Court of Appeal (Civil Division) judgments, 2008

An interim court should preserve the practical effectiveness of an appeal where an imminent transfer would otherwise make the appeal rights ineffective. It…

An exclusion in an insurance policy must be construed by identifying its true meaning in the language and commercial context of the policy. Difficulty of…

A success fee under a conditional fee agreement must reflect a reasonable and rational assessment of the risks assumed when the agreement was made. The…

A final ancillary relief order may be reopened for substantial mistake, material non-disclosure or a qualifying new event. A later outcome that differs greatly…

A disposition is reviewable under section 37(2)(b) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 only if made by the respondent to the financial relief proceedings. A…

Contractual formation is determined objectively from the parties’ communications and the surrounding circumstances. Strong indications of finality may show…

Customary international law does not require a receiving state to extend refugee family reunion to children adopted informally. A precise obligation of that…

A request under section 25 of the Police Act 1996 must correspond to the special police services supplied, although the police retain operational control over…

A judicial office-holder is not a worker under the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000 merely because the office is…

Where temporary accommodation provided under section 193 of the Housing Act 1996 becomes unsuitable, the housing authority must secure suitable alternative…

Trustees’ expenses may be charged to income only where they are incurred exclusively for the benefit of income beneficiaries. Expenses incurred for the benefit…

For Community-law worker status, employment may be part-time, short-term, casual or seasonal. The decisive question is whether the activity is genuine and…

Workplace harassment may be “on grounds of sexual orientation” where an employee is repeatedly subjected to homophobic abuse, even though the employee is…

In a negligence claim arising from the dispensing of the wrong oral contraceptive, the claimant must establish that the error caused or materially contributed…

A contractual agent’s authority is confined to functions expressly assigned, reasonably understood from the instructions, or reasonably incidental to them.…

The judgment did not finally determine whether a maintenance pending suit order remains enforceable after the divorce proceedings supporting it are withdrawn.…

In a challenge to a planning inspector’s decision, the court does not substitute its own planning judgment. It asks whether, after considering the relevant…

A transfer direction under section 47 of the Mental Health Act 1983 is lawful only where the Secretary of State is satisfied, by reports from at least two…

For Enterprise Investment Scheme relief, a payment made to a company before the formal application for shares or resolution to allot them is not necessarily a…

In assessing damages for breach of contract, a claimant must give credit for the realisable market value of retained assets where reasonable efforts could have…

Under Limitation Act 1980 section 33, the central question is whether it is fair and just to require the defendant to meet the claim on its merits despite late…

Discretionary housing payments are not confined to cases where an applicant has a current shortfall between housing benefit and eligible rent. Where the…

For the purposes of Part III of the Children Act 1989, the local authority, rather than the court, decides whether an applicant is a child. Age is not a…

Paragraphs 352A and 352D of the Immigration Rules provide family reunion routes only where the sponsor is a currently recognised refugee. A person who acquires…

An accident under article 17.1 of the Montreal Convention 1999 requires a distinct causative event outside the usual, normal and expected operation of the…

On reconsideration, an immigration tribunal may make a fresh determination only for a material error of law. The issues should remain within the grounds on…

Section 3(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1967 may justify force used in a civil claim for battery where the force was reasonable in the circumstances and used to…

Where an appellate matter may appropriately be heard with a related appeal, the Court of Appeal may adjourn it for listing before the same court, subject to…

A decree nisi of nullity cannot be appealed after it has been made absolute. A party who had time and opportunity to appeal from the decree nisi cannot appeal…

A tribunal’s determination is not vitiated merely because it refers to authorities that were not canvassed, or even to authorities that cannot be traced. The…

An application to set aside an order made without notice is governed by the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 where their provisions cover the subject matter. The…

For the purposes of Regulation 8(2), a deficiency in an original homelessness decision may arise through a material change of circumstances before the review.…

Proprietary estoppel requires more than unconscionable conduct in the abstract. The court must make a broad, fact-sensitive enquiry into whether it would be…

An inclosure award allotting land for public purposes does not permanently prevent its later use for a private easement. The relevant question is whether the…

Where an occupier knows that portable equipment may become unstable and accepts a duty of regular inspection, proof that an accident resulted from the unsafe…

Where a conveyance and its plan leave a boundary unclear or ambiguous, the court may consider extrinsic evidence, including subsequent conduct, if it has…

Self-help or abatement for trespass is confined to clear and simple cases, or cases requiring an immediate remedy. A long-standing and factually disputed…

In an insolvent administration, a proprietary or trust claim against money in a client account requires an identifiable fund into which the claimant’s money…

For costs under rule 34(1)(a), the relevant conduct may include the bringing and defence of the underlying proceedings, not merely conduct in defending an…

Under Rule 353 of the Immigration Rules, further representations constitute a fresh claim only if they include material not previously considered and, taken…

Where a tenant gives a section 42 notice claiming a new lease of one flat, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 12 to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development…

Where a bookmaker assumes responsibility to exclude a compulsive gambler from telephone betting with that bookmaker, the duty does not extend to preventing…

For time-limit purposes under the Race Relations Act 1976, it is insufficient merely to assert that discriminatory acts form a continuing act or an ongoing…

A condition precedent included for a party’s benefit may be waived by words or conduct. Where parties conduct their dealings on the basis that a compromise…

An appellate court reviewing findings of fact must give proper weight to the trial judge’s advantage, particularly where conclusions depend on oral evidence.…

Where a consumer travel insurer is told about a hazardous activity and accepts it as covered, the policy should be construed as covering that activity unless…

An extension of time for filing an appellant’s notice requires a good reason for the delay and a basis on which extension would be just. The merits of the…

An employer’s duty under regulation 4(1)(b)(ii) of the Manual Handling Operation Regulations 1992 is separate from and additional to its duty to conduct a risk…

Section 28(1) of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 is a timing rule. It deems a disposal and acquisition to occur when the contract is made only where…

When possession proceedings are to be adjourned or stayed pending related litigation, the relevant question is whether there is a real prospect that the…

Undrawn partnership profits become capital only by an express or implied agreement of all partners. Signed accounts may provide compelling evidence of such an…

A local authority’s failure to review a child’s welfare before returning him from voluntary foster care may amount to breach of duty, but the finding must have…

Judicial review is sufficiently flexible to satisfy a directly effective European Union requirement that an appeal body duly take account of the merits. Its…

A successful claimant will ordinarily recover the costs of the action although the court accepts only some allegations and reaches an intermediate conclusion…

For priority need under Housing Act 1996, section 189(1)(c), vulnerability requires comparison with a hypothetically ordinary homeless person. The applicant…

Success on appeal does not automatically determine the allocation of costs. The court may make a fair overall assessment by considering the outcome, the…

For limitation of a personal-injury claim, Limitation Act 1980, sections 11 and 14 require an objective assessment of when the claimant first knew of a…

In care proceedings, the court must decide the child’s welfare on the evidence and must confront the real alternatives before it. Where a supported and…

An FDR judge who has received without-prejudice material must have no further involvement in the ancillary-relief application except to conduct a further FDR…

For the purposes of regulation 4 of the Conditional Fee Agreement Regulations 2000, a solicitor has an interest in recommending insurance where a reasonable…

In a work-related upper-limb injury claim, medical causation may be established on the balance of probabilities where keyboard work materially contributes to…

Where legal title to property is put into joint names and one co-owner funds the other’s share by a loan, the funded party is a true purchaser and obtains the…

In a road-traffic collision, appellate intervention is not justified by precise calculations based on uncertain estimates of speed, distance and reaction time.…

An immigration tribunal determining an unaccompanied child’s Article 8 appeal must assess all the evidence available at the hearing, including the adequacy of…

Family proceedings remain active until the court grants leave to withdraw, and the court may make findings of fact without a live issue where they may protect…

A contribution payable by a leaseholder as a member of a company under the company’s articles and a members’ resolution is legally distinct from a service…

Where regulations create a detailed and balanced code governing termination of a public service agreement, a general notice provision should not ordinarily be…

On an appeal against findings of fact, the appellate court must exercise caution and should not substitute its own assessment merely because it might have…

A clear contractual compromise of pending appellate proceedings, including one reached through mediation, should be upheld and enforced unless vitiating…

Practising-certificate conditions may be imposed only where they are necessary in the interests of the public and the reputation of the profession. They must…

Section 43(1)(b) of the Solicitors Act 1974 requires a sufficient relationship between the employed person’s conduct and the solicitor’s practice in which that…

Where articles of association require an independent accountant to determine share value, appointment is not complete merely because the parties select or…

Apparent bias is assessed by asking whether, having regard to all the circumstances, a fair-minded and informed observer would conclude that there was a real…

Reasonable suspicion for arrest has a low threshold. It does not require prima facie evidence and may rest on apparently reliable hearsay. The question is…

For the purposes of section 103B of the Nationality, Asylum and Immigration Act 2002, the relevant decision is the Tribunal’s determination of the appeal…

Under the pharmaceutical-services control-of-entry regime, the decision-maker must assess the necessary-or-desirable test in the round. The statutory factors…

Liability under workplace safety regulations may arise where a raised paving slab creates a risk of tripping or bringing a wheeled conveyance to an abrupt…

In an asylum appeal concerning internal relocation, the court may assume disputed evidence in the appellant’s favour where the appeal can be resolved without…

Defamatory meaning is assessed by the natural and ordinary meaning of words read in their full context and against facts known to the recipients. Context may…

An injury award under the Firemens’ Pension Scheme turns on whether a qualifying injury caused or substantially contributed to the relevant infirmity. Where an…

In an Article 3 removal case, the governing inquiry is a single test of exceptionality. A claimant need not satisfy separate requirements of exceptionality and…

A hospital order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983 confers authority under section 40 for conveyance and admission only within the statutory…

A claim in deceit should not be struck out where the pleading identifies the representations, their alleged falsity, the defendants’ knowledge, and inducement…

An appellate court reviewing a specialist asylum tribunal must respect its primary findings of fact. A disagreement with the tribunal’s assessment of evidence…

Under section 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925, planning permission is relevant to an application to discharge a restrictive covenant, but it is not…

Non-justiciability is not triggered merely because adjudication may embarrass a foreign state or potentially affect diplomatic relations. The court must…

Vesting legal title to property in parents to provide lifetime security does not, without more, show that a contributor surrendered the corresponding…

A constitutional scheme for a dependent territory does not breach Article 3 of the First Protocol merely because unelected office-holders sit in a unicameral…

Where, on construction, a right of way is limited to the use made of it when created, its scope depends on that historical use. Whether a particular class of…

In a pedestrian–vehicle collision, a driver's duty to take reasonable care to be aware of pedestrians remains fact-sensitive. Failure to see a pedestrian until…

Section 106 of the Water Industry Act 1991 confers a right to connect drains to public sewers, subject to narrow statutory grounds of refusal. An undertaker…

In family proceedings, the discharge of Rule 37 of the County Court Rules for civil proceedings does not remove the court’s jurisdiction to reconsider a family…

In an asylum appeal, the claimant bears the qualified burden of establishing the facts said to create a risk on return. Where the claimant’s account of an…

A continuing warranty in an insurance policy must be construed in the context of the policy as a whole and its commercial circumstances. Literal wording may…

An economically inactive Union citizen cannot invoke Article 12 of the EC Treaty merely because she has been lawfully present in the host state for a…

In child-protection fact-finding proceedings, a court should not exonerate one of two possible perpetrators on a speculative assessment that conflicts with…

Constructive knowledge for limitation purposes may arise when, in light of a significant combination of symptoms, it was objectively reasonable to expect the…

In an Article 8 assessment concerning deportation, the decision-maker must weigh the rights and interests of the whole family, including the partner and…

A contractual credit for profits from additional business depends on the scope of the defined premises in which the contracted services are to be provided.…

A first-instance costs order is vulnerable on appeal only for an error of law, including material misdirection or inadequate reasoning, or where the result…

In an appeal engaging equality duties, the court may permit an equality body to intervene where its submissions could provide useful guidance to the court and…

Housing Act 1980, section 89, restricts the time for giving up possession where a possession order is made, including in cases involving trespassers and ended…

In asylum appeals, expert medical evidence concerning trauma must be considered as part of the fact-finder’s overall assessment of credibility. A tribunal must…

English law does not recognise a general common-law duty requiring public authorities to give reasons for administrative decisions, still less a free-standing…

There is no general common-law duty to give reasons for an administrative decision. The categories in which reasons are required remain capable of development…

A claimant for title by adverse possession must prove, by the critical date, unequivocal factual possession and an intention to possess to the exclusion of the…

A commercial security trust deed must be construed as a whole, having regard to its commercial context. The court must give effect to the bargain actually…

An appeal against a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal sanction normally proceeds by review. The court must give considerable respect to the tribunal’s…

A tenant is an assured tenant only if and so long as he occupies the dwelling-house as his only or principal home. Whether that condition is met immediately…

An application for permission to appeal in an asylum case should be assessed at the permission stage, without resolving the merits. A challenge may proceed…

Under a settlement agreement requiring one party to obtain and disclose three repair quotations, the other party’s contribution is tied to the selected…

On an appeal against an order referring questions to the ECJ, the appellate court must consider afresh whether a reference is necessary in the circumstances…

Section 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996 requires the parties to the court proceedings to be parties to the arbitration agreement, or to claim through or under…

Waiver of forfeiture by acceptance of rent requires knowledge of the breach and acceptance of money as rent. The question is objective: whether the landlord’s…

Whether a mixed-use building is a house “reasonably so called” for leasehold enfranchisement is a question of law determined from all the relevant…

A preliminary reference to the ECJ is justified where a Community-law issue is central to liability and it is genuinely arguable that the ECJ may resolve it in…

Where ancillary-relief provision has been quantified on a material mistake of fact, the appellate court must reassess the provision afresh. Deference to the…

Proceedings for contempt based on a knowingly false verified witness statement are public proceedings. A private applicant acts in the public interest, and…

Financial assistance is not established merely because a subsidiary lawfully provides assistance for the purchase of shares in its parent and the parent…

Under sections 151(2) and 152(1)(a)(iv) of the Companies Act 1985, a reduction in a parent company’s net assets caused by lawful financial assistance from a…

An agreement made to demarcate an uncertain boundary is not a contract for the sale or other disposition of an interest in land merely because it involves a…

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and made ancillary directions concerning payments during an administration. The administrators were directed to pay a…

In public law child-protection proceedings, a threshold finding must be coherent with the factual findings and the evidence. It is impermissible to find the…

A restraint order under section 91(14) of the Children Act must have a proper foundation. The court’s wide discretion does not permit an unnecessary…

On an application for permission to bring proceedings against a company in administration, the court must balance the landlord’s legitimate proprietary…

Hearsay is admissible in contempt proceedings of this kind. The court may rely on it where, viewed in context, it provides a safe basis for findings beyond…

On an application to fix a possession date under a postponed possession order, the landlord must establish breach of the order’s conditions. The original…

A driver turning right from a side road into a major road must take extreme care before and during the manoeuvre. The duty continues while entering the major…

Under paragraph 320(19) of the Immigration Rules, exclusion must be assessed by evaluating the risk to the public, including whether the applicant’s presence…

In a child welfare appeal, an order should not be confirmed where the appellate court has a profound and unresolved concern that the decision rests on…

A receiver by way of equitable execution may be appointed where special circumstances make ordinary enforcement methods ineffective. The court may adapt the…

An Article 8 claim is free-standing and may arise independently of defamation, but it must establish an actual invasion of privacy or material harm to…

When exercising its discretion as to costs, the court must consider all the circumstances, including the parties’ conduct before and during the proceedings. It…

Under the no-scheme rule, compulsory purchase compensation must be assessed in a world excluding value attributable to the underlying scheme. Where planning…

Rules 23(4) and 23(5) of the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (Procedure) Rules 2005 were intra vires. A failure by the Secretary of State to serve a…

Entitlement under employers’ liability insurance to recover a settlement depends on the policy’s terms. Where the policy requires legal liability, the insured…

In a secure-tenancy possession claim, reasonableness must be assessed by reference to proved facts and all materially relevant circumstances. An unproved…

Relief from a procedural sanction may be refused despite a technical default, its practical remedy and the absence of demonstrated prejudice. Under Civil…

Repeated legal proceedings may form a course of conduct for the purposes of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. A claim is arguable where a reasonable…

An order stopping direct contact between a parent and child should be made only as a last resort. Before making such an order, the court must examine the…

On an appeal from the exercise of a judicial discretion, permission requires a realistic prospect of showing that the discretion was exercised contrary to…

A contractor is vicariously liable for a borrowed employee only where the circumstances justify treating it as responsible for the relevant negligent act. The…

Under the pre-amendment version of rule 364 of the Immigration Rules (HC 395), deportation involved no presumption in favour of removal. The decision-maker had…

A police officer may arrest a person under section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 only where the officer personally has information providing objectively…

In reinsurance, a representation that an insured intends to follow a stated underwriting policy is a representation of existing fact, not merely opinion or…

In an asylum appeal, the Court of Appeal may intervene where a tribunal’s credibility findings rest on inconsistencies which the evidence does not fairly…

In construing a planning permission, a fact-finder may consider relevant trade usage and extrinsic material where the permission uses a trade or technical…

A claimant who beats a defendant’s payment into court by only a small amount does not automatically receive, or lose, the costs of the action. The court must…

A deposit paid under a contract for the sale of land is an earnest for performance. A seller may ordinarily retain it when the buyer defaults, without regard…

An appellate court should interfere with a refusal to adjourn only for an error of principle, failure to consider a significant relevant feature, or a…

Permission to appeal may properly be granted where there are substantial grounds for alleging that a reconsidering tribunal misunderstood the scope of the…

Country guidance is authoritative, but it is not applied as though it were statutory text. An appellant identified as a political activist does not thereby…

Under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996, a statutory review by a housing authority followed by a county-court appeal limited to points of law can satisfy…

A protective costs order is governed by underlying principles, but those principles are not statutory rules. General public importance is a broad…

A restriction on applications under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 is an exceptional safeguard. It must be used sparingly and ordinarily as a last…

An Employment Appeal Tribunal may entertain a perversity challenge by cross-appeal where the challenged finding bears directly on the employment tribunal’s…

For humanitarian protection, the governing question is whether the evidence establishes a real risk of serious harm on return. Past persecution or serious harm…

A settlement agreement in a chain of contracts does not create a no-loss bar where it preserves the intermediary's liability for disputed work and gives the…

Scarring is a relevant but non-determinative risk factor in assessing a returning Sri Lankan Tamil’s protection claim. Its significance depends on the…

In an indirect equal pay claim, objective justification must be assessed against the employer’s own legitimate aim. A proposed less discriminatory alternative…

The statutory power to detain a person pending deportation is controlled by the implied limits identified in Hardial Singh. Detention must pursue deportation…

In family-reunion entry-clearance cases, a tribunal cannot substitute its own decision where an executive policy leaves the decision-maker a discretion, unless…

The Fairchild exception to ordinary causation applies only where the claimant has proved all that can be proved, but current scientific knowledge makes it…

In child-support proceedings, a lump sum or property adjustment order fixing a housing fund cannot be increased merely because property values have risen. A…

Under a claims-made professional indemnity policy, notification of circumstances is construed objectively in its documentary and commercial context. The…

Where a claimant has deliberately brought proceedings in the wrong name, the Court of Appeal may refuse to join the controlled company which should have been…

An applicant seeking exemption from a head of the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test must satisfy the regulator about the nature and extent of relevant practical…

A protective costs order should be determined by the Corner House requirements and all the circumstances. There is no separate exceptionality criterion. The…

Misfeasance in public office is not actionable per se. The claimant must prove material damage. That requirement includes recognised psychiatric illness, but…

The statutory power to make Orders in Council under section 1 of the United Nations Act 1946 is broad, and permits provisions which are expedient for the…

Where a local authority seeks a civil injunction which is substantially identical to an anti-social behaviour order, the court should ordinarily decline relief…

Strict liability for damage caused by a domesticated animal requires proof that the statutory conditions in section 2(2) of the Animals Act 1971 are satisfied.…

Whether to hold a fact-finding hearing in private-law children proceedings is a discretionary case-management decision. Such a hearing is justified where…

For Article 8(2), proportionality is the governing question once potential interference with family or private life is established. There is no separate…

For added matter, the question is whether a skilled person, reading the amended specification, would learn anything about the invention that could not be…

When assessing whether accommodation is suitable for a homeless applicant, a housing authority may take account of proposed adaptations as well as the…

Where a sale contract requires the buyer to pay a specified sum but does not clearly state that it is payable as a condition of completion, the court should…

When a tenant has made a property highly dangerous through conduct arising from mental illness, an immediate possession order may be justified where a real…

A professional regulator may refuse a practising certificate where the applicant has no legal right to remain and work in the United Kingdom. Granting a…

The scope of an easement of entry is determined by construing the grant as a whole, in its factual context and having regard to its underlying purpose. Terms…

In a deportation appeal, a serious custodial offence may weigh heavily in favour of removal, but it does not create an automatic bar to remaining in the United…

An injunction cannot be granted merely because it appears just to do so; it must support an underlying cause of action. In an employment case, an employer’s…

A bond issue no-action clause should be construed in light of its commercial purpose. It may bar an individual bondholder’s tort claim where, in substance, the…

A local planning authority considering an injunction under section 187B must comply in substance with its duty under Race Relations Act 1976 section 71. The…

The ordinary enforcement of a charging order securing a judgment debt is not barred merely because more than 12 years have elapsed. Such enforcement is outside…

The acquisition of a domicile of choice requires both actual residence in the new jurisdiction and an intention to reside there permanently or indefinitely. In…

A security is not a qualifying corporate bond merely because a foreign-currency conversion right has lapsed. Under the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992…

A claimant relying on a derivative right of residence for income support must establish the underlying student’s and dependent child’s entitlement at the claim…

An appellate court considering permission to appeal from Employment Appeal Tribunal decisions asks whether an error of law is shown. It does not revisit…

A common intention constructive trust may arise without a written declaration where parties agree or understand that land is to be shared beneficially and the…

On an application by a person other than a local authority for leave to apply to revoke a placement order, any change in circumstances must be assessed against…

Where the threshold under Children Act 1989, section 38(2) is met, a very young child should be separated from the mother only where separation is necessary…

For section 34(1)(b) of the Housing Act 1988, “tenancy” does not include an agreement for a tenancy where the statutory context requires the distinction.…

A patent claim requiring wax to facilitate through-plating and soldering requires a practical benefit. A measurable alteration to a coating’s physical…

The Independent Police Complaints Commission’s statutory remit in a death or serious injury matter extends to determining whether police conduct caused or…

Policy 24 of RPG 6 required a single review of the Cambridge Green Belt, ordinarily undertaken at structure-plan stage. A detailed review could satisfy that…

A stateless person does not become a refugee merely because return to the country of former habitual residence is denied. The claimant must establish a…

A stateless person’s exclusion from the country of former habitual residence does not, without more, constitute persecution for the purposes of the Refugee…

A wasted costs order against a legal representative requires more than hindsight criticism of case preparation. Where unreasonableness is the only alleged…

A court enforcing a New York Convention award may enforce a distinct and ascertainable part of it, provided judgment can be entered in the same terms as that…

Where a first-instance tribunal has heard fresh evidence orally in a review application and assessed its relevance and weight, the Court of Appeal should…

In non-derogating control-order proceedings, Article 6 fairness is assessed by examining the hearing as a whole and asking whether reliance on closed material…

The ordinary rule in personal injury negligence cases is the but for test. A claimant who proves that the defendant’s negligence was a necessary cause of an…

Where consecutive determinate sentences fall under different release regimes, transitional savings for sentences under 12 months apply to each such sentence…

A contractual provisional assessment of VAT need not explain how the assessed value was calculated. It must state the relevant values, the applicable positive…

At a permission stage, the court need not resolve the full effect of lengthy appellate reasoning on an earlier authority where the issue can properly be…

In company-director disqualification proceedings, an implied statutory exception permits the Secretary of State to adduce reports and other material produced…

An employer’s duty to protect an employee from psychiatric injury arises when the indications of impending harm are sufficiently clear. The employer may assess…

In a multi-employer occupational pension scheme, the collective contribution rate must be distinguished from the contributions and payment periods attributed…

Priority need depends on whether, when homeless, an applicant would be less able to fend for himself than an ordinary homeless person, with a resulting risk of…

Third-party financial support cannot satisfy the maintenance requirements for family-entry applications under Rules 281, 297 and, by majority, 317. The…

Where removal will disrupt established private or family life, the threshold for engaging Article 8 is low. Conditions in the destination country will usually…

Conditions on a solicitor’s practising certificate are regulatory, not penal. Their purpose is to protect the public interest; protection of the profession’s…

A cleaning system may be well organised yet fail the duty to keep premises reasonably safe if it lacks sufficient and systematic observation to identify…

Article 6(1) requires an independent and impartial tribunal, but does not generally require an independent and impartial prosecutor. Prosecutorial independence…

Compensatory damages are the ordinary remedy for breach of statutory duty arising from a competition-law infringement. A claimant cannot obtain an account of…

For customs classification under the Combined Nomenclature, separate transmission and reception units do not fall under heading 8525 merely because they…

An exclusive jurisdiction agreement is separable from the contract containing it. A challenge to the validity or authority of the main contract therefore does…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in an asylum case, permission should be granted where the tribunal arguably failed to engage with material…

Where an appeal depends on unresolved questions concerning EU-law interpretation which are necessary to determine the result, the Court of Appeal may refer…

A statutory school-closure process does not imply a requirement for an academy-specific draft funding agreement before the decision-maker may approve closure.…

A judicial review claim must be filed both promptly and within three months. Filing within three months does not itself satisfy the separate requirement of…

In private-law Children Act proceedings, a judge should not prematurely terminate a fact-finding hearing merely because a child’s account is inconsistently…

On an application for permission to appeal, a single Court of Appeal judge should not finally resolve a substantial point which the trial judgment has not…

In ancillary-relief proceedings, proper application of the sharing principle requires the court to compile and explain a balance sheet showing the parties’…

On an appeal against factual findings based on conflicting expert evidence, the appellate court must examine the underlying material and reasoning. Confidence…

A computer program is not excluded from patentability merely because its effects occur within a computer. The decisive question is whether the claimed…

The Court of Appeal should not intervene in ongoing proceedings merely because a party is dissatisfied with an interlocutory or case-management order. A…

Commercial correspondence may create a binding agreement even though a later contract is made between different parties. The court must read the documents…

In an Article 8 deportation challenge based on an asserted parent-child relationship, a tribunal may assess whether the alleged parent was a real presence in…

A later claim may be an abuse of process where it advances a broader formulation of an issue previously litigated. The court must assess all the circumstances…

Permission to appeal may be made conditional under CPR 52.3(7), but a condition requires a compelling reason. A compelling reason may arise where an appellant…

For Article 5(6) of the Judgments Regulation, a trust subject to an effective express choice of English law will ordinarily have its closest and most real…

In family fact-finding proceedings, a judge must confine findings to the allegations and issues properly before the court. An impermissible propensity finding…

In care and adoption proceedings, once threshold criteria are established, the welfare inquiry may require refusal to return children where supported findings…

Permission to appeal in child-arrangements proceedings depends on whether there is a reasonable case that the decision is sufficiently arguably flawed to…

Permission to appeal was granted in a worker-status case because the proposed appeal had a real prospect of success. The central issue was whether a qualified…

A fundamental error of fact by an administrative decision-maker may potentially make a decision irrational and provide a ground for judicial review. The issue…

Under section 1(3) of the Children Act 1989, a child’s wishes must be assessed in light of both age and understanding. They are not determinative, but a mature…

For second appeals, permission requires an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling reason to hear the appeal. Parallel tax…

An appeal may be adjourned where a pending committal or enforcement application could determine whether the underlying proceedings must be withdrawn, making…

The statutory power to impose electronic monitoring on an adult subject to immigration reporting restrictions is reviewable on Wednesbury principles. The…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal held that it was arguable that an Article 8 proportionality assessment should take…

An appellate court considering permission to appeal from an immigration tribunal must investigate possible errors of law. It must not re-assess evidence or…

A gradual increase in traffic, noise and pollution on an unchanged motorway is not, without more, a change in the physical state of a dwelling’s locality.…

A contractual right is a possession within article 1 of the First Protocol only if it constitutes an asset. Contractual status alone is insufficient. Relevant…

A court retains discretion to abandon a pre-arranged fact-finding hearing in care proceedings, but must exercise particular caution. It should respect the…

An appellate court may determine an appeal in the appellant’s absence where the appellant knew of the hearing, raised no timely objection, and a late…

Where a tribunal may have applied immigration policy guidance to the wrong factual date or imposed an evidential requirement not clearly justified by that…

In an asylum claim, acceptance of an applicant’s account as credible does not itself establish that the feared harm is objectively well founded. The tribunal…

When assessing whether removal is proportionate under Article 8, the decision-maker should give a brief but intelligible account of the factors on both sides.…

Further submissions qualify as a fresh claim under rule 353 only if they contain material not previously considered and, taken with the earlier material…

On an application for permission to appeal, a ground is arguable where a tribunal may have exceeded its powers in re-evaluating an earlier asylum grant, rather…

At the permission stage, a contractual construction challenge is sufficiently arguable where broad indemnity wording appears in a clause directed principally…

Under section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, the Development Plan is determinative unless material considerations indicate otherwise.…

Documents filed in private family proceedings are confidential, and disclosure to treating clinicians requires active and careful consideration by the court. A…

Article 8 removal assessments must consider the family life of persons sharing family life with the person facing removal directly, rather than only through…

An adult child’s relationship with a parent may engage Article 8 family life where there is an unusual degree of dependency. The assessment is fact-sensitive.…

In an asylum appeal, credibility is primarily for the tribunal. The appellate court must consider the tribunal’s decision as a whole. Criticism of individual…

Permission to appeal may be granted on a limited basis where an asylum tribunal’s assessment of sur place political activity arguably contains an error of law…

A costs order is a matter for the trial judge’s broad discretion and depends on the facts of the individual case. The fact that a witness is found to have lied…

On an application to stay an order pending appeal, the court must make the order that best accords with the interests of justice. The ordinary position is that…

A committal for contempt based on disobedience of an order to return a child requires proof to the criminal standard. The applicant bears the burden…

On an appeal against a family fact-finding decision based on a recorded child interview, the appellate question remains whether the judge was plainly wrong.…

Where a claim form contains claims governed by different service periods, service outside the period applicable to one claim does not invalidate the form for…

For contempt proceedings, an order requiring a person to act within a specified period must be construed strictly because committal may affect liberty. The…

A statutory presumption under section 72 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 applies generally to asylum decisions and tribunal appeals. A…

In an appeal against a discretionary decision on a residential parenting assessment, the Court of Appeal should intervene only where an error in the balancing…

Where goods are lost or converted by a bailee before delivery, the owner’s prima facie loss is the value of the goods, including the price of an identified…

In a challenge to detention under the Mental Health Act 1983, oral evidence and cross-examination are required only where necessary for the fair determination…

In a Dublin transfer challenge under Article 3, the court must distinguish between ill-treatment in the receiving state and onward removal to a country where…

Under the statutory scheme governing continuing healthcare, the primary care trust is the primary decision-maker on whether a person has a primary healthcare…

Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, ownership or entitlement to occupy does not by itself make a person an owner occupier. The requirement is actual…

A professional ordinarily undertakes to exercise the reasonable skill and care expected of a competent practitioner. That principle does not govern every…

For limitation purposes, the claimant’s knowledge must be assessed in two stages. The court first identifies what the claimant actually knew about the injury.…

The need for a homosexual asylum applicant to conduct sexual activity discreetly does not, without more, establish persecution. The applicant must show that…

Where land falls within a statutory category attracting an assumed planning permission, the assumption is mandatory for compensation purposes. It must be made…

An adult who permits children to use play equipment must take the precautions which a reasonably careful parent would take for a child of the relevant age. The…

The law of trespass ordinarily requires effective protection of a landowner’s possession. Where existing trespass and a real danger of further occupation of…

Where appeals have been adjourned pending a reference or other event that may affect only part of the costs outcome, the court may determine costs attributable…

Dishonest assistance requires proof that the defendant knew facts making the assistance dishonest, or had a clear suspicion of them and deliberately chose not…

In determining a planning application for temporary development, a local planning authority is not ordinarily required to assess the merits or environmental…

On a statutory reconsideration under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, the tribunal has jurisdiction to reopen any aspect of the appeal…

CPR 25.13(2)(c) applies to an unlimited company as well as a limited company. Its unqualified reference to a company or other body cannot be read down by…

Where a child has lived continuously in the United Kingdom for at least seven years, the applicable immigration policy starts with a presumption that…

A wasted costs order is a summary remedy reserved for a reasonably obvious case. At the first stage, the applicant must present strong prima facie evidence…

An appellate court may admit fresh evidence only exceptionally. It must apply the three Ladd v Marshall criteria, while exercising its discretion consistently…

In a housing disrepair claim governed by a pre-action protocol, the claim for costs arises when the protocol claim is advanced, not only when proceedings are…

Internal relocation to a safe part of a country is reasonable only if it would not be unduly harsh for the particular claimant. The assessment must be…

When a trustee in bankruptcy is removed under section 298 of the Insolvency Act 1986, the court may appoint a replacement. Section 303(2), which permits…

For the criminal prohibition in the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, “given in confidence” requires a subjective, fact-sensitive inquiry. The question…

For obviousness, the skilled but unimaginative person considers the teaching and operating principle of prior art, not merely its detailed embodiment or…

Under the Children Act 1989, a shared residence order is not confined to cases of equal care. It may reflect the practical and psychological reality of a…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, an appellate court may refuse to reopen an issue which was expressly conceded below, particularly where the…

Permission to appeal requires a question of law and a real prospect of success. A tribunal must give reasons sufficient to explain and justify its decision…

On an application for permission to bring a second appeal from an order upholding a committal order, permission is confined to cases raising an important point…

A pay-protection arrangement introduced on a new job-evaluation scheme may perpetuate earlier unlawful indirect sex discrimination. A tribunal must identify…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the applicant shows neither a realistic prospect of success nor a compelling reason for granting permission. Minor…

In a cumulative-cause case, a claimant may establish causation by proving that the defendant’s breach made a material contribution, meaning a contribution…

Under section 20(1) of the Children Act 1989, a local authority must provide accommodation where a child in need appears to require it because the person…

Section 609 of the Housing Act 1985 does not make the burden of a positive covenant run with freehold land. It places a local housing authority in the position…

A development-plan policy fixing a proportion of affordable housing must comply with the national policy requirements applicable at its examination. A…

A party subject to a continuing order protecting a child’s confidentiality must comply with it in substance. Publishing information identifying the child on…

Contracting out of business-tenancy security requires a tenancy for a term of years certain. A lease clause extending the defined term to include any…

In an unfair-dismissal challenge, the employment tribunal determines whether the employer acted reasonably; it does not decide the employee’s actual guilt or…

Permission to appeal may be granted where an issue is properly arguable and has a real prospect of success. For a second appeal, compelling reasons may also…

Delegated legislation made without mandatory prior consultation or a required equality impact assessment should ordinarily be quashed. A later assessment, a…

The power under section 25 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 supports substantive foreign court proceedings. It does not support foreign…

Under section 8 of the Asylum & Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Act 2004, specified conduct must be considered when assessing an asylum claimant’s…

Civil Procedure Rules Part 71 permits an order requiring an officer of a corporate judgment debtor to attend court and provide information relevant to…

In an indirect equal-pay claim, an employer must objectively justify a discriminatory pay structure by identifying a legitimate aim and showing that the chosen…

Detention under an unfitness-to-plead procedure is not arbitrary merely because the court has not determined whether the accused committed the charged acts.…

Under s.24 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, an LVT reference is not limited to matters listed in the initial application. Once…

A tribunal’s reasoning on credibility is an error of law where it is irrational in light of the objective evidence it has summarised. A sentence cannot be…

At the permission stage, an issue concerning the effect of Regulation 1612/68, art 12, is not acte claire where it may confer a right to remain on a child’s…

Jurisdiction over parental responsibility ordinarily belongs to the courts of the child’s habitual residence. A divorce court acquires jurisdiction under…

An apparent inconsistency in a trial judge’s material findings may disclose an arguable error or misdirection on the evidence. It does not, without more…

In a type 3 private nuisance claim based on danger from neighbouring land, the claimant must prove that the danger was real and well-founded. A sincere or…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r 19.7, the court may appoint representatives for classes with the same interest where some members cannot be found or…

Country guidance must be treated as authoritative on the issues it decides, but it does not prevent a tribunal reaching a different outcome where adequate…

For limitation purposes, negligent financial advice causes immediate damage where it induces a claimant to exchange a secure investment for a materially less…

For automatic unfair dismissal, completion of a statutory dismissal procedure means completion of its prescribed steps. It is not conditional on compliance…

The majority held that the exemption in section 179(2) of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 applies only where the transferor and transferee were…

Where a commercial lease makes service charge payable in accordance with a specified schedule, the landlord must follow that contractual route before payment…

For trade mark opposition based on a likelihood of confusion, the tribunal must make a global assessment from the viewpoint of the average consumer. Similarity…

An immigration decision-maker may insist on compliance with an applicable language requirement in the Immigration Rules, even if an earlier grant of leave…

Permission to appeal against a financial remedy variation order should not be granted where the challenge concerns only quantum, the judge made no error of…

An appellate court should not interfere with a trial judge’s assessment of life expectancy based on expert evidence unless an error of law or erroneous…

In child contact proceedings, a contact order must sufficiently reflect the need to protect the child against risks identified in the evidence. The child’s…

A court or tribunal order must ordinarily be obeyed. A person subject to the order cannot unilaterally decide that it was wrongly made, irrelevant or…

Under the Adoption and Children Act 2002, section 47(5), permission to oppose adoption involves two stages. The court first asks whether circumstances have…

Frustration of a contract for the sale by description of unascertained goods is legally possible, including goods of specified origin. However, the seller…

Article 8 family life is not confined to the nuclear family and may exist between more distant relatives or relations by marriage. If the family can reasonably…

Landfill tax is chargeable only if all four conditions in section 40(2) of the Finance Act 1996 are satisfied at the same time. The relevant intention to…

Under section 7(4) of the Housing Act 1988, proving a possession ground does not itself require an order: reasonableness remains a fact-sensitive evaluation.…

In a child-relocation case, the court must evaluate the children’s welfare in the circumstances existing at the hearing. It must weigh the likely consequences…

Where a contract requires a party to discharge a borrower’s remaining liability under a consumer credit agreement, the natural meaning of liability is a…

In removal cases involving serious illness, a disparity between medical facilities in the United Kingdom and the receiving state does not ordinarily engage…

A conveyance plan is important contemporaneous evidence of a boundary, but it is not conclusive where its markings create genuine uncertainty. Extrinsic…

Where legal title to a property is held in one name, the resulting presumption of sole beneficial ownership may be rebutted by evidence of the parties’ common…

In a deportation appeal, the proper order is ordinarily to consider Article 8 before paragraph 364 of the Immigration Rules. But an incorrect sequence, or…

In ancillary relief proceedings, fairness governs both the amount of a lump-sum award and its implementation. An exceptional delay in payment must have…

Before a local authority can apply under section 22 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 for a placement order, the adoption panel must have considered the…

An asylum claimant bears the burden of showing a reasonable degree of likelihood of Convention persecution or Article 3 ill-treatment. Whether an Eritrean…

A statutory new tenancy under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 requires a valid statutory route. A tenant at will is not protected, and a section 26…

In a preliminary fact-finding hearing in private-law children proceedings involving serious domestic-violence allegations, the judge should not entertain a…

A representation estoppel cannot establish a landlord’s cause of action for statutory possession. A proprietary estoppel may found a cause of action, but it…

Proceedings under section 2 of the Dogs Act 1871 are civil proceedings and must be initiated by a complaint. An initiating document is construed by its…

An accepted offer of amends under the Defamation Act 1996 brings the defamation claim to an end and substitutes the statutory enforcement procedure. Apart from…

In indirect discrimination, the provision, criterion or practice must be identified with precision and justified as a whole. A negotiated deal or policy…

A motorist’s failure to reduce speed when approaching a stationary school bus may be a legally relevant and direct cause of injury to a child emerging from…

The general rule under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 44.3(2) is that the unsuccessful party pays the successful party, but success is assessed by the judgment…

A housing authority considering a homelessness application by a Gypsy or Traveller must give genuine special consideration to the applicant’s culture and wish…

In an Article 8 entry-clearance case, the appellate court should ordinarily remit the proportionality assessment to the specialist fact-finding tribunal. The…

Qualified privilege for responsible journalism is determined by evaluating all the circumstances, including whether publication was responsible and fair. The…

A specialist valuation tribunal’s assessment will not ordinarily justify appellate intervention merely because a party disagrees with the figure reached.…

An autonomous demand guarantee must operate according to its express terms. A court will not imply an uncertain repayment obligation merely to prevent recovery…

A complaint of alleged criminal conduct made to the police is absolutely privileged in defamation proceedings from the moment the criminal justice system…

In family fact-finding proceedings, the standard of proof remains the ordinary balance of probabilities, even where the allegation and its possible…

Compensation under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 does not follow merely because fresh evidence caused a conviction to be quashed as unsafe. A…

The duty under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 requires a highway to be maintained to an objective standard. It must be reasonably passable for the…

After remarriage, a party may still proceed with an ancillary-relief application already made in the divorce petition. Section 28(3) of the Matrimonial Causes…

The length of an adjournment is a case-management decision within the trial judge’s discretion. An appellate court will uphold it where the judge acted within…

Under the Housing Act 1996, a local housing authority has wide discretion to devise an allocation scheme. Once adopted, however, accommodation must be…

An EEA national with a permanent right of residence may be removed for serious violent offending where personal conduct presents a genuine, present and…

A beneficiary may in appropriate exceptional circumstances bring a derivative claim to enforce a cause of action vested in an estate, but cannot obtain a…

Where proprietary estoppel gives rise to an equity, the remedy is flexible. The court must assess all the circumstances, including the claimant’s detriment…

Security for costs must be assessed with due regard to proportionality. The court should identify the reasonable costs of the appeal itself and compare them…

When limitation has expired, an amendment adding a new cause of action is permitted only if the new claim arises from the same facts, or substantially the same…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, cogent, intelligible and adequate credibility findings by an immigration tribunal do not disclose an error…

Practising-certificate conditions imposed under the Solicitors Act 1974 are regulatory, not punitive. They may be imposed to protect the public and the…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the threshold is relatively low: permission may be granted where a ground has a real prospect of success. An…

Permission to appeal in an immigration case should be granted where the proposed appeal raises arguable questions about the interaction between the Immigration…

In family proceedings, the usual no-order approach to costs may be displaced by a party’s improper conduct. The court must nevertheless consider all material…

A specialist fact-finding appeal will not automatically precede judicial review. Although the usual practice is to establish relevant facts first, judicial…

An appellate court should give an immigration determination a fair reading before treating imprecision as an error of law. Separate risk factors cannot be…

Internal relocation requires an assessment of all relevant circumstances concerning the claimant and the country of origin. The question is whether it would be…

In an asylum appeal, the absence of corroborative evidence may properly be considered where the alleged factual circumstance is objectively verifiable and it…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in an asylum and human-rights case, it was arguable that the immigration judge had not adequately reasoned…

A party seeking to exclude a debt from a signed guarantee through estoppel, collateral contract or a duty to speak must establish the necessary common…

Public authorities ordinarily retain power to change policy. An unequivocal promise or established practice of consultation will generally require consultation…

Where a defendant did not participate in a trial and later seeks to rely on fresh evidence on appeal, the appellate court should first apply, by analogy, the…

Where an asylum appellant unexpectedly loses representation despite reasonable efforts, the tribunal must consider whether the appeal can be justly determined…

Whether to order a parental assessment between fact-finding and disposal is a fact-dependent exercise of judicial discretion. An assessment is not required…

Permission to appeal from a short directions appointment will rarely be granted where the challenge concerns discretionary case-management decisions by an…

For EEA family-permit purposes, dependency is assessed by asking whether the family member needs the Union citizen’s or spouse’s material support to meet…

Where proceedings are dismissed on a local authority’s undertakings to provide essential documents for a child approaching adulthood, repeated non-compliance…

In immigration detention cases, refusal to accept voluntary return and refusal of bail raise distinct questions. A detainee who might have been granted bail is…

For a second appeal, permission depends on satisfying the threshold in CPR 52.13. An issue being interesting or suitable for a moot is insufficient by itself.…

When deciding whether to vacate an appellate hearing date, the court must assess the overall justice of the case. Relevant considerations include the…

In determining costs of a multi-headed interim application, each head should be assessed separately. A change of solicitors, anticipated appeal funding, or…

A mutual-wills arrangement requires clear and satisfactory evidence of a contract between the testators. When the first testator dies having performed that…

A non-party costs order is exceptional and must accord with reason, justice and procedural fairness. Where the applicant could have sued and joined the…

An appellate court should permit a party to advance a new case only with caution. Permission will ordinarily be refused where the new case may require further…

On an application for permission to appeal from summary judgment, permission should be granted where it is arguable that the first-instance judge misdirected…

An employment tribunal’s decision whether to extend the statutory time limit for a discrimination claim is discretionary. An appellate court should intervene…

When costs are apportioned on an issues-based approach, the court must account consistently for both the issues lost and the consequential costs generated by…

On an appeal against an apportionment between defendants, the appellate court will not interfere unless the trial judge was plainly wrong, took irrelevant…

An appellate court may stay a renewed permission application where an authoritative pending decision may alter the legal basis for an extensive factual…

In a child-relocation appeal, the appellate court should respect the first-instance judge’s discretionary welfare evaluation. It should intervene only where…

In an Article 8 immigration case, delay by the Secretary of State does not itself create a claim. It may increase the factual basis for private or family life…

Tax measures remain subject to scrutiny under Article 1 of the First Protocol, but taxation attracts a wide margin of appreciation. A challenge succeeds only…

A demoted-tenancy review conducted by a senior officer of the landlord authority is not incompatible with article 6 merely because the officer may make…

Proprietary estoppel claims based on an expected testamentary inheritance require a clear and unequivocal representation that is intended to be relied on, or…

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

In assessing an expert report on the risk of return, an appellate tribunal must engage with the material issues, but it may attach little weight to an opinion…

A tribunal may enlarge the scope of a reconsideration hearing, but permission to do so is very exceptional. Fresh asylum or Article 3 material must be notified…

Paragraph 364 of the Immigration Rules requires a balancing exercise. The public interest in removal, including the seriousness of the offence and the person’s…

A claim for Francovich damages accrues when a State’s failure to implement Community law first leaves the claimant with a less valuable package of rights and…

A protective costs order may be made where litigation affects a sufficiently substantial section of the public. General public importance does not require…

Leave to enter the United Kingdom as a student confers that immigration capacity. It does not ordinarily confine the entrant to the course or institution…

Legitimate political predisposition by elected councillors must be distinguished from unlawful predetermination. Councillors may support and develop planning…

A purported contractual termination must be unequivocal. A party cannot unilaterally terminate an agreement while requiring it to continue on a…

Permission to appeal may be granted where a case raises an arguable legal issue that is obscured by an appeal to merits alone. The court should identify the…

Permission to appeal should be granted where refined grounds are arguable. That may include a challenge to the lower court’s jurisdiction to reverse a judgment…

On a first-stage reconsideration, an immigration appeal may be overturned only for an identifiable error of law. In an exceptional case, perversity may…

In an asylum claim based on political activity undertaken abroad, the risk assessment must address the claimant’s likely perception by the authorities on…

In children proceedings, an order dividing the cost of an expert’s useful report equally between the parties is a conventional exercise of discretion and will…

A claimant may recover for deceit where a fraudulent representation is made to another person, provided the defendant actually intended it to be communicated…

Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, an occupier owes a personal duty to take reasonable care, in all the circumstances, to make visitors reasonably safe…

For permission purposes, it was arguable that removal of an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child required a proper assessment of whether adequate reception and…

At the strike-out stage, the court asks only whether the claim is arguable and has some prospect of success. It should avoid conducting a mini-trial or…

In a secure-tenancy possession claim, reasonableness is primarily for the trial judge, whose decision resembles an exercise of judicial discretion. The Court…

At the interim-injunction stage, the court considers realistic possibilities before trial rather than deciding future events on the balance of probabilities.…

For VAT purposes, the question whether several elements constitute one supply must be answered objectively, by reference to the typical consumer and the…

A planning-permission notice gives adequate reasons where it identifies the development-plan policy relied upon and sufficiently indicates why the proposal…

In tort, the ex turpi causa defence is not confined to claims founded on the claimant’s illegal act. The question is whether the relevant loss is so closely…

For a probationary police constable, the duty to make reasonable adjustments does not require the chief officer to waive an irreducible minimum qualification…

A trial date should be vacated where, despite the need to manage court resources and other litigants’ interests, proceeding would deny a party a fair trial.…

In family proceedings, the child’s welfare is the lodestar when deciding whether contact should continue. The question is whether contact can work for the…

At the permission stage, an arguable challenge to the fairness of a hearing may justify permission, including a complaint that the judge considered a…

The requirement that inappropriate Green Belt development be justified by “very special circumstances” does not impose two rigidly separate tests. The…

Appellate review of an apportionment of liability is highly restrained. Where the trial judge has taken the same view of the law and facts, the allocation is…

The appeal was dismissed by consent after the Court of Appeal indicated its tentative view that it should fail. The underlying reconsideration decision had…

Repeated and misconceived litigation is not automatically harassment. A single unsuccessful claim brought in good faith will not ordinarily amount to…

For intentional homelessness, the decisive question is whether the applicant deliberately did or failed to do something that caused the loss of accommodation…

Rectification may be ordered where the parties shared a common intention on the substance of a term, even though they expressed it in different language.…

Where a reviewer finds, or ought rationally to find, a material deficiency or irregularity in an original homelessness decision, regulation 8(2) imposes…

A commercial agreement must be construed as a whole. A clause referring to later registration does not necessarily postpone beneficial ownership where the…

In ancillary-relief appeals, a court should not uphold a property or income order founded on assumption or belief rather than evidence, particularly where…

An employer is vicariously liable for an employee’s intentional tort where it is so closely connected with what the employee was authorised or expected to do…

The ex turpi causa principle bars a claim where the claimant must plead or rely on its own illegality. Once engaged, it operates without discretion…

Where a limitation decision was made before a material change in the law, the appellate court should not ordinarily determine the discretionary issue afresh if…

A tribunal conducting reconsideration must focus primarily on the reconsideration order, but may also consider another apparent error of law raised in…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in an asylum case, the Court of Appeal held that its task was ordinarily confined to identifying an error of…

A local education authority may have power to fund further education outside the statutory special educational needs framework, but it must lawfully exercise…

A tolerated trespasser’s liability for mesne profits ends when he gives up possession. It does not continue until the former landlord receives notification.…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in a multi-issue intellectual-property action, jointly represented defendants could properly be made jointly…

A constructive trust may arise where property is conveyed on the faith of an arrangement that the transferee will preserve a defined beneficial interest for…

An appellate court should ordinarily review, rather than rehear, a discretionary case-management decision, although it may consider admitted fresh evidence. It…

On an application for permission to appeal, a proposed ground may have real prospects of success where the trial judge gives no reasons for rejecting…

A claim should not be struck out for having no reasonable prospect of success where that conclusion depends on predicting the failure of pending proceedings…

In internal-relocation cases, whether relocation would be unduly harsh is distinct from whether removal would expose a person to an Article 3 risk. Treating…

An appellate court will not treat disagreement with factual findings as an error of law where the findings were open to the first-instance decision-maker. This…

In an internal-relocation claim, the question whether relocation would be unduly harsh arises only after it has been established that the proposed place is…

Imprisonment is not the automatic consequence of breaching an injunction. An alternative disposal may ordinarily be appropriate on a first occasion of…

An adult of full capacity who voluntarily undertakes a leisure activity involving inherent and obvious risks will ordinarily receive no protection against…

A confiscation regime cannot be extended by general public policy to seize property already beneficially owned by an unconvicted third party. The court must…

For the right to buy, rent paid through housing benefit counts as rent paid for the purposes of sections 153A, 153B and 155(3A) of the Housing Act 1985. The…

At an informal planning hearing, an inspector has an enhanced inquisitorial role because cross-examination is normally excluded. The inspector must ensure a…

Where an appeal would otherwise be stifled by an appellant’s inability to fund potential costs liability, the Court of Appeal may make a pre-emptive order…

In an Eritrean draft-risk case, a claimant who lacks general credibility cannot rely on an assumption that departure was illegal. The claimant must establish…

In assessing whether family members face persecution on return, a tribunal may consider evidence that other relatives have not suffered ill-treatment because…

A standard case fee may lawfully be charged for each chargeable complaint, whether or not the complaint succeeds, where the fee scheme is a rational response…

Under section 228(2) of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the Financial Ombudsman determines compulsory-jurisdiction complaints by reference to what…

For the permanent residence provisions of Directive 2004/38, a Union citizen has ‘resided legally’ only where the residence complies with the conditions…

A protective award for breach of the collective consultation duty is a contingent liability provable in the employer’s liquidation where the duty was incurred…

The court may make payment of an outstanding interlocutory costs order a condition of continued participation in proceedings where no other effective means of…

At the permission stage, an argument that a school appeal panel erred by refusing to consider a specialist tribunal’s reasoning on closely related…

An appeal concerning admission to, or discipline within, the solicitors’ profession must ordinarily be heard in public. Spent convictions do not themselves…

In an asylum appeal, the tribunal must assess whether removal would create a well-founded fear of persecution at the date of the hearing. A later removal date…

Where a tribunal accepts that past ill-treatment was criminal abuse rather than persecution by the state, it must still assess whether there is a significant…

Permission to appeal is assessed by reference to whether each proposed ground has a real prospect of success. For adverse possession, control over land…

Country Guidance is a factual precedent, not an immutable rule. It should be followed unless acceptable evidence shows a significant error or that it is no…

In deportation appeals under paragraph 364 of HC395, the tribunal must keep the Rules inquiry distinct from the proportionality assessment under Article 8…

Under both common-law negligence and the common duty under the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957, foreseeability of the relevant accident is essential. Where…

On an application for permission to appeal, an existing negligence case may be revisited, including additional formulations, where it has a reasonable prospect…

Under section 111(2) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, a complaint presented slightly late remains out of time. The tribunal has jurisdiction only if timely…

Where the English court has jurisdiction over substantive proceedings, it may grant an ancillary anti-suit injunction to protect its process and judgments. In…

The restriction on using disclosed documents for a collateral purpose differs from a solicitor’s duty of confidence to a client. The restriction protects the…

A second appeal concerning relief from procedural sanctions may warrant permission where the proposed grounds have a real prospect of success and raise an…

For a claim certified as clearly unfounded, the question is whether there is a real, rather than fanciful, possibility that an immigration judge could allow…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed appeal has no prospect of success and would confer no practical advantage, since granting permission…

In deciding whether a child’s interim contact should be supervised or supported, the court must address arrangements intended to minimise risk and secure…

Liability for retention monies paid through another party’s solicitors required proof that those solicitors acted for the alleged debtor, or that the debtor…

Under section 18(1) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the arrested person must in fact occupy or control the premises to be searched. The statute…

On a second-stage reconsideration, the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal is entitled to hear the appeal afresh and reach its own view of the merits. It is not…

In asylum claims based on conversion to Christianity, risk on return must be assessed against available country evidence and the claimant’s likely conduct.…

Permission to appeal should be granted where it is properly arguable that an immigration tribunal treated unproved criminal allegations as serious grounds for…

A term may be implied into an oral agreement only through objective construction against the relevant background. The term must be strictly necessary to make…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in an asylum case, a challenge to an immigration judge’s reasons may have a real prospect of success where it…

To set aside a judgment entered after a party’s failure to attend a trial, the applicant must satisfy all three requirements in CPR 39.3(5): prompt action, a…

An obligation in a time charter that a vessel be fit for service or specified cargo is not confined, as a matter of law, to physical condition. Its scope…

Health and safety duties imposed on an employer by the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 extend to a non-employer only where that person has…

Under sections 54 A of the Race Relations Act 1976 and 63 A of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, employment tribunals must apply the statutory burden of proof…

A domicile of choice requires voluntarily chosen residence and a fixed intention to make the country the person’s permanent or indefinite home. The issue must…

An express grant of a right of way must be construed from its language, read as a whole in its surrounding circumstances. Direct evidence of the grantor’s…

For summary judgment, the question is whether the defence has a real prospect of success, rather than a fanciful one. The court must not conduct a mini-trial…

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

Article 3 claims require separate consideration of whether there is a real risk of treatment and whether it reaches the required severity threshold. These…

An Employment Tribunal is not required to reconstruct or rescue a represented party’s case. A party that deliberately fails to comply with case-management…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, permission may be granted where the proposed grounds are properly arguable and require consideration on a…

Internal relocation requires an individual assessment of whether the claimant can live with sufficient, though not absolute, safety elsewhere in the country of…

Internal relocation is reasonable only if, after considering all circumstances concerning the individual and the country of origin, return would not be unduly…

For tariff classification under GRI 3(b), the essential character of composite goods is identified by an objective assessment of their purpose and the relative…

A contractual priority-of-payments provision which ranks successive classes of secured creditors does not, without clear wording, require prompt payment or…

A compensation scheme implementing article 1(4) of Directive 84/5/EEC must give victims of unidentified vehicles protection equivalent to, and as effective as…

For classification of composite goods under GRI 3(b), the essential character must be identified objectively. The constituent-removal method is not an…

The nature of a guarantee depends on its construction as a whole, not its label. In a non-banking transaction there is a strong presumption against construing…

Foreign law must be proved through suitably qualified expert evidence. The English court may scrutinise the expert evidence and translated statutory wording…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, failure to raise an issue before the lower court is a serious hurdle. It may nevertheless be overcome where…

A margin squeeze may be an abuse of a dominant position where a vertically integrated undertaking controls an indispensable upstream input and sets upstream…

An oral fee arrangement is not enforceable where essential terms of the finance required to earn the fee were neither agreed nor objectively ascertainable.…

Under the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Regulations 1990, the regulator may require an overseas lawyer to complete up to two years’ practical experience, but must…

In care and placement proceedings, the court may revisit an earlier welfare assessment while proceedings remain incomplete, including a choice between adoption…

A pending appeal against refusal under superseded EEA regulations must be determined under replacement regulations where transitional provisions clearly so…

In sentencing for contempt of court, time spent in custody on remand before sentence should ordinarily count towards the sentence. Remand is an actual…

An appellate court will not disturb a first-instance finding of fact that was properly open to the judge on the evidence. Where an injunction remains in force…

On an application for permission to appeal from an asylum tribunal, the Court of Appeal intervenes only where the fact-finding arguably contains an error of…

A Swiss-form patent claim may derive novelty from a new and inventive dosage regime or method of administration, even where the substance and its use against…

A claim under the Human Rights Act 1998 based on exclusion from education requires an arguable systemic failure or denial of access to education; adverse…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in an Article 8 case, it was arguable that an immigration judge had erred in law by rejecting an applicant’s…

For purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, a governmental function may include the provision of services. The fact that facilities are supplied…

On an appeal raising questions of law, an appellate court should not interfere with an immigration judge’s credibility findings unless the judge acted…

In a deportation case involving Article 8, the appellate court’s role is supervisory, not a rehearing on facts or a fresh proportionality assessment. The…

On an application for permission to appeal from an asylum determination, the Court of Appeal may intervene only where the proposed challenge discloses an…

In a child residence dispute, an appellate court should not substitute its own welfare assessment for that of the first-instance judge. The question is whether…

In an intractable child-contact dispute, the court recognised a duty to foster a child’s relationship with a parent where that relationship is appropriate and…

An appellate court should rarely interfere with first-instance findings of fact founded on the judge’s assessment of conflicting oral evidence and witness…

Military service may engage refugee protection where refusal is motivated by a requirement to commit an atrocity or a gross violation of human rights. The…

An appellate finding of fact cannot stand where cumulative weaknesses make it unsafe, including material inconsistencies, inadequate assessment of evidence and…

In a relocation application, the welfare evaluation must rest on a realistic and evidenced assessment of the consequences for the children and their primary…

Under section 52(1)(b) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, the court must decide whether the child’s welfare throughout life requires adoption rather than…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 r 45.11, a claimant who has entered a specified funding arrangement is entitled to recover the prescribed 12.5% success fee.…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the challenged factual findings are unchallenged and the reasons, although brief, are firmly grounded in detailed…

An immigration tribunal deciding whether the Secretary of State’s deportation discretion should have been exercised differently must make its own judgment. It…

An exemption from UK operator-licensing requirements for a vehicle permitted to carry out cabotage applies only when cabotage is actually being performed.…

Persistent late or non-payment may constitute repudiatory breach even where time for payment is not of the essence. The issue is assessed by examining the…

A local authority must keep a care plan under review during care proceedings and revise it when the evidence requires a change. The current plan must be placed…

The appeal was allowed and a retrial was ordered. The judgment supplied records the disposition but gives no reasons or substantive legal proposition.

Where a creditor gives a debtor a defined period to remedy a default, and the debtor changes position in reliance on that assurance, the creditor may be…

When assessing whether internal relocation is reasonable, the tribunal must address whether the person can realistically subsist in the proposed place of…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, permission should be granted where the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success. In a chain collision…

Under the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal (Procedure) Rules 2005, an oral announcement of an appeal outcome is not the Tribunal’s formal determination. The…

Where substantive proceedings have fallen away but costs remain disputed, the court may determine costs by a summary assessment of the likely merits. It need…

In care proceedings, the decision whether to adjourn so that a local authority can reconsider its care plan lies within the judge’s wide case-management…

In prolonged contact proceedings, the court should not continue towards a further hearing on the basis of directions that are unrealistic, unachievable or…

In an Article 8 removal case, proportionality requires a fact-sensitive balancing exercise. The impact of removal on private and family life must be weighed…

A third-country national’s right to reside as the family member of a Union citizen is derivative of, and limited to, the Union citizen’s exercise of…

A tribunal reconsidering a case is confined to the issues remitted by the reconsideration order. It cannot determine wider matters, such as a possible claim…

A non-employer who controls work equipment is subject to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 only so far as the particular regulatory duty…

Leave to apply to revoke a placement order may be granted despite there being no present real prospect that the child will return to the parent. The court must…

Domestic legislation intended to implement a VAT directive must, so far as possible, be construed compatibly with that directive. The court may supply or read…

Article 3 responsibility may arise where removal to an intermediary state forms part of a possible chain leading to ill-treatment in a third state. Article 3…

In children proceedings, a judge must evaluate a guardian’s recommendation independently. If the judge disagrees, clear reasons are required. Agreement is…

In a deportation case, an Article 8 assessment is legally adequate where the tribunal considers the claimant’s length of residence, personal circumstances…

In an asylum and human-rights appeal, an appellate tribunal must address material evidence, but it need not treat another person’s detention or ill-treatment…

The Court of Appeal may correct its order under the slip rule so that it accurately records the court’s judgments and the disposition of any cross-appeal or…

In construing a contractual retention clause, “transfer” may mean delivery of the appropriate transfer form rather than completion of registration. The meaning…

Commercial agreements forming part of the same relationship do not necessarily supersede one another. Their respective scope depends on their language…

A crystalline-form patent claim defined by powder X-ray diffraction data must be construed through the eyes of the skilled reader. Where the stated…

A court exercising ancillary relief jurisdiction cannot use a stay of a lump-sum payment to secure anticipated costs where it lacks jurisdiction to order…

The Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005 do not create a defence to copyright infringement or authorise downloading and use that would otherwise…

Damages for personal injury remain recoverable in public nuisance. The rule was not impliedly reversed by Hunter v Canary Wharf Ltd [1997] AC 655 or Transco…

A person should not be deprived of the right to conduct litigation unless capacity has been properly assessed by reference to the particular proceedings. The…

Under the Housing Act 1996, a dependent child who is a person from abroad and subject to immigration control is ineligible for housing assistance unless within…

A court should identify the legal basis of a claim before trial, particularly where the defendant must know the case to meet. But a litigant in person’s…

For permission to appeal, an arguable point is insufficient where success would not affect the result because an independent ground supports the order.…

Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, an occupier must take reasonable steps to deal with excessive water where water is expected. The duty does not require…

An application made on the prescribed form is not necessarily invalid merely because the applicant cannot satisfy the substantive conditions for the form of…

Under section 4 of the Fatal Accidents Act 1976, all benefits accruing to a dependant as a result of the death are disregarded when assessing damages. The…

Misuse of private information is assessed in two stages. The court first asks objectively whether the claimant had a reasonable expectation of privacy, having…

An organisation is not “otherwise concerned in terrorism” merely because it formerly committed terrorist acts and might resort to terrorism again. Under…

A contractors all risks policy generally insures against fortuitous physical damage to the works, but its wording may provide a separate indemnity for…

In a libel claim arising from a complaint to a public body, the occasion may be protected by qualified privilege, but malice can defeat that protection.…

Prisoners’ telephone charging arrangements may fall within the general category of decisions capable of engaging Article 8, but telephone access is not itself…

Permission to appeal should be granted where the proposed grounds are arguable and have a real, rather than fanciful, prospect of success. In an immigration…

When making an anti-social behaviour order, the court must determine whether the proposed prohibitions are necessary to protect relevant persons from further…

The reversed burden of proof under section 54A of the Race Relations Act 1976 applies to direct and indirect discrimination on grounds of race or ethnic or…

For a second appeal, permission requires an important point of principle or practice. Under the Housing Act 1996, suitability of an offered property and…

In assessing whether a person from a minority clan faces persecution on return, the availability of majority-clan protection must be assessed over the relevant…

On an appeal against deportation for serious violent offending, the tribunal must exercise its own judgment but give proper weight to the Secretary of State’s…

An application for leave to seek revocation of a placement order does not engage the statutory prohibition against placement pending a substantive revocation…

A public authority which undertakes consultation must provide enough information to enable consultees to give an intelligent response. What fairness requires…

In deportation cases involving very serious offending, the public interest extends beyond the offender’s risk of reoffending. The balance under paragraph 364…

When sentencing for contempt arising from breach of a non-molestation order, a court must take account of time spent on remand under section 48 of the Family…

In libel damages, personal injury awards are not a pound-for-pound comparator. They may be used only in a general way as a check on reasonableness. The…

A non-molestation order and a power of arrest are distinct statutory measures. A power of arrest may be attached only where the statutory condition concerning…

In contact proceedings, an order that is, in substance, a consent order is virtually incapable of being appealed. Pressure arising from intractable…

An employment tribunal’s slip-rule power is confined to clerical mistakes and errors arising from an accidental slip or omission. It cannot be used to add a…

For an unfair dismissal claim, the statutory dismissal procedure may remain applicable after dismissal because its appeal stage can take place later. The first…

A fair and accurate report of public legislative proceedings which satisfies section 15 of the Defamation Act 1996 attracts qualified privilege. The report…

Under paragraph 18 of Schedule 2 to the Gaming Act 1968, failure to show existing unmet demand is a statutory ground for refusing a casino licence. It provides…

Assessment of a prospective solicitor’s character and suitability is a high, regulatory assessment directed to protecting the public and the profession. It is…

In an internal-relocation assessment, a tribunal must consider the general circumstances in the proposed place and the applicant’s personal circumstances as a…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in an asylum case, fuller material may make an error of law in a tribunal’s credibility assessment arguable.…

Under rule 52.11(2) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, the discretion to admit evidence not before the lower court is governed by the requirements in Ladd v…

An application preserves mechanically propelled vehicular rights from extinguishment under section 67(3) of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act…

An employment tribunal must give sufficient reasons for resolving a central factual dispute. It must identify material conflicting evidence and explain why one…

A limitation clause is construed by ascertaining the parties’ objective intention from its language, the contract as a whole and the relevant background. Any…

When several possible causes of damage are advanced, the court may compare their relative probabilities and infer that one was the probable cause. This…

In an asylum appeal, low-level membership or support of the RDR in Ivory Coast does not ordinarily establish a real risk of persecution or Article 3…

An unless order must be construed according to its terms and the context in which it was made. Compliance ordinarily requires a party to set out, with…

Security for an appeal’s costs may be ordered only where it is just in all the circumstances. That enquiry governs both whether security is ordered and its…

Where negligent professional advice causes loss depending on a third party’s hypothetical conduct, the claimant must establish a real or substantial chance…

In a fatal-accident dependency claim, the discretion to award interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 is constrained by binding principles.…

In asylum appeals, a determination in a related person’s case cannot be used as factual evidence to undermine the present claimant unless the material is…

An estate agent engaged on terms granting commission upon exchange with “a purchaser introduced by” the agent must introduce the person to the purchase, rather…

Statutory guidance classifying the severity of animal experiments calls for a composite scientific judgment based on the guidance as a whole. A reviewing court…

Where a family home is conveyed into the joint legal names of cohabitees without an express declaration of trust, they are presumed to own the beneficial…

An old-age pension may be reduced on export where the entitlement derives from UK legislation giving effect to a social-security agreement with a non-member…

For the purposes of art 7 of the Regulation 6/2002 on Community designs, the specialised circles are identified by reference to the sector of the alleged prior…

In an application challenging fact-finding decisions in care proceedings, the appellate court will not interfere merely because the first-instance judge could…

An oral agreement for a lease may be enforceable where it concerns a lease taking effect in possession for no more than three years at the best rent which can…

Under the amended Part 36 procedure, obtaining a monetary judgment marginally exceeding a defendant’s offer does not necessarily amount to obtaining a more…

A contract of employment is not unlawfully performed merely because the parties wrongly but genuinely classify the employee as self-employed and consequently…

Where a secure tenancy is revived retrospectively after a possession order is discharged or rescinded, the accrued stages of an established right-to-buy claim…

Contractual meaning is determined from the perspective of a reasonable reader equipped with the relevant factual matrix known when the agreement was made.…

A highway authority establishes the statutory defence under section 58 of the Highways Act 1980 by proving that it took the care reasonably required in all the…

Under an overage deed, a further payment tied to improved planning permission is payable only where the contractual machinery identifies the buyer as obtaining…

Children of an EU migrant worker may have an education-related right to remain in the host state, with a derivative right for their primary carer. The Court of…

A director’s right to inspect company books exists to enable the director to perform duties owed to the company. The court will presume that the right is…

A receiver who conducts litigation in an insolvent company’s name is not ordinarily liable for the successful opponent’s costs merely because the company…

A conveyance must be construed as a whole and against its admissible factual background when identifying the land conveyed. A plan stated to be “for the…

Article 35 of the Citizens Directive is a self-contained power to refuse, terminate or withdraw rights obtained through abuse or fraud, including a marriage of…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, an immigration judge must consider the evidence afresh and reach an independent judgment. Reference to an…

Permission to appeal from the Employment Appeal Tribunal requires an arguable point of law requiring the Court of Appeal’s attention. In practical terms, the…

An appellate court does not rehear a case or substitute its assessment of witnesses for that of the trial judge. Intervention is justified where the judge made…

A consumer hire agreement under section 15 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 is confined to a bailment by way of hire. Hire requires a right to use and enjoy the…

Under TUPE, the reason for a dismissal is identified by examining the real decision-making process of the person who effected it. An administrator who…

Under Part X of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the employer bears the legal burden of showing the reason, or principal reason, for dismissal. An employee who…

When a restrictive covenant impedes a reasonable use of land, the section 84(1)(aa) inquiry requires a comparison between the property as it stands subject to…

For Part VII of the Housing Act 1996, a women’s refuge is capable of being accommodation. The question whether it would have been reasonable for an applicant…

Damages for future loss must reflect the claimant’s particular circumstances and represent the current value of the earnings likely to be lost because of the…

Applications for permission to appeal may properly be stayed where a pending higher appeal concerns overlapping issues and may materially affect the grounds…

Whether a person constitutes a danger to the community requires consideration of both the likelihood of reoffending and the seriousness of the harm that may…

In professional disciplinary proceedings, evidence concerning a practitioner’s general practice may be considered when determining sanction, although the…

A direction for DNA testing under section 20 of the Family Law Reform Act 1969 may be made where paternity is disputed and testing is in the child’s interests.…

A limitation defence under the Human Rights Act 1998 concerns the merits of a claim, not the court’s jurisdiction for the purposes of CPR Part 11. Delay by the…

A trustee exemption clause preserving liability only for wilful and individual wrongdoing provides a complete defence where the alleged breach rests on a…

Article 2 of the First Protocol protects effective access to the state education system and at least its basic minimum. It does not guarantee a particular…

A public liability policy ordinarily responds to tortious liability to third parties for physical interference with persons, property or property rights. It…

The content of procedural fairness depends on the character of the decision, its statutory framework and its practical setting. In a competitive process for a…

In Norwich Pharmacal proceedings, an applicant seeking the identities of anonymous internet users must present alleged wrongdoing in a manageable and…

An appellate court decides the issues actually before the lower court, as shaped by the pleadings and submissions. A claim for damages for wrongful detention…

An exclusion of liability for loss of business, profits, anticipated savings, data, third-party claims and consequential loss may satisfy the reasonableness…

Activities undertaken sur place, including activities pursued opportunistically to strengthen an asylum claim, do not automatically prevent recognition as a…

On an appeal under section 204 of the Housing Act 1996, the county court must apply judicial-review principles. It must ask whether the local authority’s…

Whether family life exists for Article 8 is essentially a factual question, assessed by the real existence in practice of close personal ties. Potential family…

In an asylum appeal, a request to adjourn so that an appellant can obtain legal representation is governed by the tribunal’s duty to secure a just…

For an application under the Administration of Justice Act 1970, section 36, the applicant bears the onus of showing a likely ability to pay the mortgage sums…

Transfer between a county court and a family proceedings court must be governed by the statutory allocation criteria, the child’s welfare and the need to avoid…

An appeal against an order adjourning proceedings in the exercise of judicial discretion will succeed only if the judge applied wrong legal principles or the…

Detention under Schedule 3 to the Immigration Act 1971 remains lawful where there is a realistic prospect of removal within a reasonable time and the detainee…

In a costs dispute arising from a preliminary insurance issue, the court may look beyond the formal parties to the issue and identify who had the real interest…

The judgment did not decide the substantive dispute. It held that a point was sufficiently arguable and of general importance for a limited appeal: whether a…

On an appeal from a specialist immigration tribunal, the Court of Appeal considers errors of law rather than re-hearing factual disputes. Grounds which merely…

On a renewed application, permission to appeal may be granted where the proposed appeal raises a significant issue requiring consideration by a full court…

Serious deterioration in health following removal may engage Article 8, even where removal does not breach Article 3. Success remains confined to exceptional…

An employer’s duty under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 depends on whether work equipment is suitable in any respect which it is…

An ordinary product claim is sufficiently enabled where the specification, read with common general knowledge, enables the skilled person to make the claimed…

An appellate court must respect the primary fact-finder’s advantage, particularly in asylum proceedings, while scrutinising reasoning carefully because an…

Immigration Rules made under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 are statements of executive policy, not delegated or subordinate legislation to which the…

Insolvency Rules governing dividends must receive a commercial construction. Where, within the four-month period, a creditor applies to reverse or vary a…

A housing authority dealing with a homeless Gypsy applicant must consider the applicant’s cultural and accommodation needs. It must carefully examine whether a…

On an application for permission to appeal in an Article 8 removal case, a challenge to the engagement threshold does not by itself establish an arguable…

In proceedings for financial provision for children habitually resident abroad, the common-law forum non conveniens discretion should focus on present and…

In registered land, a forged or void transfer may be ineffective between the original parties, but registration can confer title capable of supporting a later…

A legal assessor assisting a medical disciplinary panel is not equivalent to a judge directing a criminal jury. The panel receives legal advice but remains…

Where Parliament has created a special tax-repayment regime, a common-law restitutionary claim is displaced by necessary implication if the statutory scheme…

A statutory right to repayment of overpaid VAT is a chose in action. Under the general law it is assignable unless the Value Added Tax Act 1994 or regulations…

A stateless person facing return to a country of former habitual residence receives the protection of the Refugee Convention and the ECHR. However, the…

In a foreign-expulsion case, Article 6 is engaged only where removal exposes the person to a real risk of a flagrant denial or complete nullification of…

Removal is prohibited where substantial grounds, founded on evidence, show a real risk of treatment contrary to article 3 of the European Convention on Human…

The Court of Appeal should decide legal issues on an appeal from a specialist immigration tribunal, but should remit fact-sensitive questions it is not…

In a nuisance claim for infringement of rights of light, the ordinary remedy is compensatory damages, measured by the claimant’s loss or, where appropriate…

On a partial reconsideration, an immigration judge must follow the issues and directions identified by the reconsideration tribunal. Factual findings…

Permission to appeal in an asylum case should be refused where the tribunal’s conclusion that an applicant can internally relocate is rationally open on the…

Detention pending deportation is lawful only while it serves the purpose of deportation and lasts for a period reasonable in all the circumstances.…

A health authority’s statutory duty to provide primary medical services leaves it a broad discretion, subject to acting lawfully, rationally and within its…

In an asylum claim based on sexual orientation, a tribunal must not assume that an applicant can reasonably be expected to conceal his sexual identity to avoid…

A shared residence order is not confined to cases in which a child divides time equally between two homes. The court must decide separately the optimum…

An English court with personal jurisdiction over a judgment debtor may appoint a receiver by way of equitable execution over foreign property and future…

Long delay alone does not bar a declaration of co-authorship or prevent recognition of copyright. The court must distinguish recognition of authorship from…

In a professional-negligence claim arising from delayed litigation, damages must provide just compensation in light of facts known when the negligence claim is…

An asylum risk assessment on return must be conducted in the round and in light of up-to-date country conditions. Country-guidance risk factors are not a…

When deciding whether to grant leave to apply for a residence order, the court must apply the criteria in section 10(9) of the Children Act 1989 to the…

When deciding whether to permit an unqualified family member to represent a litigant under the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, the court asks whether…

The primary-victim analysis applies where psychiatric harm follows the claimant’s own exposure to the defendant’s negligent conduct. The secondary-victim…

In family proceedings, the duty to avoid delay concerns avoidable delay. Where a hearing cannot fairly be completed within the time allocated, and no earlier…

The lawfulness of internal relocation turns on whether, considering all relevant circumstances of the claimant and the country of origin, it is reasonable to…

Under the Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994, a planning authority must keep the relevant health and environmental objectives in mind when determining…

In an immigration appeal, inability to obtain entry clearance does not, by itself, establish interference with Article 8 rights. An appellate tribunal must…

On an application for permission to appeal against deportation, a tribunal must engage with a material medical condition, the medical evidence, and objective…

Article 8 proportionality in an immigration case is determined on the individual facts. The court must balance the interference with family life against the…

A provision for joint-names insurance must be construed in the context of the contract as a whole. It does not, merely by requiring insurance of property in…

In child contact proceedings, the governing question is whether contact, in the circumstances as they exist when the order is made, is in the children’s…

A court retains flexible control under Civil Procedure Rules r 3.1(7) over procedural directions, including directions made by consent. The usual requirement…

In ancillary relief proceedings, equality is a yardstick and a check against discrimination, not a universal starting point or presumption. The court must…

A placement order may be made even where finding a suitable adoptive family is uncertain. That uncertainty does not establish that adoption is contrary to the…

In an entry-clearance case under Article 8, exceptionality is not a separate legal threshold. An earlier decision based on that error may nevertheless stand…

On an application to extend time for an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the United Arab Emirates v Abdelghafar guidelines provide a principled, but…

Under the Children Act 1989, a supervision order made under section 31 initially lasts no longer than one year. The power in Schedule 3, Part II, paragraph…

A foreign marriage involving a person domiciled in England who lacks capacity to marry may be refused recognition in English law. Capacity is generally…

A suspended possession order may terminate a secure tenancy when its payment conditions are breached, even though later payment of arrears prevents enforcement…

For a replacement dwelling on Metropolitan Open Land, the requirement that it be not materially larger than the dwelling replaced is a threshold test directed…

An amendment adds matter unless the subject matter is clearly and unambiguously disclosed, expressly or implicitly, in the application as filed when read…

An appellate court may grant permission to appeal from preliminary rulings made on assumed facts where the parties’ positions disclose a genuine issue of…

A court may take robust steps to make an avoidant litigant engage with proceedings, but an unless order must remain within the court’s lawful discretion and…

A public authority may retain its own statutory decision after another adjudicative body reaches a contrary conclusion in a related context. Its decision to…

A tenant cannot resist a mandatory possession claim merely by relying on disability or its effect on the ability to pay rent. The Disability Discrimination Act…

A statutory prohibition against disposing of any part of a common does not necessarily prohibit the grant of an easement over it. Under the Wimbledon & Putney…

A lease-based regulation is reasonable if its terms fall within the range of decisions that a reasonable landlord or management company could adopt. The party…

The protection against expulsion conferred on an EEA national after ten years’ continuous residence requires a test which is both more stringent and narrower…

The Court of Appeal will rarely interfere with a first-instance judge’s discretionary decision to publish a judgment following private family proceedings. The…

Judicial review requires a reviewable enactment or a decision, action or failure to act relating to a public function. A claimant cannot obtain judicial review…

In an asylum appeal, points not raised before the immigration judge or on reconsideration cannot be introduced for the first time in the Court of Appeal. Where…

In determining whether the removal of a person whose family is lawfully present in the United Kingdom would violate article 8, the governing test is…

A party will generally be unable to raise in the Court of Appeal a point of law not advanced below, particularly where the appeal is lodged substantially out…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal from an asylum decision, the Court of Appeal will respect the specialist tribunal’s assessment unless a clear…

On reconsideration of an immigration appeal, the second decision-maker must ordinarily proceed on the original findings of fact, save where they were affected…

In assessing risk on return, the question is not whether a person was once associated with an opposition party, or is merely a failed asylum seeker or…

Permission to appeal from an immigration tribunal determination may be granted only where the proposed appeal raises an arguable point of law. A disagreement…

A shared residence order does not require a child’s time to be divided equally between the parents. Shared residence and contact are distinct issues: making a…

A possession order prevents a secure tenant from exercising the right to buy the dwelling which the order requires the tenant to leave. It does not extinguish…

Permission to appeal may be extended to additional grounds where they are materially connected with grounds already permitted and are necessary for a fair…

An outline planning permission is construed principally from the permission’s description and conditions. A supporting statement containing hopes, intentions…

Where an error of law infects an adjudicator’s overall credibility assessment, a reconsidering tribunal may revisit the credibility case as a whole. It is…

An applicant’s occupation, student status or humanitarian activity does not, without more, establish a real risk of persecution or ill-treatment on return. The…

Under the overriding objective in rule 2.51D of the Family Proceedings Rules 1991, a circuit judge may manage an appeal arising from an order made without…

A tenancy from a charitable housing trust does not, merely because the landlord is a trust, give the tenant a beneficial interest in the trust property. A…

English arbitration is private. The law implies an obligation that parties will not disclose or use documents prepared, produced or deployed in the arbitration…

Contractual interpretation is objective. The court asks what the agreement would convey to a reasonable person with the relevant background knowledge…

For a limitation defence, the defendant must establish the claimant’s date of knowledge of a significant injury, its attribution to the alleged wrongdoing and…

A court may correct a statutory drafting error only where it is abundantly sure of the provision’s purpose, the draftsman’s inadvertence, and the substance of…

Article 5(4) requires the lawfulness of detention to be determined speedily, judged in all the circumstances. A statutory one-month limit for referring a…

For the exception in section 3 of the Prescription Act 1832, an express written consent or agreement need not use the word “light” or refer to the statute. The…

A direct payment made under section 57(1) of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 to a person needing care, for paying a spouse or close relative where the…

An appellate court should not interfere with a case-management decision where the judge applied the correct principles, considered relevant matters and…

Permission to appeal should be granted where a proposed challenge raises an arguable question about the analytical basis of a damages assessment. That includes…

There is no tariff for contempt committed by breaching an injunction. The sentence depends on the facts, and an incremental approach is permissible but not…

A suspended committal order against a judgment debtor who fails to attend an examination is not a matter of form. The court must be satisfied to the criminal…

The strict duties imposed by the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 do not extend to every object encountered by an employee in the course of…

The real-risk standard for future persecution or serious harm has a corresponding past-event inquiry: whether there was a real possibility that past traumatic…

In a clinical-negligence claim, breach and causation may be inferred on the balance of probabilities from factual and expert evidence establishing…

An applicant for admission as a student member of the Law Society bears the burden of establishing the requisite character and suitability. The assessment…

Where an asylum appeal has not been assessed under every Convention right materially raised by the facts, the appropriate course is ordinarily remission to the…

A charterparty requiring loading at one named safe port ordinarily contains a warranty that the port is safe. Naming the port does not displace that warranty…

Under the Tour Operators Margin Scheme, the annual adjustment in the first prescribed accounting period after a financial year is a fresh calculation of VAT…

Country-guidance risk categories do not operate automatically. A tribunal must give full regard to the guidance while assessing the particular applicant’s…

In ancillary-relief proceedings, the court should identify the parties’ total net assets and assess proposed capital adjustments against both needs and the…

In an asylum appeal, an adverse credibility assessment by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal will not be disturbed for perversity or insufficient reasoning…

In construing a regeneration funding agreement, wording describing buildings as intended for residential or mixed use may identify the buildings eligible for…

Strict liability under section 2(2)(b) of the Animals Act 1971 requires a causative and dangerous behavioural characteristic which is either unusual for the…

Where a conveyance defines a term, the defined meaning ordinarily governs each later use. The court may construe the term differently only where, against the…

Actions in different Member States are related under Article 28 of Regulation 44/2001 only where their connection is sufficiently close, and the risk of…

Where a compromise agreement makes payment subject to and conditional upon later terms, and describes a warranty as a strict condition, compliance may be a…

In care proceedings, a local authority must confine material sent to a jointly instructed expert to material that is or may be relevant to the expert’s defined…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed grounds disclose no real prospect that the first-instance decision will be reversed. A delay-based…

Where an appeal depends entirely on fresh evidence from a particular witness, the court may refuse an adjournment if the witness’s late reluctance, unexplained…

For a statutory claim, limitation begins when the cause of action accrues, as determined by construction of the enactment. Under regulation 86(1) of the Civil…

In asylum appeals, a medical report prepared long after alleged ill-treatment is not determinative of credibility. Its corroborative value depends on a clear…

An unless order must be construed by reference to the appeal or issue to which it relates. A failure to comply with an order directed only to particular…

Administrative detention pending removal must remain directed to the statutory purpose and last no longer than is reasonably necessary for removal. It becomes…

For a further asylum or human-rights claim under the Immigration Rules, the decision-maker must assess the new material together with the material previously…

Preparatory governmental steps which have no independent legal effect are not automatically nullities merely because they conflict with an existing statutory…

In professional negligence claims, a real chance of obtaining more favourable contractual terms is itself a measurable asset. Damage occurs when negligent…

Where a local housing authority has offered accommodation, the applicant has refused it and the authority has finally decided that its housing duty has ceased…

The court may dispense retrospectively with service of a claim form under rule 6.9 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, but only in a truly exceptional case.…

A court may control the expert evidence in a retrial. A party has no indefeasible right to select or call a preferred expert without prior direction, although…

An appellate court should not maintain permission to appeal where further findings show that the proposed challenge has no realistic prospect of success. A…

Permission for judicial review may be granted where the proposed ground has real prospects of success. The permission tests for an appeal and for judicial…

Whether persecution is attributable to the state, and whether state protection is adequate, are ordinarily factual questions assessed on the evidence. Where…

Where the underlying insurance and reinsurance use the same or equivalent wording, that wording will generally bear the same meaning in both contracts unless…

On an appeal against refusal of entry clearance, section 85(5) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 confines the tribunal to the circumstances…

Breach of a procedural condition precedent in an insurance policy does not put the insurer to an irrevocable election whether to rely on the resulting defence.…

Under the Housing Act 1996, the reasonable-preference categories are capable of operating cumulatively. An allocation scheme must rationally reflect relative…

In a professional-negligence claim arising from transactional drafting, the claimant bears the burden throughout of proving, on the balance of probabilities…

In a victimisation claim under the Race Relations Act 1976, an employment tribunal may assess the whole evidential picture at the first stage of the…

An alternative contractual claim is a “claim” for Article 6(1) of the Judgments Regulation 44/2001 if its cause of action has accrued, even where it is…

The duty under section 71(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976 requires due regard to equality needs, rather than achievement of a particular outcome. Due regard…

For section 32(2) of the Limitation Act 1980, a “breach of duty” has a wider meaning than a contractual, tortious or fiduciary duty. It includes justiciable…

Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, reasonable maintenance for a cohabitee is assessed in all the circumstances and is not…

Permission to appeal should be assessed by reference to whether the proposed appeal raises an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling…

On an application for permission to appeal, permission should be granted where a proposed ground is properly arguable on the judgment and evidence. A court…

When construing a right-of-way grant, the court’s primary task is to construe the grant itself. It may read the wording with the attached plan and admissible…

An immigration judge’s credibility finding is open to challenge on appeal only where the reasons for rejecting the account are insufficient or unsustainable…

In an internal-relocation case, a tribunal must determine whether an established fear of persecution remains well-founded in the proposed location. It must…

Damages for a fixture lost through a collision must restore the claimant to the position it would probably have occupied, without overcompensation. No single…

Partnership disputes are not ordinarily claims at law for contractual damages between partners. A partner’s monetary entitlement is generally pursued through…

Whether third-party funds remitted by a sponsor to a dependent parent satisfy the financial-dependency requirement in Rule 317 may be a separately justiciable…

A common intention constructive trust concerning land requires proof that the relevant parties intended, and communicated an intention, to dispose of a…

A deportation order remains effective unless revoked in the manner provided by statute or otherwise ceases to have effect. Temporary admission or permission…

At a hearing concerning a new non-derogating control order, the court must determine the statutory questions by reference to the circumstances at the date of…

When a contract entrusts a decision affecting both parties to one contracting party, that party must act honestly, in good faith and rationally. The decision…

Under Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 Part 5, civil recovery does not require proof of a specified criminal offence. The claimant must, however, identify the…

Under the Trade Marks Directive 89/104, the necessity condition for parallel-import repackaging concerns only whether repackaging is needed for market access.…

A child may have a home with two prospective adopters throughout the ten-week period required by section 84(4) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 although…

Where a court has made a direction under section 37 of the Children Act 1989 on the presumption that a person may be a child, the local authority cannot…

For limitation of actions, the Crown stands on the same footing as a subject. Under the Limitation Act 1980, ordinary exclusive possession for the statutory…

On an application concerning permission for judicial review, the Court of Appeal may grant permission on an additional ground where the point is reasonably…

Immigration Rules are statements of the Secretary of State’s immigration policy. Their ordinary language ordinarily gives effect to that policy. A court may…

Finality under section 103A of the National Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 does not exclude exceptional judicial review where a court error prevented an oral…

On an appeal against primary findings of fact, the Court of Appeal must give proper weight to the trial judge’s advantage in seeing witnesses and hearing the…

A contractual term suspending provisions governing termination must ordinarily be construed according to its objective wording. Where the wording is neutral…

In an asylum appeal based on country guidance, a tribunal must evaluate identified risk factors in the context of the individual case and the wider background.…

A dependency claim under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 may be established by a lost expectation of future financial benefit or services derived from the…

Permission to appeal should be granted where an asylum determination arguably reflects an error of law in its approach to credibility or its treatment of…

In an Article 8 claim based on private life formed through study, the ability to continue studies abroad does not by itself determine whether removal…

A reservation of mines and minerals is construed objectively by reference to the instrument, the relevant vernacular meaning at the date of the grant, the…

A non-statutory compensation policy is construed objectively and purposively by the court. It should not be read with technical distinctions that defeat its…

Summary judgment under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, rule 24.2(a), turns on whether the claimant has a real prospect of success. The court assesses that question…

Discriminatory conduct may be triggered by an event that was itself non-discriminatory. The relevant question is whether the subsequent course of conduct was…

Under Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, the duty to ensure adequate health-and-safety training is mandatory but is not an absolute…

A breach of freedom of establishment caused by premature advance corporation tax is remedied by giving the affected cross-border group the same opportunity to…

Statutory secure-tenancy protection cannot be avoided by describing an agreement as a licence or by recording an intention that it should be insecure. Under…

On an appeal from an asylum determination, credibility findings are findings of fact and may be challenged only for an error of law. The specialist tribunal is…

Conditions may be imposed on a solicitor’s practising certificate only where they are necessary and proportionate to protect the public and the reputation of…

For registered land, a purchaser for valuable consideration takes priority over pre-existing interests whose priority was not protected on registration…

On an appeal from a discretionary welfare decision under Children Act 1989, the Court of Appeal must review the exercise of discretion rather than substitute…

In an exceptional family case, the Court of Appeal allowed an out-of-time appeal against findings made in earlier care proceedings after a later judge, on…

Where a person has been joined as a party to care proceedings, even for a limited fact-finding purpose, party status is not automatically confined to that…

In determining child residence arrangements, the court may prefer a regime that keeps siblings together and gives each parent equal periods, where that…

Permission to appeal an interim freezing order was appropriate where the order raised reasonably arguable questions about the fairness and control of a…

Permission to appeal should be granted where a tribunal’s rejection of an asylum claim is arguably founded on mistaken discrepancies, an unsound factual…

Where a first-instance court makes temporary orders concerning children under the Children Act and is due to review them shortly, an appeal may be premature.…

A document is “mentioned” for the purposes of CPR 31.14 when the statement makes a direct or specific allusion to it. The test is broad and does not require…

Where an employment tribunal excludes an unfair-dismissal claim as out of time, it should give a full and proper explanation under Employment Rights Act 1996…

In a tripartite repo, Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988, section 730A(2)(a), deems the price differential to be interest paid to the interim holder: the…

The general effect of section 124 of the Supreme Court Act 1981 may be relied upon by any person seeking access to a proved will. The Attorney General does not…

A mortgagor who remains in ordinary possession of mortgaged land may be in adverse possession against a mortgagee whose right to possession has accrued.…

Where a prescribed declaration may be made in the form, or substantially in the form, specified by legislation, validity depends on whether it performs the…

Where agreed evidence establishes a sequence of events that bears directly on liability, a trial judge must grapple with its implications. Findings which…

An appellate court should not disturb an interim care order where the statutory threshold is met and the order falls within a proper exercise of the trial…

In a syndicated financing, the capacity in which a security trustee enters an option agreement depends on construction of the agreement as a whole and in its…

Commercial documents are construed objectively by reference to their language, read as a whole and against the background reasonably available to the parties.…

Existing police accommodation remains excluded from secure-tenancy protection where it continues to be provided under the regulations governing the original…

Under section 98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, fairness of a misconduct dismissal depends on all the circumstances, equity and the substantial merits.…

Under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996, once a local housing authority accepts that an applicant is homeless, eligible, in priority need and not intentionally…

Under the long-residence provisions of the Immigration Rules, use of a false identity to obtain employment is relevant to the public-interest assessment and…

A minister is not bound by a finding of maladministration made by the Parliamentary Ombudsman under the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967. The minister may…

The presumption that joint legal owners hold equal beneficial shares does not ordinarily govern property acquired primarily as a commercial investment, even…

At the permission stage, subsequent authoritative guidance can provide a compelling reason to revisit a dismissal where it materially changes the legal…

An appellate court hearing an asylum challenge on a point of law should not re-evaluate a tribunal’s assessment of oral credibility merely because another…

On an appeal against care orders, the appellate court reviews the first-instance decision, not events occurring after the order. It asks whether the judge…

At the permission stage, an appeal was arguable on whether a later accident could be attributed to an earlier injury on a but for basis while damages were…

Relief against forfeiture for breach of a lease covenant is a broad statutory discretion. Its exercise depends on all the circumstances, including the…

A liability insurer may be ordered under section 51 of the Supreme Court Act 1981 to pay litigation costs personally where the circumstances are sufficiently…

Where a lender concedes that any borrowing purpose outside the borrower’s trade, business or profession is sufficient, mixed-purpose borrowing may qualify for…

A statutory procedure for removing a town or village green from the register is neither an appeal confined to the original record nor a judicial-review…

At the permission stage, an appeal may be granted to enable consideration of a narrow but important legal issue even where the court has doubts about the…

An appellate court may award interest when an interim payment on account of costs is repaid following the setting aside of the underlying costs order. The…

On a second appeal from a decision under section 204 of the Housing Act 1996, permission may be granted only where the proposed appeal raises an important…

An immigration judge must give adequate reasons for credibility findings, addressing matters specifically relied on by the opposing party. On an appeal…

On an appeal from an asylum determination, an appellate tribunal must decide the issues raised by the grounds of challenge and cannot replace an immigration…

A negligence claim against the police is not barred merely because the claimant is a member of the public or because policing engages public-policy…

When refusal of entry clearance interferes with family life under article 8, proportionality must be assessed without a separate requirement that the…

In a genuine tripartite agency arrangement, the decisive question is whether an employment contract between the worker and the end user must be implied. Such a…

A full-time employee is bound by a contractual requirement to notify and obtain approval for external work where that work is not within an express exception.…

A statutory regulator may impose a financial penalty for a licence breach even where the precise proportion of loss caused by the breach cannot be established.…

Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, post-arrest detention requires clear authority in Part IV. Once a custody officer has determined that there is…

A litigant who knowingly chooses a limited appellate determination, after being offered a suitable first-instance fact-finding route, may be precluded from…

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

For registered trade mark infringement, the relevant question is whether the sign is used in the course of trade in the European Union, including whether goods…

On an appeal alleging perversity in an asylum credibility assessment, the appellate court applies the established principles governing findings of fact and…

Permission to appeal may be granted where a planning-law question is important, there may be a divergence of views, and the proposed appeal has a reasonable…

In an employment contract, a material unilateral reduction or retrospective cancellation of agreed remuneration may be repudiatory. A contractual power to…

The Secretary of State was under a public-law duty to provide sufficient sentence planning, assessment and rehabilitative opportunities to give prisoners…

A body which determines whether continued imprisonment is lawful must be, and appear to be, independent of both the executive and the parties. This requirement…

Under the Mental Health Act 1983, an application under section 29 to displace a nearest relative does not suspend the hospital’s power to seek admission for…

Under paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1985, the tied-accommodation exception has two conditions: the contract must require occupation, and the…

At the permission stage, the Court of Appeal may grant permission and link an application to related appeals where a common legal issue is already listed for…

An agent remunerated by commission on a transaction must ordinarily be an effective cause of that transaction, unless the contract indicates otherwise. Whether…

Where a claimant proves negligence and proves that the ensuing loss is of a kind likely to result from that negligence, the court may infer causation on the…

When national patent-validity proceedings run concurrently with opposition proceedings in the European Patent Office, duplication alone creates no presumption…

Where an interim child-support assessment is made because information is insufficient, the statutory scheme distinguishes between full-period recalculation and…

Under section 58 of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, the percentage increase in a discounted-fee conditional fee agreement is calculated by reference to…

Where an appeal has been dismissed, the successful respondent will ordinarily receive its costs, subject to assessment if they cannot be agreed. An interim…

In care proceedings, an appellate court may respond to subsequent events showing that an endorsed care plan has wholly failed, even where the original decision…

In libel proceedings, the capability of words to bear a pleaded defamatory meaning is governed by reasonableness. The court must consider what a representative…

Permission to appeal against care and adoption orders should be refused where the appellant cannot show a real prospect that the lower court’s exercise of…

An appeal from a determination of the Pensions Ombudsman on a point of law may challenge both the determination and any direction. The court must read the…

Under section 123(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, compensation for unfair dismissal covers loss sustained in consequence of the dismissal and…

Where a permission application raises important, unresolved questions about a litigant’s capacity to conduct proceedings, the Official Solicitor’s role as…

Prolonged immigration detention pending deportation requires anxious scrutiny of the detainee’s circumstances and prospects of release. The court must assess…

An appellate court should not substitute its own view of the appropriate sentence for that of the judge who imposed it. Intervention is justified only where…

Medical evidence in an asylum claim that merely shows scarring is consistent with the claimant’s account may be treated as neutral, particularly where the…

Under the law before the Land Registration Act 2002, a person claiming title by adverse possession need show factual possession and an intention to possess…

A Court of Appeal may grant permission to appeal to the House of Lords in an exceptional case raising difficult and important issues, even where the…

Permission to appeal may be granted where the proposed arguments have real prospects of success. The Court of Appeal granted permission on that basis, without…

In a professional-negligence claim arising from failed litigation, causation must be assessed against the loss actually alleged. Where the claimed loss is the…

The meaning of an assignment is determined objectively, by asking what it conveyed to a reasonable person with the background knowledge reasonably available to…

Under rule 298 of the Immigration Rules, a claimed blood relationship falls within “relative”. Other possible categories, including relationship by marriage to…

Under section 58 of the Highways Act, a highway authority must establish that it took the care reasonably required in all the circumstances to keep the highway…

At the permission stage, an appeal should proceed where the proposed grounds have a realistic prospect of success. In an asylum removal case, it is arguable…

For the purposes of section 595(1) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988, “pays a sum” is not confined to paying money. Although its more natural…

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, service of a decision notice under section 50(3)(b) is a condition precedent to an appeal to the Information…

An other family member of a Union citizen does not obtain an automatic right of entry or residence under article 3(2)(a) of the Directive 2004/38/EC. The…

Patent entitlement is determined by first identifying the actual deviser of the inventive concept. The court must then decide whether another person acquired…

Employment tribunals must assess dismissal by reference to the particular circumstances of the individual employee. Comparisons with other cases must not…

Further submissions renewing a refused asylum or human-rights claim must be considered under paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules, even where the original…

A person may be an appellant under CPR r 52.1(3)(d) although they were not a party to the proceedings below. The separate definition of respondent does not…

The Barder jurisdiction applies only where a later event invalidates the basis or fundamental assumption on which a financial order was made, and the other…

Where a claim to the right of abode depends on being a legitimate child, the validity and recognition of the parents’ marriage may be decisive. A presumption…

An appellate court reviewing the exercise of a wide judicial discretion in child welfare proceedings should intervene only where the decision was plainly…

In an appeal concerning a contractual construction ruling, success must be characterised by reference to the practical effect of the order, rather than an…

An applicant for a search and seizure order must give full and frank disclosure of all material matters, including matters bearing on the cross-undertaking in…

Before making a possession order, a court must determine a pleaded defence which may establish that a third party’s lease binds the claimant. This remains so…

A defendant’s duty in negligence is to take reasonable care, not to guarantee a claimant’s safety. The standard must be assessed in the real conditions…

Where an asylum claimant has suffered persecution in a home area but is said to be able to relocate internally, the feasibility of safe relocation must be…

The usual restriction of an asylum appeal reconsideration to the identified errors of law concerns procedural practice, not the tribunal’s jurisdiction. The…

In an appeal confined to the appellant’s own human-rights grounds, the tribunal must assess whether removal interferes with the appellant’s Article 8 family…

A child alleged to have abused siblings is not automatically entitled to separate representation. The issue is discretionary, and appellate interference with a…

When a person who has no right, or no settled right, to remain in the United Kingdom has committed rape, the public interest will very likely require removal…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal from an asylum and human rights decision, the Court of Appeal’s task is confined to deciding whether there is…

At the permission stage, the court need only decide whether the proposed grounds are realistically arguable. It need not determine their merits. In an Article…

An appellate court should ordinarily hear the full appeal before referring questions to the European Court of Justice. A reference made without a fully…

For Article 27 of the Judgments Regulation, the decisive question is whether, when the later proceedings are begun, the proceedings concern the same cause of…

For limitation purposes, a payment by a third party to a debtor’s creditor can be treated as the debtor’s payment where the debtor authorised it, whether in…

In an asylum claim based on conversion from Islam to Christianity, the decision-maker must assess whether the evidence establishes a real risk of persecution…

A claim form served with particulars of claim and supporting documents should be interpreted objectively and in its full factual and documentary context. Where…

On an application under Part 13.3 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, the court must have regard to whether the applicant acted promptly. Acting promptly…

On an application for permission to appeal concerning contact with a child in foster care, the appellate court must subject the first-instance decision to…

A party seeking to withhold relevant further information because disclosure may expose a third party to persecution must provide sufficient concrete and…

A periodical payment order for future pecuniary loss must, so far as possible, preserve full compensation throughout its duration. The retail prices index is a…

Whether an impairment’s substantial adverse effect is “likely to recur” under paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 1 to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 must be…

Corroboration is not a legal requirement in an asylum claim. A tribunal may find that a claimant’s account is unsupported beyond the claimant’s own evidence…

Whether successive proceedings constitute an abuse of process requires a broad assessment of all the circumstances. The defendant must establish that the later…

At the permission stage, a proposed personal duty-of-care claim may proceed where it is arguable, even if the claimant faces formidable substantive…

Under the Asylum and Immigration (Procedure) Rules 2005, a tribunal has a discretion whether to hear an appeal in a party’s absence; it is not obliged to…

A bank holding surplus proceeds from the sale of charged property is not required to adjudicate between competing claimants to the money, even where one…

In an Article 8 proportionality assessment, immigration control is a central consideration. Where a tribunal has directed itself correctly and has shown that…

In an appeal against findings of fact in care proceedings, there is no single prescribed method for assessing allegations of sexual abuse. The court must weigh…

Article 14 discrimination requires different treatment of like cases. An EU citizen exercising free-movement rights in another Member State is not in a like…

An appeal from the Transport Tribunal lies to the Court of Appeal on a point of law only. No permission to appeal is required where the statutory scheme…

An expert’s certificate under a lease is effective only if the expert determines the question entrusted to him. The contract defines both the expert’s remit…

A judge who has refused permission to appeal on paper may ordinarily sit on the substantive appeal. The question is whether a fair-minded and informed observer…

An alleged agreement or promissory estoppel arising from written correspondence must be established by construing the correspondence and the parties’ conduct.…

In assessing risk on return under Article 3, past persecution or mistreatment is relevant but does not automatically establish future risk. The tribunal must…

Where an application for permission to appeal cannot properly be decided at very short notice, the Court of Appeal may adjourn it while preserving the…

An employer-funded insurance payment made in respect of a contractual death benefit must be brought into account against the employer’s contractual liability.…

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