Court of Appeal (Civil Division) judgments, 2005

Under Regulation 12(3), a workplace floor or traffic route breaches the statutory duty where it contains an obstruction which may cause a person to fall and it…

An order for possession has continuing effect. It requires the dispossessed party to give possession to the person entitled to it and to allow that person to…

Where an application for permission to appeal raises no apparent issue of law, and the applicant has an available tribunal appeal to challenge factual…

Where a fast-track process varies an existing contractual claims-handling scheme, the negotiated costs figures remain a highly material starting point. The…

In a dispute over beneficial ownership, the claimant must first raise a case capable of displacing the presumption that the beneficial interest follows the…

Judicial review relief must be tailored to the justice of the case. Quashing a Mental Health Review Tribunal decision does not invariably require a patient to…

On an application under C.P.R. rule 3.4(2)(a), pleaded primary facts must be assumed true and the pleading read as a whole. The court may strike out a claim…

In a solicitor-negligence claim based on an omission, the claimant must prove on the balance of probabilities what she would have done if properly advised.…

A pre-action admission of liability does not constitute an admission under rule 14.1 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998. The rule concerns admissions made by…

Article 1 jurisdiction under the European Convention on Human Rights is essentially territorial. It may exceptionally arise where a state exercises effective…

For an equal pay comparison under EC Treaty article 141, common employment is insufficient. The relevant pay terms must be attributable to a body responsible…

The civil standard of proof is a single standard: proof on the balance of probabilities. Its flexible application requires stronger and more cogent evidence…

Under Part V of the Housing Act 1985, service of a notice claiming the right to buy initiates a statutory procedure. It does not, without more, create an…

A foundation designer proceeding on an unverified ground assumption must ensure that sufficient further information is obtained and fed back into the design…

Where property is transferred into joint names without an express declaration of beneficial interests, the court must first determine whether the parties…

Compromise agreements release claims within their language when construed in the factual and commercial context known when they were made. Broad wording…

When choosing between a Care Order and a Supervision Order, a judge must give reasons engaging with the recommendations of all material experts and the child's…

In ancillary relief proceedings, the available assets must be divided fairly in the overall context of the marriage and the parties’ respective needs. Priority…

An applicant substantially out of time to seek permission to appeal must show quite exceptional reasons for an extension. Prolonged delay, coupled with failure…

Under a highway agreement, an obligation to contribute a fair proportion of reasonable repair and maintenance costs is construed from the agreement’s language…

In financial relief proceedings, a discretionary trust is a spouse’s financial resource where its trustee would probably advance capital to that spouse…

An appellate immigration tribunal whose jurisdiction is confined to points of law may entertain only a point discernible in the grounds on which permission was…

Similar fact evidence is legally admissible if, alone or with other evidence, it could render a fact in issue more probable. It need not prove that fact by…

Designated members of a limited liability partnership may seek a declaration that the appointment of administrative receivers is invalid where the appointment…

An appellate immigration tribunal had jurisdiction to entertain an appeal from an adjudicator only on a particularised error of law. An adjudicator does not…

A person may be ordered to pay judicial review costs as a non-party where that person instigated and controlled the claim for their own purposes and was…

In an Article 8 appeal, a tribunal must investigate the real substantive issue and reach an informed decision on the relevant facts. It cannot dispose of the…

Direct evidence of subletting is not required. A judge may draw a reasonable inference from established primary facts, assessed as a matter of probability. An…

Where an applicant for permission to appeal is absent without explanation, the court should balance the need for prompt resolution, particularly in sensitive…

Section 31(1) creates a rebuttable presumption of dedication after 20 years’ public use of a way as of right and without interruption. The proviso requires…

A commercial contract must be construed objectively, by reading its language in the context of the whole document and the admissible background available to…

Where a contractual clause is plainly nonsensical because of an obvious drafting error, the court may correct the wording by construction if the intended…

On an appeal from an Employment Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Appeal may intervene only for an error of law. Findings of fact, including the employer’s reason…

For the purposes of Insolvency Act 1986, section 382, a liability to repay overpaid social-security benefit is not contingent merely because the underlying…

In a negligence claim arising from a road collision, causation does not depend on identifying a precise maximum safe speed. The question is whether, on the…

The statutory definition of a gypsy requires a nomadic habit of life; residence in a caravan is relevant evidence, but is not a necessary condition. A person…

Where an appellant cannot succeed under the Immigration Rules, an appeal on Article 8 grounds can succeed only if the case is so exceptional on its particular…

Permission to appeal may be refused where the proposed grounds have no substance. A clear consent order remains effective where an admitted collateral…

On an immigration appeal, a finding that return would not create a real risk of persecution is not perverse merely because some evidence points the other way.…

The Health Service Commissioner may investigate only a complaint duly made under the statutory scheme. Her broad discretions as to whether and how to…

The settlement provisions require an identifiable arrangement containing an element of bounty. A structure that merely enables future payments does not become…

In a land sale, the meaning of “actual completion” depends on construction of the particular agreement in the light of facts known to the parties when they…

On a second appeal, an arguable issue of general importance is insufficient by itself. Permission requires an important point of principle or practice, or…

Judgment summons proceedings for maintenance arrears have a quasi-criminal character. Article 6 safeguards remain essential: the creditor bears the burden, the…

Whether a roof forms part of a sub-lease of upper floors depends on the particular building, its subdivision, relevant surrounding facts and the lease’s…

The statutory exception to nemo dat quod non habet for a private purchaser of a motor vehicle does not protect a buyer who acquires vehicles as a one-off…

Under the statutory appeal scheme in the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, an appeal against refusal of leave to enter does not include an implied appeal…

Where a claim for damages under the Human Rights Act is properly pleaded alongside judicial review proceedings, the court should not dismiss the proceedings on…

Abuse of process through relitigation requires a broad, merits-based assessment of all the circumstances. The fact that an issue could have been raised earlier…

For attendance allowance, the statutory requirement for frequent attention in connection with bodily functions is a single, constrained test. Attention means…

In the GMC’s former disciplinary scheme, the Preliminary Proceedings Committee (“PPC”) had to decide whether the material appeared to raise a question of…

An option period defined by fixed dates is not extended merely because planning permission might later be obtained. An extension clause takes effect only…

Under the common duty of care, an occupier must take such care as is reasonable in all the circumstances to keep the particular visitor reasonably safe for the…

A human rights claim may be certified as clearly unfounded only where no immigration judge, properly directing himself or herself, could find that removal…

In an asylum appeal, the Court of Appeal is concerned with error of law, not a rehearing of disputed facts. Findings open on the evidence will stand unless…

The supplied extract records a mixed appellate outcome. The order below was varied to reinstate the tenancy. The defendants’ appeal concerning the claim was…

An informal plan or understanding may constitute an “arrangement”, and therefore a transaction, under Insolvency Act 1986 section 423. Linked dealings must be…

A non-Part 36 Calderbank offer to settle a money claim has no automatic Part 36 costs consequences. Nevertheless, under the Civil Procedure Rules, the court…

A conditional fee agreement complies with the statutory scheme only if the success fee stated under it does not exceed the prescribed maximum of 100%. A…

In care proceedings, the Court of Appeal does not rehear evidence or revisit factual findings unless clear error is shown. A challenge based mainly on…

Permission to appeal may be granted where a case raises an important and potentially unsettled question about the purpose and practical scope of a long-term…

In tree-root nuisance, failure to notify the tree owner before remedial works does not automatically defeat liability or make the claim liable to be struck…

Where a pharmaceutical supplier disputes an alleged overpayment, a Primary Care Trust seeking recovery under regulation 24 of the National Health Service…

In reinsurance, the scope of the reinsurer’s protection is principally determined by the pre-contract duty of disclosure and the reinsurance wording. In a…

A perfected default judgment cannot ordinarily be reopened by a renewed merits application. A decision determining whether a default judgment should be set…

Limitation for a negligence claim is not postponed by ignorance of English law or ignorance that known facts may amount to negligence. Under the Limitation Act…

For the good-faith protection in section 191(2) of the Housing Act 1996 to apply, an applicant’s mistaken appreciation of future employment or housing…

Planning-law language used in a commercial option agreement ordinarily bears its established planning-law meaning where the agreement was made against that…

When sentencing for contempt by breach of a court order, the court should determine the length of the committal before deciding whether to suspend it.…

A judge does not ordinarily err by failing, without an application or submission from the parties, to identify and grant a different form of procedural relief.…

In a clinical negligence claim concerning the interpretation of fetal ultrasound images, careful performance of the scan is not enough where the alleged breach…

An express agreement that legal owners will permit another person to buy property later at the then market price is ordinarily an agreement in principle for a…

In immigration removal cases, Article 8 private life has a broad and generous scope. Long residence and personal connections can engage Article 8(1), even…

Permission to appeal may be refused where a technically valid criticism would achieve little in the context of the litigation as a whole. The court should…

Under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957, a person is a visitor only within the scope of express or implied permission. Permission is fact-sensitive and must be…

An appellate court may uphold a restriction under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 where further litigation threatens a child’s stability. The power is…

A low-value personal injury claim should ordinarily remain on the fast track. It may, however, be allocated to the multi-track where contested expert evidence…

A court determining reasonable financial provision for a surviving spouse must apply the statutory factors and explain the balancing exercise which produces…

A contractual rent variation date identifies when an increase may take effect. The presumption that time is not of the essence in rent-review machinery does…

A party remains a litigant in person when conducting litigation personally, although an authorised barrister appears through the Licensed Access Scheme. An…

A will that is regular on its face and contains a full attestation clause carries a strong presumption of due execution. The court should pronounce against it…

Under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, a landlord opposing a tenant’s application for a new tenancy on the ground of demolition must establish a…

An appellate court should not interfere with a trial judge’s findings of fact merely because individual pieces of evidence can be criticised. Where the judge…

The exclusion clauses in Article 1F of the Refugee Convention are mandatory and form an integral part of determining whether a person is a refugee. Where an…

A tribunal assessing expert evidence must engage with the substance of the report. It may reach a conclusion on risk which differs materially from the expert’s…

A coroner must conduct a full, fair and fearless investigation of all relevant circumstances of a death. Where a hospital system may have contributed to a…

In residence and contact disputes, the child’s welfare is paramount. Expressed wishes do not automatically determine the outcome, particularly where pressure…

Article 8 claims arising from removal to another country fall within the foreign category, even where removal also causes loss of medical treatment or other…

In an Article 8 proportionality appeal, an immigration tribunal must make its own decision on proportionality. It cannot merely ask whether the Secretary of…

Detention following revocation of a prison licence is not arbitrary merely because later information might have influenced the decision to revoke or recall.…

In immigration cases engaging Article 8, the decision-maker must ask whether the circumstances are truly exceptional so as to override the general immigration…

National procedural time limits governing claims based on directly applicable Community rights must satisfy equivalence and effectiveness. A time limit is…

In medical negligence, a breach is actionable only if the injury falls within a risk against which the doctor’s duty required protection. Foreseeability asks…

Under the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, a carrier’s acceptance of goods forms a contract of carriage even if its…

Where a claim against a company remains enforceable when its winding-up begins, subsequent passage of time does not bar the claim within the liquidation. This…

When considering whether to set aside a default judgment under rule 13.3 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, the court must apply the overriding objective and…

A reversionary owner of leased or bailed goods may sue for negligent damage only where the wrong causes actual and permanent injury to the reversionary…

Section 380(2) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 is not mutually exclusive with the restitution jurisdiction in section 382. It may support a…

An undiscovered fraud by one participant does not, without more, automatically terminate good-faith obligations arising from a quasi-partnership. Under…

When deciding whether to suspend a possession order made for anti-social behaviour, the court must focus principally on the future. Suspension requires a sound…

Removal of a seriously ill person engages article 3 only in exceptional circumstances where the humanitarian considerations are compelling. The test contains…

The decision whether to transfer difficult family proceedings from a county court to the High Court is a broad case-management discretion. Judicial continuity…

The judgment is a permission decision, not a final determination of liability under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1984. It identifies substantial points…

Where an appeal from an immigration adjudicator raises an arguable point of law, the grounds should be read fairly and not pedantically. A point may be valid…

In an Article 8 case, the relevant policy context is not confined to the Immigration Rules. Although the Rules may be the principal source of policy, other…

In a personal injury claim, whether physical injury caused a claimant to alter working practices and suffer loss of earnings is ultimately a question of fact…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r 52.11(2), fresh evidence should be admitted on appeal only where special grounds justify it. The Ladd v Marshall criteria…

For the purposes of section 235 of the Financial Services Markets Act 2000, whether complementary services constitute one collective investment scheme depends…

An appeal is ordinarily limited to a review. A rehearing is exceptional and requires an unusual feature in the individual case making it necessary in the…

An extension of time should be refused where delay is substantial and inadequately explained, particularly where it causes prejudice through loss of finality…

Where a loan and security arrangement is highly unusual, ordinary banking rules on combining accounts may provide little assistance. The court may identify the…

In a contact application where domestic violence has been proved, the court must assess its seriousness, risks and effects on the child and residential parent…

Commercial contracts must be construed objectively as a whole and against their relevant factual and commercial background. That background may assist in…

The meaning of a statutory requirement that a local plan be in “general conformity” with a structure plan is a question of law for the court. The requirement…

A rational finding that an applicant falls outside a published policy defeats a judicial review challenge alleging failure to apply that policy. A public…

An appellate court should not ordinarily quash a tribunal decision solely because its reasons are inadequate where the decision may otherwise be valid. Subject…

In a civil claim involving expert evidence, the trial judge is not bound to accept an agreed medical opinion. Credibility and the interpretation of ambiguous…

Where variations make fixed completion dates inoperable, the obligation to complete within a reasonable time is assessed objectively when the issue arises and…

A decision on a child’s permanent relocation is a balanced discretionary welfare assessment. The applicant’s burden is proportionate to the strength of the…

To acquire immunity from planning enforcement for a change of use to a single dwelling-house, residential use must be established throughout the four-year…

An adjudicator hearing an appeal under regulation 16 of the Road User Charging (Enforcement and Adjudication) (London) Regulations 2001 may determine only…

A specific statutory procedure for appeals from the Patents Court is not displaced by later legislation governing second appeals in general terms unless…

On an Article 8 appeal, proportionality is for the appellate authority to decide for itself. The relevant threshold is whether the facts are truly exceptional…

In contact proceedings, allegations of domestic violence or harassment which may affect the outcome must be investigated and determined. They cannot be left as…

An appellate tribunal cannot determine a challenge which was absent from the grounds of appeal from the adjudicator. In an entry-clearance appeal, the…

During the transition to the single-tier Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, an appeal remitted before 4 April 2005 but heard afterwards was not automatically…

A statutory right to buy is incidental to a secure tenancy and exists only while that tenancy continues through the period in which the right is exercised. A…

In a rent review clause, the established presumption is that contractual time limits are not of the essence unless clear and explicit wording rebuts it. A…

On an application under Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the court’s task is to review legality and rationality, not to substitute its own planning…

An adjudicator’s decision is provisionally binding and enforceable despite errors of fact, law or procedure. Enforcement may be refused for excess of…

A constructive trust based on common intention requires the parties, by the time of acquiring the property, to share an intention or understanding that the…

Where a person is told that water is escaping from premises and creating a known risk of damage to neighbouring property, that notice engages a common-law duty…

An appeal on a point of law cannot merely seek to show that a tribunal should have reached different factual conclusions. A tribunal may accept evidence…

Case-management orders, including an order directing a preliminary issue and refusing an adjournment, are matters for the trial judge’s discretion. The Court…

In assessing documentary evidence in an asylum appeal, the question is whether the documents are reliable, wherever and however they were produced. A document…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in an Article 8 immigration case, the court held that an appellate tribunal must assess proportionality on an…

A claim issued in the name of a non-existent company is not necessarily a nullity. Where the cause of action was vested in an existing party and the incorrect…

Permission to appeal may be granted where proposed contractual-construction grounds are genuinely arguable, even though the court does not finally determine…

Procedural time limits must be complied with unless good reasons justify the failure. Reinstatement of a dismissed, substantially out-of-time permission…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the papers do not disclose an ascertainable viable legal complaint, even though the claimant identifies a…

Where an application for permission to appeal raises an important arguable issue about the treatment of favourable findings made by an original adjudicator…

A child’s claim cannot be used by a litigation friend to re-litigate the litigation friend’s own previously determined professional-negligence complaints…

In a lengthy civil trial turning largely on disputed oral evidence, the desirability of legal representation can outweigh the need to proceed promptly…

A pending application to the European Court of Human Rights does not justify staying domestic enforcement between private parties. Convention obligations bind…

Permission to appeal may be granted where a case concerns a difficult and developing area of law and important issues arise which are at least arguable, even…

An appellate tribunal should not convert disagreement with an adjudicator’s factual assessment into an error of law. This includes disagreement about the…

A costs judge may consider a non-Part 36 settlement offer, but its weight depends on whether it clearly offered a result better than that obtained at trial and…

Where an ex parte application for permission to appeal, an extension of time or admission of fresh evidence raises serious allegations against the respondent…

An application to discharge a final care order is distinct from an application concerning implementation of the care plan. Under Children Act 1989, section 39…

Removal on health grounds will breach articles 3 or 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights only in exceptional cases. The threshold is especially high…

Article 14 discrimination may arise where a welfare benefit treats differently persons whose situations are relevantly similar in light of the benefit’s…

An agent’s ostensible authority may continue after actual authority has ended where the principal’s representation of authority remains unwithdrawn and the…

On an appeal challenging factual findings as perverse, the question is not whether the appellate court would have evaluated individual matters differently. The…

A shared residence order does not automatically follow because a child has two homes and spends broadly equal time with each parent. The court must exercise…

Where parties agree the amount of security for costs, the court ordinarily applies the usual rule for further security: a further order requires a material…

Negligence is a composite concept comprising duty, breach, causation and damage. The central inquiry is whether the scope of the defendant’s duty in the…

A fact-finder must assess credibility after surveying all relevant evidence, including expert evidence capable of providing an important factual context. It is…

An unresolved application for financial relief under section 27 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 ends when either party to the marriage dies. The…

A tenancy depends on the parties’ substantive rights and obligations, rather than the label used in their agreement. It requires a right to exclusive…

An appellate court should refuse permission to challenge a residence or contact order where the decision is a proper exercise of discretion, supported by the…

Permission to appeal should be granted where the proposed grounds disclose a real, rather than fanciful, prospect of success. In an asylum appeal, the tribunal…

On an application to adjourn an appeal, the court must balance the potential injustice to the applicant against the prejudice that delay may cause to other…

A refusal by the Lands Tribunal to grant permission to appeal from a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determination remains reviewable by the High Court in…

A solicitor’s fiduciary duty of loyalty is not determined solely by the formal identity of the corporate retainer. It may extend to those who, in reality…

A trial judge retains an overriding discretion to decide what is fair when asked on the trial date to adjourn a case. The exceptional-circumstances provision…

A judgment may be brief, but it must explain the resolution of every issue vital to the decision. Where a claim turns on irreconcilable evidence about a…

Permission to appeal against interlocutory case-management decisions should generally be granted only where there is a plain error of law or an important point…

Where an employment tribunal has statutory jurisdiction to hear a complaint under the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations…

For whistleblowing claims, the exclusion in section 47B(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 applies only to detriment compensable under the unfair dismissal…

On a licensing appeal heard de novo, the Crown court may exercise the licensing justices’ powers, including power to grant an on-licence subject to a condition…

In a negligence claim, an employee’s injury during manual handling does not, by itself, justify an inference of negligence. Res ipsa loquitur applies only…

Under Article 37 of the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, a successive carrier may recover compensation only where it…

On an application for security for the costs of an appeal, the applicant must show reasonable grounds for believing that the appellant company will be unable…

Personal liability under section 15 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 depends on whether the disqualified person was involved in the…

Where contractual provisions appear inconsistent, the court must first consider whether they can be reconciled by construction. If they cannot, the court must…

For a petition under Companies Act 1985 s 459, unfairness is assessed objectively against the company’s articles, shareholder arrangements and established…

An interim care order which continues a young child’s removal from the family home requires cogent evidence satisfying the statutory harm threshold.…

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

Procedural time limits for appealing an Employment Appeal Tribunal decision may be enforced against represented and unrepresented litigants alike. An extension…

On a second appeal, the Court of Appeal interferes only where the decision below is so plainly wrong, and so likely to cause serious injustice, that there is a…

Interim relief in a dispute involving unresolved EU-law questions is governed by the ordinary serious-case, adequacy-of-damages and balance-of-convenience…

Inappropriate development in the Green Belt requires very special circumstances. The applicant must show that the harm caused by inappropriateness, together…

For the purposes of section 63(2) of the Patents Act 1977, reasonable skill and knowledge concerns relevant defects in framing a patent specification.…

A renewed oral application for permission to appeal may be dismissed where the applicant fails to attend the hearing. The court may determine the application…

When reviewing an asylum tribunal’s credibility assessment, the court must consider the determination as a whole. A challenge to an individual discrepancy…

An application for committal to prison in civil proceedings is quasi-criminal, giving strong prima facie grounds for the engagement of European Convention…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed grounds disclose no real prospect of success. An appellate court will not interfere with factual…

Conduct arising from a marriage or separation is not outside the scope of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. A civil harassment claim requires a…

Where a contractual licence may be assigned with consent not to be unreasonably withheld, the refusal must rest on a reasonable evidential basis. Rejected…

An appeal raising the interaction between Articles 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights should not be heard in isolation where the same core…

Under section 42(1) of the Partnership Act 1890, an outgoing partner’s entitlement to post-dissolution revenue profits is calculated by reference to the…

A covenant against parting with or sharing possession in a professionally drafted commercial lease ordinarily uses possession in its technical legal sense…

An appellate court with jurisdiction confined to errors of law should intervene for a mistake of fact only where the mistake concerns an existing fact or…

Under Regulation 12(3) of the Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992, the presence of a substance which may cause slipping is sufficient to…

A solicitors disciplinary tribunal must itself impose any practice restrictions which it considers necessary as part of a disciplinary sanction. It should not…

A trial judge must keep an adjournment request under review where an unrepresented party says that illness prevents effective participation. If the judge’s own…

Permission to appeal is exceptional where the proposed grounds challenge a trial judge’s assessment of witnesses and primary facts. An appellate court…

A judge nominated to exercise jurisdiction under Part VII of the Mental Health Act 1983 does not sit as a judge of the High Court when exercising that distinct…

For a statutory power to restrict fishing for marine environmental purposes, the enabling Act need not require substantial scientific evidence or a reasonable…

A disagreement with an adjudicator’s factual findings does not, without more, establish an error of law capable of founding an appeal. Where the lower…

Where an injunction under Town and Country Planning Act 1990 section 187B is made against persons unknown, a person falling within its description becomes…

An appellate court should not overturn a trial judge’s findings of fact based on the evidence of principal witnesses unless a proper basis for doing so is…

In care proceedings, the court should be slow to refuse a second expert where the existing expert evidence is pivotal to the determination of a critical issue…

The power of a local planning authority to withdraw an emerging local plan is a statutory discretion implicit in the scheme of the Town and Country Planning…

An employer’s arrangements include implied conditions governing access to employment and the circumstances in which an offer may be withdrawn. Whether those…

A solicitor’s failure to give a client a costs estimate required by the Solicitors’ Costs Information and Client Care Code does not make the retainer unlawful…

Summary judgment and strike-out are inappropriate where a pleaded agreement or proprietary-estoppel case gives the defendant a real, though not necessarily…

A perfected county court order does not prevent the Court of Appeal from considering a later judgment which supplies further reasons without altering that…

Persecution by, or with the complicity of, state agents in an applicant’s home area does not itself prevent reasonable internal relocation elsewhere in the…

On an application for permission to appeal against ancillary-relief orders, the appellate court will intervene only where there is an arguable error of law or…

Council Regulation EC44/2001, Article 6.1 is not confined to defendants joined in a single action. It may apply where defendants are sued in separate…

A witness summons requiring production of documents under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 invokes the court’s coercive power and is materially different from an…

In deciding whether an immigration tribunal has made an error of law by failing to address medical evidence, the tribunal’s reasons must be read as a whole. An…

Under the Civil Procedure Rules, costs normally follow the event. A successful defendant may be deprived of costs where its conduct was unreasonable, assessed…

The power to implement a Community directive by subordinate legislation extends to choices and transitional arrangements expressly contemplated by the…

In an application to set aside a financial consent order for material non-disclosure, the applicant’s promptitude must be assessed in the full circumstances.…

Damages for accepted repudiation are compensatory. They reflect the loss actually caused by the breach and aim to place the innocent party in the position…

Whether a claimant has a mental impairment under section 1 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 is a question for the Employment Tribunal on the whole…

Where orders in ancillary relief proceedings are alleged to have been obtained through material non-disclosure, the proper course is ordinarily to apply to set…

A just and equitable winding-up petition based on loss of substratum requires proof that, at the petition date, it was impossible in practical terms to carry…

In an Article 8 immigration appeal, the appellate tribunal must determine proportionality for itself. It must respect the general balance between immigration…

Under the Insolvency Act 1986, the comparison of company names under section 216(2)(b) is not made in the abstract. There must first be a degree of similarity.…

Legislation governing homelessness falls within the ambit of article 8 where its specific purpose is to preserve family unity. It must therefore comply with…

A claimant should ordinarily advance the whole of a case in the original action and elect between inconsistent remedies before judgment. Those procedural…

On a renewed second-appeal application in homelessness proceedings, permission should be refused where the proposed grounds disclose no important point of…

In child residence proceedings, the Court of Appeal reviews how the first-instance judge exercised the welfare discretion. It does not retry the evidence or…

Permission to appeal and an extension of time should be refused where the proposed appeal is entirely unarguable. A litigant in person must still comply with…

A solicitor cannot avoid the statutory restriction on taking payment for publicly funded services merely by transferring money from a client account to an…

An appeal under section 82 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 lies against a defined immigration decision, not against later freestanding…

Decisions about life-sustaining treatment for a child must turn on the child’s best interests. Welfare is paramount and encompasses medical, emotional and all…

Personality alone is not a potentially fair reason for dismissal under the Employment Rights Act 1996, section 98. It must manifest itself in conduct or in…

A protective costs order may be made at any stage, including on appeal, under the court’s broad discretion in relation to costs. The Corner House guidelines…

A local authority cannot seek an injunction under section 81(5) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 for a statutory nuisance unless it has first served an…

A signed variation of a commercial loan facility can increase a guarantor’s liability where, read in context, the guarantor agrees that the facility’s existing…

A constable may exercise the police protection power under section 46 of the Children Act 1989 while an emergency protection order is in force. Where the…

In a borrowed-worker case, dual vicarious liability is legally possible. The inquiry concerns the relevant negligent act and asks which employer was entitled…

Where an asylum decision turns on internal relocation, the adjudicator must give cogent reasons for preferring one body of country evidence over another. A…

In construing a historic commercial lease, the court asks what meaning the parties intended the words to bear when the lease was granted. The starting point is…

In Convention discrimination appeals, an appellate court may permit a respondent to introduce late evidence and argument on justification where the issues are…

The policy concerning children continuously resident in the United Kingdom for seven years creates a general presumption against enforcement action, but every…

Adverse possession requires both factual possession and an intention to possess. Factual possession entails sufficient, exclusive physical custody and control…

Decisions on amendment of employment claims and the issue of witness orders are matters for the Employment Tribunal’s discretion. Appellate intervention…

Committal for contempt may be used as a last resort to secure compliance with a possession order where ordinary enforcement by warrant and bailiffs has failed…

After eviction, the court’s jurisdiction to set aside or suspend a possession warrant is exceptional. It requires misuse of court procedures, including fraud…

Where there is genuine doubt whether a party received adequate notice of permission applications, the court should avoid proceeding to substantive argument in…

Permission to appeal in a disability discrimination claim should be refused where the employment tribunal has applied a rigorous and rational approach to the…

Permission to appeal requires a real prospect of success. An appellate court exercising a jurisdiction confined to errors of law will not entertain an attempt…

For revocation of an existing goods-vehicle operator’s licence under sections 26 and 27 of the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995, the traffic…

A domestic sporting tribunal must comply with fundamental requirements of fairness, but fairness is assessed realistically in the context of the tribunal’s…

For the statutory right to buy, the tenant condition turns on whether the tenant occupies the dwelling as their only or principal home. Occupation may be…

An English court may determine a jurisdictional challenge to an investor-State award under section 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996, even where that requires…

For a patient who lacks capacity, the court must decide whether continuing life-sustaining treatment is in the patient’s best interests. Best interests extend…

Permission to appeal in an asylum and human-rights case should be granted where there is an arguable error of law in the treatment of material facts relevant…

Where appellate jurisdiction is confined to points of law, factual and credibility findings cannot be reopened merely because an appellant seeks to reargue the…

An appellate court should interfere with a sentence for contempt only where it is manifestly excessive. The sentencing court may consider the contemnor’s…

When deciding whether to permit a non-parent to seek a section 8 order, the court must apply the criteria in section 10(9) of the Children Act 1989. It must…

For a second appeal, permission requires an important point of practice or principle, or another compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to hear the case. A…

The court’s discretion as to costs includes the power to reflect a party’s partial success and conduct. The general rule that the unsuccessful party pays the…

In a victimisation claim, the claimant must show less favourable treatment because he or she carried out a protected act. The comparator must reflect the…

A party who attends a directions hearing and is informed of the hearing date and evidence timetable cannot rely on the later absence of formal notification to…

Under paragraph 99 of Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 1986, an employment liability has super-priority only if it both arises under an adopted contract of…

Where an interlocutory injunction is likely to determine the practical outcome before trial, the court must undertake a broad assessment directed to avoiding…

On an appeal concerning a child’s return abroad, the appellate court will interfere with a discretionary welfare decision only where the judge acted on an…

An indemnity for claims arising out of or in connection with carrying out highway works must be construed in its contractual, commercial and statutory context.…

For opposition to renewal of a protected business tenancy under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, section 30(1)(f), the landlord must establish a genuine…

An application to vary an unless order cannot ordinarily be used to relitigate an issue already determined merely because a party now has better evidence. The…

Part 3 of a statement of special educational needs must provide for every educational need specified in Part 2. It need not provide for narrative, contextual…

For an apparatus claim, the requirement that control means adjust a component in response to a selected parameter is not met where the operator independently…

A shipowner may invoke limitation of liability under the 1976 maritime limitation Convention without first constituting a limitation fund and without awaiting…

Financial provision after a short marriage must be determined by applying the statutory factors to all the circumstances, with fairness and the avoidance of…

Genuine use of a trade mark requires real use on a market for the registered goods, consistent with the mark’s essential function of indicating origin. It need…

Victimisation law protects employees who pursue statutory claims, but it does not prevent an employer from defending or seeking to settle pending protected…

A binding building contract may arise before execution of a formal standard-form document where the parties have reached final mutual assent and their conduct…

Receiver’s litigation costs arising directly from proceedings about continuation or discharge of a receivership may be dealt with as ordinary litigation costs.…

A fiduciary who makes an unauthorised profit within the scope of a fiduciary duty must account for it. The remedy is directed to stripping the fiduciary of…

In an immigration appeal involving removal, an adjudicator deciding an Article 8 claim under the European Convention on Human Rights must direct himself in…

The Court of Appeal may determine a permission application in a party’s absence where the party knew that the application was progressing, failed to take…

Whether prison disciplinary proceedings involve a criminal charge under Article 6 depends on the domestic classification, the nature of the offence, and the…

A transitional provision preserving Rent Act protection applies only for the benefit of a person who was already a protected or statutory tenant when the…

Qualified privilege for responsible journalism cannot be struck out summarily merely because an article is serious or controversial, or because the claimant…

A housing authority determines what inquiries are necessary to decide a homelessness application. A county court may interfere for insufficient inquiry only…

An employment tribunal’s jurisdiction to determine a discrimination complaint depends on the statutory limits governing the subject matter and parties. Where…

A decision under article 13(2) of a reciprocal social-security agreement not to pay incapacity benefit is a decision made on an award for the purposes of…

Where a leapfrog certificate concerns separate issues and the House of Lords grants leave on only some of them, section 13(2)(a) of the Administration of…

An appellate court should not interfere with a primary finding of fact reached after the trial judge saw and heard the witnesses unless the finding was plainly…

Compulsory-purchase compensation must reflect the claimant’s actual loss and must not create a windfall. Where input VAT has been reclaimed, any possibility of…

Under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980, the court must first identify the applicant’s rights under the domestic…

A contractual payment triggered by breach is not penal merely because it may exceed common law damages or omits an allowance for mitigation. The court asks…

In a second-tier appeal, section 55 of the Access to Justice Act 1999 requires consideration of whether the proposed appeal raises an important point of…

An appeal may be dismissed, and permission to appeal to the House of Lords refused, where the Court of Appeal considers that the case is not exceptional. In…

CPR 5.4(5) is not a general route for obtaining documents to support proceedings in another forum. An applicant who needs documents for employment tribunal…

An appellate court should not interfere with factual findings by an immigration tribunal merely because it might have reached a different conclusion.…

For jurisdiction under Article 5.1(a) of the EC Council Regulation 44/2001, and the corresponding provision of the Lugano Convention, the place of performance…

In child-abuse fact-finding proceedings, a person may remain in the pool of possible perpetrators where there is a real possibility that he or she was a…

A former secure tenant who remains in occupation after breaching a suspended possession order does not acquire a new tenancy merely because the landlord…

An easement may be implied from the parties’ common intention only where they intended the land to be used in a definite and particular manner and the claimed…

An occupational pension scheme is a money purchase scheme only where every benefit is calculated solely by reference to contributions. Benefits incorporating…

Doctors who assume responsibility for a patient owe a positive duty to take reasonable steps to keep the patient alive. That duty normally requires artificial…

Constructive dismissal requires a fundamental breach of the employment contract, resignation in response to that breach, and no waiver or affirmation of the…

An immigration tribunal hearing appeals on points of law must identify a material legal error before reconsidering the merits. Permission to appeal alone does…

Section 222(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 permits a local authority to seek a civil injunction to prevent threatened or continuing criminal offending.…

A debtor’s centre of main interests is ordinarily determined when the court decides whether to open insolvency proceedings. Current circumstances must be…

When assessing contribution under section 2(1) of the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978, the court considers both the causative potency of each party’s…

In care proceedings, appellate courts must respect the trial judge’s evaluation of evidence and welfare factors. Intervention is justified only where the…

A Law Society intervention in a sole solicitor’s practice does not itself terminate the firm’s contracts of employment. Neither suspension of the solicitor’s…

Whether a payment under a regulated consumer credit agreement is part of the credit or part of the total charge for credit must be determined objectively from…

In an immigration appeal under Article 8, the tribunal must make its own proportionality assessment while respecting the immigration policy expressed in the…

An employment tribunal may reject a decision-maker’s explanation for one decision while accepting it for another. A credibility finding is not automatically…

A parent who abducts children in deliberate breach of an injunction cannot rely on that contempt to render the court powerless or to make a return application…

A freezing order without notice is an exceptional remedy. The applicant must show a real risk of immediate dissipation if the proposed respondent learns of the…

An appellate court should not interfere with a trial judge’s case-management decision to admit further evidence after the evidence has closed unless the judge…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal may direct that the application be heard on notice where the issue warrants a full…

A local authority may adopt a general policy that payments for care provided by a family member will not ordinarily count as disability-related expenditure…

In a construction contract, a contractor’s cause of action for disputed additional costs ordinarily accrues when the event giving rise to the claim has…

An employee’s refusal on sincere religious grounds to work on a particular day may make a resulting dismissal unfair under the Employment Rights Act 1996.…

An appellate court should not disturb a trial judge’s findings of fact where they are open on the evidence and were reached after proper consideration of the…

In compulsory purchase compensation, anticipated development profit may properly be refused where the proposed development was unlikely to be completed.…

On an application for permission to appeal, the court may adjourn the application for an inter partes hearing where the applicant identifies a potentially…

Copyright protects the expression of an idea, not the idea itself. A claimant cannot recover copyright damages for commercial loss caused only by use of an…

For a residential conversion under section 35 of the VAT Act 1994, only works converting a non-residential building or part qualify. Where a non-residential…

The without prejudice rule is not confined to disputes about whether a debt exists or how much is owed. It may protect communications genuinely directed to…

Before the Human Rights Act 1998, international Convention obligations could guide a statutory discretion but could not displace a binding domestic…

A planning decision may take account of fear and concern among neighbouring residents only where it is real, has a reasonable evidential basis, and relates to…

A party who submits to a foreign court’s original proceedings may also submit to a later claim directly concerned with the same subject matter. Whether a claim…

Exclusions in an all-risks insurance policy should, where possible, be construed narrowly. The policy presumptively covers risks unless they are clearly…

For the statutory recognition scheme, an agreement is in force when it is presently binding on the parties. A genuine collective agreement need not have been…

In a family case involving an order ending direct contact between a parent and children, the seriousness of the outcome and the circumstances leading to…

The identity of the contracting party is determined objectively from the agreement, its subject matter and the surrounding circumstances. A management company…

For recovery under section 71(1), read with regulation 32(1), a claimant fails to disclose a material fact if she knows a fact which an unambiguous requirement…

A contractual loss-notification option must be exercised in accordance with its precise formal requirements. Where a policy requires notice to be given to…

On an appeal to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal limited to a point of law, the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to reconsider the factual merits or receive…

On an appeal confined to points of law, the Immigration Appeal Tribunal must determine the legal errors advanced against the adjudicator’s decision. It cannot…

Section 54A gives development plans enhanced status, but not absolute authority. A planning authority must assess conformity with the plan, identify all…

A contract must be construed in its commercial context. Where circumstances have changed in a way the parties did not contemplate, the court should apply the…

A patent claim is construed purposively and contextually through the eyes of the skilled addressee. A specific embodiment or incidental manufacturing benefit…

An enforceable commercial bargain should be construed as a contract. It ordinarily leaves no need to impose a constructive trust based on the Pallant v Morgan…

A substantive ruling on a point of law by a two-judge Court of Appeal has the same authority as a ruling by a larger constitution. It must be followed unless a…

Adverse possession requires factual possession and an intention to possess. Factual possession depends on the land’s nature and use, and possession must be…

An appellate court does not rehear factual disputes after trial. It intervenes only for an error of law or a conclusion unsupported by evidence. Arrest grounds…

An appellate court should assess a trial judge’s factual findings as a whole. An omission to address one evidential discrepancy does not invalidate a…

On an application for permission to appeal from a Technology and Construction Court decision, the ordinary real prospect of success test must be applied with…

Under section 1(4) of the Equal Pay Act 1970, like-work requires a two-stage inquiry. The work must first be of the same or broadly similar nature. Any…

In assessing costs after appellate litigation, the court may consider the litigation’s history and all the circumstances when deciding both liability for costs…

An employer’s common-law duty in occupational noise cases is not fixed inflexibly at 90 dB(A)leq. That level remains the usual standard, but exposure below it…

Where a contract makes additional purchase consideration dependent on a final accounting and deduction of development costs, the grant of planning permission…

For VAT purposes, the decisive question is whether goods or services are supplied for consideration. The concepts of supply and consideration have autonomous…

In adversarial proceedings, the parties identify the issues for adjudication. A judge may invite or encourage their modification, but must respect the parties’…

The transfer of all a partnership’s business and assets to a limited company will normally support an inference that the partners agreed to dissolve the…

Commercial contracts are construed in their full transactional context. Where legitimate doubt exists, the court may favour the meaning which best reflects the…

In a removal case involving alleged suicide risk, medical opinion is important but not determinative. The tribunal must assess it carefully and holistically…

Under section 54A of the Race Relations Act 1976, a tribunal first asks whether the complainant has proved facts from which discrimination could be inferred.…

Open justice is the default for significant civil litigation. A court should keep a judgment private only in an exceptional case where that is necessary in the…

In a family appeal involving permanent removal of a child, the judgment must state the essential findings, conclusions and reasoning connecting them. The court…

Under CPR 32.1(3), the court may limit cross-examination to what is necessary for a just determination of the relevant issues. The trial judge must make an…

In children proceedings, a court should preserve a fixed final hearing, particularly where the litigation is long-running and a party is in default of…

In an Article 8 removal case, proportionality requires a direct assessment of the fair balance between individual rights and immigration control. The inquiry…

In an inquest involving a possible verdict of unlawful killing, the issue is whether it would be safe for the jury to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that…

A normal scan does not by itself exclude traumatic brain injury. A judge may infer injury from the claimant’s history and behaviour where they are consistent…

Under Directive 96/9/EC, investment relevant to the sui generis database right must concern obtaining existing independent materials or verifying their…

The tort of inducing or interfering with contractual relations requires a specific, subjective intention to procure a breach or cause economic harm to the…

Rules of a defined-benefit occupational pension scheme should be construed as a whole, giving practical and purposive effect to their language and commercial…

Where a home is conveyed into the joint names of unmarried cohabitants without an express declaration of their beneficial interests, each will usually have…

A second statutory demand concerning the same debt does not ordinarily justify repeating arguments which have already failed, or advancing arguments which…

Sentences for contempt arising from breach of a non-molestation or occupation order under the Family Law Act 1996 must reflect the contemporary seriousness of…

A company holding charitable property is legally distinct from an informal community whose members decide that a co-worker should leave. A procedural defect in…

When deciding whether to award indemnity costs, the court must distinguish proportionality from reasonableness. Proportionality is an express issue on the…

Permission to appeal requires a real prospect of success. A trial judge’s assessment of credibility, competing medical evidence and contemporaneous records…

A court reviewing a contractual disciplinary decision exercises a supervisory jurisdiction. It asks whether the decision-maker acted lawfully and whether a…

Contractual security provisions for leveraged trading must be construed from the language of the agreement as a whole. Credit, deposits and margin payments may…

A defendant's written pre-action offer to settle a money claim does not automatically attract the costs consequences of a payment into court. The court…

An Article 8 removal decision requires an overall, fact-sensitive proportionality assessment. Administrative delay in deciding an immigration or asylum…

In a conversion claim arising from the unlawful removal and destruction of vehicles, damages must reflect the vehicles’ real value, even where valuation…

A local authority may revisit a policy limiting hackney carriage licences and decide to remove the limit, provided it approaches the question lawfully and…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed challenge discloses no arguable ground. Appellate intervention in a discretionary decision requires…

For indirect sex discrimination, an employer must objectively justify a requirement that has a disparate adverse effect. The employment tribunal must itself…

An immigration appeal, including a further appeal to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal, is a single pending appeal process for the purposes of section 58(9) of…

In contempt proceedings for breach of a planning injunction, the appellate court may review the current position but should not extend a suspended committal…

The statutory concept of facilities in section 3(1)(e) of the National Health Service Act 1977 is context-dependent. It is not necessarily narrower than…

In an appeal on human-rights grounds, the appellate authority must exercise its own independent judgment on whether removal is proportionate, taking account of…

For an appeal governed by paragraph 22 of Schedule 4 to the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the Immigration Appeal Tribunal could reconsider fact as well as…

In assessing the risk faced by an asylum claimant on return, the decision-maker must consider the evidence in the round and address every material…

In care proceedings, findings of direct sexual abuse must be based on careful, allegation-by-allegation analysis. A pervasive atmosphere of sexual misconduct…

Under Part I of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, rights arising from a relevant disposal made without the required notice are group rights. The statutory time…

An owner may remain liable in nuisance to third parties for a dangerous condition existing when premises are let, where the owner knows, or is imputed with…

An appellate court may proceed in a party’s absence where the party has had a fair opportunity to present the case and an adjournment would cause unacceptable…

An auction contract for land is construed by identifying the parcel described in the contract, including precise references to survey numbers, acreage and…

The court may order maintenance pending suit under section 22 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 while the respondent disputes jurisdiction or denies that a…

Permission to appeal to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal is the gateway to considering an error of law within the permitted scope. The grounds must clearly…

A restrictive covenant against use for a purpose that may be or become a nuisance or annoyance must be construed consistently with the grant. It does not…

Contractual promises concerning pension benefits must be construed in their commercial and legal context, including the scheme rules and applicable fiscal…

In contempt proceedings for breach of an asset-disclosure order, an appellate court will interfere with a decision to refuse an adjournment only where the…

An agreement is unenforceable for uncertainty where the parties leave an essential term, such as the principles or mechanism for calculating a party’s share of…

On a second appeal, permission should be granted only through the narrow gateway where the case raises an important point of principle or practice, or another…

A court will ordinarily refuse a post-trial validating amendment to a patent where it would introduce a new validity issue and require a further trial. Patent…

Personal liability under section 15 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 depends on establishing involvement in the management of the particular…

A planning authority’s judgment that it has sufficient information to decide whether proposed development is likely to have significant environmental effects…

For negligence causing loss to property, diminution in market value at the relevant date is the ordinary prima facie measure. It is a convenient method of…

A party challenging a default costs certificate must identify the disputed items and give reasons sufficient to enable the court to assess the challenge. The…

Adverse possession requires both factual possession and an intention to possess. The necessary acts depend on the nature of the land. Fencing is not invariably…

Liability for holding out under section 14(1) of the Partnership Act 1890 requires a clear and unequivocal representation of partnership, together with knowing…

A registered proprietor of a legal charge retains the right to possession despite transferring the beneficial ownership of the charge under an uncompleted…

Under paragraph 7 of Schedule 3 to the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987, transitional add-back protection is reduced by increases in existing housing…

Committal for non-payment of a maintenance order requires proof to the criminal standard that the payer has, or has had, the means to pay and has wilfully…

For limitation purposes, knowledge of the defendant’s identity means knowledge of a person or company sufficiently identified to enable a claim to be brought.…

A patent claim is construed contextually through the eyes of the skilled person. The governing question is what that person would understand the claim language…

For a restraint order under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, a defendant obtains criminal property where his acts make a non-trivial contribution to its…

In an Article 8 appeal concerning deportation for serious crime, an adjudicator must give proper weight to the Secretary of State’s legitimate policy on crime…

Where a respondent achieves overall victory on the principal issue in an appeal, the appellant may be ordered to pay the respondent’s costs on the standard…

For trespass causing damage to land, damages may be measured by diminution in value, the reasonable cost of reasonable reinstatement, or an intermediate…

A decision of the High Court under section 28A of the Supreme Court Act 1981 on an appeal by way of case stated from magistrates is final. The Court of Appeal…

After dismissing an appeal and cross-appeal, the Court of Appeal may make a percentage costs order reflecting unsuccessful issues, settled issues and…

An unrepresented party in private family proceedings has a strong presumptive entitlement to assistance from a McKenzie friend. The court may refuse assistance…

The adequacy of disclosure against warranties in a share sale agreement depends on the parties’ contractual language. Where an agreement permits general…

For civil liability for fraudulent trading under Insolvency Act 1986 section 213, a company’s knowledge is not confined to that of its board or persons…

In entrenched child-contact disputes, children’s wishes and feelings carry weight according to their age and understanding, but cannot be treated as…

Section 212 of the Insolvency Act 1986 may be invoked against a person who was not an officer if that person was concerned in or took part in the company's…

In a professional-negligence claim for loss of a chance to pursue litigation, damages should be assessed in two stages. The court should first determine the…

On an appeal from an account-taking decision, the court must address material challenges to the evidence and explain why the evidence relied on is probative.…

When taking an account, a court must examine the evidential basis of the figures relied upon. Unaudited accounts prepared for a different partnership cannot be…

Where a mineral planning authority has placed quarries on the first list under Schedule 13 to the Environment Act 1995, a private-law declaration cannot later…

Under section 1 of the Equal Pay Act 1970, comparison is made between contractual terms, but a term is classified realistically by its subject matter. Payments…

Under the transitional regime for retirement annuity contracts and personal pension schemes, unused relief carried forward from earlier years forms part of the…

The appeal was allowed and the taking of the account was remitted to a full-time Master other than the Deputy Master who had dealt with it. Objections were…

Under a construction contract, whether certification is a condition precedent to payment depends on the contract’s construction. Where the payment machinery…

Where a defendant successfully applies under section 9 of the Arbitration Act for a stay, the normal order is for the defendant to receive the costs of the…

A public authority’s general policy gives those affected an objectively legitimate expectation that it will be applied consistently. Awareness of the policy is…

For the purposes of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, the qualifying corporate bond test concerns the underlying debt, not merely the form of the…

A public authority which incurs unrecovered care costs following injury to an individual is not, merely because those costs were reasonably foreseeable, owed a…

Section 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996 does not permit a party to split an existing dispute by seeking arbitration of issues added to an amended pleading. The…

Internal relocation may defeat an asylum claim where the decision-maker has made clear, reasoned findings that the feared actors will not pursue the claimant…

For intentional homelessness, the decisive question is whether a continuing causal connection remains between the deliberate act that caused the original…

An internal relocation decision must assess whether relocation would be unreasonable or unduly harsh for the particular asylum seeker. It is insufficient…

A mixed development proposal in the green belt must be assessed as a whole. It is not appropriate development merely because some elements are appropriate. The…

An English court will ordinarily enforce an exclusive jurisdiction clause governed by English law unless the party seeking to litigate elsewhere establishes…

When an appeal notice identifies the wrong enforcement notice by mistake, its validity is not determined solely from the document’s face. The decision-maker…

An employer’s duty in an occupational-stress claim is assessed by identifying the alleged act or omission, determining duty and breach, and then considering…

Refugee status requires more than treatment that violates Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The feared persecution must also be for a…

Under the Civil Procedure Rules, an application to strike out for want of prosecution requires a broad assessment of what justice demands. Relevant…

Permission to appeal against a discretionary case-management order should be granted only where the judge misdirected himself, ignored or relied on an…

A clinical case manager appointed for a severely injured claimant in contested litigation owes duties to the claimant alone. The court should not require joint…

A claimant seeking permission to serve a foreign defendant as a necessary or proper party must establish both a real issue on the merits and a good arguable…

Binding authority must be applied by a first-instance judge even where the law is controversial and may be reconsidered by a higher court. Where that authority…

A commercial litigation funder which finances part of an impecunious claimant’s costs under a non-champertous agreement may be ordered to contribute to the…

In care proceedings, a judge may reject expert and guardian evidence, but must give good reasons for doing so. The obligation is especially important where the…

For the VAT exemption for sporting services, a body’s status as non-profit-making depends on the aim it pursues, assessed in the full factual context of the…

Proceedings in an Election Court to determine an election petition and report corrupt or illegal practices are civil, not criminal, proceedings. Because the…

Under rule 9.2A(6) of the Family Proceedings Rules 1991, the court must permit a child to continue proceedings without a guardian ad litem if the child has…

A speculative challenge to an opponent’s capacity to litigate or authority to instruct representatives, unsupported by evidence and raised late, does not…

Open justice is the starting point. A preliminary issue concerning sovereign immunity is a public question of law, particularly where immunity is asserted in…

Reasonable suspicion for arrest may be assessed realistically and need not identify the precise offence at that stage. It is sufficient that the arresting…

A planning obligation under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 may require more than payment of a specified sum. It may require the owner to permit…

In children-contact proceedings, permission to appeal may properly be refused where the lower court has fixed an imminent review and is better placed to…

A guarantee confined to liabilities arising under or pursuant to a specified loan agreement does not ordinarily extend to liabilities created by a…

In removal cases founded on a risk of suicide, the governing question remains whether there are strong grounds for believing that removal will expose the…

A non-party costs order may be made against a shareholder who, without being a director or other person under a duty to act for the company, funds, controls…

Whether accommodation is provided in a care home depends on substance, not the legal form of occupation. An establishment may provide accommodation together…

A contracting party commits an anticipatory repudiatory breach when its objectively assessed words or conduct clearly convey that it will not perform. Its…

In an urgent arbitral case, section 44(3) of the Arbitration Act 1996 confines the court to orders it considers necessary to preserve evidence or assets. The…

In a claims-made excess policy, incorporated primary-policy terms must be read with the express excess wording and its commercial structure. The primary…

Permission to appeal from a refusal to extend time should be granted only where the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success. An extension is exceptional…

An immigration appellate authority deciding an appeal on article 8 grounds must determine proportionality for itself. It must allow the appeal where the…

The ordinary principles governing costs in inter partes civil proceedings also apply to civil contempt proceedings. The court must nevertheless account for…

The territorial scope of the unfair-dismissal right is governed by whether the employment is in Great Britain. The inquiry requires a flexible assessment of…

An employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments must be assessed by reference to all the circumstances, including the employee’s medical position, employment…

Removal of a non-national spouse of an EEA national on public policy grounds requires more than past convictions or general immigration concerns. The person’s…

On an application to displace a nearest relative under the Mental Health Act 1983, the relevant statutory grounds must be established both when the application…

When legislation requires High Court leave before civil proceedings concerning an act purportedly done under mental health legislation, issuing proceedings…

In an Article 8 immigration appeal, the Adjudicator must make his or her own proportionality judgment. It is insufficient to ask whether the Secretary of…

Copyright may subsist in a performing edition of out-of-copyright music where the editor’s independent skill, labour, time and judgment produce an original…

In clinical negligence, certainty that an anaesthetic event was drug-induced is not required before further action becomes necessary. The need to investigate…

An asylum adjudicator may accept evidence on one factual issue, such as ethnic identity, while rejecting the claimant’s account of past persecution. Those…

On a second appeal in an asylum and human-rights case, the court will intervene only for an error of law. A specialist immigration tribunal is entitled to…

Protection for private information is afforded through the action formerly called breach of confidence, now focused on misuse of private information. The…

For relief under section 253(1)(a) of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, a refinancing loan takes the character of the earlier borrowing it replaces.…

For income support, abandoned in paragraph 8(3)(b) of Schedule 3 to the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 bears the matrimonial-law meaning of deserted…

The Immigration Appeal Tribunal has jurisdiction only where the formulated grounds of appeal identify a point of law. An unpleaded error of law in the…

Case-management decisions about late evidence must further the overriding objective of dealing with cases justly. The court should ordinarily permit material…

Case-management decisions must advance the overriding objective of dealing with cases justly. Where late evidence is material to issues already likely to be…

In a children case, an appellate court will not grant permission to challenge a discretionary contact decision merely because a different arrangement was…

An appellant seeking permission to appeal must state clear grounds showing why the decision was wrong or unjust because of a serious procedural irregularity…

A confiscation order quashed because the criminal court lacked jurisdiction is void and cannot engage the exception in section 308(9) of the Proceeds of Crime…

The unavailability of specific performance for a time charter does not create an inflexible bar against a negative injunction. The Scaptrade [1983] 2 AC 694…

In assessing negligence, the standard of care is objective and relates to the activity undertaken, rather than the defendant’s personal category or mistaken…

Section 35(1) of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996 permits the Employment Appeal Tribunal to exercise powers or remit a case only when it finally disposes of…

A statutory body entrusted with a discretionary decision must exercise its own judgment and cannot allow another body to determine the outcome in an individual…

At the strike-out stage, a claim should proceed where the pleaded facts disclose a real, rather than fanciful, prospect of success and the legal issue cannot…

Permission to appeal is unavailable against a refusal of permission to appeal. A second appeal also requires an important point of practice or principle, or…

A decision awarding disability living allowance may be superseded before the original award period ends, but only where the statutory regulations permit…

In an asylum appeal, credibility must be assessed on the evidence as a whole. Medical and psychiatric evidence that may bear on credibility, memory, trauma…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal against refusal of an amendment, sufficient prospect of success may exist where an arguable legal issue has…

Lease covenants requiring removal and reinstatement of fixtures and fittings, and fitting out premises to specified standards, are not necessarily alternatives…

A professional who assumes responsibility for information or advice must guard against risks within the scope of that responsibility. An auctioneer which has…

A solicitor's duty to advise is shaped by the client's instructions, the circumstances and the client's apparent characteristics. An experienced businessman…

Under Ground 5 in Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1985, possession cannot be ordered merely because another person made a knowingly false statement connected…

A costs judge has a wide discretion, so permission to challenge a costs order will ordinarily be difficult. A substantial order may nevertheless justify…

A pending application for permission to appeal may be dismissed rather than withdrawn where dismissal provides a final and unequivocal end to the matter…

An express performance warranty must be construed as a whole. Where equipment is warranted to produce a specified product to an attached recipe and at stated…

A company carries on business under a name for the purposes of sections 216 and 217 of the Insolvency Act 1986 where it uses that name for some substantial…

In a work-related stress claim, an employer’s duty to take reasonable steps arises only when indications of impending harm to the employee’s physical or mental…

Permission to appeal against case-management directions is exceptional. An appellate court will rarely interfere with directions made to prepare a family…

For a tort requiring damage, limitation begins when the claimant suffers material damage. Later, more serious or more precisely quantifiable consequences of…

For purposes of a petition under section 459 of the Companies Act, a share sale is not automatically a private matter outside the company’s affairs. The court…

Where judicial review succeeds against a Crown Court decision, remittal for a retrial may be appropriate where there is no material distinction between related…

A civil restraint order may be maintained where the history of applications and appeals shows repeated proceedings that are wholly without merit and likely to…

In assessing damages for vibration white finger where exposure was initially non-negligent and later negligent, the court should compare the claimant’s actual…

In assessing costs, the court may take account of findings concerning alleged dishonest conduct, the reliability of evidence, success on individual issues and…

In an appeal against refusal to restore forfeited property, the burden of proof normally lies on the person seeking restoration. The statutory exception…

An appeal against committal for contempt may succeed in part even where serious breaches are admitted. A contemnor is entitled to a fair hearing and to have…

A compromise agreement may cover an anticipated employment tribunal claim raised between the parties, even before proceedings are issued. However, a general…

An appellate court may reverse a finding of primary fact only when, after re-examining the evidence and respecting the trial judge’s advantage in seeing the…

A planning decision-maker must consider evidence under every category to which it is potentially material. The decision-maker may determine what weight to give…

Actual undue influence is not confined to unlawful threats or direct coercion. The court must examine how consent to a transaction was obtained and decide…

In child-contact proceedings, a court should not summarily dismiss an application where the written evidence is incomplete and material factual allegations…

An easement is abandoned only where the dominant owner’s conduct makes a clear and firm intention to relinquish it, including an intention that neither the…

Permission to appeal requires a real prospect of success. A party cannot appeal against a decision in that party’s favour. Grounds already determined at an…

Under section 1(1)(b) of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999, a third party may enforce a contractual term which, properly construed in its…

CPR 40.12 is confined to correcting an accidental slip or omission in a judgment or order. It cannot be used to reopen the merits or recast reasons because a…

For an agency worker, an umbrella agreement may legally coexist with individual assignment contracts, but their existence depends on the agreement’s terms and…

Where a pay rise is awarded between the beginning of the reference period and the end of maternity leave, Article 141 of the Treaty of Rome requires it to be…

An appeal under regulation H2 of the Police Pensions Regulations 1987 is a rehearing, not a review confined to whether the selected medical practitioner was…

Occupation is not presumed permissive merely because it is compatible with the owner’s present or future enjoyment of land. However, paragraph 8(4) of Schedule…

Costs remain a matter of judicial discretion, but that discretion must be exercised on proper principles. The general rule is that costs follow the event…

An application for permission to issue proceedings made subject to an indefinite restriction must be addressed and determined. It should not be adjourned…

For a bank’s current-account overdraft, the relevant documentation conditions depend on the nature of the credit agreement. Condition (b) concerns an express…

In negligence claims for occupational vibration injury, the reasonable employer must keep reasonably abreast of developing knowledge and act with reasonable…

After a trial, the normal incidence of costs should not be displaced merely because the successful party’s account of an ancillary factual matter changed or…

On an application to withdraw an intervention notice, the court must first decide whether the statutory ground for intervention is made out. It must then…

Where a conditional fee agreement provides a single success fee, its reasonableness must be assessed by reference to the facts and risks reasonably known when…

The rule in Holme v Brunskill releases a guarantor where, after the guarantee, the creditor and principal debtor agree a contractual alteration causing…

Where no law has been chosen, the presumption in article 4(2) of the Rome Convention may be displaced only by a clear preponderance of connecting factors…

Under Part II of the Race Relations Act 1976, employment is generally treated as being at an establishment in Great Britain unless the employee does work…

In committal proceedings, the criminal standard of proof must be applied with care. Where a complainant relies on diary entries and one entry is shown to be…

A properly constituted patent-revocation action should not ordinarily be stayed merely because the applicant hopes that its outcome will influence related…

Where the Immigration Appeal Tribunal intervenes in an appeal from an adjudicator, it must identify the point of law giving it jurisdiction. It cannot reopen…

A second appeal from the High Court requires an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling reason. Disagreement with care findings or…

A defendant cannot rely on its own wrongful act, including an unfair dismissal, to break the chain of causation from an earlier act of disability…

At the permission stage, the Court of Appeal need not decide that the lower court was wrong. Where issues are not straightforward and there is room for…

Where a person is entitled to both a Category A retirement pension and a guaranteed minimum pension, section 46(1) of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 requires the…

A fixed-price contract is construed by identifying the work objectively agreed, read in its commercial context. General references to clearing tanks and…

Permission to appeal should be granted where there is a real, though difficult, issue whether judicial review may provide relief not available in parallel…

A specialist tribunal responsible for arranging a statutory recognition ballot may investigate its validity after the vote and, where appropriate, order a…

An undertaking to pay costs attaches to the order, or class of compliance, which it covers. When an interim receivership ends on appointment of a trustee in…

A tolerated trespasser does not ordinarily acquire a fresh secure tenancy merely because the landlord permits continued occupation and accepts payments after…

Annual leave under regulation 13 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 is leave from work. A worker unable to attend work throughout the relevant year because…

In a child-relocation dispute, the approach associated with Payne v Payne [2001] 1 FLR 1502 is directed to a contest between relocation and retention within…

For contributory negligence, causation is assessed against the claimant’s actual conduct, including a loss of control caused by excessive speed. A rider cannot…

An employment tribunal should generally give parties an opportunity to address an unanticipated finding of fact that may affect the outcome. That is not an…

An appeal from a social-security tribunal lies only on a question of law. The appellate court must not reweigh medical and other evidence or convert…

Vulnerability under the Housing Act 1996 is assessed through one composite inquiry. The authority must assume homelessness and compare the applicant’s ability…

For permission purposes, a tribunal must not assume that a claim under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights is answered merely by findings…

An insurance exclusion must be applied by reference to causation. A pre-existing degenerative condition need not be abnormal before it can be relevant; normal…

Asylum decisions require the highest standards of procedural fairness. An asylum interview may be critical to the assessment of credibility. Where the official…

A claimant seeking payment through assignment, subrogation or constructive trust cannot recover against the alleged holder unless the intermediary had an…

A harmonious parental relationship is not a prerequisite for a shared residence order. Harmony may instead indicate that no order is required. A court…

For a maintenance undertaking under the Immigration Rules and Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, the document must contain, in substance, an enforceable promise…

Orders for costs will only rarely be disturbed on appeal. The appellate court must identify an error of principle or a conclusion that falls outside the…

An estate agent’s commission is normally payable on completion, but the parties may agree that it becomes payable on exchange or another specified event. The…

Under section 111(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, reasonable practicability is a fact-sensitive question which should be construed liberally in favour of…

Conventional causation applies to claims for negligent financial advice. Where the breach consists of failing to explain an alternative course, the claimant…

A director or shareholder may be ordered to pay a company’s litigation costs under section 51(3) where, on an objective and fact-sensitive assessment, that…

Under the default parental-leave scheme, an employee may take leave only in a period equal to a week’s leave, or a multiple of it, unless the child is entitled…

When applications for permission to appeal are considered for reinstatement, the court may require an inter partes hearing so that both parties can address the…

An appellate court may proceed despite an unrepresented party’s lack of legal aid where it is satisfied that it can understand the issues and reach a just…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal held that liability for a danger created when vandals use property left under a…

In deciding whether to disapply a personal-injury limitation period under section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980, the claimant bears the ultimate burden of…

An appellate tribunal exercising a jurisdiction confined to errors of law may resolve an appeal on the material available after identifying a material error…

An agreement fails for uncertainty only in the rare case where it is legally or practically impossible to give the parties’ words any sensible content.…

An absolute maintenance duty under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 applies only to the workplace and to equipment, devices or…

When reviewing a certificate that a human rights claim is clearly unfounded, the court must predict how an adjudicator might reasonably determine the claim. In…

On an application for permission to appeal in an asylum case, the Court of Appeal may intervene only where an error of law is shown. Challenges to an…

A statutory duty to maintain compulsory motor insurance protects third-party death, personal injury and property damage. It does not ordinarily support a Monk…

A promise to pay upon a simple demand does not, by itself, create an independent demand bond. Demand bonds are specialised instruments developed principally in…

Permission to appeal may be refused where the lower tribunal’s factual findings sufficiently support its conclusion under any relevant country guidance. This…

When country guidance changes between an adjudicator’s decision and an Immigration Appeal Tribunal hearing, the tribunal is not necessarily confined to the…

Permission to appeal should be refused where proposed grounds disclose no arguable basis for interfering with factual findings. Fresh evidence must satisfy the…

Where tax has been paid prematurely in breach of Community law, the national court must provide full compensation for the resulting loss of use of the money.…

A suspended custodial sentence for contempt may be imposed only if the court first concludes that custody itself is justified. Imprisonment cannot be imposed…

A contractual dispute or jurisdiction clause in a reinsurance slip must be construed in its documentary and commercial context. Where the only reference to it…

Where a defendant has committed a flagrant contempt of a freezing order, the court may debar the defendant from defending, but only where that sanction is…

Permission to appeal should be confined to grounds with a real prospect of success; granting permission does not predict the result. Where a proposed ground…

In commercial litigation involving claims for money on both sides, the overall unsuccessful party will ordinarily be the party who must pay the balance at the…

The exceptional jurisdiction under the Civil Procedure Rules 52.17 to reopen a final determination of an appeal cannot be used to challenge a first-instance…

An appeal from an Immigration Appeal Tribunal lies only on a point of law. Grounds concerning issues not pursued before the Tribunal, including asylum or…

On an appeal from factual findings, the trial judge’s reasons must be read as a whole. An awkward or illogical passage does not invalidate the decision where…

A shared residence order is not precluded by parental conflict or an inability to work in harmony. The court must consider whether the order reflects the…

On a procedural application arising from a homelessness decision, the Court of Appeal may determine permission immediately where the issue is sufficiently…

Where a permission application reveals that a local authority may not have determined a separate homelessness application, the court should avoid deciding the…

For adverse possession of open land, a squatter must establish factual possession and an intention to possess. Deliberately fencing off part of the land to…

An earn-out provision in a business sale agreement is construed in its contractual and commercial context, not as though it were an agency commission clause.…

A final determination of an appeal cannot be reopened by recasting a challenge to an underlying order as a challenge to a later committal or procedural order.…

A local housing authority must entertain a subsequent homelessness application where the application and accompanying documents disclose a new fact which is…

An injunction restraining publication under section 2(2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 requires a high standard of persuasion that publication will create…

In probate litigation, costs are not necessarily apportioned issue by issue. Where an appellant has succeeded in substance, the court may award the whole costs…

An appellate court reviewing refusal to extend time must decide whether the lower court arguably erred in exercising its discretion; it does not rehear the…

A tribunal may use a proportional statistical comparison to determine whether an apparently gender-neutral pay practice has a disparately adverse impact on…

For attestation under Wills Act 1837, section 9, a witness must sign with the intention of witnessing the testator’s signature or will. A facially regular will…

Where substantive proceedings are compromised, the court may determine costs but should be slow to do so without agreed or determined facts showing who…

A landlord’s counter-notice under section 21 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 is valid if it specifies a counter-proposal for…

A right of appeal under section 326(1)(b) of the Education Act 1996 does not extend to an amendment made pursuant to an order of the Special Educational Needs…

Entitlement to apply for a patent does not itself establish entitlement to another person's patent or application. The claimant must establish an independent…

A landlord considering consent under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 must decide within the time reasonably required by the completed application and the…

Costs orders in private-law children proceedings remain exceptional. They may nevertheless be made where a parent has acted unreasonably in the conduct of the…

Under section 25 of the Greater London (General Powers) Act 1973, an actual change from longer-term residential occupation to use as temporary sleeping…

Where an employee mitigates loss after dismissal by starting a business, compensation under both the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Employment…

For the redevelopment ground under Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, a landlord need not be ready to start works with machinery in place at the exact moment the…

In an Article 3 removal case based on general prison conditions, substantial grounds for believing in a real risk of treatment contrary to Article 3 require…

A local authority assessing whether it is necessary to arrange services for a disabled child may consider alternative means of meeting the need, including…

A fact-finder assessing an asylum claimant’s credibility must consider all relevant evidence before reaching a conclusion. Medical and country expert evidence…

At the permission stage, leave may be granted where the proposed grounds are arguable and the court cannot say that the appeal has no prospect of success, even…

Where a long fixed-term tenancy is excluded from the statutory definition of a secure tenancy, its expiry does not create a secure periodic tenancy under…

A contractual “dispute or difference” is interpreted inclusively where it controls access to arbitration. A dispute may readily be inferred once liability is…

A person cannot obtain a declaration that primary legislation is incompatible with the Convention by relying on an alleged violation which does not affect him…

In an educational-negligence claim, causation does not require proof of a precisely measurable difference. It is enough to show that appropriate remedial…

In construing a formal written contract, negotiations, drafts and subjective intentions are inadmissible because they do not record a settled consensus and are…

For Refugee Convention purposes, a particular social group cannot be defined solely by the persecution feared. That principle does not prevent persecution from…

After expiry of the primary limitation period, a new defendant may be added under CPR Part 19.5 only where the existing claim cannot properly be carried on…

An appellate court should not use an appeal to revise a child-arrangements order merely because circumstances have changed or the arrangements have proved…

Permission for a derivative claim is exceptional. The claimant must establish that the proposed action is brought bona fide for the company’s benefit and that…

On an application for permission to appeal, a party cannot recast the case by advancing a wholly new legal basis that was not presented at trial. A general…

An amendment made after expiry of a limitation period may introduce a new claim yet still arise from substantially the same facts as the existing claim. The…

A public authority’s unqualified domestic-law right to possession does not automatically prevent Article 8 from being engaged, nor does it necessarily…

An anti-social behaviour injunction made without notice is exceptional. The court must be satisfied that immediate relief is needed to avert a risk of…

The fraud exception applies to litigation privilege as well as legal advice privilege. Communications and documents created to further a criminal or fraudulent…

A majority held that, during the transitional period in Article 29 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 343/2003, direct effect was given only to the Dublin…

Section 54(2) of the Race Relations Act 1976 excludes an employment tribunal complaint where the discriminatory act concerns a professional qualification and…

An employer may be vicariously liable for a statutory tort committed by an employee, although the statute imposes the duty only on the employee. Liability…

Procedural fairness in a trial involving litigants in person is assessed by the conduct of the hearing as a whole. Procedural slippage, including late reports…

Where judges hearing a renewed application for permission to appeal are divided about whether the proposed grounds are arguable, the application may be…

Rights of audience may be granted to a person assisting a litigant in person only in exceptional circumstances and after careful consideration under sections…

An appellate tribunal limited to points of law may not substitute its own assessment of evidence for an adjudicator’s findings. A conclusion that appears…

The grant of leave to appeal does not, without more, imply that the decision under challenge is wrong. Leave may reflect the grant of leave in an essentially…

A contract for time-and-materials implementation services, capped at a stated amount, does not without clear language oblige the supplier to complete the…

A court may decide a disputed factual issue by reference to the burden of proof only in the exceptional case where, despite striving to do so, it cannot…

When deciding whether to permit an amendment, strike out a claim or grant permission to appeal, the court must apply the relevant real-prospect-of-success…

A party who signs a written contractual document will normally be bound by its terms. There is no general duty to identify differences between earlier terms…

When a mortgagee sells mortgaged property to a connected company, the sale is not automatically invalid. But the mortgagee and purchasing company must show…

A professional conduct committee must determine culpability separately from sanction. Evidence concerning the circumstances in which misconduct occurred may…

Executors and trustees must uphold the trusts of a will and act even-handedly between beneficiaries. When a proposed variation creates conflicting interests…

An order for delivery up in patent proceedings is ancillary to an injunction. It should be made only where necessary to protect the patentee’s rights and…

A condition precedent requiring a reinsured, upon knowledge of a loss which may give rise to a claim, to notify reinsurers within 72 hours is triggered by…

Where earlier proceedings have been stayed, later proceedings are not invariably an abuse of process. The court must consider the circumstances and the public…

Permission for expert evidence under rule 35.4 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 may be granted by reference to a specified field rather than a named…

An insurance policy must be construed as a whole, in its commercial setting, to identify the parties’ objective intention. A property policy covering the…

In registered land, a right of way may be an overriding interest under rule 258 of the Land Registration Rules 1925 where it is openly exercised and enjoyed…

Where a driver crosses a carriageway through stationary opposing traffic to turn into a side street, the manoeuvre’s inherent danger requires the driver to…

For a fatal-accident dependency claim requiring two years of living in the same household as husband or wife, the question is whether the statutory-quality…

The evidential presumption of undue influence arises where a person who was able to influence another’s will enters into a transaction with that person which…

Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, section 328 does not apply to the ordinary conduct of litigation by legal professionals. Proceedings, steps taken to obtain a…

An appellate court may intervene where a trial judge’s assessment of expert evidence was materially influenced by scientific literature that was not produced…

An employment contract’s compensation clause may use league status as a broad-brush proxy for common-law loss. Where expressions such as ‘in the Premier…

On an application for summary judgment, a claim should proceed where the evidence gives it a realistic prospect of success. A case may be weak and still…

Commercial agreements are construed objectively. The question is what a reasonable person in the parties’ circumstances would understand from the language and…

Interim relief under section 25 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 must be identifiable as interim relief connected with the final relief sought…

On an appeal confined to an error of law, a Social Security Commissioner must not substitute his own view of the facts for that of an appeal tribunal. A…

Under CPR Part 52.7, the normal rule is that an appeal does not stay execution. An appellant seeking a stay must establish proper grounds. Where the appellant…

Permission to appeal against a strike-out order should be refused where the statement of case, taken with any proper explanation offered by the claimant, has…

In determining costs after an appeal, the court may consider success on the main issue and the practical assistance its judgment provides to the respondent on…

In a claim for unlawful arrest, the court separates the arresting officer’s subjective suspicion, the objective existence of reasonable cause, and the proper…

Summary judgment under section 8 of the Defamation Act 1996 is compatible with Article 6 where the defendant has no realistic defence and there is no other…

Exemplary damages remain available under the second category in Rookes v Barnard where persistent tortious conduct was calculated, in the sense of likely, to…

On an appeal relying on new evidence, the Ladd v Marshall guidelines remain the governing framework: the evidence should normally have been unavailable at…

A court has no inherent power to order interim payment of disputed sums. The statutory and procedural scheme imposes strict conditions, which cannot be…

A school’s refusal to admit a pupil unless she complies with its uniform policy can constitute exclusion, even without a formal exclusion order. Where that…

For limitation purposes, a negligence claim against a professional designer for latent defects in a building accrues when physical damage occurs, even if the…

A court may require a party to replead an excessively long and unclear defence and counterclaim in a single, concise document, supported by a conditional…

Financial Ombudsman Service complaint time limits are rules of the scheme, not the common-law rules governing accrual and limitation of civil causes of action.…

A contractual description of two companies under a shared misnomer does not establish joint liability where the agreement, read with the parties’ previous…

A protective costs order may be made in exceptional public law proceedings where the claim has a real prospect of success. The issues must be of general public…

A foreign-currency judgment debt need not be converted into sterling at a universally prescribed stage of enforcement. Miliangos v George Frank (Textiles) Ltd…

In a fact-finding hearing under Part IV of the Children Act 1989, serious allegations do not attract a heightened standard of proof. The court must apply the…

On a statutory immigration appeal under Article 8, the adjudicator must determine proportionality independently. The task is not confined to reviewing whether…

A committal order for failing to attend court cannot be made unless the judgment creditor has complied with rules 71.4 and 71.5 of the Civil Procedure Rules…

A successful respondent may recover all the costs of an appeal, including the costs of a proper respondent’s notice, even where the notice itself does not…

An invention is not obvious merely because the relevant step could have been included in a research programme. An “obvious to try” case requires a sufficient…

An applicant seeking a substantial extension of time to appeal against an adverse asylum determination must address the merits of the proposed challenge. It is…

A final appeal, including a refusal of permission to appeal, may be reopened under CPR 52.17 only where reopening is necessary to avoid real injustice, the…

An appellate tribunal cannot allow an appeal unless it identifies a material error of law in the first-instance decision. Where an adjudicator determines an…

An appellate court should determine matters before it with due expedition and provide legal certainty. The public interest is wider than the parties’…

Registration of land as a modern class c town or village green does not, by itself, create rights for local inhabitants to use the land for sports or pastimes.…

A statutory application to increase the amount recoverable under an existing confiscation order engages the reasonable-time guarantee in article 6(1). That…

Statutory harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 requires intentional conduct on at least two occasions directed at the same person. The…

In children’s proceedings, earlier findings of fact do not attract a strict issue estoppel. A judge may reopen them where unusual circumstances make…

When deciding whether to adjourn a civil trial and grant relief from a sanction for failing to serve witness statements, the court must apply the Civil…

In a contractual claim for loss of profits, the claimant must prove both the loss and its causation. Projected profits based on full use of equipment cannot be…

An extension of time for appealing is exceptional. The court must apply the overriding objective and the relevant procedural checklist while balancing the…

A minister who personally exercises a statutory power must receive enough information to make an informed decision. Knowledge held by departmental officials is…

For an equal-pay comparison under article 141, differences in pay must be attributable to a single source: a body responsible for the inequality and capable of…

After mixed success on an appeal and cross-appeal, the appellate court may apportion costs by reference to the issues won and lost, including by making a…

A surrender by operation of law requires unequivocal conduct by both landlord and tenant which is inconsistent with the tenancy continuing. The tenant must…

Statutory burden-shifting provisions impose a two-stage process in direct discrimination claims. The claimant must first prove facts from which the tribunal…

On an appeal confined to a point of law, an adjudicator must give proper reasons and engage with material evidence bearing on a reasonably arguable issue.…

A patent claim is construed purposively, through the eyes of the skilled person and in the context of the description, drawings and common general knowledge.…

After expiry of a limitation period, an application to change parties under rule 19.5 of the Civil Procedure Rules must be decided from the rule’s language…

In disability discrimination cases, an appellate tribunal must distinguish questions of law from permissible findings of fact and degree. It must not…

Appellate authorities must focus on the arguments advanced, but must address an unraised point where an obvious point of Convention law is readily discernible…

Subject to abuse of process, a public-law challenge may be raised as a defence in county court proceedings where it undermines the basis of the claim. A…

Where a child with an autistic spectrum disorder rejects contact with a parent whose conduct is not reasonably criticised, and the rejection has no explicable…

Legislation enacted under the Parliament Act 1911 derives its authority from that Act, so the courts may examine whether its statutory conditions were met. The…

For a teacher at a maintained community school with a delegated budget, the governing body is treated as the employer under the Education (Modification of…

For indirect discrimination on grounds of nationality, a facially neutral rule may be indirectly discriminatory where it is intrinsically liable to affect…

Where an order for reinstatement is not obeyed, compensation for unfair dismissal must be calculated under the ordinary statutory regime. The tribunal may…

Negligence does not require a driver to take precautions against every conceivable mishap. The obligation to warn, stop, or alter position arises only where…

When assessing a success fee on an appeal, the court must match the additional liability to the realistic risk of success. The assessment should take account…

Laches may bar enforcement of a beneficial interest in property held on a resulting trust where, in all the circumstances, permitting the beneficiary to assert…

In a professional-negligence claim for pure economic loss, a duty of care depends on whether the defendant objectively assumed responsibility to the claimant.…

Summary judgment under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, Part 24, should not resolve a genuinely disputed oral compromise through a robust assessment of…

A successful party will ordinarily recover its costs in the court below and on appeal where it had a justified complaint requiring litigation. Changes in its…

In a rent review clause, a time limit for the landlord’s trigger notice is not ordinarily of the essence unless the lease indicates otherwise. The tenant may…

A person seeking to challenge a local housing authority’s decision under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 must ordinarily use the statutory review and appeal…

Section 1(3) of the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 1930 invalidates contractual provisions which, on a statutory insolvency event, cancel…

A fraudulent insurance claim is governed by a special common-law rule. It is distinct from avoidance of the policy ab initio and from ordinary contractual…

Section 24(1) of the Limitation Act 1980 bars only a fresh action upon an existing judgment to obtain a second judgment. It does not impose a six-year limit on…

Failure to establish past abuse on the balance of probabilities for care proceedings does not require a local authority to treat the abuse as disproved for all…

On a permission application raising issues of general importance, the court may adjourn the application for renewal on notice where there is a possible good…

Permission to reopen a financial provision order because of a supervening event depends on whether the event invalidated a fundamental assumption underlying…

A commercial package does not become a single VAT supply merely because the customer must take all its elements. Separate contractual supplies made by separate…

An applicant seeking permission to appeal a discretionary insolvency valuation must show a real prospect that the first-instance judge adopted an erroneous…

An invalidly appointed receiver does not commit the tort of interference with contractual relations merely by assuming management of the company’s contractual…

Permission to appeal should be granted where the employment tribunal’s reasoning arguably failed to address whether an employer’s conduct concerning…

Where damaged or destroyed property must be replaced, the claimant’s recoverable loss is the reasonable replacement cost less any expense saved because the…

An error of procedure within rule 3.10 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 includes a drafting error in a procedural application. The expression should receive a…

A common intention constructive trust requires a shared intention that property is to be shared beneficially. That intention may be express, even if imprecise…

Where a permitted-development scheme is capable of operating compatibly with Convention rights, section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 does not permit the…

For the purposes of section 9(6)(b) of the Land Compensation Act 1973, a greater number of aircraft refers to increased aerodrome throughput capacity over a…

Unresolved costs, including a wasted costs order against a legal representative, ordinarily form part of the court’s final disposal of proceedings which have…

Fresh evidence may be admitted on appeal where it could not reasonably have been obtained for trial, is apparently credible, and would probably affect the…

An Immigration Appeal Tribunal may interfere with an adjudicator’s determination only on a point of law. A disagreement with findings of fact does not confer…

Tax paid pursuant to an unlawful demand is recoverable under the Woolwich principle as of right. Where the demand is lawful, recovery is governed by the…

A person who retains control over work equipment in connection with a business may owe duties under regulation 3 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment…

Where a pawnbroking agreement is unenforceable under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the statutory consequences apply to each fresh agreement that is a novation…

Rectification for unilateral mistake is an exceptional remedy. The claimant must prove that it mistakenly believed the instrument contained or omitted a…

Publication of words defamatory of an identifiable individual remains actionable without proof of actual reputational loss. The presumption of damage is…

Reynolds qualified privilege requires both publication on a subject which it is in the public interest to publish and responsible journalism in the particular…

Permission for a second appeal is exceptional. An “important point of principle or practice” under rule 52.13(2)(a) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 means a…

Commercial contracts are construed objectively in their factual and commercial context, while respecting the agreement’s actual words of sale. Language…

Beating a payment into court under Part 36 does not conclusively determine liability for costs. The court must assess all the circumstances, including who was…

For a detriment claim under section 47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the act or deliberate failure to act said to cause the detriment must occur after…

The jurisdiction to make a Bullock or Sanderson costs order survives under the Civil Procedure Rules, but remains discretionary. Reasonable joinder of several…

An order under section 34(4) terminating parental contact is a powerful order and should be made restrictively and stringently. It is generally appropriate…

An appeal to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal under section 101 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 is confined to a point of law. Permission…

An agreement to create a charge over land is a contract for the disposition of an interest in land and ordinarily must comply with section 2(1) of the Law of…

For Article 12 purposes, whether a child is settled is a question of fact assessed through the child’s physical and emotional circumstances, primarily from the…

In ordinary conveyancing, land bounded by a stream is presumed to include the stream divided laterally, unless the conveyance clearly indicates otherwise. An…

An allegation that a concluded judgment was procured by fraud should ordinarily be pursued by a fresh action, in which the fraud is clearly pleaded and…

In an appeal from contempt findings, the Court of Appeal applies the ordinary test of whether the decision below was wrong. In the quasi-criminal setting of…

Under section 30 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997, the Secretary of State decides whether exceptional compassionate circumstances justify releasing a life…

An appeal against an order of committal lies as of right, but an appellant who files the notice out of time must obtain an extension of time. The discretion…

An immigration officer has no immunity from liability for false imprisonment where the decision authorising detention is unlawful. A material public law error…

Under rule 38.6(1) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, a discontinuing claimant normally pays the defendant’s costs incurred before service of the notice of…

An education officer who exercises special skills and assumes specific responsibility for a child with special educational needs may owe that child a common…

For opposition to a business tenant’s new tenancy under section 30(1)(g) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, the landlord must prove a genuine and bona fide…

An unreasonable delay in promulgating an employment tribunal’s decision is not, without more, an independent ground of appeal. Nor does delay create…

Permission to appeal may be granted where there is a real prospect of success because the trial judge may have applied the wrong evidential threshold in a…

Summary judgment is inappropriate where a defendant raises a real issue as to the claimant’s title to sue and the effect of an assignment has not been properly…

The Court of Appeal reserved the costs of the proceedings and the appeal for determination by the Commercial Court judge, including whether the Gomba rule or a…

An employer’s duty in negligence depends on whether injury of the relevant kind was reasonably foreseeable to the particular claimant. Foreseeability must be…

On an application for permission to appeal, the court indicated that compensation on an equivalent-reinstatement basis is assessed as a question of…

At the permission stage of a second appeal, an important practice issue concerning sensitive medical evidence should be considered by a properly constituted…

When a statute gives magistrates power to make a liability order, they must be able to determine whether the statutory conditions creating liability are…

On a renewed application for permission for a second appeal, the applicant must show an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling reason.…

Permission to appeal may be refused where an application is wholly without merit and fails to identify any proper error in the decision challenged. Where a…

In a child-relocation application, the court must assess the effect of refusal on the primary carer’s emotional welfare and parenting, not merely whether…

Under a time charter, hatch handling is ordinarily the owners’ primary responsibility because the hatch is vessel equipment. That responsibility can…

A commission does not, without more, transfer copyright from the author. The client must establish an express or implied contractual term. Any implied term…

Under section 2 of the Occupier's Liability Act 1957, whether premises are reasonably safe for a visitor is primarily a fact-sensitive exercise of judgment. An…

An appeal is not a rehearing of the evidence. New evidence or materials will be admitted only in exceptional circumstances. A party is not entitled as of right…

A tenancy created by a head tenant is contractual and may exist between the immediate parties even where the grantor has no estate in land. That does not give…

Summary judgment may be entered where the evidence supporting a defence is so incredible that it can properly be rejected on the material before the court…

This was a procedural order. Permission to appeal was granted on specified Consumer Credit Act points, with permission to cross-appeal on those points if…

An occupier's possession is not adverse while it is held by the paper owner's express or implied permission. Permission may be inferred objectively from overt…

For settlement as an adopted child under paragraph 310(ix) of the Immigration Rules HC 395, the original parents must lack the skill, means or opportunity to…

The construction of a grant of water rights depends on the grant read as a whole and in the context of the circumstances existing when it was made. A provision…

A person detained after a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity is not treated as having a legally classified form of mental disorder merely because…

For the purposes of Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, section 96(2)(a) certification depends on whether a later claim relies on the same factual and…

A contractual claim said to have been removed from Employment Tribunal proceedings for pursuit elsewhere must be withdrawn clearly. The claim and the reason…

An appeal against committal for contempt is confined to grounds directed at the committal order. It cannot be used to reopen or challenge the underlying…

Claims for psychiatric injury caused by stress at work remain governed by ordinary employer’s liability principles. The claimant must establish that injury to…

Under the Insolvency Act 1986, a creditor may challenge a liquidator’s act even where it also seeks a litigation advantage. Court intervention remains…

An appellate tribunal's statutory power to remit a matter for rehearing may permit a full rehearing or a rehearing confined to identified issues. It may also…

On an application under CPR Part 3.9 to set aside judgment entered after breach of an unless order, the court must consider each relevant circumstance. The…

When deciding whether to disapply the limitation period for a personal injury claim under section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980, the court must balance the…

A domestic patent appeal should not ordinarily be stayed pending opposition proceedings before the European Patent Office where those proceedings are unlikely…

Fresh evidence discovered after trial may be admitted on appeal where it would materially influence the result, even though the party seeking to rely on it…

Expert evidence, including the evidence of a single joint expert, does not determine liability. The trial judge must evaluate it alongside the factual and…

In construing a commercial agreement, the court must give the parties’ words their natural meaning. It may depart from the written text or add words only where…

Permission for a second appeal under Civil Procedure Rules r 52.13 may be granted where the proposed appeal raises an important point of principle or practice…

In deciding whether a claimant was affected by a recognised mental illness, an employment tribunal should focus on whether the condition existed at the…

An occupier must take such care as is reasonable in the circumstances to keep visitors reasonably safe. The required precautions depend on the conduct…

Where proceedings involving the same parties and cause of action are pending in different Member States, the court second seised need not determine for itself…

In a claim to set aside a transfer of property for undue influence, a long-standing intimate relationship may give rise to an evidential presumption where the…

When considering whether it is reasonable to make a possession order on the nuisance ground, Housing Act 1988, section 9A requires the court to consider the…

An appellate court reviewing a discretionary decision must conduct a review rather than a rehearing. It must not substitute its own discretion merely because…

Where no attending doctor can certify the cause of death, the cause must be independently ascertained. A coroner may therefore require an inquest and order a…