in England. The effect of the order under foreign law…

On an asylum appeal limited to questions of law, a mistake of fact becomes a distinct ground of challenge only where it concerns an existing fact or available…

Under section 98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employment tribunal must decide whether the employer’s investigation and decision to dismiss fell…

For the purposes of Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993, an agency contract that expires by effluxion of time is a termination for…

On an appeal against certification as a suspected international terrorist, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission must make its own objective judgment…

A magistrates’ court may make an interim anti-social behaviour order without notice where the statutory safeguards are observed. The court must apply the…

A negligence claim accrues when the claimant first suffers measurable damage. Where a client enters an inadequate transaction because of negligent professional…

An allegation of apparent bias raises a question of law within the Employment Appeal Tribunal’s jurisdiction unless it is so lacking in substance that it…

An open-ended appeal on fact and law is not a second first-instance hearing. Finality means that the first decision is treated as correct until the appellant…

At a renewed judicial review permission hearing, the court should generally make no order requiring the claimant to pay the defendant’s attendance costs.…

The slip rule permits correction of an accidental slip or omission in a perfected order so that it reflects the court’s intention when the order was made. It…

The test for apparent bias is whether a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered all relevant circumstances, would conclude that there was a real…

A local authority cannot use the general well-being power in Local Government Act 2000 section 2 to provide residential accommodation, directly or through…

A police officer’s statutory power to arrest is discretionary. Its exercise is reviewable on ordinary administrative law principles, including good faith, with…

A payment towards the purchase price of property acquired in another person’s name ordinarily raises a resulting-trust issue. Evidence may rebut that inference…

An agreement provides credit within the Consumer Credit Act 1974 only where it gives rise to a monetary debt whose payment is deferred. The character of the…

Under the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, an employer’s statutory duties depend on a relevant risk of injury, but liability still requires a…

An express right of way must be construed as the parties would have understood it when created, in the context of the land and surrounding circumstances. Where…

An employment tribunal must explain why a party has won or lost. It must identify and resolve the principal important evidential disputes bearing on the…

A possible breach of the reasonable-time guarantee under Article 6 does not justify allowing an appeal where appellate intervention can no longer provide a…

An employment contract contains no general implied term requiring the employer to take reasonable care of the employee’s economic well-being. Such a duty would…

For a statutory VAT recovery assessment, “evidence of facts” does not include the legal effect of a statute or judicial decision. A judgment’s existence…

For section 173(1) of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, the question is whether an asset was acquired as trading stock, not whether the transaction…

A breach of the prohibition on receiving non-fund payments under the Civil Legal Aid (General) Regulations 1989 does not conclusively prevent a legally aided…

The right of access to a court under Article 6 is not absolute. A procedural time limit is compatible with that right where it pursues legal certainty and…

Judicial review of an Immigration Appeal Tribunal decision refusing permission to appeal requires an identifiable point of law capable of justifying…

A conditional fee agreement must satisfy every applicable statutory and regulatory condition. A failure to state the proportion of a success fee attributable…

A court may order a non-party to pay costs, but such an order remains exceptional. Assistance intended to secure legal representation or compliance with court…

Equitable subrogation prevents unjust enrichment and must be applied flexibly but according to principle. A refinancing lender which discharges secured debt…

Summary judgment is inappropriate where the evidence leaves a real prospect that goods bearing a trade mark were first put on the market within the EEA, so…

Adverse possession requires factual possession and an intention to possess. Factual possession depends on the nature of the land and its ordinary use.…

Under the extended limitation regime in the Limitation Act 1980, a claimant need not know that the defendant was legally negligent. The claimant must, however…

A recoverable constructive total loss caused by an insured peril does not merge into a later actual total loss caused by an independent uninsured peril. Where…

The statutory unfair-dismissal scheme defines both the qualifying period and the effective date of termination. Where an employer summarily dismisses an…

A negligence claim should be struck out only where the court is certain that it is bound to fail. In an uncertain and developing area of law, development…

For statutory appellate jurisdiction, the Court of Appeal may act only under the relevant statutory provision or an ancillary jurisdiction necessarily implied…

In a possession claim against trespassers, a possession order may extend beyond the land actually occupied to a separate area owned by the claimant, but only…

Under Ground 14 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988, possession may be ordered for nuisance or annoyance caused by any person residing in or visiting the…

The betting and gambling exemption in Article 13B(f) of the EC Sixth Council Directive on VAT 77/388/EEC, and the corresponding Value Added Tax Act 1994…

For the statutory time limit, the issue under the Race Relations Act 1976, section 68(7)(b), is whether the substance of the allegations shows one continuing…

Prejudicial publicity does not automatically make professional disciplinary proceedings unfair. Fairness must be assessed objectively in the context of the…

For compensation under rule (2) of the Land Compensation Act 1961, land is valued by a statutory hypothetical sale in the open market at the valuation date.…

Article 6(1) does not create substantive civil rights. It applies only where the claimant has an arguable right recognised by domestic law, although the…

A contract of service requires an irreducible minimum of mutual obligations and sufficient control by the putative employer. In a triangular agency…

A trade mark proprietor may oppose the marketing of repackaged parallel imports unless the importer satisfies all five cumulative conditions governing…

Foreseeability that a person may trip on steps does not, without more, establish that reasonable care requires an employer to install a handrail. The court…

A local housing authority may revisit and rescind its acceptance of the main housing duty where the decision resulted from a fundamental mistake about facts…

A landlord’s counter-notice under section 45 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing & Urban Development Act 1993 is not invalid merely because it misidentifies the…

Ill-treatment does not amount to persecution merely because it involved violence. Whether it crosses that threshold is a question of fact and degree.…

Article 6 may require publicly funded legal assistance in a civil claim where it is indispensable to effective access because representation is compulsory or…

Identity-based trade mark infringement requires identity both of the sign and of the goods or services. The defendant’s sign must first be identified as a…

Police who lawfully seize goods must identify a continuing statutory basis for retaining them against the former possessor. Under section 22 of the Police and…

Legal advice privilege protects confidential solicitor-client communications made to obtain professional legal advice or assistance concerning legal rights and…

The appeal proceeded on the accepted basis that caveat emptor imposed no general duty on a vendor to disclose a property's history. A broad question in a…

Where negligent professional advice deprives a claimant of a real and quantifiable chance, that chance may constitute recoverable damage even though the…

An implied easement is not lost merely because the dominant land is redeveloped or its use intensifies. Where redevelopment changes the land’s use, the…

The majority held that a later revocation of a patent did not permit an infringer to reopen a final determination of validity and infringement in an inquiry as…

An inferior court or tribunal which actively contests public law proceedings makes itself a party to the lis. It will ordinarily be subject to the usual costs…

Eligibility for compensation under section 186(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 requires a legal or equitable interest in the land, or occupation.…

Permission to appeal depends on the proposed appeal having a real prospect of success or another compelling justification. A party’s desire for legal…

An employer's common-law duty to provide proper equipment and a safe system of work is not discharged merely because an experienced employee could identify a…

An employer’s duty to provide proper equipment and a safe system of work is not discharged merely because an experienced employee could identify a danger…

On an application under section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the court accepts the planning merits as determined through the planning…

For an innocent error in a self-assessment, a discovery assessment is barred by section 29(5) of the Taxes Management Act 1970 only where the officer could…

Permission to appeal should be granted where a proposed ground raises a reasonably arguable issue of sufficient importance to justify substantive…

On a second appeal in ancillary-relief proceedings, permission may be granted where correcting a potential injustice provides a compelling reason, even though…

In claims for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution arising from police action, the judge decides whether the defendant had lawful justification or…

A homeless applicant has no statutory or common law right to view accommodation before deciding whether to accept it. A housing authority determines the…

Procedural unfairness is not established merely because a litigant in person conducts a trial less effectively than a represented opponent. The court must…

A protective award for failure to consult about collective redundancies is a sanction for breach of the employer’s statutory obligations. It does not…

On an application to strike out or obtain summary judgment, the court generally assumes that pleaded facts can be proved and asks whether the claim has a…

For disabled person’s tax credit, the requirement that a claimant be engaged and normally engaged in remunerative work involved separate inquiries. Regulation…

A court ordinarily determines whether statutory or contractual preconditions to relief are satisfied under the usual rules of evidence and civil procedure. A…

In modern private nuisance, reasonable foreseeability of the relevant damage is essential to a claim for damages. The damage must be foreseeable to the…

A fair hearing does not invariably require an oral hearing. An oral hearing is required only where a disputed fact central to the decision cannot fairly be…

Medical and hospital treatment provided by a state-funded national health service falls within the freedom to provide services under Article 49 of the EC…

A duty to prevent pure economic loss may arise where a person voluntarily undertakes responsibility for a particular task, knows or ought to know that an…

In a time charter, an express margin such as “15 days more or less in charterers’ option” is not confined to unforeseen delays on a voyage begun during the…

An agreed liquidated-damages clause fixes the damages recoverable for delay. It does not make those damages adequate compensation for the purpose of an…

The ordinary rule that costs follow the event may be qualified where the parties have achieved different degrees of success on discrete issues or where one…

In a family residence appeal, the appellate court will not interfere with a trial judge’s welfare assessment merely because a party disputes the weight given…

For an unlawful-means conspiracy, the claimant must prove an intention to injure. The intention need not be predominant and may be inferred where the…

A solicitor who has prepared and sent a draft Will is not automatically or invariably obliged to chase the client for further instructions or execution.…

Discriminatory conduct occurring after employment has ended may still fall within Employment Tribunal jurisdiction where the complaint arises out of or is…

For unlawful means conspiracy, the claimant must prove an intention to injure it. The intention need not be predominant, but it must be established from the…

For matrimonial jurisdiction, unlawful immigration status does not impose an automatic bar on habitual residence or a domicile of choice. Under the…

The exemption for leasing or letting immovable property under article 13B(b) of the Sixth Directive gives member states a wide discretion to create further…

The general rule is that costs follow the event. A departure requires sufficient reason arising from the circumstances of the case. Where no such reason is…

Under section 33(1) of the Enterprise Act 2002, the Office of Fair Trading must itself reasonably believe that a merger is or may be expected to cause a…

For the purposes of pre-amendment regulation 104(a) of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987, an amount ‘properly payable’ means the amount that…

The improper disclosure of a Part 36 offer to an appeal judge is a procedural irregularity, but it does not automatically invalidate the proceedings. An appeal…

A court order, including an order made by consent, must be construed according to the natural meaning of its words in the light of the surrounding…

Where English and foreign proceedings share substantial factual disputes but pursue different legal claims and remedies, the case is not one of forum non…

Damages for gratuitous family care may be awarded where illness or injury creates a need for care distinctly beyond the ordinary regime of family life. A…

Under section 32(1)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980, limitation is postponed where a defendant deliberately conceals any fact relevant to the claimant’s right of…

In construing a poorly drafted overage clause, the court must identify the most likely objective meaning from the agreement’s language, defined terms and…

A refusal by an appellate court to reopen its own decision under the exceptional Taylor v Lawrence jurisdiction is not itself subject to a further appeal.…

Contractual total-loss and termination provisions must be construed according to their distinct mechanisms. Where a total-loss clause requires payment within…

For rating purposes, the value of a hereditament is the value of its beneficial occupation to a hypothetical tenant, assessed under the statutory rating…

An employer’s knowledge that work presents a foreseeable risk does not automatically determine when particular precautions become obligatory. The duty depends…

An employer cannot justify a breach of the duty to make reasonable adjustments by relying on factors which were, or could have been, evaluated when deciding…

The effective date of termination under the Employment Rights Act 1996 is a statutory construct. It is determined by what happened between the parties, not by…

A local authority may use civil proceedings to obtain an injunction restraining a continuing breach of criminal law where statutory conditions and the public…

Under the unfair-prejudice jurisdiction in section 459(1) of the Companies Act 1985, a member must show unfair prejudice, not merely a breach of duty. A sale…

In a removal case under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the question is whether return creates a real risk of prohibited ill-treatment…

Commission earned on sales before termination does not ordinarily cease to be payable merely because the contractual machinery fixes payment after employment…

For TUPE to apply, there must first be a pre-existing stable economic entity, being an organised grouping of persons and assets for an economic activity. An…

An otherwise valid claim for contractual damages cannot be dismissed merely because the claimant has behaved inequitably. Such conduct may justify refusing…

A finding of procedural unfairness does not by itself show that dismissal would have been avoided if a fair procedure had been followed. Procedural fairness is…

On an application to adduce fresh evidence on appeal under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r 52.11(2), the three Ladd v Marshall criteria remain powerful guidance…

A court may make permission to appeal subject to payment or security conditions only where there is a compelling reason. The discretion is fact-sensitive.…

Under the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims of 1976, a charterer is entitled to limit liability in its capacity as charterer. Article…

A sentence of detention during Her Majesty’s pleasure is distinct from a mandatory life sentence. The continuing-review obligation recognised by the House of…

Compensation under the Employment Rights Act 1996 may include non-pecuniary loss caused by the circumstances or manner of an unfair dismissal. The statutory…

A person may establish a Convention reason for refugee status after refusing military service where the conflict involves, or may involve, systematic breaches…

An express joint-and-several mandate for a matrimonial joint account ordinarily authorises the bank to grant credit by honouring cheques drawn by either…

In a personal injury claim, loss of earnings must be assessed from evidence of actual work, capacity and business activity. Medical evidence that an injured…

Regulation 65(1) of the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987 establishes the general commencement rule for a new housing benefit claim. Where a claimant…

Beneficial ownership following a gratuitous transfer of property depends on the transferor’s actual intention. The presumption of advancement between a parent…

A Parole Board assessing the risk posed by a recalled life prisoner may consider relevant hearsay evidence, including disputed allegations, provided that the…

Prison Rules 1999 do not impose a private-law trust merely because cash is paid into an account under the governor’s control and credited in the prison books.…

Under section 11(1A)(b)(i) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a sublessor’s repairing covenant covers an installation outside the dwelling only if it forms…

Evidence is admissible only if it is relevant to an issue between the parties. Where the pleadings present a stark dispute about whether conduct was…

For a contract to fall within the extended definition of employment in section 78 of the Race Relations Act 1976, it must impose on the claimant a contractual…

Under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, an enfranchisement notice is not invalid merely because its particulars are incomplete or inaccurate. The question is…

Where co-defendants conduct a common defence that occupies most of the litigation and that defence fails, a defendant who succeeds on separate, minor issues…

At the permission stage, the Court of Appeal need not resolve the merits. Permission is appropriate where it is at least arguable that an earlier appellate…

Under article 21 of the Brussels Convention, priority depends on which court first becomes definitively seized. The inquiry uses each court’s national…

A person is enriched where, through a mistake in implementing an agreed bargain, that person receives a valuable benefit for which they neither bargained nor…

Compensation for the compulsory slaughter of partnership livestock after dissolution is not a post-dissolution profit within section 42(1) of the Partnership…

Human-rights complaints arising during pending care proceedings should ordinarily be determined by the court already seised of those proceedings. A claim that…

A technical expression in a written contract must be construed in its full documentary and commercial context. The wording of an accompanying letter, the…

A local authority cannot treat formal eligibility under the Local Government (Early Termination of Employment) (Discretionary Compensation) (England and Wales)…

Where transitional legislation requires the Secretary of State to certify what sentence the sentencing court would have ordered, the task is substantially…

An insurance policy covering disablement is construed by giving its words their natural and ordinary meaning in context and by considering the policy’s…

Legal advisers have a professional obligation to alert the court as soon as they know that a listed appeal has settled or is likely to become ineffective. The…

An informal boundary agreement is ordinarily presumed to identify and demarcate an uncertain boundary rather than to convey land. It is therefore outside…

A tribunal’s material mistake about an existing, established and objectively verifiable fact may cause unfairness amounting to an error of law. Ordinarily, the…

A court cannot use its enforcement powers to effect a registered company’s change of name by a method that bypasses the statutory scheme. Under the Companies…

Under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, a tenant who serves a positive counter-notice under section 25(5) cannot ordinarily replace it with a…

A contractual sharing provision must be construed objectively in the light of the background known to the parties and the transaction’s commercial purpose. A…

A local education authority complies with section 19 of the Education Act 1996 where suitable education is available and it is reasonably practicable for the…

Whether proceedings fall within section 18(1) of the Supreme Court Act 1981 depends on the nature and character of the underlying proceeding, viewed as a…

For postal voting, the returning officer’s duty under rule 19 of the Local Elections (Principal Area) Rules 1986 is to address the ballot paper correctly and…

Liability under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 may arise where a road surface makes a highway dangerous for ordinary traffic. The claimant must establish…

An appellate immigration tribunal may permit a party to withdraw a concession made before an adjudicator where there is good reason in all the circumstances.…

An appellate immigration tribunal may interfere with an adjudicator’s determination only where a proper legal or reasoning basis exists. A party that declined…

A products-liability policy covering liability for physical damage to another’s property does not insure against a defective component merely because it has…

For the purposes of section 43 of the Finance Act 1989, the phrase with a view to cannot be replaced by a sole-purpose or principal-or-dominant-purpose test.…

Where a commercial agreement expressly chooses English law, a general reference to the principles of Sharia does not introduce a second governing law or…

A court should not abandon efforts to establish or restore contact between a child and a non-resident parent until it is clear that continued efforts will not…

Under section 2 of the School Sites Act 1841, whether land has ceased to be used for the purpose authorised by the grant is a question of fact. No…

Under Housing Act 1996 section 189(1)(c), an applicant is vulnerable where, when homeless, the applicant would be less able to fend for himself or herself than…

A statutory prohibition on an unqualified person performing sight tests does not, without more, make the related service contract unlawful or void. The court…

A Part 36 payment cannot be used to determine causation or impose a substantive cut-off date for damages where CPR 36.19 restricts disclosure of the payment…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal held that the court must assess the particular facts and circumstances of the case.…

A non-exclusive English jurisdiction clause does not necessarily make England the primary forum or entitle a party to insist that an English trial precede a…

Under CPR 39.3(5), a party who failed to attend trial may set aside the resulting judgment only by showing that the application was made promptly, there was a…

Where a sale contract requires payment to be secured by a letter of credit, and that requirement is a condition precedent to the seller’s duty to load, the…

Where an appellate decision removes the basis on which a lower court exercised its costs discretion, the costs order must be set aside and the appellate court…

A lower court may direct the period for filing an appellant’s notice and may extend that period after the default 14 days have expired. The Civil Procedure…

The right not to be unfairly dismissed under Employment Rights Act 1996, section 94(1), applies, absent express contrary provision, to employment in Great…

For an employment tribunal claim alleging the constructive unfair dismissal of a community-school employee, the governing body is treated as the employer under…

The limitation period in Article 3(1) of Council Regulation 2988/95 applies to proceedings for recovery of sums as administrative measures as well as to…

A contractual termination clause must be construed as a whole. Where one part provides for termination forthwith on non-payment and another addresses payment…

Under clause 6.1(e) of an uninsured-driver compensation agreement, MIB may rely on the exception only where the injured passenger both consented to being…

Under CPR 44.3, the unsuccessful party will generally pay the successful party’s costs. The court may depart from that rule to reflect success or failure on…

The Court of Appeal may refuse permission to appeal where an applicant did not attend the Administrative Court hearing, the grounds of appeal are wholly…

For council tax purposes, a person’s “sole or main residence” under section 6(5) of the Local Government Finance Act must be premises in which that person…

Compensation for unlawful race discrimination under the Race Relations Act 1976 does not require the claimant to prove that psychiatric injury was reasonably…

For eligibility under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, the expressions immediately before death and during the whole of the…

A claimant is not required to join a group litigation order and may commence separate proceedings. That entitlement does not prevent the court managing…

On the statutory succession of a minor to a secure tenancy, the statutory scheme and the ordinary rules of succession operate together. The statutory…

A Community migrant worker may be expelled only where personal conduct demonstrates a serious threat to a fundamental interest of society. General deterrence…

On an appeal from a specialist social-security jurisdiction, the Court of Appeal should be slow to entertain a challenge which was not properly advanced before…

An occupier’s standard of care in an area used by children is a question of fact and degree. The court must consider all the circumstances, including the…

Permission for a second appeal requires an important point of principle or practice, or another cogent reason. The threshold is high. An appellate court should…

Under section 35(4) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979, whether a buyer has accepted goods by retaining them without intimating rejection after a reasonable time is…