Court of Appeal (Civil Division) judgments, 2009

Post-separation cohabitation is relevant to periodical payments but is not equivalent to remarriage and does not automatically terminate maintenance or require…

A successful patentee may ordinarily pursue an inquiry as to damages while a further appeal remains possible, at its own risk as to costs if liability is…

In construing a specifically negotiated commercial agreement, the language chosen by the parties is decisive when read in the context of the agreement as a…

Failure to satisfy statutory deemed-dedication criteria does not end the inquiry. The common law remains available. Implied dedication requires assessment of…

In care proceedings, a treating clinician is not automatically disqualified from giving expert evidence. The court must distinguish clinical treatment from…

A claimant’s conduct following a tortious personal injury breaks the chain of causation only when, on a fact-sensitive value judgment, it would be unfair to…

At an inquest engaging article 2, a jury must determine the actual or probable causes and circumstances of the death. A coroner is not obliged to ask the jury…

A partnership deed may use a defined term in a different sense where the context necessarily requires it. In a mechanism intended to make annual accounts…

Where a company’s direct claim against former administrators is defeated by their statutory release, the liquidator may be substituted as claimant after expiry…

The tort of abuse of civil process has a very limited scope. It does not permit recovery of consequential economic loss caused by well-founded civil…

Where arbitration rules require an award to be sent to a party, the obligation is satisfied by sending it to an address which the arbitral body reasonably…

At an inquest engaging article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the coroner must give the jury a clear opportunity to state its conclusions on the…

A remittal under section 289 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 does not require the Secretary of State to rehear every ground of an enforcement-notice…

A broad prior disclosure of a chemical class does not anticipate a later claim to one member unless it gives an individualised description of that member.…

Under regulation 12 of the Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, suitability requires a qualitative and prospective assessment. The question…

Permission to appeal may properly be granted where the reconsideration process creates a procedural conflict between an earlier favourable factual…

An appellate court reviewing the exercise of a family judge’s discretion must not substitute its own view merely because it might have reached a different…

In marine insurance, reasonably foreseeable weather does not by itself make a loss one caused by inherent vice. The insurer must establish that inherent vice…

For purposes of the Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001, proceedings are characterised by their essential subject matter and the nature of the rights they…

For a retailer operating an agreed VAT scheme, a retrospective repayment of tax does not, without more, amend that scheme or amount to permission to use a…

Beneficial ownership of shares is determined objectively from all surrounding circumstances, including the parties’ words and conduct and the way the company…

A contractual release containing an exception for fraud is not automatically confined to claims in the tort of deceit. In an appropriate commercial context, it…

For copyright purposes, sculpture is an artistic category under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. It requires some element of artistic expression or…

Where a claimant seeks specific performance of a land sale, the court should recognise that recovery of the land, rather than damages, is the substantive…

For purposes of section 177 of the Housing Act 1996, “violence” in “domestic violence” retains its ordinary meaning of physical violence involving some…

A public authority which voluntarily undertakes consultation beyond its statutory duty must conduct the whole process properly and fairly. Fairness is…

The court’s provisional analysis was that a Member State’s duty to ensure universal service and its power to designate a provider are distinct. The duty…

An employer does not directly discriminate on grounds of religion by applying the same requirement to every employee. The relevant inquiry is whether the…

Standard plant-hire clauses transferring responsibility for an operator’s negligence do not ordinarily transfer liability for the owner’s own negligence or…

A boundary agreement between neighbours may be informal and may be inferred from conduct, including planting or fencing, but the evidence must establish an…

An order under s.91(14) of the Children Act 1989, restricting further applications concerning a child without leave, is exceptional. It must be made with great…

Continued immigration detention remains lawful only while it serves the purpose of deportation, lasts no longer than reasonable in all the circumstances, and…

Where an appeal has been ordered to be reconsidered under section 103A(1) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, a tribunal’s decision that it…

For a dependent direct relative within Article 2(2)(d) of Directive 2004/38/EC, dependence need not have existed in the country of origin or when the Union…

A contract purports to be fixed-term if it states and provides for a fixed term. No sham or false pretence is required. Where successive fixed-term contracts…

A fresh human-rights claim exists only where there is a realistic prospect that an immigration judge, applying anxious scrutiny, might find that removal would…

Article 8 claims arising from the withdrawal of medical treatment must be assessed independently of the exceptional threshold governing removal under article…

For carer’s allowance, accrued holiday pay paid on termination is a payment payable in respect of a period. It therefore falls within regulation 6(2)(a) of the…

A trial judge has a wide discretion to reduce the costs recoverable by a successful party whose lies made complex litigation more difficult. The reduction may…

An application for permission to enforce an arbitration award as a judgment under section 26(1) of the Arbitration Act 1950 is an “action to enforce an award”…

The scope of an express right of way is determined from the words of the grant read in the light of the background circumstances known to the original parties.…

For a second appeal, permission requires a real prospect of success and, if that threshold is met, an important point of principle or practice or another…

Where an application for an interim injunction is made and determined under section 44 of the Arbitration Act 1996, section 44(7) prevents the Court of Appeal…

A court may declare that a ceremony with the trappings of marriage never created a marriage where it failed fundamentally to effect marital status. That is a…

The Court of Appeal has no general original jurisdiction to declare the true meaning of its own earlier costs order or to direct the issue of a costs…

On an application to adduce evidence not before the first-instance court, the appellate court applies the three Ladd v Marshall conditions in the context of…

Liability for injury caused by a negligent third party requires more than foreseeability and preventability. It ordinarily depends on a recognised relationship…

For untargeted malice in misfeasance in public office, the claimant must prove subjective knowledge or recklessness both as to the officer’s lack of power or…

Under paragraph 322(1A) of the Immigration Rules, deliberate deceit is not required. An unwittingly inaccurate representation or document may require refusal…

For a fresh asylum claim under rule 353 of the Immigration Rules, the question is whether the new material creates a realistic prospect that an immigration…

A standard covenant against sharing or parting with possession bears its strict, technically correct meaning. Possession requires physical control and an…

The power to extend the statutory time limit for bringing an employment discrimination claim is a wide judicial discretion, exercised in all the circumstances…

On an unsuccessful renewed application for permission to bring judicial review proceedings, the usual order is that the claimant pays the defendant’s costs of…

At the permission stage, the court asks whether the proposed appeal has a sufficient prospect of success. It does not decide the asylum claim on its merits. In…

False imprisonment ordinarily requires an intentional positive act which directly and immediately causes a complete loss of liberty. A failure to release a…

A person remains eligible for temporary admission in lieu of immigration detention while there is some genuine prospect of removal. The prospect may be…

When assessing damages under section 18(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927, the court values the landlord’s freehold reversion at the date when it returns…

In assessing mesne profits by reference to open-market rental value, the tribunal should use comparable transactions close in time and characteristics to the…

A contractual requirement for written consent must be construed in its commercial context. Approval in principle is not necessarily invalid because it reserves…

When separated spouses jointly own their home, the court may order its sale under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 before divorce. It…

In a statutory process for reorganising local government, the pre-consultation formulation stage is distinct from the statutory public consultation stage under…

In a sur place asylum claim, evidence that the state of origin actively monitors opposition activity abroad creates no presumption that every participant will…

Conduct amounts to statutory harassment where it crosses the boundary from ordinary irritations, unattractive or unreasonable behaviour into conduct that is…

In a planning judicial review, the committee’s understanding is assessed from the general tenor of its discussion and the material before it. The absence of an…

For a claim under the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations 1987, the claimant need not name housing benefit expressly. The document, read in its context, must…

On an appeal from a judgment based on disputed witness evidence, the trial judge must address all relevant evidence bearing on the crucial issues. A direct…

Where a local authority maintains its care plan, the court’s powers under the Children Act 1989 are limited. It must scrutinise the plan, but cannot direct the…

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on the applicable-law issues. It refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court on the proposed French-law issue…

In an Article 8 deportation appeal, an incorrect reference to insurmountable obstacles does not necessarily make a tribunal’s decision unlawful where it also…

The statutory definition of road may extend to any section of a street or pavement to which the public has access, including privately owned land. The…

For compensation under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, section 133(1), a fact is new or newly discovered if it was unknown to the convicted person during the…

Article 2 does not make every risk associated with closing a care home justiciable. Intervention requires evidence of a real and immediate risk to an…

Where there is no express choice of law for a putative implied trust of foreign land, the applicable law is that of the country with which the arrangement has…

On an application for permission to appeal in national-security deportation proceedings, a proposed ground warrants permission where it raises an arguable…

A tour operator may assume a duty of care in tort where its representatives undertake responsibility for customers during an excursion. The duty is assessed by…

An appeal based on factual findings should not be excluded at the permission stage merely because it challenges the trial judge’s view of witnesses. Where the…

An appeal is not a rehearing. Permission may nevertheless be appropriate where there is a real prospect that the lower tribunal’s decision was wrong or unjust…

Permission to appeal should be granted where a proposed ground has a real prospect of success, even if an important legal issue remains unresolved and would…

Under European Union free movement law, dependency is a factual state in which a Union citizen or spouse provides material support needed to meet a relative’s…

In environmental-impact screening, the decision-maker must assess the project’s actual characteristics. It may take account of conditions limiting the…

An interim care order requires reasonable grounds for believing that the statutory threshold is satisfied. Removal must also be necessary for the child’s…

Patent claims must be construed by giving their words their natural meaning in the context of the specification. Context informs construction, but does not…

A defined contractual expression should ordinarily receive the meaning expressly assigned to it. Commercial considerations cannot justify replacing that…

In an asylum claim involving return to Eritrea, general evidence that lawful departure is difficult does not by itself establish a reasonable likelihood that…

In child-placement proceedings, a judge has a very broad discretion to depart from conventional procedure where the children’s welfare requires it. That…

When considering whether to disapply the personal injury limitation period under section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980, the court must decide whether it is…

Rectification for unilateral mistake is an exceptional equitable jurisdiction. The claimant must provide convincing proof that it was mistaken about the…

A claimant who establishes a genuine personal-injury claim and obtains judgment exceeding the defendant’s Part 36 offer is ordinarily the successful party for…

A complainant may be treated as the prosecutor in an action for malicious prosecution even though the police or CPS formally brought the criminal proceedings.…

Although costs ordinarily follow the event in the Court of Appeal, the court retains a discretion to make no order where the circumstances make a costs order…

A service provider’s duty to make reasonable adjustments may require disabled people to receive access which approximates, so far as reasonably practicable…

Where a testator leaves neighbouring properties to different beneficiaries and executors later assent to the gifts, the will and assents may be construed…

In care proceedings, the balance of probabilities does not require the court to identify a single perpetrator where the evidence leaves it genuinely uncertain…

In a mesothelioma claim, liability may be established where exposure attributable to the defendant materially contributes to the risk that materialises. The…

In a battle of forms, the court should ordinarily apply the traditional rules of offer and acceptance. Where a buyer offers to contract on its terms, the…

Under the Refugee or Persons in Need of International Protection (Qualification) Regulations 2006 and the European Council Directive 2004/83/EC, discriminatory…

University examiners must exercise academic judgment within the limits of the university’s governing regulations. A general power to assess students or…

Where parties extend an agreement for the continued operation of a business, the court must interpret the extended contractual terms rather than supply a fair…

A statutory time limit which provides that an employment tribunal shall not consider an unfair dismissal claim unless it was presented in time governs the…

Contract formation is determined objectively from the parties’ words and conduct. An uncommunicated intention not to be bound has no relevance to whether a…

On an appeal against a child-residence discretion, the Court of Appeal’s role is extremely limited. It must identify an error of law or a plainly wrong…

In patent validity appeals, the Court of Appeal should not substitute its own evaluation for the trial judge’s where the findings are supported by material and…

A person who entrusts work to an apparently competent independent contractor ordinarily discharges the duty to take reasonable care and is not liable for the…

Compensation for discriminatory dismissal is assessed by comparing the claimant’s actual position with the position absent discrimination. A real chance of…

An outline planning permission is not lawfully commenced by physical works carried out after the period for submitting and obtaining approval of reserved…

For consumer-credit purposes, a charge forming part of the total charge for credit remains distinct from credit even when repayment is deferred and interest is…

The Environment Credit Scheme did not displace the ordinary insolvency rules applicable to an approved body. Where administrators have power to sell an…

English conflict-of-laws rules characterise each issue arising from a claim, rather than the claim as a whole. The assessment of compensation for injuries…

In employment tribunal proceedings, CPR 3.9(1) is not incorporated as a mandatory checklist for reviewing a sanction. An employment judge must consider all…

Under section 30(1)(g) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, a landlord opposing renewal must prove a genuine and settled intention to occupy for the purposes…

A contingent liability does not itself constitute damage for the accrual of a negligence claim. Time begins to run only when the claimant sustains measurable…

Performance begun while negotiations remain subject to contract does not itself establish a binding contract. A contract should be implied from conduct only…

Article 22 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 confers exclusive jurisdiction within the Member State framework for disputes concerning a company’s…

A specialist tribunal assessing disablement for an earlier period must consider a final assessment made for the immediately succeeding period where, in the…

In child proceedings, the judge has a broad discretion over how applications are determined, including dismissal at an early stage without full inquiry or oral…

In an asylum reconsideration, a tribunal must proceed on accepted factual findings where the parties have not challenged them. It must answer the questions for…

Under section 84(1) of the Finance Act 1996, the court must identify sums using an authorised accounting method and then determine whether, taken together…

Permission to appeal may properly be granted where an asylum tribunal’s assessment of credibility raises serious concerns about its treatment of trauma…

The benefit-and-burden principle does not make every burden in a transaction enforceable against a person who obtains a benefit from it. The same legally…

Responsibility for community care services generally follows the service user’s ordinary residence. Where Secretary of State directions make section 29(1) of…

Claims by third-party interveners to beneficial interests in property remain part of family proceedings when determined within existing ancillary relief…

A scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act 2006 may compromise or rearrange rights between a company and its creditors in their capacity as…

The anti-deprivation rule prevents contractual arrangements from removing a company’s property from the statutory insolvency regime or distributing it…

In mesothelioma claims involving tortious and non-tortious asbestos exposure, the Fairchild exception applies where the tortious exposure materially increased…

For an adult child and parent or siblings to enjoy family life under Article 8(1), there must be dependency going beyond normal emotional ties. Cohabitation…

In an asylum appeal, documentary evidence must be assessed in light of the particular issue and the kind of document involved. Where the only issue is status…

Property lawfully seized under Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, section 22 may be retained for a bona fide private prosecution. A decision by the CPS not…

Section 18 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 requires the court to begin with the terms of the agreement. The fact that credit has different uses does not itself…

In negligence claims arising from recreational contact sport, ordinary duty and foreseeability principles apply. Their application must reflect all the…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, a point of law is realistically arguable where an inspector identifies a material planning conflict but does…

For the implied term of satisfactory quality, disclosure of a physical feature does not necessarily disclose an underlying condition that makes goods…

The appeal was allowed by agreement. The order made by Morgan J was reversed, including his order as to first-instance costs. The costs below and the costs of…

A shared residence order is not governed by a mathematical division of a child’s time. Broader welfare considerations may justify such an order, including…

Civil Procedure Rules 1998 rule 3.4 and Part 24 provide overlapping routes to summary disposal. Where relevant material beyond the pleading permits an…

A direction to pay into court ordinarily has the meaning and effect prescribed by the applicable procedural rules, unless the order clearly provides otherwise.…

Permission to appeal should be refused where none of the proposed grounds has a real prospect of success. A trial judge’s interlocutory rulings against a party…

In managing a Civil Procedure Rules 1998 Part 20 additional claim, the court should, so far as practicable, manage it with the original claim and consider…

In reviewing a compulsory purchase order, a Convention-compliant compensation code is not conclusive of proportionality. Relevant individual circumstances must…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal must focus on what the lower judge did and whether the judge was entitled to proceed as…

In care proceedings, a parent has no automatic right to a further assessment of parenting capacity by an independent social worker. The court must ask whether…

In an asylum appeal, an expert report is not rendered valueless because it relies partly on the claimant’s account or contains opinions outside the expert’s…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal against liability, the Court of Appeal held that a challenge to detailed, evidence-based findings of fact…

Whether an individual is resident in the United Kingdom for tax purposes is primarily a question of fact and degree for the specialist tribunal. The tribunal…

Deemed consent for an advertisement site depends on the conditions in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007.…

Paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules requires two separate inquiries. There must be significant new evidence, and the new material, considered with the…

When a party seeks an adjournment of a fact-finding hearing in contact proceedings, the court must confine its discretion to issues arising at that preliminary…

A screening determination need not itself set out reasons, but an interested person who requests them must receive the reasons or relevant information. A…

Disclosure is ordinarily integral to an effective freezing injunction. A court nevertheless retains a discretion to defer or restrict disclosure after weighing…

An offence under section 328 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 is a “related offence” for section 13(4)(b) of the Fraud Act 2006. The relevant question is…

Under a sole-agency agreement, an estate agent earns commission only where it introduced the purchaser to the purchase, rather than merely introducing the…

A spouse’s need to obtain financial evidence for ancillary-relief proceedings does not preclude a tort claim where solicitors allegedly retain original…

An express easement may be subject to time limits validly fixed by the servient owner’s successor. Where tenants continue to use an easement outside those…

There is no general rule that a contractual requirement for consent carries an implied term that consent cannot be unreasonably withheld. The question is…

Costs are generally unusual in private children proceedings because the process is welfare-focused and the court wishes to encourage participation and…

In a case-management decision, the need to determine children proceedings without delay does not displace a party’s right to a fair trial. Where a newly joined…

Where a pensioner receives both a state additional pension and a guaranteed minimum pension, section 46(1) of the Pension Schemes Act 1993 requires the…

Riot (Damages) Act 1886, section 2(1), gives an unqualified right to claim compensation to any person sustaining qualifying riot damage. That expression…

The adopted Local Plan is the starting point for interpreting a planning policy. Under section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, it…

Where primary liability is admitted but contributory negligence is contested, the relevant event for costs is ordinarily the claimant’s overall success on…

Under section 38(6) of the Children Act 1989, a court may refuse a residential assessment where its likely value is limited and the resulting delay is contrary…

A contractual price-adjustment mechanism which requires costs to be agreed or determined promptly and finally will ordinarily operate by reference to…

A witness or complainant becomes a prosecutor for the tort of malicious prosecution only by positively intending and effectively procuring the prosecution.…

A restrictive covenant prohibiting anything on land that may become a nuisance or annoyance can extend to the erection of a building, including an extension…

A breach of a regulatory requirement does not make a contract or contractual term unenforceable unless the legislation expressly or by clear implication…

Patent claims are construed purposively through the skilled reader, who is taken to understand relevant drafting conventions and divisional applications.…

An undefended first hearing of a possession claim under Part 55 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 is ordinarily a summary hearing, rather than a trial for the…

A maintenance pending suit order made during divorce proceedings does not automatically fall away retrospectively when the petition is withdrawn or dismissed…

A local housing authority has a broad discretion under Part 6 of the Housing Act 1996 when deciding the size of accommodation to allocate. Statutory…

Permission to appeal requires a real prospect of success. An appellate court will not ordinarily disturb a trial judge’s assessment of witnesses where the…

In an appeal against professional disciplinary findings, fresh evidence is admitted only where the appellate discretion, viewed in the light of the overriding…

A lease covenant requiring a lessee to pay the lessor’s costs of steps or proceedings under section 146 may extend to possession proceedings enforcing a right…

On an appeal against findings of fact in care proceedings, the appellate court must not substitute its own view for that of the trial judge. Its task is to ask…

An offer cannot be accepted after it has been rejected, has lapsed, or has otherwise ceased to be open for acceptance. Whether a statement is a request for…

Under section 1 of the Defective Premises Act 1972, fitness for habitation is fact-sensitive. The dwelling must be assessed as a whole, considering the…

Part VI of the Housing Act 1996 governs the public-law selection and prioritisation of applicants for social housing. It does not regulate the subsequent grant…

Where a person responds to a notice under section 120 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, the Tribunal must consider any additional matter…

An employer may be required to justify both the adoption and the particular use of length of service as a determinant of pay. Although rewarding experience is…

Notification of a site of special scientific interest under Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 section 28 is neither a plan nor a project for the purposes of…

Using substantive and procedural rules to obtain a tactical advantage is not, without more, an abuse of process or unconscionable conduct. Equitable estoppel…

A data controller determines the lawful purposes for which personal data are processed. When applying the third and fifth data protection principles, the…

For donations to registered political parties, the statutory test is whether an individual was registered in an electoral register when the donation was…

In summary return proceedings under the Hague Convention 1980, the applicant must establish habitual residence, rights of custody and breach of those rights. A…

On an application to admit evidence after trial, an appellate court may reopen a confined issue where the new material is sufficiently strong to justify the…

A reference was made to the Court of Justice concerning the meaning of first authorisation in Article 13(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1768/92. The Court…

A partnership exists where two or more persons carry on a business in common with a view of profit. Receipt of a share of profits is neither conclusive…

Where contractual building works are defective, the reasonable cost of remedial work may include the cost of a comprehensive single-contractor package. A…

An applicant seeking to set aside a default judgment must act with all reasonable celerity in the circumstances. Promptness is assessed from the applicant’s…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal applies a filtering exercise directed to excluding cases with no reasonable prospect of…

A disputed boundary created by an original conveyance must be determined by reference to the property’s position when the land first came into separate…

In an asylum appeal, the adequacy of an immigration tribunal’s reasoning must be assessed by reading the determination fairly and as a whole. A conclusion may…

Declaratory proceedings concerning an underlying private dispute must be properly constituted. The person directly affected should be joined as a defendant if…

A discrete limitation issue may properly be treated as a preliminary issue where resolving it could avoid substantial costs of preparing and trying an…

Under Directive 2004/38/EC, a non-member-country spouse of an EU citizen who accompanies or joins that citizen has directly enforceable entry and residence…

A planning decision may be quashed where a mistake about an existing, objectively verifiable fact causes procedural unfairness. The affected party must not be…

A protective costs order is confined to public law litigation. It is unavailable in an ordinary private claim merely because the appeal raises an issue of…

A local housing authority satisfies the duty to inform a homeless applicant under section 193 of the Housing Act 1996 by conveying the required information in…

An order should record the formal disposal of an appeal or application. It should not ordinarily contain the judge’s reasons, commentary, or criticisms.…

After reversing a lower-court judgment, an appellate court may make consequential costs orders for the appeal and relevant hearing below. It may also stay…

This was a permission decision, not a determination of the libel issues. In a fair-comment defence, the court should distinguish the meaning of the words from…

Section 71 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 is exhaustive of the Secretary of State’s power to recover payments made pursuant to a…

Relevant information in child proceedings should ordinarily be disclosed. Non-disclosure is exceptional and requires a compelling case. The court must strike a…

Regulation 13(2)(b) of the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 does not impose strict liability or warrant the legal accuracy…

At the service-out stage, a claimant must show a reasonable prospect of establishing the claim. Contractual references to standard terms do not incorporate…

Judicial review remedies are discretionary, but the discretion must be exercised judicially. Proceedings may properly be treated as academic where the claimant…

Permission to appeal should be granted where an asylum claim raises an important unresolved question about the application of Article 8 to family life formed…

The ship-specific rules in Part 10 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 do not exhaustively exclude employees working on foreign-registered ships. Section 199(7)…

A tribunal determining employment status must identify the parties’ actual legal obligations. A written contract is the usual starting point, but it does not…

A professional retainer does not automatically end because the work is described as proceeding in stages or because one stage is complete. Its duration and…

Judicial review of a discretionary immigration policy remains concerned with legality, rationality and adequacy of reasons. Where a concessionary policy is…

Under the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2005, an injury must be assessed using all material available when the claim is decided…

An arrangement under which a public authority reimburses only the genuine costs of providing services, without conferring remuneration or another sufficiently…

Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Schedule 13 to the Finance Act 1996 require a purposive interpretation. Income tax relief for a loss on a relevant discounted security is…

A decision that further asylum or human-rights submissions do not amount to a fresh claim under paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules is reviewed on…

Permission to appeal may be granted where it is arguable that the Secretary of State, when refusing to treat further representations as a fresh claim, applied…

A loan intended to finance future gambling is not rendered irrecoverable by section 1 of the Gaming Act 1892 merely because both parties expect the money to be…

Before approving care plans involving adoption and the separation of siblings, the court must have sufficient evidence to assess the available placement…

A local authority’s decision to close a care home is principally a matter for the authority, subject to lawful decision-making. The court does not decide how…

Transfer of residence from an obstructive primary carer to the other parent is a remedy of last resort. The court must balance the risks of moving the children…

In a deportation case engaging Article 8 family life, a tribunal’s description of the merits as finely balanced does not itself make the decision appealable.…

Under Article 13(b) of the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention, the intolerability exception to the return of a wrongfully removed child sets a very high…

At a split fact-finding hearing in care proceedings, the judge must decide the statutory threshold and make findings capable of informing later assessments.…

A claimant bears the burden of proving a money claim. Establishing employment and showing that only part of a claimed salary was paid does not shift that…

A police driver responding to an emergency call may be exempt from a statutory speed limit under the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, but remains subject to…

An appellate court may intervene in a factual decision where the trial judge has rejected material evidence without adequate reasons or has made material…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, a respondent may attend by counsel and seek costs where renewal is directed on notice and the application…

An occupation order under s.33(6) of the Family Law Act 1996 is an independent statutory route; significant harm under s.33(7) need not be shown. The…

In judicial review of a magistrates’ court decision, the claimant must provide sufficient material to demonstrate legal error. The absence of a transcript or…

An application for a six-month paediatric extension to a supplementary protection certificate may be rectified after filing where it fails to contain documents…

Section 4B of the British Nationality Act 1981 creates a conditional entitlement to registration as a British citizen. The Secretary of State must be satisfied…

The jurisdiction to grant an anti-social behaviour injunction under section 153A of the Housing Act 1996 has broad coverage. Conduct is housing-related where…

Where an insurance warranty is said to discharge the whole policy upon breach, an insurer seeking that draconian consequence must use clear language. The more…

For the threshold under section 31(2)(a) of the Children Act 1989, “likely” significant harm means a real possibility of harm which cannot sensibly be ignored…

In an asylum appeal, a tribunal must be read as a whole. A reference to returnability in one paragraph does not show that evidence about safety on return was…

A public authority performs its equality duties by giving the statutory objectives the regard appropriate in all the circumstances. The inquiry concerns…

In a contractual challenge to a pupil’s expulsion, a governors’ review must provide an independent judgment on whether the sanction was warranted and…

Litigation privilege protects communications with a third party made for the dominant purpose of obtaining legal advice about, or conducting, litigation…

In an Article 8 deportation challenge, a tribunal’s alternative proportionality assessment is not vitiated merely because it first found that family life was…

At the permission stage, a planning-policy challenge is properly arguable where the decision-maker may have adopted a meaning that the policy is not reasonably…

A guarantor’s subjective misunderstanding does not, without more, establish a defence to enforcement of a guarantee. Payment of a minimum charge for credit…

At the without-notice stage, section 12(3) of the Human Rights Act requires assessment of the applicant’s prospects at trial, but permits a flexible approach.…

Permission to appeal findings of fact is exceptional. The Court of Appeal will not lightly interfere with findings reached after a lengthy hearing involving…

A local housing authority may contract out its homelessness review function under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. The statutory contracting-out power…

In exercising the discretion to direct scientific paternity testing of a young child, the court should ordinarily permit the test unless satisfied that it…

In child-contact proceedings, a judge who has made findings of fact must give the parties a fair opportunity to address the consequential contact arrangements…

A claimant cannot circumvent a statutory pension dispute-resolution scheme by bringing a later High Court action to enforce rights created solely by the…

Permission to appeal from discretionary case-management and costs orders requires a real prospect of showing an error of law or an unreasonable exercise of…

Permission for a second appeal requires either an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling reason. A compelling reason may exist where…

In determining whether land was lawfully used for compensation purposes following compulsory acquisition, the court must construe the operative enforcement…

In an unfair dismissal case, the Polkey question is fact-specific. The tribunal must assess whether, on the circumstances known to the employer at dismissal, a…

At the permission stage, the applicant must show a proper basis for arguing that an order was wrong in law or should not have been made. An unchallenged order…

An immigration tribunal has a wide discretion to permit the withdrawal of a concession where there is good reason in all the circumstances. Its objective is a…

For adoption under section 38(3) of the Highways Act 1980, the adopted way must remain sufficiently connected with the way proposed and constructed under the…

On an application to discharge a care order, the court exercises a discretionary welfare jurisdiction in which the child’s welfare is paramount. Welfare is a…

An owner who performs an illegitimate final-voyage order under a time charter does so under the charterparty, not under a separate quantum meruit arrangement.…

For the statutory threshold to care, “likely” means a real possibility that cannot sensibly be ignored, but “significant harm” retains its full weight. It must…

On a possession claim concerning a demoted tenancy, the county court’s statutory role is limited. It must determine whether the landlord has followed the…

In assessing whether a railway company’s train-despatch system is negligent, the court sets the standard of care on the evidence. Industry practice and expert…

On an application for permission to serve proceedings outside the jurisdiction, England may be the proper forum even though another country is the natural…

For obviousness, the court must apply the statutory question whether the claimed invention was obvious to the skilled person, using the Pozzoli structure to…

When exercising the compulsory purchase power under section 226(1)(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, a local authority must consider whether…

On an appeal from findings in a complex medical negligence case, the Court of Appeal will not re-try expert evidence or reverse a trial judge merely because…

A transaction containing several identifiable elements is not automatically divided into separate supplies merely because each element has independent utility…

A shareholder cannot recover a company’s direct losses by presenting them as personal or reflective loss. Reflective loss is the shareholder’s own loss which…

A trade union must inform the employer of a ballot result as soon as reasonably practicable. This is a free-standing duty and does not await a decision to call…

A person who voluntarily leaves employment for an indefinite period to care for a child does not retain EU worker status merely because a return to work is…

In planning decisions involving development on protected open land, an alternative siting within the application site may be a material consideration. No…

In construing a long-term agreement for comparative operating costs, the contractual “bases” upon which replacement works would have operated may include their…

The Norton Tool principle does not automatically apply to constructive dismissal. Its operation depends on the good industrial relations practice relevant to…

Where conversion has caused substantial loss, difficulty in proving the precise value of the goods does not restrict recovery to nominal damages. The court…

For the purposes of ECHR article 8, an immigration tribunal must assess the relevant family unit as a whole. It should not divide family relationships into…

A published immigration policy must be interpreted as a whole, having regard to its purpose and context. A policy identifying cases potentially within earlier…

At the permission stage, a stay of defamation proceedings may be challenged where the conclusion that the claims have no realistic prospect of success appears…

A lawful, genuine and subsisting marriage constitutes family life for Article 8 purposes even where the spouses have not yet cohabited. The absence of…

Where legislation requires government to act as far as reasonably practicable, the phrase must be construed in its statutory and public-law context. It does…

Continuity of employment may be established through the change-of-employer provisions in the Employment Rights Act 1996. Where a trade, business or undertaking…

Habitual residence is determined by a fact-based assessment of the child’s settled order of life. The inquiry is not controlled by the child’s supposed “real…

Fresh evidence on appeal should be admitted where it would probably have an important influence on the result, even though it need not be decisive. Where such…

In private-law children proceedings concerning removal from the jurisdiction, separate representation is exceptional rather than the ordinary course. The…

Under section 10(2)(b) of the Trademarks Act 1994, the similarity-of-goods factor applies only where goods are similar but not identical. Identity has no…

In an Article 8 removal case, the appellate permission question is whether the tribunal arguably made an error of law, not whether the appellate judge might…

A binding contract for the sale of goods is not established where contemporaneous documents record only an opportunity for future purchases, fail to identify…

When deciding whether to disapply the limitation period for a historic sexual-abuse claim, the court must determine whether it is equitable to require the…

A final charging order over land made before a bankruptcy order constitutes completed execution for the purposes of sections 346(1) and 346(5)(b) of the…

Article 8(1) may be engaged where refusal of planning permission prevents gypsies from stationing their caravans on land they own, even though they are not yet…

Patent claims are construed by asking what the skilled person would understand the patentee to mean from the claim’s context, including the description and…

In child-welfare appeals, the Court of Appeal should not second-guess a trial judge’s choice among permissible arrangements within a wide discretion where the…

Whether an adult son or daughter enjoys family life with a parent for the purposes of Article 8 depends on the facts. The assessment is fact-sensitive and may…

In assessing loss caused by professional negligence in a costs assessment, the court may make a broad-brush assessment where further detailed calculation would…

For a claim against a head of state, service depends on the capacity in which the claim is brought. A claim in public capacity must be served through the…

Article 4(3) of the Directive preserves Member States’ powers over medicinal-product pricing and inclusion in national health-insurance schemes where decisions…

Under Immigration (EEA) Regulations 2006, a tribunal must determine whether personal conduct presents a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to a…

Indirect sex discrimination requires a meaningful comparison between advantaged and disadvantaged groups. The pool should include persons who have an interest…

Compensation for property taken by the state must strike a fair balance between the public interest and the protection of individual rights. Although…

An employment tribunal commits an error of law if it determines a discrimination complaint that was not pleaded or otherwise identified as an issue, without…

An agreement which coordinates suppliers' dealings may fall outside Article 81(1) where, assessed objectively in its legal and economic context, its purpose is…

In an Article 8 family-life appeal, requiring a person to leave the United Kingdom merely to apply abroad for entry clearance will only comparatively rarely be…

A court may authorise a receiver to commence proceedings in the name of a dissolved company where the receiver is taking steps to restore it and restoration…

In a later asylum appeal arising from the same factual matrix as an earlier appeal, the earlier tribunal’s findings may be used as a starting point under the…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in judicial review proceedings, the Court of Appeal stressed that it is a court of review, not a court of…

Permission to appeal against discretionary costs orders is exceptional. The applicant must show a real prospect that a full court would find an error of legal…

Convictions for dishonesty create a strong starting point against enrolment as a student member of the Law Society. The applicant bears the burden of showing…

Costs in employment tribunal litigation do not automatically follow the event. Under rule 34A(1) of the EAT Rules 1993, an order requires specified improper…

The majority held that a detained patient has no Article 8 right to smoke in a secure psychiatric hospital. Whether an activity falls within private life…

Permission to appeal requires a real prospect of success or another compelling reason. The Court of Appeal is a court of review. It does not rehear evidence or…

In public law children proceedings, where a realistic rehabilitation proposal emerges during an intended final hearing, the court must adopt a clear procedural…

Where a refusal to admit relevant evidence is a serious procedural error which makes a security for costs decision unjust, an appellate court must exercise the…

The absence of a Home Office presenting officer does not require an asylum tribunal to adopt an inquisitorial role or cross-examine the claimant. The tribunal…

When calculating the employer debt for an underfunded occupational pension scheme under section 75, a scheme provision limiting liabilities by reference to…

Indefinite sex-offender notification requirements imposed without any possibility of review are disproportionate under article 8 where an offender can…

On an application to vary periodical payments, the court must apply the statutory criteria and assess the payer’s current ability to pay, the payee’s needs and…

A civil allegation of fraud remains subject to the balance of probabilities, but requires evidence whose cogency is commensurate with the gravity and inherent…

An NHS doctor or dentist whose contractual disciplinary procedure must conform to Maintaining High Professional Standards in the Modern NHS may be represented…

The principle of legality prevents general or ambiguous statutory words from overriding fundamental common law rights. An intrusion must be authorised by…

Under rule 95(v) of the Immigration Rules HC 395, a working holidaymaker had to establish an ability and genuine intention to maintain and accommodate himself…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, adverse credibility findings did not necessarily resolve whether a quantified award for vehicle repairs was…

Protection for a trade mark with a reputation requires more than a link between the mark and the defendant’s sign. Detriment to distinctive character requires…

A merchant acquirer’s obligation to pay under a merchant services agreement is confined to transactions falling within the contractual definition of a Card…

Whether a postnuptial settlement exists and what property it comprises are separate questions. The court may consider the intentions and position of those with…

Permission to appeal may be granted where the proposed grounds raise important and non-straightforward issues which receive some support from the authorities…

A director who obtains information and a business opportunity while acting for the company must disclose the opportunity and obtain the company’s informed…

For an imprisonment for public protection prisoner, the release test under section 28(6)(b) of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 is the same as for a life…

Prorogation of jurisdiction under Brussels II Revised is exceptional. It requires unequivocal acceptance by all parties to the proceedings, assessed when the…

Compensation for unfair dismissal is limited to financial loss attributable to the dismissal. The just-and-equitable wording permits flexibility and may…

A Part 36 offer may validly be made by a defendant as claimant on a proposed counterclaim, even before that counterclaim has been pleaded. An offer expressed…

Similar fact evidence should be admitted where it is cogently probative of a material issue and the jury requires the evidence in its proper context. A trial…

An enforcing court considering a challenge under section 103(2)(b) of the Arbitration Act 1996 must determine for itself, on the evidence, whether a valid…

At the permission stage, an asylum determination may be arguably flawed where it accepts that a foreign regime infiltrates opposition groups in the United…

When conduct constituting contempt has already been punished in criminal proceedings, the civil court must not punish that conduct again. It may sentence for…

A breach of the Article 3 investigative duty may warrant just satisfaction under the Human Rights Act 1998 beyond token compensation. The assessment may…

An undertaking or injunction enforceable by committal must be construed from its precise language. The court cannot enlarge it by reference to a general…

In assessing significant market power under the Common Regulatory Framework, the court must avoid circularity. A regulatory constraint that would itself…

In child-contact proceedings involving allegations of domestic violence, a fact-finding hearing is not automatic. The judge has a broad case-management…

An application for permission under section 329 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 should be approached like an application for reverse summary judgment. The…

For an Article 8 family-life claim based on removal, the correct question is whether the family can reasonably be expected to relocate together to the country…

Whether a control-order regime deprives a person of liberty under Article 5 depends on the concrete situation as a whole. A 16-hour curfew is not, as a matter…

Autrefois acquit in disciplinary proceedings requires the later complaint to concern the same offence in fact and law. Complaints arising from the same factual…

A trade association does not automatically owe a duty of care for statements published on its website. The court must assess the website objectively and in…

When deciding whether to grant a planning injunction against gypsies, the court must consider all the circumstances. The planning breach is taken from the…

On an interim care order application, the court must confine its decision to issues that cannot await the final hearing. It must not pre-judge issues reserved…

On a transfer under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981, an equal-pay term which has already modified an employee’s contract…

A public authority must take its operative policy into account when making a decision to which that policy applies. Although a policy does not itself have the…

In assessing negligence in a realistic physical training exercise, reasonable care requires the risk of injury to be balanced against the value of realistic…

Restrictive covenants given on a share sale and those contained in an employment or service contract arise in different commercial contexts and may operate…

In a costs-only personal injury appeal, the fact that a claimant obtains the damages ultimately agreed does not by itself determine the costs order. Success is…

Where an appeal raises a fundamental challenge to the effect or validity of a regulation made pursuant to a European directive, and the same issue is being…

A non-exclusive jurisdiction clause ordinarily accepts the possibility of parallel proceedings. Its effect depends on its wording. Foreign proceedings are not…

Deportation involves two distinct decisions. The Secretary of State’s decision that deportation is conducive to the public good creates liability to…

Foreseeability that a young child may escape parental supervision does not, without more, require an occupier to fence every obvious source of danger or give…

For the section 31 threshold, “likely” significant harm does not require proof that harm is probable. It is enough that there is a real possibility of harm…

A stay of an order for sale is discretionary. An appellate court may intervene only where the judge acted on an error of law or principle. The court may assess…

A renewed application for permission to appeal may properly be adjourned where an alternative claim was introduced shortly before trial, the lower court did…

Where a claimant succeeds in establishing that an unlawful criterion caused a child to be refused admission, the court may make a mandatory order designed to…

In a pure challenge to certification of an immigration claim as clearly unfounded, where primary facts are not disputed, the court must decide whether the…

Contributory negligence does not, by itself, create a conventional rule that a successful claimant’s costs must be reduced in the same proportion as the…

Once a judge has delivered judgment, the case is ordinarily complete. A trial judge must not participate in an appeal from that judgment, whether by…

A local education authority’s statutory duty to provide school transport does not, by itself, determine whether a disabled pupil has suffered unlawful…

Where insolvency proceedings are opened in one Member State while an arbitration is already pending in another, the law of the State where the arbitration is…

In an equal-value claim under the Equal Pay Act 1970, a small difference in job-evaluation points does not itself establish equal value. Equal value is not the…

In a prisoner security-categorisation review, the decision-maker must apply the published criteria and fairly consider the prisoner’s material evidence and…

In construing a poorly drafted commercial licence, the court must ascertain the meaning conveyed to a reasonable person with the relevant background knowledge…

An employer that knows of an employee’s repudiatory breach may affirm the employment contract by conduct inconsistent with treating it as ended. Repeatedly…

On an application for permission to appeal care and placement orders, the appellate court will not interfere with a trial judge’s carefully reasoned welfare…

Where disciplinary rules prescribe how notice of a hearing must be served, valid service depends on compliance with those rules. A regulator need not take an…

Where pension equalisation produces benefits with mixed normal retirement dates and the scheme contains no express mechanism for payment, the court should give…

In child fact-finding proceedings, the civil standard remains the balance of probabilities. The judge must weigh the alleged fact against other reasonably…

Applicants for student enrolment as solicitors owe the regulator a duty of full and frank disclosure. Pending criminal prosecutions, including motoring…

Similar-fact evidence in a libel action is not confined to evidence supporting a general Lucas-Box meaning or a trait of character. Evidence of other…

An appellate court may uphold dismissal of a damages claim without deciding disputed liability where every head of loss remains unproved. A claimant must plead…

The pesticide authorisation requirements in article 4(1) of Directive 91/414/EEC are implemented through the uniform principles in Annex VI. Compliance with…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, allegations of bias in an employment tribunal should not be rejected summarily merely because such…

The investigative duty under article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires a real and immediate risk to life. Serious self-harm which creates a…

A local planning authority’s adopted statement that adjoining occupiers affected by specified development will receive notification may create a legitimate…

A self-employed intermediary who negotiates sales for a principal is a commercial agent only where the statutory requirements concerning the principal’s role…

A claim advanced through serious fraud in litigation may be struck out where the misconduct jeopardises a fair trial or makes continued proceedings an affront…

A landlord cannot serve a first notice to complete while a relevant matter, previously notified in writing by the tenant, remains outstanding and undetermined.…

A pre-nuptial agreement is not enforceable as a contract so as to oust the court’s statutory jurisdiction on divorce. It is, however, a circumstance to which…

For a summary dismissal communicated by letter, the statutory effective date of termination is generally when the employee reads the letter and knows of the…

Obviousness under patent law is governed by the statutory question, not by any rigid judicial formula. The Windsurfing/Pozzoli questions, the…

On a second-stage reconsideration, a tribunal must preserve findings unaffected by an identified error of law, but may revisit future-risk findings where new…

A natural person who acts only as a director of a company’s corporate director does not, without more, become a de facto director of the subject company. The…

In construing an arbitral award, the court must consider its factual and procedural context. A passage recording a jurisdictional objection does not make the…

A follow-on damages claim under section 47A of the Competition Act 1998 must rest on a clearly identifiable regulatory determination that the conduct relied…

A child will only rarely be compelled to give oral evidence in family proceedings. The decision is a judicial discretion for the particular case. Where…

Article 14 may require different treatment where persons’ situations are significantly different because of disability. However, the ordinary proportionality…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal may allow an arguable point to be investigated even if it was not advanced below, where…

Procedural fairness requires a litigant, particularly a litigant in person, to have a fair opportunity to take advice and respond to an unexpected proposal to…

When construing complex commercial documentation, the court must ascertain the parties’ objective commercial aim from the documents and admissible background.…

An army officer may owe subordinates a duty of care during an off-duty activity where rank, presence and military discipline remain relevant and the officer…

In uncertain-perpetrator care cases, the court is not required to choose between two possible perpetrators merely because one is marginally more likely than…

An appellate court may refuse an adjournment where an appellant abandons the ground for which permission was granted and seeks to substitute a wholly new…

An English court may exercise its equitable jurisdiction in personam to restrain a creditor from retaining the advantage of a foreign attachment against a…

Emergency-service drivers responding to urgent calls must still drive with reasonable care. They may ordinarily assume that road users will respond to…

For the purposes of Article 33(2) of the Refugee Convention, refoulement requires both a final conviction for a particularly serious crime and a real danger to…

A sale of company assets to, or at the behest of, a shareholder is not an unlawful distribution merely because it is made at an undervalue. The court examines…

Where a contractual fee is calculated by reference to an increase in the consideration for a business sale, a broad definition of consideration is confined by…

In discrimination proceedings, disclosure should be ordered only where it is necessary for fairly disposing of the proceedings. Relevance is a factor, but it…

The proceedings were properly characterised as an appeal against a refusal of permission to apply for judicial review, rather than as the judicial-review…

A final ancillary-relief capital settlement may be reopened under the Barder principle only where a truly exceptional, unforeseen and unforeseeable post-order…

For an oversubscribed faith school, an admissions criterion must distinguish by faith rather than ethnicity. A criterion requiring a child to be regarded as…

An Article 2 duty to investigate may arise when a detained mental patient dies, even where the death appears to result from a natural medical condition. It is…

A payment under section 151(1)(b) qualifies only if it operates as an inducement to the counterparty’s entry into the currency contract and is distinct from…

For a benefit within the scope of Council Regulation (EC) 1408/71, the conditions of entitlement must be assessed as a whole. A right-to-reside requirement was…

Tax legislation must be construed purposively by asking whether the relevant provision, on its true construction, applies to the facts found. Sections 37 to 39…

In an application under the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention, determining whether an unmarried parent has “rights of custody” requires two stages. The court…

In apparent-bias cases, the question is whether a fair-minded and informed observer would conclude that there was a real possibility of bias in the particular…

In a continuing commercial relationship, prior dealings, mutual trust and an expectation of future business do not themselves create a binding contract. A…

Council Directive 2004/83/EC, article 15(c), has an autonomous meaning. It must not be restricted by concepts or purposes drawn from international humanitarian…

Surveyors appointed under section 10 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may award reasonable legal costs only where they are connected with the Act’s statutory…

In care proceedings, a case-management decision may be premature where the judge refuses relevant expert evidence before knowing what it will show. If the…

Under Regulation 13 of the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2004, a chief constable may dispense with a probationary constable’s services where the primary facts…

Police applications for disclosure of material from children proceedings require a balancing exercise under the disclosure rules in force. The court must weigh…

A trespasser whose home is on land owned by a public authority may challenge the authority’s decision to seek possession on ordinary public law grounds. The…

A fiduciary or quasi-fiduciary position does not raise the civil standard of proof above the balance of probabilities. The person should ordinarily provide…

Habitual residence is a question of fact assessed in all the circumstances. Residence for a settled purpose may be short or conditional. Substantial roots and…

When substantive issues are settled but costs remain unresolved, the court should act cautiously and avoid conducting a surrogate trial to identify the winner.…

An Independent Assessor assessing compensation for a miscarriage of justice must apply principles analogous to those governing damages for civil wrongs. This…

Under the Housing Act 1985, matters relating to the grant in the right-to-buy completion scheme concern conveyancing matters about the lease or conveyance.…

A reasons challenge succeeds only where the tribunal’s material reasoning cannot be understood. Reasons need not address every inconsistency or every factor…

An appellate court should be slow to interfere with a case-management decision, particularly a discretionary disclosure decision, made by a judge who has…

When reviewing an Article 8 deportation decision, an appellate court must not rebalance the competing factors. The question is whether the tribunal reached a…

On an application for summary judgment or an interim payment, a substantial commercial debt may be sufficiently proved by direct witness evidence supported by…

A registered social landlord may be a hybrid public authority when providing subsidised social housing. Its status depends on a broad, fact-sensitive…

A term is implied only where necessary to give effect to the parties’ obvious but unspoken intentions or to make a contract work as intended. Reasonableness…

A jurisdiction agreement must be construed objectively in the context of the transaction as a whole. Although jurisdiction clauses are ordinarily construed…

School exclusion decisions may raise serious questions under Article 6 where exclusion arguably determines a civil right or a criminal charge. A statutory rule…

Prompt notice of a possible third-party costs application is not a condition of an order under section 51 of the Supreme Court Act. It is a material…

A notice to quit a periodic tenancy must comply with the contractual requirements as to length and expiry. A notice which states an incorrect date but also…

In an asylum appeal, an immigration judge may reject an account that appears plausible when the whole evidence, including cumulative inconsistencies and…

An appellate court should not interfere with a trial judge’s findings on credibility and primary fact where they fall within the range of judgment open on the…

In valuing damages for a lost chance of future earnings, a court may identify the most probable career path and apply an overall discount for contingencies…

A Turkish national cannot invoke the standstill clause in article 41(1) of the Additional Protocol to secure consideration under the 1973 Immigration Rules…

Where a principal debtor would ordinarily obtain an order setting aside a statutory demand because it has a bona fide cross-claim equal to or exceeding the…

A claimant does not act unreasonably by rejecting or ignoring an offer of a replacement vehicle which fails to disclose the defendant’s cost of providing it.…

Under paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules, “further submissions” means representations advanced on asylum or human rights grounds. They may be short or…

The Court of Appeal should rarely interfere with primary findings of fact based on witness credibility and demeanour. It will do so only where the finding is…

Under Brussels II bis, the court designated for the first appeal against registration is determined by the list notified under article 68. In England and…

Permission to appeal may be granted where it is arguable that an immigration decision failed to address whether limited discretionary leave should be granted…

Patent claims must be construed purposively in their technical context. Under Article 69 of the EPC, claim language determines the extent of protection, while…

For annulment under the Insolvency Act 1986 section 282(1)(b), the debts which must be paid in full are those supported by a proof that remains subsisting at…

For the purposes of permission to appeal, the meaning of “fit for habitation” in section 1(1) of the Defective Premises Act 1972 raised an arguable point of…

Ownership of land ordinarily includes the strata beneath its surface, unless those strata have been alienated. A petroleum licence transfers ownership of…

In deciding whether deportation is proportionate under article 8, the decision-maker must assess its effect upon every affected member of the family unit. The…

For the purposes of section 283A(3)(a) of the Insolvency Act 1986, a trustee in bankruptcy does not realise an interest in the bankrupt’s home merely by…

Under the Education Act 1996, section 319 requires a local education authority to ask whether making the special educational provision called for in a school…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, an arguable error of law may arise where an appellate immigration tribunal identifies and applies the…

A genuine and adequate settlement offer may place a claimant at risk on costs in the same way as a payment into court, even where it is made before…

Emergency powers under the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991 must be construed restrictively because they authorise interference with private property.…

In a private-law child residence dispute, the child’s welfare is the sole and paramount consideration. Parenthood is important, but creates no presumption or…

A person who knowingly begins proceedings on a cause of action vested in someone else abuses the court’s process. An intention or reasonable prospect of…

For succession to a secure tenancy, “residing with” under the Housing Act 1985 requires more than physical presence, even where the claimant lives at the…

An offer expressly made under Part 36 and solely concerning liability carries the prescribed costs consequences when accepted within the relevant period. An…

A contractual term is implied only where the instrument, read as a whole against its relevant background, would reasonably be understood to contain it.…

For a person abroad, disqualification from increases under an up-rating order is generally assessed by reference to status immediately before the order’s…

Applications for interim payments on account of costs under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 attract no presumption either for or against payment. The court has…

Permission to appeal an order enforcing an arbitral award should be confined to a ground with a real prospect of success. Where the proposed appeal turns on…

A solicitor without High Court rights of audience cannot require the Court of Appeal to confer those rights at the hearing of an appeal. Any application…

A claimant does not forfeit damages proved to be due merely because the claimant dishonestly exaggerated the claim or supported another person’s false claim.…

A local authority’s power to promote the well-being of its area does not authorise an enterprise whose object is merely to improve its general financial…

Costs ordinarily follow the event. Where a party abandons its claims and the opposing party obtains the relief sought, a late change in commercial…

For enforcement under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, rule 70.5, a County Court may determine whether a qualifying tribunal or authority decision exists and…

Under the student rules, satisfactory progress is an evaluative question. It is not confined to the course for which leave was granted; progress on another…

For further submissions under paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules to amount to a fresh claim, they must contain material not previously considered which…

Apparent bias arises where a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the relevant facts, would conclude that there is a real possibility that the…

In assessing contributory negligence, each party’s conduct must be examined for its actual contribution to the collision and for relative blameworthiness.…

The balance of probabilities applies to findings of fact in care proceedings. That standard does not require the court to identify an individual perpetrator of…

The meaning of land transferred under a contract is determined objectively by what the parties would reasonably have understood the agreed documents to convey.…

Under the Factories Act 1961, section 29 imposes a stricter duty than common-law negligence. Workplace safety is judged objectively, without asking whether the…

Section 2(4) of the European Communities Act 1972 requires domestic legislation to be construed, so far as possible, consistently with directly effective…

In a finely balanced child residence dispute, a judge may not merely acknowledge a mature child’s wishes, relevant emotional needs or a CAFCASS recommendation…

For a follow-on damages claim under section 47A of the Competition Act 1998, the relevant Commission decision is the decision establishing infringement. It is…

Contractual rights are not ordinarily varied merely because parties enter negotiations. An agreement to negotiate is generally only an agreement to agree and…

A change to the long-residence rules is not retrospectively unlawful merely because it alters the conditions on which a person already in the United Kingdom…

There is no fixed supervisor-to-pupil ratio applicable in every case. The adequacy of supervision depends on the circumstances and the risks, including the…

Article 8 is engaged where the police overtly photograph a person who is lawfully going about his business, retain the images and give no apparent explanation…

On an interlocutory application in a deportation appeal, the Court of Appeal may direct service on a minister responsible for a statutory power that may…

It is unconscionable for creditors to rely on foreign attachment orders to obtain security over payments made in an English administration where they knew of…

An extension of time for appealing is exceptional. A litigant in person’s lack of legal knowledge, funds or legal advice does not, without more, justify a…

Permission to appeal should be set aside under CPR 52.9 only in very exceptional circumstances, such as where the court was misled or overlooked decisive…

Where a finding of fraud rests on an erroneous reading of contemporaneous documents, and fresh evidence materially undermines that finding, the appellate court…

Post-termination victimisation may in principle be justiciable where a former employer’s non-payment of an employment tribunal compensation award is alleged to…

CPR 3.1(7) is not a means by which a judge may reopen a final order, including an order approving a complete or partial settlement. It is a case-management…

A subsequent application for asylum falls within the Reception Directive where no final decision has been taken on that application. The definition of an…

In a charterparty providing for delivery at a port selected from a contractual range, the charterer’s duty to nominate the port arises only when nomination is…

A claimant’s lawful presence in the United Kingdom does not itself establish a right to reside for housing-benefit purposes. Whether such a right exists…

A grant of a right of way for commercial lorries, subject to planning-time restrictions, is not confined to a temporary planning permission or to conditions in…

In assessing obviousness, an appellate court should exercise caution before differing from a trial judge’s evaluative conclusion, unless an error of principle…

On an appeal on a point of law from a specialist tribunal, an appellate court must not re-evaluate a classification judgment merely because it would have…

When reviewing a refusal to treat further material as a fresh claim, the court must decide for itself whether the Home Secretary was right that an immigration…

An appellate court should rarely interfere with the amount of a financial order made after an extensive evidential hearing and upheld on appeal. Intervention…

Release from undertakings securing child-support payments does not release the underlying obligation to support the children or to pay sums due under the…

Information is confidential in equity only where its nature and the circumstances of receipt are such that a reasonable person in the recipient’s position…

A guarantor’s ordinary right to indemnity, and a co-obligor’s ordinary right to contribution, are subject to the parties’ contract. Where financing…

For Article 1 purposes, a British soldier on active service abroad may remain within the United Kingdom’s Convention jurisdiction outside a British base or…

Where an appellate tribunal accepts that a material finding was affected by an error of law, it must consider the logical consequences of setting that finding…

In an Article 8 removal case based on private life, a tribunal must decide whether removal itself would be disproportionate. A prospect of obtaining student…

In an Article 8 proportionality assessment concerning deportation for criminal offending, a tribunal must take proper account of the Secretary of State’s…

An immediate committal sentence for deliberate and repeated breaches of child-contact orders may be justified even where the contemnor is a child’s carer.…

In urgent proceedings about medical treatment for a child, the timing of an application to the court is fact-specific. An application made during a medical…

On a review of an Employment Tribunal’s refusal to accept a claim, the interests-of-justice ground is broader than administrative error. The tribunal must…

A length-of-service criterion in a redundancy matrix may potentially cause indirect age discrimination under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006. It…

Under section 98 of the Rent Act 1977, the availability of suitable alternative accommodation does not make possession automatically reasonable. The court must…

Summary judgment may determine whether an oral agreement was made where the relevant discussions are fully transcribed, the parties ask the appellate court to…

In an Article 8 private-life appeal, the length and quality of residence must be considered. An applicant who cannot satisfy the long-residence requirements…

For restraints used during a prisoner’s medical treatment, Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires an individualised proportionality…

On an application for permission to appeal in judicial review, permission may properly be granted where the first-instance judge has failed adequately to…

In an agency or employment contract, an apparent right to work or earn commission depends on the proper construction of the contract. Obligations to provide…

Permission to appeal should be refused where allegations of judicial bias or procedural unfairness have no support in the trial judgment or transcript and the…

A court should not strike out an entire pleading merely because it is lengthy, particularly where it is coherent, the opposing party has pleaded to it, and the…

On an application for permission to appeal in child welfare proceedings, the Court of Appeal is a court of review, not a court of trial. Permission requires a…

Where a landlord gives a tenant a clear representation that it intends to carry out works so as to oppose renewal of a business tenancy, the representation may…

Where permission has been granted for an appeal from the AIT, there is ordinarily a presumption that the appeal should be heard. The presumption may be…

Eligibility under section 1(1)(e) of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 requires more than a substantial contribution to reasonable…

In construing a contractual commission clause, the court must read the definition of consideration in the agreement as a whole and against the admissible…

Payments from a tronc do not count towards the national minimum wage where the employer has transferred service-charge money to an independently acting…

Section 54(4) of the Access to Justice Act 1999, read with paragraph 4.8 of the Practice Direction, prevents a further appeal where an appellate court has…

A company facing a winding-up petition will normally obtain dismissal where it establishes a genuine and serious cross-claim likely to exceed the petition…

The enhanced protection against expulsion acquired after ten years’ residence under regulation 21(4)(a) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations…

The standard in professional-negligence claims is reasonable competence, not hindsight or perfection. The question is whether a reasonably competent legal…

An appellate court reviewing a refusal to revoke a placement order must determine whether the lower court erred in law or exercised its discretion plainly…

An acquiring authority using compulsory purchase powers must address all compensatable interests required for the scheme, including an option to purchase where…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal from a specialist valuation tribunal, the Court of Appeal will not reopen an established valuation guidance…

Where leave to enter is cancelled under the Immigration Rules, the Secretary of State bears the burden of establishing the facts relied upon. The applicable…

An implied warranty that a mooring is safe is ordinarily co-extensive with the contractual period for which the mooring is provided. Where the agreement is a…

When reviewing a discretionary decision, the Court of Appeal should not interfere unless it was plainly wrong, relied on an irrelevant consideration, or failed…

Article 1F(a) requires an individual assessment of personal criminal responsibility for a defined war crime or crime against humanity. The decision-maker must…

An appellate court will not order a re-trial merely because a party later wishes to advance a case or documents which he chose not to put before the trial…

A removal decision expressly made under section 10(1)(a) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 falls within section 82(2)(g) of the Nationality, Immigration…

For the contract-made gateway to service out, a contract made within the jurisdiction remains so made where it is later varied abroad. The result differs only…

Where an appellant advances a legitimate point and the respondent has reasonable opportunities to concede it, failure to do so may justify an award of costs…

Case-management powers are flexible and may be exercised on the court’s own initiative, but they must be used proportionately and fairly. A substantial…

Foreign residence and impecuniosity do not, without more, justify security for costs against an appellant. The relevant question is whether impecuniosity…

In an Article 3 suicide-risk case, the absence of an objectively well-founded fear of ill-treatment does not determine the claim. A genuine and overwhelming…

In private-law child residence proceedings, the Court of Appeal may intervene where a discretionary decision is plainly wrong because the balancing exercise…

Under paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules, new evidence does not found a fresh claim if, even assuming it is accepted, it cannot create a realistic prospect…

Where an appeal is substantially resolved by a respondent’s concession and consequential amendment of the pleadings, costs should reflect the limited success…

For indemnity costs, conduct outside the norm means conduct outside the ordinary and reasonable conduct of proceedings. The frequency with which particular…

In an asylum claim based on alleged illegal departure from Eritrea, objective evidence alone cannot justify assuming that departure was illegal when the…

A superseding insurance slip or policy can still be rectified. A later document is not immune merely because its disputed term differs from an earlier…

Regulation 5(8) of the Community Legal Service (Costs Protection) Regulations 2000 applies only where a non-funded party acts in a representative, fiduciary or…

A common intention constructive trust may arise where a party takes on a potentially significant personal liability in reliance on an agreement to receive an…

Permission to amend pleadings is a case-management decision involving competing considerations. An appellate court should intervene only in narrow and…

An appellate tribunal addressing a materially raised EEA-rights issue must determine it or adjourn until the relevant application has been decided. It cannot…

Where a cross-petition is, in substance, a counterclaim, costs relating to it should ordinarily be dealt with separately from the costs of the petition. Where…

An appellate court reviewing a discretionary contact decision considers the evidence available to the trial judge. Later developments must ordinarily be…

For the purposes of Article 5(4) of the European Convention on Human Rights, an extended sentence under section 227 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 is a…

The exceptional approach to costs at first instance in children proceedings does not remove an appellate court’s broad discretion over the costs of an appeal.…

In an Article 8 proportionality assessment, the practical consequences of removal under the Immigration Rules must be considered where they may affect private…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in care proceedings, the Court of Appeal may admit fresh evidence where it appears capable of materially…

A person who owes a duty of care is not negligent merely because injury was reasonably foreseeable as a possibility. A reasonable person in the defendant’s…

A party entitled to contractual performance by a stipulated date may waive punctual performance by clearly representing that later performance will be…

For the statutory concept of the effective date of termination, summary dismissal takes effect when the employer brings the employment relationship to an end…

A later claim is not abusive merely because it could have been raised in earlier proceedings. The court must make a broad, merits-based judgment, considering…

On an appeal from an asylum determination, an immigration judge need not make separate findings on every subsidiary fact where the appellant’s core account has…

An unaccompanied child’s inclusion within a policy applying where adequate reception arrangements are unavailable does not itself establish refugee status. The…

On an appeal under section 5(1) of the Pensions Appeal Tribunals Act 1943 against an interim assessment, the tribunal’s jurisdiction is confined to assessing…

For the statutory standard grievance procedure governing an equal pay claim, an employee sufficiently sets out the grievance by informing the employer in…

Under the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997, regulation 77 establishes actuarial valuations and certificates but does not itself impose…

On an appeal against factual findings, the Court of Appeal should interfere with the trial judge’s assessment of evidence only where the judge was plainly…

Time-limited discretionary leave to remain for medical treatment does not, without more, amount to a legal or moral undertaking to provide that treatment…

An agent’s authority is generally revocable by the principal, even where revocation breaches the agency contract. The narrow exception for an authority coupled…

Permanent disablement under rule A10(2) is assessed against the duty for which the firefighter is actually being considered under his contract. It is not…

Not every allegation made in private-law children proceedings requires a fact-finding hearing. But, where a court has determined that serious allegations…

Where an immigration appeal has been derailed by an established error of fact attributable to the Secretary of State, the appellate decision may be quashed…

An order for security for costs may be varied in the court’s discretion. The amount will ordinarily remain where the proposed security is not shown to provide…

In a claim for pure economic loss caused by negligent statements, a bank may owe a duty where it knows that its confirmation will be shown to investors and…

A child’s liability in negligence depends on whether the conduct fell below the objective standard reasonably expected of a child of the same age in the…

For an equal pay claim, a genuine material factor defence requires proof that the pay difference is genuinely unrelated to sex. Where the alleged factor has an…

For equal pay limitation purposes, each new contract ordinarily triggers time in respect of the equality clause in the superseded contract. An express…

Regulation 4 of the Civil Aviation (Working Time) Regulations 2004 requires annual leave to be paid, but does not prescribe a measurable minimum level or…

For an arrest based on reasonable suspicion, the arresting officer must actually suspect the person and must have objectively reasonable grounds for doing so.…

Exclusion from refugee status under article 1F(c) requires serious reasons for considering that the individual bears personal responsibility for acts contrary…

A director nominated by a shareholder owes no duty to the nominator merely because of the nomination. When acting as a director, the director must exercise…

An international supply contract within section 26 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 is excluded from the Act’s statutory controls over clauses restricting…

In an asylum claim founded on an alleged denial of nationality, the governing question remains whether there is a real risk of persecution on return.…

A collective challenge under regulation 12 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, implementing article 7 of the Directive 93/13/EEC on…

When undisclosed material is relied upon in judicial review proceedings concerning a refusal of British citizenship, a special advocate should be appointed…

A public authority does not assume a common law duty to protect a person from third-party crime merely by performing statutory social services or housing…

Where several parties are jointly liable for the same loss, a settlement with some of them may reserve rights against the others and so avoid releasing them.…

A controlling shareholder and director may be an employee of the company under a contract of employment. Corporate control is distinct from the individual’s…

A contractual obligation to procure the transfer of agricultural subsidy benefits may encompass the whole of a single payment, including a historic element…

Where a child has suffered a non-accidental injury during a period of shared care and the evidence may not identify the perpetrator, the court should generally…

An occupier of non-secure local-authority housing may resist summary possession where there is a seriously arguable public-law challenge to the authority’s…

Under the Community-law principle of equality, similar situations must not be treated differently unless the differentiation is objectively justified. A…

A financial provision order cannot ordinarily be reopened merely because an asset, correctly valued when the order was made, later undergoes a natural market…

On a liquidator’s disclaimer of a lease, Insolvency Act 1986 section 178(4) ends the insolvent assignee’s liability but preserves the landlord’s rights against…

A local housing authority that grants its standard tenancy to a minor purports to grant a legal estate unless the agreement clearly indicates otherwise. Under…

A pharmaceutical patent claim expressed as “comprising” specified elements may cover a product containing an additional feature, provided every claimed element…

A person in a durable relationship with an EEA national may, while that relationship subsists, require the Secretary of State to examine whether residence…

In child-contact proceedings, whether an existing guardian should be replaced is a discretionary decision. An appellate court should not interfere where the…

The adequacy of a specialist tribunal’s reasons depends on fairness and context. Summary reasons need not analyse every evidential point or explain every step.…

A court should await a pending ruling of the Court of Justice where the same question arises in related proceedings. A preliminary reference requires a…

Internal relocation requires two distinct inquiries. First, the claimant must not face a real risk of persecution in the proposed destination. Secondly…

A failed asylum seeker who remains at large under temporary admission or release is not ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom for the purpose of…

Permission to appeal in a national-security refusal-of-entry case should be refused where the proposed grounds have no real prospect of success and no other…

An order under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 does not require a history of unreasonable applications. Without such a history, unusual facts may…

An appellate court may grant permission where the proceedings arguably contain a material procedural error. This applies where material evidence was excluded…

British citizenship does not automatically prevent the removal of a parent under Article 8. It is an important factor, but not decisive. The decision-maker…

When deportation would interfere with family life, proportionality must be assessed from the perspective of the family unit as a whole. A settled spouse and…

Permission to appeal may properly be granted where a proposed ground raises a real prospect that a material factual finding or conclusion on liability will not…

In an Article 8 deportation appeal involving serious criminality, the tribunal must give proper weight to the Secretary of State’s assessment of public policy…

Section 6(4) of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 requires a genuine public consultation before an alternative unitary-government…

On an appellate challenge to credibility findings in an asylum case, disagreement with the fact-finder’s view of plausibility is not itself an error of law.…

Risk on return must be assessed on the evidence as a whole and in the claimant’s relevant home area. Country-guidance risk factors are an aid to analysis, not…

Exclusion under Article 1F(c) of the Refugee Convention is not confined by domestic principles of primary or secondary criminal liability. It requires an…

Under Council Directive 2006/67/EC, the requirement that stockholding arrangements be fair and non-discriminatory does not require a Member State to calculate…

An appellate court may determine an appeal from a valid High Court costs order even where judicial review proceedings were resolved before permission was…

A full planning permission for building operations ordinarily incorporates the submitted plans and drawings needed to describe the authorised development, even…

In care proceedings, factual issues are determined on the balance of probabilities. The seriousness of the consequences does not create a sliding scale towards…

A wasted costs order requires conduct that is improper, unreasonable or negligent. Wasted costs alone are insufficient. A solicitor who has filed a notice of…

When deciding whether it is reasonable to order possession of an under-occupied secure tenancy under Ground 16 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1985, the court…

A motorist’s negligence must be assessed by the standard of reasonable prudence and competence at the moment of decision. A court must not infer negligence…

Under Article 13 of the Hague Convention of 1980, a child’s objection opens a discretion to refuse summary return once the age-and-maturity threshold is met.…

Article 31 of the CMR is an exclusive jurisdictional code. Its references to the defendant must be construed purposively in the context of the contractual and…

A trust instrument must be construed as a whole. Where one clause appears to confer absolute interests on sale and another deliberately provides for the…

The privilege against self-incrimination does not ordinarily protect a bankrupt from answering questions merely because the feared criminal proceedings arise…

At the permission stage, a realistic prospect of success justifies adjourning an application on notice, with an appeal to follow if permission is granted.…

A contractual indemnity is construed from its language, read in the context of the clause and contract as a whole and against the relevant factual background.…

Article 1F(c) of the Refugee Convention can exclude a private individual responsible for terrorism. In this context, terrorism means the use for political ends…

A planning permission must ordinarily be construed from its own words, conditions and stated reasons. Extrinsic material is inadmissible where the permission…

Relief from a debarring sanction under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 Part 3.9 requires structured decision-making. The court must consider the specified factors…

A tenancy of land carrying appurtenant rights of common may pass those rights under section 62 of the Law of Property Act 1925, unless the tenancy expressly…

Whether an undertaking is a guarantee or an indemnity depends upon the true construction of its words. A promise to ensure that a debtor has sufficient…

In care proceedings, a court may decline to reopen an historical investigation where the evidence offers no real prospect of a clear and reliable finding…

Security for costs may be ordered where the claimant is resident outside the jurisdiction and, having regard to all the circumstances, it is just to require…

In a disputed nationality claim, membership of a transnational ethnic community does not establish nationality. The fact-finder must assess the relevant…

For paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules, a claimed Rwandan connection is a relevant risk category, but it is not a hard-edged rule that every person with…

A bankruptcy order made on a debtor’s own petition may be annulled where, at the date of the order, the debtor could pay debts as they fell due. The inquiry…

In a conduct dismissal case, an employment tribunal must assess the employer’s investigation, belief and grounds for that belief at the time of dismissal. It…

Credible allegations of serious ill-treatment in state custody may require an independent investigation under article 3 of the European Convention on Human…

On the proper construction of a sale agreement, a defined development may mean the buyer’s current proposal, rather than a development already permitted or…

A planning decision-maker retains a broad, case-specific planning judgment when assessing an uncertain prospect of beneficial development. A prospect need not…

Permission to appeal in a family case requires an arguable error of law or an arguable case that the judge’s discretion was exercised plainly wrongly, outside…

Where a final damages award may include a periodical payments order, the likely amount of the final judgment for CPR 25.7(4) means the likely capital award. It…

Property is “held” by a defendant for the purposes of confiscation legislation where the defendant has any interest in it. A bare legal title is sufficient…

A claimant in deceit may recover all actual loss directly flowing from the transaction induced by the fraud, subject to causation, remoteness and mitigation.…

Permission to appeal out of time from a financial order based on later events requires an event which invalidates the order’s fundamental basis, occurs within…

A failure to state the proposed country of removal in a deportation decision notice, contrary to regulation 5(1) of the Immigration (Notices) Regulations 2003…

Paragraph 1(6) of Schedule 7A to the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 operates only where both statutory conditions are met. Condition (b) concerns losses…

A post-termination non-compete covenant in a franchise agreement should be construed by making only the minimum changes needed where its literal wording is…

Where an immigration decision is withdrawn and the country guidance underlying the tribunal decision has been superseded, continuation of the appeal is…

The arbitration exclusion in the Brussels I Regulation is determined by the substantive subject matter of the proceedings and the nature of the rights…

Paragraph 395C of the Immigration Rules provides a discretionary safeguard which extends beyond protection under the Refugee Convention and the European…

A CVA deadline for lodging claims may serve certainty and finality, but it is subject to the exceptions stated in the CVA. Where a provision allows a late…

Rules of court have the force of delegated legislation. A judge may use case-management powers to depart from rules or practice directions in an individual…

Permission to raise a new legal issue on appeal should be granted where the existing findings of fact provide a sufficient basis for argument and no further…

In a refugee claim based on sexual identity, the question is whether the applicant could reasonably be expected to tolerate the conditions required to avoid…

Where parties have a contract for services but have not expressly agreed the price or the number of hours to which a daily rate relates, the absence of express…

On a reference for a preliminary ruling, the Court of Appeal expressed the view that Directive 2004/38/EC, article 16 permits a right of permanent residence to…

An appeal from an immigration determination lies only on a point of law arising from that determination, and permission should be refused where no material…

A late amendment raising contractual illegality may be refused where the point was available before trial, requires further factual investigation, and would…

In ancillary relief proceedings, each party must give full, frank and clear disclosure of every matter relevant to the outcome. The obligation extends beyond…

In appeals from discretionary child-welfare decisions, the Court of Appeal must not reweigh the welfare factors or substitute its own view. Intervention is…

A caravan-site licensee may resist a local authority’s possession claim on the public-law ground that no reasonable authority could have decided to serve…

A claimant who has suffered a tortious loss may elect to recover damages for future care and accommodation from the tortfeasor rather than rely on a public…

A trial judge may resolve competing expert explanations by assessing the whole evidential picture, including the absence of structural distress. An appellate…

The Aarhus Convention is not directly enforceable in domestic law. Its principles may inform the exercise of a costs discretion, but a party relying on them…

An incorrect invoice does not, without more, prevent statutory interest arising under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998. Where the…

A surrender by operation of law occurs where the parties’ conduct, assessed objectively and as a whole, unequivocally demonstrates that the tenant has…

A county-court judge may enforce by committal an appropriately worded contact order under section 34 of the Children Act 1989 against the responsible local…

Where permission to serve proceedings out of the jurisdiction is sought on the basis that a contract is governed by English law, the claimant must still show…

A right of vehicular access does not ordinarily carry an implied right to park. The question is whether, in the circumstances existing when the right was…

Regulation 19(1A) of the Child Support (Variation) Regulations 2000 identifies a qualifying state of affairs for a variation. Its present tense does not…

A person may appeal from within the United Kingdom against a refusal to revoke a deportation order where a current asylum or human rights claim has the…

For VAT purposes, a taxable supply cannot be undone merely by issuing a credit note or repossessing goods. A post-supply cancellation or reduction in…

A company director’s duties are personal and inescapable. Reasonable delegation is permissible, but a director cannot abandon responsibility or allow a…

Regulation 6(2)(b) of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 excludes review of the adequacy of the core price or remuneration forming part of…

A withdrawn immigration policy will ordinarily have no application to a later decision. A court may intervene only exceptionally where the benefit of the…

Where an appellant abandons an appeal after an amendment to the respondent’s notice, the court may make a tailored costs order. The absence of a merits…

Where an immigration policy has been withdrawn before a decision is made, the decision must ordinarily reflect the law, facts and policy then current. A…

An immigration appeal is brought when it is instituted. A later safe-third-country certificate cannot stifle an in-country appeal already brought, absent…

At the permission stage, the Court of Appeal acts as a court of review. It asks whether the lower court’s order was legally open on the facts, rather than…

A covenant in a residential long lease requiring consent for alterations to the arrangements of the demised premises is a general and flexible provision. Read…

For PAYE purposes, the person liable to deduct tax is identified by the statutory employment and agency rules, not simply by asking who physically disburses…

An appellate court cannot ordinarily revisit findings of primary fact on an appeal from a possession order. It may review whether possession was reasonable…

For a second appeal, permission requires an important point of principle or practice, or some other compelling reason, under CPR 52.13(2). In ancillary-relief…

Permission to appeal from an interlocutory order should be refused where the proposed grounds seek final determination of legal and factual issues that remain…

An appeal panel deciding permanent exclusion is not legally required to consider an earlier disability tribunal decision concerning different exclusions…

For a lawful arrest, the arresting constable must genuinely suspect the offence, have objectively reasonable grounds based on matters known at the time, and…

Where related proceedings are pending before the European Patent Office and a national court, the parties should promptly inform both tribunals and seek…

When assessing a condition imposed on consent to assign a lease, the court must examine its true effect against the landlord’s rights under the lease. A…

When employment status is disputed, the written agreement is ordinarily the starting point but is not conclusive. The tribunal must determine the parties’ true…

A tribunal may strike out a claim because a fair hearing is no longer possible only where the consequences of culpable delay actually prevent a fair hearing.…

A statutory right of several oyster and mussel fishery under the Sea Fisheries Act 1868 was an exclusive proprietary right capable of assignment or lease.…

Where several exceptions to disclosure apply under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the public-interest balance must ultimately be conducted in…

Under regulations 3(2) and 4 of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, equipment not supplied by an employer is work equipment only if its…

For unfair dismissal claims under Employment Rights Act 1996, territorial scope depends on whether the employment has a sufficiently strong connection with…

Section 2(1) of the Suicide Act 1961 creates a clear criminal prohibition on assisting suicide. Courts cannot create exceptions or suspend its operation…

In a deportation case involving possible re-prosecution in the receiving state, the question is whether the risk reaches a real risk of a breach of a protected…

Under Directive 2004/38/EC, a non-EEA national who is a family member within article 2.2 need not have resided lawfully in another Member State before…

A pending application for variation of immigration leave may be varied before it is decided. Section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 does not confine a…

Where a repayment order requires payment of a foreign-currency sum or its sterling equivalent at the time of payment, the equivalent is calculated using the…

Where an appellate order requires payment in a foreign currency, compliance requires payment in that currency or its sterling equivalent calculated at the time…

Appellate intervention in factual findings is rare, but justified where material analytical flaws take the decision outside the proper margin of respect due to…

An appellate court may adjourn a homelessness appeal where there are serious concerns that the litigant may not understand or conduct the litigation in her own…

In a post-contractual insurance condition providing that cover ceases after a material change in facts stated in a proposal, materiality does not have the…

An employment tribunal may make findings of fact that do not precisely match either party’s formulation of the case. It may draw legitimate inferences from the…

A criminal acquittal does not prevent a professional regulator from investigating the same conduct. Criminal and disciplinary proceedings serve different…

HMRC may distinguish associated from non-associated VAT traders where associated companies can control accounting periods and payment timing to secure a…

In a two-stage statutory reconsideration, the first stage ordinarily determines conclusively whether there is a material error of law. The second stage…

Proceedings under section 7(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1998 against an intelligence service fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Investigatory…

Where a respondent concedes an appeal, the ordinary costs consequence is an order that the respondent pay the appellant’s costs in the appellate court and…

Permission for a second appeal should be refused where the proposed grounds have no real prospect of success and raise neither an important point of principle…

An authorised person approving a non-real-time financial promotion must take reasonable steps to ensure that its true promotional purpose is clear, fair and…

Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, development begins when the earliest material operation comprised in it begins. Laying out part of a road can…

A protective costs order is discretionary and must be fair and just. The Corner House criteria may be applied by analogy where the applicant is a respondent to…

The Court of Appeal’s jurisdiction is limited to appeals from a judgment or order of the High Court. An adverse factual finding alone is not appealable, even…

In an Article 8 removal case, delay by immigration authorities must be assessed as part of a fact-sensitive proportionality exercise. Tribunals must examine…

A right under the Housing Act 1985 to postpone possession and revive a terminated secure tenancy is personal to the former tenant. It is not inheritable and…

Where a consent costs order provides for detailed assessment, disputes about its scope should ordinarily be dealt with by the costs judge. Any order giving…

A contractual right to terminate for a breach which goes to the root of the contract may embody the same right as the common law right to accept a repudiation.…

An agent who takes an undisclosed benefit from the other party to a transaction which the agent is negotiating for the principal breaches the duty of fidelity…

Fresh evidence that materially undermines a central credibility finding may require a retrial where that finding materially contributed to the trial decision.…

A claim may be in respect of an English-law contract for the service-out gateway even though the proposed claimant and defendant are not both parties to that…

A public liability policy covering sums which an insured becomes legally liable to pay as damages can extend to statutory compensation. The decisive question…

Where commercial parties start work before settling all contractual terms, performance may support an intention to create legal relations and a contract…

Neither an ancillary relief claim nor a confiscation order has automatic priority. Where the claims compete, the court must exercise its discretion by…

On an appeal from a first-stage reconsideration, the question is whether the original immigration judge made an error of law, not whether another tribunal…

An Article 8 proportionality decision requires a structured assessment of the family life relied on and its material circumstances. Where a tribunal does not…

For legal expenses insurance, ordinary differences arising during a complex construction contract are not necessarily material circumstances requiring…

On an asylum reconsideration, a tribunal must engage with material evidence capable of affecting the assessment of risk. Failure to consider evidence…

For the purposes of an unlawful-deduction claim, a bonus is wages where the contractual mechanism has produced an ascertainable amount payable to the worker.…

A lawfully and regularly made adoption order has a peculiar finality because it permanently determines the status of the child and adoptive parents. The court…

Victimisation under section 2(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976 requires a subjective inquiry into why the alleged discriminator acted. A protected act need…

Damages for loss of a commercial opportunity require assessment of both the chance that the opportunity would materialise and the profit that would have been…

Permission to appeal an interim child-welfare decision should be refused where the judge directed himself correctly in law, exercised the broad discretion…

Family life protected by article 8 will not normally exist between a parent and an adult child without further elements of dependency beyond ordinary emotional…

Regulatory conditions on a solicitor’s practising certificate must be necessary, reasonable and proportionate in the interests of the public and the reputation…

An appeal ordinarily challenges an order, not the reasons or intermediate findings supporting it. Exceptionally, the Court of Appeal may determine an appeal by…

A course of conduct is harassment only if, viewed in its context, it is sufficiently grave to be oppressive and unacceptable and capable of sustaining criminal…

An undertaking to the court is a solemn obligation. It should therefore be stated clearly and recorded in writing, although writing is not an absolute…

A local authority cannot discharge its duty to accommodate a child in need merely by ascertaining that the child wishes to live elsewhere and assisting the…

In an internal-relocation asylum case, a tribunal must assess safety by reference to all material considerations. It cannot infer that relocation outside an…

A shared residence order may be made where it positively serves the child’s welfare. Neither an approximately equal division of time nor unusual or exceptional…

Under section 191(2) of the Housing Act 1996, unreasonable, foolish or imprudent ignorance of a relevant fact does not by itself prevent an act from being done…

On an application to set aside a statutory demand based on a cross-claim, the debtor must show an arguable claim of sufficient substance and with a realistic…

In interim care proceedings, the court may choose supervision rather than removal where the evidence supports a lower present risk and the parent is found to…

A failure to make reasonable adjustments is an omission rather than a continuing act. Under paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to the Disability Discrimination Act…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, an arguable issue as to whether periods of imprisonment count towards the ten-year residence period under…

Regulation 27(b) of the Social Security (Incapacity for Work) (General) Regulations 1995 is an exceptional additional route to incapacity. It applies only…

A court order carrying penal consequences must speak for itself. It is construed according to the ordinary and natural meaning of its words, read in the…

For an application under section 84(4) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002, the child’s home during the preceding ten weeks need not be in England and Wales.…

A restriction upon the manner or form of political expression may interfere with the substance of the right. Its significance depends upon the facts. Where a…

When evidence supporting a party’s account is readily available, a judge may take account of its absence and any explanation offered. The omission may carry…

Damage to sperm after removal from the body for storage is not itself personal injury. For negligence purposes, sperm produced and ejaculated for the…

Article 8 does not impose an additional legal hurdle that a case must be exceptional before removal can be disproportionate. The tribunal must apply ordinary…

The Financial Ombudsman Service’s compulsory jurisdiction is an informal complaints procedure outside the common law. Rules made under Financial Services and…

Married and unmarried partners may be in analogous positions for the purposes of article 14 when the comparison is assessed in the context of the particular…

A claim of victimisation requires proof that less favourable treatment was because the claimant did a protected act. Representation of another person in…

A stop-now order made under the Stop Now Orders (EC Directive) Regulations 2001 must be read within the statutory and directive framework that enabled it. A…

Qualified privilege may protect a publication made under a statutory duty where the public has a legitimate interest in receiving the information. The…

A finding that a person cannot be excluded from the pool of possible perpetrators of a child’s non-accidental injury may have serious consequences, even though…

Contributory negligence after a road accident depends on whether, in the particular circumstances, the claimant failed to take reasonable care for personal…

In an open contract for the sale of land, the law ordinarily implies an obligation on the vendor to show good title. That implication is rebutted where the…

In child placement appeals, the question is whether the trial judge was entitled to make the order on the evidence available at the time, not whether the…

A time bar under section 7(5) of the Human Rights Act 1998 is an ordinary limitation defence, not a restriction on the court’s jurisdiction. A defendant may…

Under section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986, the court must decide at the hearing whether winding up is just and equitable, considering the totality of the…

In transitory private nuisance causing loss of amenity, damages compensate injury to land rather than occupants’ personal discomfort. They are assessed by…

For Article 6(1) of Decision 1/80, legal employment requires a stable and secure situation as a member of the labour force, carrying an undisputed right of…

For the proviso to section 3 of the Prescription Act 1832 to prevent acquisition of a right to light by prescription, the relevant deed or writing must, on its…

In a renewed application for permission to appeal in a parole judicial review, the Court of Appeal may adjourn where later material raises a potentially…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, permission may be granted where the proposed grounds are properly arguable and could affect the result. This…

In care proceedings involving a minor parent who lacks litigation capacity, the Official Solicitor must investigate properly open avenues and obtain evidence…

Planning policy statements such as PPS9 are not to be construed as statutes. A planning authority may take an overall and long-term view of biodiversity…

The rule against enforcing a foreign penal or public law depends on the substance of the relief whose enforcement is sought. A compensatory order requiring the…

A published administrative policy must be construed objectively from its language and context. Where a policy permits an exemption only if there is no…

A shared residence order does not create a different legal test for a proposed relocation within England and Wales. Its existence is an important part of the…

In an international relocation application, the children’s welfare remains paramount. The trial judge must identify and weigh all relevant factors. No…

In an Article 8 removal case, the tribunal must follow the structured inquiry required by Razgar, addressing engagement, lawfulness, necessity and…

An immigration tribunal’s decision is not ordinarily open to an error-of-law challenge based on a point raised for the first time on appeal, particularly where…

Applying the wrong published immigration policy is an error of law, even where neither party draws the correct policy to the tribunal’s attention. The…

When relief is sought from a sanction imposed by an unless order, the court must start from the premise that the order properly furthered the overriding…

Where foreign proceedings concerning a contract governed by foreign law are pending, an English court should not pre-empt them unless the foreign outcome is…

An appellate court should not determine an issue that has become academic because subsequent events have removed the factual controversy. This is particularly…

Where a professional-negligence claim alleges that a lost opportunity to pursue litigation caused damage, the claimant must establish a real and quantifiable…

Planning permission does not of itself authorise a nuisance or alter a third party’s private-law rights. Its implementation may change the nature and character…

For the ten-year lawful-residence route to indefinite leave, a later grant of leave does not retrospectively regularise a gap caused by expiry of earlier leave…

The requirement under section 329 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to obtain permission for specified civil proceedings is procedural and directory.…

A statutory appeal against a decision to remove an illegal entrant cannot challenge the lawfulness of removal directions which have not yet been made. Removal…

A contractual no-set-off clause may require payment despite a cross-claim where the contract’s language and structure support that construction. A clause…

An authority may lawfully authorise direct enforcement under section 178 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 after planning permission has been refused…

An employer’s duty to provide a reasonably safe system of work may require a specific warning against an obvious risk. A rare unsafe practice, or a general…

An appeal dismissed in a party’s absence will not ordinarily be reopened where the absence resulted from the party’s own failure to arrange representation and…

A contractual anti-waiver clause does not prevent a party from affirming a contract by election. Where the party knows of its right to terminate, its continued…

Partial summary judgment is inappropriate where separate negligence allegations are so closely interlocked that one cannot be fairly or satisfactorily…

Extra-territorial jurisdiction under Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights is exceptional. It requires the exercise of sovereign legal…

A party requires leave to advance on appeal a basis of claim deliberately excluded at trial. This applies whether or not the earlier restriction amounts to a…

In an asylum appeal, a tribunal must give adequate reasons for its treatment of material expert evidence. It must address the principal points, explain how the…

The Warsaw Convention framework, as applied domestically by Schedule 1 to the Carriage by Air Acts (Application of Provisions) Order 1967, is not confined…

A judge in care proceedings may investigate issues which emerge during the evidence and is not invariably confined to the local authority’s proposed findings.…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the court should address freestanding legal grounds capable of succeeding despite adverse factual findings.…

On a costs application following the compromise or withdrawal of judicial review proceedings, the court must exercise the broad discretion in Civil Procedure…

Part III financial relief after an overseas divorce is an exceptional remedy for serious injustice, not an appeal from a foreign financial order. The court…

Under the 14-year long-residence rule, prolonged unlawful residence is a neutral gateway condition. It cannot then be counted against the applicant when…

An appellate court should not overturn findings of fact that substantially depend on witness credibility unless the trial judge was plainly wrong. It is…

The character and suitability test for enrolment as a solicitor is necessarily high. It concerns risk to the public and damage to the profession’s reputation…

Where a lease makes a notice given by an unprescribed method valid only if receipt is acknowledged, acknowledgment is part of the notice’s essential validity…

In Article 8 immigration cases, proportionality is an individual and fact-sensitive balance. It is not a search for insurmountable obstacles. The correct…

A notice of a decision to remove which states a country under the notice regulations does not itself give removal directions. It records a proposed destination…

Recreational use qualifies as use as of right for town or village green registration only if it is without force, secrecy or permission and objectively conveys…

An appeal that has become academic should proceed only in an exceptional case where the public interest requires it. That threshold is not met merely because…

An appellate court will not interfere with a welfare decision merely because it might itself have reached a different conclusion. It must be shown that the…

The adequacy of a trial judge’s reasons is assessed in the context of the evidence, submissions and understanding of those present at trial. A decision should…

Permission to appeal should be refused where an alleged evidential error could not have affected the result. In an informal tribunal hearing, a represented…