Court of Appeal (Civil Division) judgments, 2010

Qualified privilege depends on a reciprocal duty or interest, not merely on an established relationship. Where the defendant is a public authority, its…

A condition imposed under rule 3.1(3) of the Civil Procedure Rules must be attached to identified relief. The rule does not authorise a free-standing order for…

A blanket immigration age rule may be rationally connected to the legitimate aim of preventing forced marriage, but proportionality requires more than a…

Article 49 required equal access to a group income election where its denial disadvantaged a UK subsidiary paying dividends to an EU-resident parent. The…

Article 2 of the ECHR distinguishes between the general duty to maintain a legal system capable of investigating deaths and the narrower duty proactively to…

In a foreign-criminal deportation case, proportionality under Article 8 is the governing test; exceptionality is not required. The interests of affected…

Whether an invoice sent by a dealer to a finance company creates a contract of sale depends on the objective meaning of the documents and the parties’ conduct.…

In deciding whether reasonable care was taken in a recreational activity, the court must balance the likelihood and seriousness of injury, the social value of…

Loss caused by a breach must ordinarily be proved on the balance of probabilities. The subsequent measurement of hypothetical profits is a distinct exercise.…

A professionally drafted will must be construed from its expressed language, read as a whole and in its admissible context. The court should not speculate…

In a commission agreement, an agent is not necessarily required to prove that its introduction was the effective cause of the transaction. That implication…

Where an undertaking is personally liable under the Competition Act 1998 for an infringement committed intentionally or negligently, it cannot recover the…

For the purpose of calculating marriage value on collective enfranchisement, the participating tenants’ interests must be valued on the same no Act rights…

A probation board deciding whether to transfer responsibility for a pre-release prisoner’s supervision exercises a discretion distinct from the Parole Board’s…

A professional engagement to prepare an expert report for litigation is ordinarily limited to the report for the identified court or tribunal and any required…

An employment tribunal’s assessment of compensation for unfair dismissal will be overturned for perversity only where an overwhelming case shows that no…

Where cycling on a way is already permitted because the way is a bridleway, the landowner’s acquiescence in cycling cannot support deemed dedication of the…

An inspector deciding a planning appeal must identify and reach a conclusion on each principal important controversial issue, but need not resolve every…

Section 16 of the Drug Trafficking Act 1994 applies to assets lawfully acquired after conviction. It asks whether the amount that might be realised when the…

A challenge to the validity of a breach of condition notice concerns a purely public law act. It must ordinarily be brought promptly by judicial review. A…

The presumption in section 6(c) of the Interpretation Act 1978 that the singular includes the plural applies to section 22(1A) of the Commons Registration Act…

For permission purposes, a refusal to revoke an automatic deportation order remains a refusal under section 5(2) of the Immigration Act 1971, even though…

In wrongful-removal proceedings, the court must give effect to the Convention’s objective of securing the prompt return of children. It should not permit an…

When considering security for costs against a company under rule 25.13(2)(c) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, the court must assess the claimant’s likely…

In care proceedings, an expert’s evidence expressed as a clinical possibility does not itself establish a fact on the balance of probabilities. The judge must…

A blanket, automatic and indiscriminate disenfranchisement of convicted prisoners is incompatible with Article P1-3. Any restriction remains subject to a wide…

An application to rescind a winding-up order under rule 7.47(4) of the Insolvency Rules must be made within seven days. The short period protects certainty…

Where information raises a question about a litigant’s capacity to conduct proceedings, the court must take appropriate steps to satisfy itself whether the…

Part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 applies to statutory appeals from the VAT and Duties Tribunal unless the Rules expressly exclude it. Part 36.3(2)…

On an application for summary judgment, a party has no real prospect of success where a concession removes the only possible basis on which that party could…

A court may admit evidence of market practice falling short of a binding trade usage or custom. Such evidence forms part of the factual background against…

Employment tribunals have only the statutory jurisdiction conferred on them. Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, they may identify contractual terms in order…

In negligence, foreseeability of the precise sequence causing injury is unnecessary where the defendant’s negligent act caused the loss and the injury was of a…

A restitutionary quantum meruit for requested services ordinarily measures the recipient’s benefit objectively, by the market price which a reasonable person…

An employer may be vicariously liable for an employee’s deceit where the employee acted within the apparent authority of the employment and the innocent third…

Constructive dismissal requires a repudiatory breach of the employment contract, assessed objectively and subject to the qualification that the conduct…

Under Civil Procedure Rules rule 36.14(3)(a), enhanced interest for a claimant who beats a Part 36 offer is available only on an item of the judgment which…

The common-law criminality defence does not bar a claim under the Convention or the Human Rights Act 1998. A claimant’s criminal conduct does not ordinarily…

Liability for unlawful means conspiracy requires actual intention to injure, or reckless indifference consisting of a conscious decision not to inquire into a…

On an application for permission to appeal, a challenge to factual findings has no real prospect of success where the findings were open to the trial judge on…

Procedural fairness does not require the Parole Board to hold an oral hearing in every review of continued detention. The need for a hearing depends on the…

Construction of a highway agreement and its plan is an objective exercise. Where the agreement identifies the land and proposed road by a precise, incorporated…

Failure to serve a response pack under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 does not add a condition to the mandatory rules governing entry or setting aside of…

A freezing order in the Commercial Court Guide which applies to assets in which the respondent is interested “legally, beneficially or otherwise” extends to…

A stay of a declaration requiring a prisoner’s immediate release removes the enforceability of that declaration. It does not positively authorise continued…

Article 5(4) requires a speedy review of the lawfulness of continuing detention. A breach is not confined to cases where detention becomes arbitrary or the…

When a compensation scheme permits reopening after a material change in medical condition, the relevant comparison is with the claimant’s condition at the…

A screening opinion on whether Schedule 2 development requires an environmental impact assessment must be reached carefully and conscientiously. It must rest…

During the moratorium under a debt relief order, a creditor cannot recover a specified qualifying debt by deducting sums from the debtor’s continuing…

A will prepared by a solicitor, read over to a capable testator and duly executed carries a very strong presumption of knowledge and approval. Those…

Commercial contracts are construed objectively, in their full contractual and commercial context. The court seeks the meaning a reasonable person with the…

Imprisonment interrupts the continuous lawful residence required for an EEA national to acquire a permanent right of residence. Time in prison does not further…

In civil proceedings, a party cannot ordinarily recover as damages in later proceedings costs incurred in earlier domestic litigation where those costs could…

A mutual-wills arrangement restricts testamentary freedom only where the testators made a prior agreement, intended to become irrevocable on the first death…

Article 1F(c) of the Refugee Convention may apply to an individual’s direct military action against forces operating under a United Nations Security Council…

In an associative disability discrimination case, an amendment should not be permitted where the findings already made at the unfair dismissal hearing make the…

When deciding whether to suspend a possession order, an appellate court asks whether the first-instance judge erred on the evidence and the way the case was…

A share disposition must be construed objectively from its words and the relevant surrounding facts, read with any accompanying documents. Where legal title…

Where an appellate court reverses a substantial interim costs payment, repayment may be ordered promptly while permission to appeal is pending, with a stay…

Rejecting one proposed cause of loss does not, without more, establish an alternative cause. The court must assess the whole evidence while preserving the…

An implied copyright licence arising from a contract formed by conduct permits use of copyright material only in the manner and for the purpose contemplated…

The scope of a right of way acquired by prescription is measured by the extent of the use proved during the prescription period. The right may cover analogous…

Under Article 7(1) of Directive 96/9/EC on the legal protection of databases, investment in obtaining database contents concerns finding and collecting…

For the purposes of Employment Rights Act 1996 section 98A(2), an employer may rely on the fact that the employee would have been fairly dismissed after a…

A regular default judgment should ordinarily remain in place unless the defendant has a real prospect of successfully defending the claim. Whether a…

In contested probate proceedings, reasonable suspicion about a will may justify an investigation and, ordinarily, an order that costs lie where incurred. That…

Under article 7(3)(b) and (c) of Directive 2004/38, retention of worker status after involuntary unemployment applies to a person who was a worker in the…

The jurisdiction under CPR 52.17 to reopen a final appellate determination is exceptionally narrow. It exists to prevent real injustice where the integrity of…

On an application to strike out an employment claim, the tribunal must ask whether the claim has no reasonable prospect of success. Where the claimant alleges…

In care proceedings, separating a child from a parent under an interim care order is ordinarily a judicial decision. Only wholly exceptional circumstances…

A procurement decision is unlawful if the contracting authority in fact takes an irrelevant consideration into account when evaluating tenders. The issue is…

On an appeal against a chairman’s decision concerning a creditor’s voting entitlement, the court must reach its own decision on the evidence and arguments…

A highway authority’s statutory duty to maintain a highway concerns its structure and fabric. It does not ordinarily require removal of loose surface-lying…

Section 144A of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 imposed an additional income-tax charge where an employer was liable to account for tax on a deemed…

An application under the agricultural permitted-development procedure is valid when it objectively satisfies the requirements prescribed by the development…

On a remittal, earlier factual findings must be read in their full context. Statements that an asylum claimant had little political interest or no political…

An appellate court may refuse an adjournment where an appeal has no realistic prospect of success and postponement would cause indefinite delay. An appellant…

On an appeal from a discretionary family decision, a circuit judge must identify and correct an order that is plainly wrong. Welfare considerations cannot…

On a reconsideration ordered for material error of law, the tribunal may determine the case afresh where the order does not expressly preserve particular…

A vendor who agrees that an estate agent will have sole selling rights breaches that agreement by retaining another agent to market or sell the property during…

A shared residence order depends on the child’s best interests in the circumstances of the individual case. It requires neither equal periods of residence nor…

Section 91 of the Pensions Act 1995 does not make a bona fide compromise of a disputed or doubtful pension claim unenforceable merely because the compromise…

An appellate court should not interfere with a trial judge’s assessment of witness reliability unless it was plainly wrong. Where medical experts disagree on…

An active-war-zone enforcement policy concerns the environment to which a person is to be returned. It does not necessarily prohibit return to an entire…

On an application to set aside a default judgment, a real prospect of successfully defending the claim is distinct from an arguable defence. Procedural…

Under the linear-obstacle regime in the Electronic Communications Code in Schedule 2 to the Telecommunications Act 1984, the statutory right to install and…

A premature notice purporting to rescind a contract is not necessarily repudiatory. The court must consider the notice and all the circumstances objectively…

Permission to appeal from the Employment Appeal Tribunal should be granted only where the proposed ground identifies a specific, properly arguable error of law…

Section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980 requires the claimant to show that it is equitable to disapply the limitation period. The court must balance prejudice to…

Applications under the Hague Convention 1980 are ordinarily decided promptly on written evidence and oral submissions. Oral evidence is exceptional and should…

An appellate court reviewing a refusal to adjourn must decide whether the decision was fair. The question is one of law, not whether the first-instance…

Whether a contract has been made is distinct from how an admitted contract is construed. For formation, the court asks whether a reasonable person in the…

Employee-inventor compensation under section 40(1) of the Patents Act 1977 depends on the actual benefit obtained by the inventor’s actual employer. The…

Guidance on acceptable wind-farm noise does not impose an absolute limit or guarantee planning permission whenever its indicative levels are met. A planning…

Where an appellate order sets aside a lower-court judgment only in relation to one of several defendants, the other defendants remain bound by the lower order…

Leave for a parent to oppose an adoption order under section 47(5) requires a material change in circumstances and then a welfare-based exercise of discretion.…

Where a proposed reference to the Court of Justice may become unnecessary if a remitted issue disposes of the litigation, the court may adopt a twin-track…

For an individual voluntary arrangement (IVA), the creditors entitled to participate and bound by the arrangement are confined, by necessary implication from…

A proposed amendment must disclose a properly particularised case with a real prospect of success. A contracting party may give advance consent to future…

A local housing authority may assist a homelessness applicant to secure private accommodation while inquiries under Housing Act 1996, Part 7 are continuing.…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 r 31.6, standard disclosure does not extend to documents whose only relevance is a party’s credit as a witness. That…

An unlawful planning permission should normally be quashed so that the decision-making authority can reconsider and regularise the position lawfully. This…

A transfer direction under the Mental Health Act 2003, which seriously restricts liberty, may be made only when the statutory safeguards are scrupulously…

On an application concerning the scope of limited permission to appeal, the court should not conduct a proleptic appeal or determine factual arguments before…

The statutory costs scheme for election petitions governs the liability of parties and non-parties. The general High Court power to order a non-party to pay…

Article 8 proportionality in a police home search requires a fair balance between respect for the home and the prevention of crime. The reasons supporting the…

Similar fact evidence in civil proceedings requires a two-stage assessment. The first stage asks whether the evidence is potentially probative; its…

Permission for a second appeal is granted only where the appeal raises an important point of principle or practice, or there is another compelling reason for…

Knowledge for personal injury limitation purposes arises when a claimant knows of a significant injury and of a real possibility that it is attributable to the…

Financial information produced under compulsion in ancillary relief proceedings is generally confidential, but deliberately false information and documents…

Dishonesty in accessory liability is determined by the court according to the ordinary standards of honest behaviour. The defendant’s actual knowledge…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed challenge has no reasonable prospect of success. A trial judge’s evaluation of witness reliability…

An agency worker has no implied contract with an end user unless implication is necessary to give business reality to the relationship and create the…

In care proceedings, the general proposition favouring no order as to costs in children cases does not apply where a local authority raises very serious…

A pension assurance may be contractual where the objective circumstances show a binding commitment, even though the parties contemplated a later formal letter…

Where persecution is imposed because a political opinion is imputed to a claimant, asylum cannot be refused merely because the claimant would be willing to lie…

Under Civil Procedure Rules r 19.6, a representative action requires a class whose members can be determined to have the same interest at every stage of the…

Permission to appeal a discretionary residence decision requires more than disagreement with the first-instance judge. The applicant must show an error of law…

For indirect infringement under section 60(2) of the Patents Act 1977, the material intention is that of the ultimate user at the end of the supply chain. It…

In a finely balanced child-residence dispute, the Court of Appeal should not substitute its own assessment for that of the trial judge. The appellate question…

Permission to appeal should be refused under the Access to Justice Act 1999, section 55, where the proposed appeal raises no important point of principle or…

Recognition by UNHCR as a mandate refugee does not bind the Secretary of State or tribunal determining an asylum claim under the 1951 Convention Relating to…

A highway authority’s duty under Highways Act 1980, s 130, protects the public’s legal rights to use and enjoy highways. It does not create a private action…

A summary arrest under Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 section 24 is lawful where the arresting constable has the required reasonable suspicion and…

Where a tribunal has made a material error of law by failing to make findings on a material issue, remittal is normally appropriate if the case is…

For the purposes of section 423(1)(c) of the Insolvency Act 1986, value is assessed from the debtor’s perspective by comparing the consideration given with the…

In race discrimination proceedings, the obligation to sit with lay assessors depends on whether they can assist with the issues to be determined. It does not…

Under section 193(5) of the Housing Act 1996, the required information need only have been supplied before the applicant refuses the offer. It need not be…

The statutory power to appoint an independent member of a police authority belongs to the existing members collectively, rather than to the authority as a body…

In a claim concerning proposed publication of private information, the court must first determine whether the information attracts a reasonable expectation of…

In an appeal concerned only with costs, a standard rubric accompanying a draft reserved judgment does not by itself notify a litigant in person that the…

In an application by a conditionally discharged restricted patient for a restriction order to cease, the tribunal may require the applicant to show that…

The case-management power in the Competition Appeal Tribunal Rules to extend “any time limits” does not permit the Tribunal to extend the two-year period for…

An appellate court may strike out a family appeal for failure to comply with procedural rules or directions. For a placement-order appeal under the Family…

A statutory restriction preventing an immigration appeal from being pursued while the appellant remains in the United Kingdom concerns adjudicative, rather…

For collective enfranchisement under Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, “common parts” includes facilities that provide a shared benefit…

The sanctions for failing to protect an assured shorthold tenancy deposit do not arise merely because the landlord missed the 14-day deadline imposed by…

A judge may reject expert evidence where the circumstances justify doing so, but must give full and clear reasons. An appellate court should respect the trial…

A lump-sum employment compromise does not ordinarily contain an implied term requiring the employer to apportion the payment between taxable and non-taxable…

Reasons are adequate where, read as a whole, they make the decision intelligible and explain the findings reached. A tribunal which accepts a witness’s…

The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 contains no implied exemption allowing a foreign sovereign to avoid consultation about an…

For VAT purposes, the sale of a phone card may be a supply of a telecommunications service, rather than merely a supply of a right to services. A phone card…

In an asylum appeal, bail jumping is not a standalone refugee or risk category. The tribunal must assess the reason for the earlier detention and the…

An application for post-adoption contact opposed by adopters must be determined by treating the child’s welfare as paramount. The imposition of contact upon…

A parent ordered to allow For committal or an enforcement order under the Children Act 1989, the court must identify the order’s express obligation and…

In construing a contractual condition that an identified bypass had been opened to the public, effect must be given to the contract’s own definition of the…

Material non-disclosure in ancillary-relief proceedings does not invariably require the whole financial order to be set aside and the application reheard using…

For the purposes of lis pendens under Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001, lodging the originating document does not invariably make a court first seised. The…

A provision in a collective agreement expressly incorporated by general words into an employment contract is individually enforceable only if the particular…

A repairing covenant requiring work to be carried out properly and in a workmanlike manner is breached when replacement of a functioning kitchen window removes…

An assignment of copyright may be partial as to the period of subsistence even where the period ends on an uncertain future event. Section 90(2) of the…

Under the Access to Justice Act 1999 (Destination of Appeals) Order 2000, an appeal from a county court ordinarily lies to the High Court. The Court of Appeal…

A sophisticated commercial investor may be contractually bound by non-reliance and risk-allocation provisions in investment documentation. Such provisions can…

In child-contact proceedings, a court must decide on material evidence and submissions that all parties have had an equal opportunity to know and test. Written…

Where an employment contract permits summary termination by making a payment in lieu of notice but does not state the amount, the payment must be determined by…

Under section 15(1) of the Audit Commission Act 1998, “accounts to be audited” are not confined to high-level summaries in a statement of accounts. They…

Where a service contract is varied so that a finance provider pays the supplier, payment by the finance provider discharges the customer’s payment obligation…

On an application for an injunction to restrain a breach of planning control, the court must decide for itself whether relief is just, appropriate and…

Where an appeal about the meaning of allegedly defamatory words is resolved by agreement, the Court of Appeal may substitute agreed wording if it considers…

When deciding whether to adjourn an appeal, the court must weigh the applicant’s opportunity to obtain legal representation against the need for a fair and…

Where prohibited immoral use is by a subtenant, the tenant must act promptly once it has knowledge or reasonable grounds for suspicion. It must make…

Once a local authority has assessed a disabled person’s eligible needs and decided that arrangements are necessary, it has an absolute duty to provide suitable…

An appellate court should be slow to interfere with trial findings of fact, but may do so where a material finding has no evidential basis. A trial judge may…

In an internal relocation application, the court must determine the children’s welfare under section 1 of the Children Act 1989, giving proper weight to each…

In an appeal from an employment tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal cannot become a fact-finding tribunal to determine a new factual case that was not…

Where UK regulations require the MIB to compensate a UK resident injured abroad by an unidentified or uninsured vehicle, the statutory fiction that the…

Vicarious liability for an intentional tort depends on the closeness of the connection between the tort and the purposes for which the employee was employed.…

Where a distribution agreement requires regular, complete and accurate reports, the obligation may extend to the pricing and payment information needed to…

In financial relief after a long marriage, inherited wealth is a relevant but not determinative factor. The court must apply the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973…

Step 1 of the statutory dismissal procedure requires an employer to give a written statement setting out the circumstances leading it to contemplate dismissal.…

Comprehensive sickness insurance is an integral and substantive condition of self-sufficiency under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006.…

A restriction under section 91(14) of the Children Act 1989 is a drastic remedy. Repeated meritless applications are a usual reason for making such an order…

Vicarious liability requires a fact-sensitive two-stage enquiry: the relationship between the tortfeasor and the proposed defendant, and the connection between…

A complex commercial agreement must be construed according to the meaning it would convey to a reasonable person, having regard to its language, context and…

A single negligent failure to serve a claim form in time does not, without more, constitute an abuse of process. Although the service rules are strictly…

A prisoner lawfully recalled and found unsuitable for automatic release under section 255A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 must thereafter be dealt with under…

The extent of an expressly reserved right of way is determined from the conveyance's language read with the objective circumstances existing when the right was…

A contractual valuation mechanism must be construed in accordance with its language, structure and commercial purpose. A direction to determine fair market…

Permission to appeal is granted only where the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success or another compelling reason requires it to be heard. The…

Very special circumstances justifying inappropriate Green Belt development exist only where other considerations clearly outweigh the harm from…

A mistaken assertion that a contract has been terminated does not automatically amount to a repudiatory breach. The question is whether, viewed objectively and…

Guidance on referring a planning application back to committee after a resolution is a counsel of prudence, not a rigid rule. It must be applied with common…

In deportation cases involving a settled migrant who arrived in the host country as a child, an Article 8 assessment must be genuine and structured. The…

In ancillary relief proceedings, an appeal from a district judge’s order is available as of right under rules 8.1(1) and (2) of the Family Proceedings Rules…

Where employees face a residual workplace risk that is neither de minimis nor trivial, an employer must provide personal protective equipment complying with…

A finding of fraud requires proof of the particular dishonesty alleged. Where a party accused of fraud gives evidence, fairness ordinarily requires the…

Permission to appeal against a child-arrangements order should be refused where the proposed challenge identifies no viable ground with a real prospect of…

Where one joint and several debtor reaches an accord and satisfaction with the creditor, the creditor should expressly reserve its rights against co-debtors.…

An implied condition of satisfactory quality under Sale of Goods Act 1979, section 14(2), is assessed at delivery. It may require goods to have the durability…

A receiver may be appointed in support of a freezing injunction where the injunction alone gives inadequate protection because there is a measurable risk that…

Detention under paragraph 2(3) of Schedule 3 to the Immigration Act 1971 is lawful only where it complies with the Hardial Singh principles. A failure to…

The six-year limit for recovering unpaid council tax operates at the liability-order stage. Regulation 34(3) of the Council Tax (Administration and…

Where repayment of a loan is linked to the sale of property, but the agreement fixes no time for sale, a term may be implied requiring renovation and sale…

A patent claim must be construed through the skilled person’s understanding of its language and technical purpose. Where a claim requires ribs or like…

In proceedings under the 1980 Convention, where no defence within the strict limits of Articles 12 and 13 is asserted or established, a return order is…

Detention pending deportation is lawful only for a period that is reasonable in all the circumstances and only while there is a sufficient realistic prospect…

A judge hearing a case-management application should decide only what is necessary to manage the proceedings. The judge should not determine the legal merits…

For limitation in tort, actual damage occurs when negligence causes measurable financial loss, including diminution in the value of an existing asset. Where…

Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 gives the development plan statutory priority. It imposes a distinct duty from the obligation…

A grant of a right to enter land, construct a road and have it adopted as a highway maintainable at public expense carries an implied obligation on the grantor…

A suspended committal order under Part 71 is an order for imprisonment and must not be made routinely to secure a judgment debtor’s future attendance for…

A local authority must assess community-care needs and, once it has deliberately formulated a specific need, arrange services to meet it. The court should not…

In an FOB sale using GAFTA 49, a vessel is presented in readiness to load when loading is lawful and possible in normal fashion, without abnormal hindrance.…

On a periodic review of a police injury pension under the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006, the finality of earlier medical determinations extends to…

In an Article 14 challenge to differentiated pension arrangements, the court must assess whether the claimant and comparator are in truly analogous situations…

Apparent bias is assessed through the fair-minded and informed observer, who considers all the true circumstances rather than an objector’s assumptions. A…

In an arm’s-length property transaction, an oral agreement may support a constructive trust despite Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989…

At common law, legal advice privilege protects confidential communications made for legal advice only where the adviser is a qualified lawyer acting…

On an appeal under section 204 of the Housing Act 1996, the court must respect the local authority’s fact-finding role and intervene only for legal error or…

An Employment Appeal Tribunal’s 42-day appeal period must be observed. An extension is discretionary, but the applicant must provide a full and honest…

A judge is not required to recuse himself merely because he graduated from, or belongs to the alumni of, an organisation that is a party. The question is…

The disability equality duty under section 49A(1) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 applies to individual homelessness decisions, including initial…

An admission appeal panel must apply the School Admission Appeals Code’s two-stage process. At the first stage it reviews whether the admission arrangements…

“Other assistance” under section 23C(4)(c) of the Children Act 1989 includes the provision of accommodation. A local authority must therefore provide that…

Treaty rights under the Chicago Convention are not automatically suspended merely because a contracting state has lost effective control over part of its…

Permission to appeal to the Supreme Court should be refused where the proposed challenge concerns only whether a foreign court was first seized of an issue and…

A jurisdiction provision in an escrow or security agreement does not, merely because it is widely expressed, govern the forum for the underlying claim. Its…

Permission for a second appeal should ordinarily be granted only where there is an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling reason for…

Paragraphs 352A and 352D of the Immigration Rules provide family reunion routes for family members of a person granted asylum. The sponsor must be a primary…

Section 72 of the Arbitration Act 1996 protects only a person who takes no part at all in the arbitral proceedings. It does not preserve a separate court…

A European patent claim must be construed purposively and contextually by the skilled reader, using the description and drawings to balance fair protection…

In a renewed application concerning the meaning of words complained of in libel, the appellate question was whether the first-instance judge was right, not…

In employers’ liability insurance, “sustain injury” ordinarily refers to the injury being suffered or occurring during the policy period, not to the earlier…

Dishonest exaggeration of a personal injury claim does not, by itself, give the court power to strike out the entire claim where the claimant suffered a…

For Schedule 2 development, an EIA screening opinion must assess likely significant environmental effects by reference to the development’s nature, size and…

After expiry of a limitation period, the court may substitute the correct claimant under rule 19.5(3)(b) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 where the original…

A county court exercising its express jurisdiction under section 55A of the Family Law Act 1986 may determine parenthood by declaration, but has no general…

Article 6(1) jurisdiction over a co-defendant domiciled in another contracting state depends on a connection between the claims which makes joint determination…

A contractual right to terminate for a remediable material breach does not, without clear words, exclude the common law right to accept an irremediable…

Under Article 40 of the single-payment regulation, an adverse effect on production does not require an actual year-on-year fall. In a livestock case…

Fairness under rule 31(1) is a condition of admitting hearsay evidence, not merely a matter of the weight given to it afterwards. The assessment is…

An appeal proceeds only on the issues for which permission has been granted. Where the permitted challenge is conceded to have no prospect of success, the…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the tribunal’s findings disclose no arguable risk under Article 15C of the qualification directive. Findings that…

For a patent claim defined partly by the result to be achieved, sufficiency is assessed across the claim’s whole scope. The specification must enable the…

On an application for leave to oppose adoption, once a parent establishes a change of circumstances, the further welfare inquiry may require consideration of…

In care proceedings, a decision to remove children from their family must be based on a sufficiently reasoned welfare evaluation. The judgment should engage…

A professional relationship between a guardian and a solicitor who sits as a recorder does not automatically require recusal. Apparent bias is assessed case by…

The informed bystander test governs judicial recusal for apparent bias. The judge’s belief that a professional relationship did not affect the decision is not…

Under Article 13 of the Hague Convention of 1980, a child’s sufficiently mature objection to return establishes a discretionary exception rather than…

In determining whether limited indirect sibling contact promotes children’s welfare, the court must balance the potential benefit of wider family relationships…

A contracting authority may enforce a clearly published tender deadline against a bidder whose lateness resulted from its own lack of care. Equal treatment…

An order returning a prisoner to custody under section 116 of the Powers of the Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 is a fresh sentence imposed after a…

In a defended divorce suit under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, s.1(2)(b), the court’s primary focus is conduct before marital breakdown, but its inquiry is…

In equal pay proceedings, a statistical disparity between rates paid for work of comparable value does not, without more, establish that the difference is…

In a claim to a beneficial interest in property, a trial judge must resolve the purpose and use of payments and the parties’ shared intentions where those…

In a child-relocation application, the court must evaluate the child’s welfare in the light of the proposed move and the consequences of refusal. The effect of…

When exercising the wide and unfettered discretion under section 33 of the Limitation Act, a court must assess limitation without treating established…

Trade mark rights harmonised by Articles 5 and 7 of the Trade Mark Directive are not automatically insulated from EU free-movement rules. At summary judgment…

The court did not determine whether a specialist sub-sub-contractor owed a tortious duty of care for losses connected with construction defects or contribution…

Where related commercial agreements contain different jurisdiction clauses, their scope depends on a commercially minded construction of the agreements as a…

Where a supplier advises on a product choice involving materially different advantages and disadvantages, the advice must be balanced. On a negligent…

At the permission stage, an arguable question of law arose as to whether the presumption in favour of deportation in Immigration Rules paragraph 364 carries…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal a costs order, a possible denial of an opportunity to make submissions on costs, together with potentially…

A refusal to revoke a deportation order may generate an appeal, but the appeal may be conducted in-country only if the claim has not been validly certified as…

An application to adjourn ancillary relief proceedings pending foreign litigation concerning ownership of assets is a case-management decision. The court must…

Under Rule 52.13 of the Civil Procedure Rules, permission for a second appeal requires an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling…

An exclusive sportswear licence is construed objectively by asking whether goods are specifically intended for use on the field of play. The relevant intention…

In care proceedings, the judge is the decision-maker, not the expert. Where expert opinion is undisputed, it should be rejected only for sound and articulated…

A custodial sentence for contempt may reflect both the deliberate character of the breach and its practical obstruction of a court order. Concealing company…

Under the client money rules in CASS7, the statutory trust attaches when an investment firm receives client money, rather than only when it segregates that…

Article 27 of the Brussels Regulation requires the foreign proceedings to concern the same issue as the English proceedings before a stay can be justified.…

An agreement which directly shares a solicitor’s professional fees in breach of Solicitors’ Practice Rules 1990, Rule 7(1), is unlawful, void and…

Under CPR 19.5, post-limitation substitution requires the limitation period to have been current when proceedings began and the substitution to be necessary.…

Further submissions made after the final rejection of an asylum or human rights claim do not necessarily require a new, appealable immigration decision. Under…

Section 78 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 permits successive written claims for interest on the same VAT overpayment. A later claim may rely on a newly…

A foster child who has not been formally adopted is not a “child” or other family member qualified to succeed to a secure tenancy under sections 87 and 113 of…

The statutory burden of proof in a direct race discrimination claim shifts only where, on all the evidence, a reasonable employment tribunal could properly…

Extended passing-off protects goodwill in a clearly defined class of goods where the product name has acquired a distinctive public reputation and the claimant…

Membership of an enhanced-risk category under country guidance does not itself establish entitlement to asylum. The claimant must show a real and substantial…

A contractual warranty scheme may permit individual breaches within the same warranty category to combine into a fundamental breach, and individual fundamental…

Foreign insolvency proceedings include avoidance proceedings brought by an office-holder against third parties for the collective benefit of creditors. Such…

A local authority may impose lawful limits on the functions delegated to a committee. It cannot require the committee to decide a question by a special…

For calculating the cap on a penalty for an incorrect return, a binding settlement may establish the amount of tax payable even though the settlement creates a…

A local planning authority considering revocation or modification of planning permission must correctly identify the scope of its statutory power and evaluate…

The appeal was allowed. Planning permission for three wind turbines was quashed. The respondent was ordered to pay two thirds of the appellant’s High Court…

The appeal concerned whether potential liability to compensation is a relevant consideration when a public authority makes a planning decision under sections…

When a claimant seeks more time to serve a claim form, it is enough for the defendant to show that an extension might deprive it of a limitation defence. The…

In direct disability discrimination claims, the questions whether treatment was less favourable and whether it occurred on the prohibited ground may be…

A person breaches confidence by knowingly examining, copying, retaining or communicating information which another reasonably expects to remain private.…

A disclosure order under Part 8 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 may support information notices concerning recoverable property in the United Kingdom, even…

In national-security deportation appeals before SIAC, the Commission cannot give an absolute and irrevocable guarantee that material supplied by an appellant…

National planning guidance informs whether a core strategy is sound, but remains advisory. The planning authority and inspector are the primary judges of…

An EEA national with a permanent right of residence may be removed only on serious grounds of public policy or public security. A tribunal’s failure expressly…

An appeal from an employment tribunal lies on a question of law, not merely because a party disputes factual findings. A case-management decision refusing a…

An interim care order involves two distinct stages. The court must first find reasonable grounds for believing that the statutory care threshold is satisfied.…

On an application to amend an employment tribunal claim, the tribunal must assess the factual allegations already pleaded and still in issue. It must not treat…

An implied licence to use land for general recreation extends only to activities to which the occupier has impliedly assented. The test is assent, not mere…

A planning permission is a public document. It must be construed as a reasonable reader would understand it, using the permission and documents incorporated…

In environmental judicial review proceedings governed by Article 10a of the Council Directive 85/337/EEC, the domestic principles for protective costs orders…

For the purpose of Article 16 of Directive 2004/38/EC, a Union citizen has resided “legally” only when the residence complied with the conditions laid down by…

In age-discrimination claims, justification of a retirement rule must be assessed separately from justification of national legislation permitting age-based…

A non-derogating control order is an administrative act made exclusively by the Secretary of State. The court supervises its legality but does not make the…

A present-tense declaration that shares are held on trust may create an immediate trust even though it is subject to accounts being cleared. Where the…

Under the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988, employer-required expenditure is not deductible merely because the employment contract imposes it. The expense…

For inventive step, the person skilled in the art is not necessarily an invariant individual or team. The relevant art depends on the question being asked. In…

Where an appeal concerning immigration detention raises an asserted general rule for measuring the reasonable period of detention, the issue should be…

Where an undertaker fails to maintain apparatus in a street, a street authority’s power to execute emergency works under section 81(4) of the New Roads and…

A conveyance must be construed in its objective factual setting. A plan stated to be for identification does not ordinarily fix an exact private boundary, even…

Where a secure tenancy is held jointly, the death of one joint tenant ordinarily leaves the tenancy vested in the surviving joint tenant by survivorship. The…

Work at height must be avoided where it is reasonably practicable to perform the work safely otherwise. If it cannot be avoided, the employer must select…

In a disputed boundary case, a conveyance or partition deed which did not itself create the boundary may nevertheless form part of the relevant conveyancing…

In deciding whether a driver was negligent, the court applies the standard of the reasonably competent and prudent driver in the circumstances actually…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, permission should be granted where proposed grounds are viable and, if established, capable of affecting a…

In an Article 8 deportation appeal, a tribunal’s assessment of credibility, medical evidence, criminality and risk of reoffending is ordinarily a finding of…

Worker status in a multi-party agency arrangement cannot be determined from contractual documents alone. Where a claimant relies on an implied contract, the…

Under Article 6(1) of the Judgments Regulation, claims against a foreign defendant may be joined to claims against an English-domiciled anchor defendant where…

The Upper Tribunal is amenable to the High Court’s supervisory jurisdiction. Its designation as a superior court of record, and its statutory powers resembling…

Where goods are wrongfully detained but later returned, damages are confined to losses proved to have resulted from the detention. A claimant relying on a fall…

A loan of money does not require a formal contract or an agreed repayment date. Where money is advanced as a loan and no time for repayment is agreed, the…

Under rule 38.6 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, a claimant who discontinues ordinarily pays the defendant’s costs incurred before discontinuance. The…

Loss of profits from a commercial lease is recoverable where, viewed at the time of contracting, the landlord would reasonably have contemplated that breach of…

An appeal concerning a time-limited general civil restraint order becomes academic when the order has expired and the appeal can no longer achieve any useful…

Contractual reference to the sale of a property may, in its commercial context, include a transfer of shares in a company whose only asset is that property.…

Where a contract is conditional on the grant of a headlease and permits rescission if the headlease is not granted by a specified date, the rescission right…

Full testamentary capacity need not exist when a will is executed. A will is valid where the testator had testamentary capacity when giving sufficiently…

A solicitor who fails to advise on legal aid may be liable where the client establishes four matters: lack of prior awareness, absence of advice, a genuine…

An employer’s common-law duty is assessed against the workplace as it was actually used. A route may present a foreseeable risk even where an alternative route…

A vendor cannot rely on a contractual exclusion of the ordinary obligation to give good title where the vendor knew, or ought reasonably to have known, of a…

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

The supplied extract records the Court of Appeal’s disposition but contains no written reasoning. The appeal was allowed, the cross-appeal was dismissed…

In assessing whether a person facing serious harm from a persistent and dangerous former partner can obtain sufficient protection, the decision-maker must…

In financial relief proceedings, a voluntary division of matrimonial assets may provide the proper starting point for assessing fairness. If the division is…

Mental Capacity Act 2005 and its Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards provide an Article 5-compliant procedure for depriving an incapacitated adult of liberty.…

Where a care plan would permanently sever children from their parent, that step should be taken only after all reasonable avenues for rehabilitation have been…

A public authority entrusted by statute with the complete control, management and regulation of public land may have an implied right to recover possession in…

Where a Part 36 offer is accepted after the relevant period, the default costs consequences in Part 36.10(5) apply unless the court orders otherwise. The…

In deportation cases engaging Article 8, the governing question remains whether deportation would be disproportionate in all the circumstances. Expressions…

A purported tenancy is void as a lease where a restriction on determination leaves its maximum term uncertain. Entry into possession and payment of rent may…

Whether a person is a fit and proper person to remain on a professional register is assessed in the statutory context. For approved driving instructors, the…

A prospective defendant served with an application for permission under Senior Courts Act 1981, section 42(3), may become a party to that application and may…

Interlocking commercial agreements must be construed as a whole, with their language read in the context of the transaction’s overall scheme and commercial…

A solicitor’s professional indemnity insurer has no implied right to obtain client-confidential or privileged documents held by a regulator after intervention.…

Witness immunity is broad but not absolute. It protects evidence given in court and witness statements prepared for an anticipated trial, even where the trial…

Under section 21(2) of the Animal Health Act 1981, a Minister must assess the statutory conditions by reference to the particular area covered by the proposed…

Reynolds public-interest privilege can, in principle, protect a report of allegations made to the police; there is no categorical exclusion for ex parte…

A failure to maintain a rainwater downpipe, causing water to run onto adjoining premises, constitutes nuisance. The nuisance is actionable only if the claimant…

A highway authority which positively creates or maintains a road facility owes all road users a duty to exercise reasonable care. The duty protects careless as…

Where solicitors act for an insured litigant and the insurer pays litigation costs subject to an excess, the insured remains liable to the solicitors for…

Where an appeal raises unclear questions of EU law with broader significance, the Court of Appeal may refer those questions to the Court of Justice of the…

The family court should determine only live issues properly constituted between the parties and within its statutory role. Care proceedings are not a vehicle…

A tribunal’s power under section 87(1) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 extends only to directions needed to give effect to its decision.…

A statutory transfer of an undertaking must be read with any schedule expressly made part of the transfer scheme. Where the schedule provides that rights and…

A court order requiring vacant possession must be obeyed promptly and fully unless the court orders otherwise. Personal difficulties, including finding…

Under a double taxation agreement, residence for capital gains purposes means liability to taxation by reason of residence. It is not determined solely by the…

A public law challenge to termination of a caravan-site licence faces a high threshold. It must show that no reasonable council could have taken the decision…

Under Articles 15 and 37(1)(B) of the Iraqi Constitution, read with Article 46, the essence of protection against detention is an objective, independent and…

An appellate court may set aside a trial judge’s factual decision where the conclusion materially depends on a fallacious assumption, questionable evidence, or…

A prisoner released on a licence issued without lawful authority is unlawfully at large. The licence is an administrative act and does not become valid merely…

Summary judgment on a disputed factual case is appropriate only where the opposing account is fanciful or entirely without substance. Improbability, evidential…

In civil recovery proceedings, limitation depends on when the cause of action concerning the property actually sought accrued. The respondent bears the burden…

At the permission stage of judicial review, a claim proceeds if the proposed ground is genuinely arguable; the court need not resolve its merits. It was…

For mandatory refusal under paragraph 322(1A) of the Immigration Rules, a false representation requires dishonesty or deception. The dishonesty need not be…

A shipowner who validly withdraws a vessel from a time charterparty is not generally entitled to market-rate remuneration for the period during which cargo…

For an application under paragraph 289A of the Immigration Rules, domestic violence must reach a minimum level of seriousness assessed in context. It is not…

A local authority may be joined to a personal injury claim where the amount or form of the damages award will affect its liability for the claimant’s care and…

An offer of permanent accommodation expressly made under section 193(7) of the Housing Act 1996 cannot subsequently be treated as an offer under section…

On a forum non conveniens stay, the court must first identify the natural and appropriate foreign forum. The claimant must then show, by positive and cogent…

Emergency removal of a child should ordinarily be authorised by an emergency protection order under the Children Act 1989. Police protection under section 46…

Judicial review should not continue where a public authority has made irrevocable offers providing, in practical terms, all the relief sought. The alternative…

Ground 14A in Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988 is not confined to violence occurring while the parties were living together. For a social landlord, it may…

For the purposes of section 2(1) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, whether premises were designed or adapted for living in is assessed objectively by reference…

An appeal from an employment tribunal in this class of case lies only on a point of law. The appellate court does not re-try disputed facts or interfere with…

An appellate tribunal may overturn an immigration judge’s decision only where it identifies a material error of law. An unsatisfactory determination…

For limitation purposes under the Equal Pay Act 1970, a stable employment relationship is assessed in practical terms. It is not confined to successive…

Patent claims are construed by asking what the skilled person would have understood the patentee to mean, read in context. Purposive construction may allow a…

In a libel action, Supreme Court Act 1981, section 69 requires a three-stage inquiry: whether the trial requires prolonged examination of documents; whether…

Detention pending removal remains lawful only while the Hardial Singh requirements are met. The commencement of judicial review does not automatically…

A first-stage reconsideration should ordinarily be confined to the grounds on which it was ordered, which will normally reflect the grounds advanced in the…

The second-appeal criteria apply only where the Upper Tribunal decision is itself a decision on an appeal from the First-tier Tribunal under section 11 of the…

In assessing patent obviousness, the court must identify the skilled person and common general knowledge, the inventive concept, the differences from the prior…

Where the Immigration Act 1971 requires an application to be made in a prescribed form, that requirement is mandatory. A court cannot require indefinite leave…

Part 36 is a self-contained procedural code. Common-law rules of offer and acceptance do not apply unless the Rules clearly provide for them. A Part 36 offer…

A motorist’s duty in a developing road emergency is measured by the reasonably prudent motorist, not a counsel of perfection. The response required must be…

Prison authorities owe a duty to make reasonable arrangements for inmates’ dental care. The duty is not confined to emergencies and includes treatment…

Where a relationship of trust and confidence is coupled with a transaction that cannot reasonably be explained by ordinary motives, a presumption of undue…

On an application for permission to appeal in ancillary relief proceedings, a ground must be sufficiently arguable to warrant the Court of Appeal’s attention…

In a moot public-law appeal, the court may decline to determine the substantive merits where the proposed relief has no practical utility and would serve only…

On an appeal from a district judge to a circuit judge in ancillary relief proceedings, the court has a discretion under Rule 8.1(3)(b) to admit oral or fresh…

In a deportation appeal under Article 8, an error about the likely duration of exclusion is immaterial where the tribunal’s findings show that the relevant…

Immigration Rules have a quasi-legal status because they are the rules laid before Parliament under the Immigration Act 1971 and may found an appeal. They may…

An appellate court should not interfere with factual findings based substantially on witness assessment unless the findings are plainly wrong. In an…

Defamation proceedings may be summarily terminated where the evidence, taken at its highest, could not support a necessary factual finding by a properly…

For the Schedule 1 Part VI limitation in the Freedom of Information Act 2000, information held by the BBC for a genuine purpose of journalism is outside FOIA…

Where a charterparty makes free pratique relevant to the commencement of laytime, its express clearance machinery governs. If free pratique is not granted…

Undue influence is a question of fact. It may be proved by direct evidence of pressure or by evidence from which the court properly infers it; a rebuttable…

For a supplementary protection certificate involving a combination medicinal product, the meaning of product protected by a basic patent under the Council…

A person may be receiving full-time education for the purposes of section 70(3) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 even if the…

A public body may avoid a contractual severance obligation as irrationally generous only where no reasonable decision-maker could have agreed it. The body…

In an Article 8 deportation appeal, the seriousness of the individual offence is an essential part of the proportionality balance. Class A drug offences are…

Where temporary removal of a child would be to a country from which recovery may be impracticable, the welfare assessment must address both the risk of…

In child welfare proceedings, the court must balance the benefits of preserving a child’s relationship with a natural parent, and the harm of separation…

An arbitrator appointed under a contract to determine disputes personally provides services under a contract of employment for the purposes of the Employment…

A public authority must consciously consider the specific needs identified by section 71(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976 before making a decision materially…

Patent claims are construed purposively by asking what the skilled person would understand the patentee to mean, reading the claims with the description and…

For the period before the Gender Recognition Act 2004 came into force, pension entitlement had to be assessed under the law then in force. The Act could not…

Article 2 does not generally impose an operational obligation on a health trust towards voluntary hospital patients, even where there is a real and immediate…

Contractual warranties about accounts must be construed in their contractual and accounting context. Compliance with relevant accounting standards is strong…

The EU principle of equivalence requires a person refused subsidiary protection under the Qualification Directive to have the same recourse to an independent…

An appeal from a specialist tribunal is not a rehearing on fresh factual territory. The appellant bears the burden of showing that the decision below is wrong.…

In a clinical negligence claim, breach must be assessed by reference to the standard of the ordinary skilled practitioner, applying responsible professional…

On an appeal against findings of fact in a rapidly unfolding road accident, the appellate court must respect the trial judge’s advantage in seeing and hearing…

Under regulation 21(4) of the European Economic Area Regulations 2006, imperative grounds of public security require a very high threshold. There must be an…

A contractual obligation to perform services ordinarily includes the legal incident that they will be performed with reasonable skill and care, unless the…

In a common-law occupational-noise claim, an employer’s failure to make the noise assessments required by the applicable Code of Practice may amount to a…

A surrender by operation of law requires conduct by landlord and tenant which is unequivocally inconsistent with the continuance of the lease. The threshold is…

A measured duty of care owed by a land occupier in respect of a natural or man-made hazard is fact-sensitive. It arises when the occupier knows or ought to…

Under the Civil Procedure Rules, Part 3.1(3) permits a conditional case-management order requiring payment into court and prescribing a consequence for…

On an interim care order application, the court must address only issues that cannot await the final hearing. It must not determine the merits of issues being…

In an asylum appeal, a tribunal’s failure to mention a particular risk factor is not a material error where its findings, read fairly, resolve the issue and…

Under section 9 of the Education Act 1996, parental preference may be overridden where the preferred placement would impose an avoidable burden on public…

A later administrative decision cannot lawfully circumvent an immigration tribunal’s determination. Consistency must be assessed by considering the tribunal’s…

Restraint-order costs proceedings are civil proceedings governed by the Civil Procedure Rules, not criminal costs rules. The starting point is that costs…

Interim relief applications are summary proceedings intended to preserve the applicant’s position pending a full hearing. They do not permit the tribunal to…

An equitable set-off is available where the claim and cross-claim are so closely connected that it would be manifestly unjust to enforce the claim without…

An appellate court should not re-make a benefits decision where the tribunal’s factual findings are legally flawed and internally inconsistent. The proper…

A corporate owner may recover general damages when a non-profit earning vehicle is unavailable during repairs, even if no substitute is hired. The award must…

Under article 12(1)(b) of the Council Directive 92/43/EEC, deliberate disturbance must have a real adverse impact affecting the conservation status of the…

In appellate review of case-management and costs decisions, an agreement between the parties about how a hearing is to be used does not restrict the judge’s…

Article 32 of the Refugee Convention protects only a refugee granted leave to enter and remain, or another right of lawful residence, in the state concerned.…

Whether standard terms are incorporated is a question of contractual construction. The court must ask what reasonable people in the parties’ position, with the…

The single meaning rule used in defamation does not apply to malicious falsehood. Where reasonable readers may understand a publication in both damaging and…

A compliant multiple-entry visitor visa operates as advance leave to enter for authorised purposes. Where its holder arrives with deemed leave to enter but…

Extensions of time for appealing to the Employment Appeal Tribunal engage a wide discretion, but the generous 42-day period means that ignorance or…

In a highway-maintenance claim, whether a physical feature is a foreseeable danger is fact-sensitive and depends on its configuration and context. An unusual…

Administrative detention is a striking exception to the ordinary rule that imprisonment is lawful only under a court sentence. The power must be exercised with…

When determining whether deportation for serious offending is proportionate under article 8, a tribunal must respect the Secretary of State’s assessment of the…

In construing a commercial guarantee, the court must identify the meaning conveyed by the words read in their contractual and factual context. A term is not to…

After an adoption order, an application concerning contact with an adopted child falls under Children Act 1989, with the child’s welfare as the paramount…

For the English conflict-of-laws rule governing a foreign corporation’s contractual capacity, capacity has an internationalist meaning. It includes the legal…

A regulatory supervisory notice may require an authorised firm to establish a trust, but does not itself create one. A segregated account and an express…

An individual may have more than one usual residence for service of a claim form under rule 6.9 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998. Whether premises constitute…

In a joint-names purchase of a home by cohabitants, joint legal ownership starts with a presumption of joint beneficial ownership in equal shares. The person…

Where an express contractual disciplinary procedure is incorporated into an employment contract, breach of that procedure may attract ordinary contractual…

Section 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007 applies to a person convicted after the Act was passed but before the provision commenced, unless transitional provision…

Where overlapping European and human-rights challenges concern retrospective legislation, the Court of Appeal may, in appropriate case-management…

When substantive civil proceedings settle but costs remain disputed, the court should make a reasonable and proportionate assessment of the likely outcome…

Registered design rights, as choses in action, may be assigned in equity as well as at law. Under the Registered Designs Act 1949, s.2(2) imposes no particular…

In a statutory planning challenge, the meaning of a decision-maker’s reference to public cost must be assessed in context. It may refer accurately to the…

Permission was granted to appeal a refusal to recognise a Moscow divorce. The proposed appeal raised a novel and plainly arguable question concerning the…

Under Directive 89/104, use of an identical registered mark for identical goods in an advertising comparison falls within Article 5(1)(a) unless the use is…

Where parents make competing residence applications, each proposing primary care in a different country or continent, the court applies the ordinary welfare…

A party must obey an order requiring publication of a retraction where the party’s defence to the underlying libel claim has been struck out and the order has…

In family fact-finding proceedings, a judge is not required to choose between detailed findings of particular acts and no finding at all. A limited general…

For the statutory immunity for industrial action to be available, a union must comply with the ballot-result information duty in section 231 of the Trade Union…

Acceptance of a later notice under Part V of the Housing Act 1985 may, by mutual agreement, discharge rights and obligations arising from an earlier notice. A…

The immigration and mental-health regimes may operate in parallel. A person subject to hospital and restriction orders under the Mental Health Act 1983 may…

A proposed pleading based on an implied contractual term is arguable only if the term satisfies the rigorous test of necessity. The term must be necessary for…

In children proceedings, a court may revisit an earlier finding where genuinely new material was unavailable at the original hearing and the applicable…

Environmental impact assessment categories must be interpreted broadly and purposively, but their express wording and contextual limits remain controlling. A…

In a child-relocation application, welfare remains the paramount consideration. The guidance in Payne v Payne [2001] EWCA Civ 166 does not displace that…

For a determinate custodial sentence, the sentence imposed by the court is the full term of imprisonment. Statutory arrangements for early or conditional…

In ancillary relief proceedings, where a spouse occupying the final matrimonial home seeks its transfer rather than sale proceeds, the transfer should…

Under the domestic construction of section 151(8) of the Road Traffic Act 1988, an insurer required by section 151(4) to compensate an injured passenger may…

For environmental impact assessment purposes, cumulative effects are determined as a question of fact. A functional or operational link between developments is…

Article 8 proportionality requires a broad but targeted balance between the individual’s private or family life and the legitimate aim pursued by removal. In…

An agreement in principle is not binding where the parties intend that nothing should be binding until their agreement is reduced to writing and signed.…

An unappealed bankruptcy or possession order cannot be reopened indirectly through a later application for a stay or an extension of time. Permission to appeal…

An appellate court may adjourn an immigration appeal where its central issues concern matrimonial law and conflict of laws and require determination by a…

Where parties contemplate a written agreement, the court must determine objectively whether they intend to be bound only when the document is signed or intend…

Patent method claims should be construed by their natural meaning read in context. Apparatus embodiments do not automatically limit a distinct method claim. A…

In a negligence claim involving continued exposure to a serious workplace risk, proof that the risk was capable of reduction may place an evidential burden on…

A guarantee clause which prevents a guarantor from making any claim against a debtor in competition with, or in priority to, the bank may extend to claims…

For malicious prosecution, the claimant must establish both the absence of reasonable and probable cause and malice. Reasonable and probable cause requires an…

In deciding whether a misconduct dismissal was reasonable, an employment tribunal must examine whether the employer genuinely believed the employee guilty, had…

A transferee who obtains property on the basis of an assurance that it will be held for third-party beneficiaries may become a constructive trustee. The…

For the purposes of Part VI of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, a dispute with a third party about beneficial ownership is determined by the High Court in civil…

Under the child-objections defence in Article 13 of the Hague Convention, a young age does not by itself prevent a child’s objections from being considered.…

A taxable person loses the right to deduct input VAT under the Sixth Directive only where he knew, or should have known, that his purchase was connected with…

A case-management stay may be continued where the circumstances of multiple claims and the burden and expense imposed on defendants justify maintaining…

In a statutory appeal from a county court possession decision, the appellate court may entertain points of law but not challenges to factual findings or the…

Where future debts are subject to insolvency set-off in an administration, the discounting formula in Insolvency Rules 1986, r 2.105(2) operates only to…

Where solicitors advise that a client has a strong case for commencing proceedings instead of settling, and the client acts accordingly, the normal inference…

A conveyance and incorporated plan may define a boundary by measurable dimensions and identifiable reference points, even where a physical fence was placed on…

A tribunal assessing credibility must engage properly with corroborative documentary evidence. An official death certificate recording a date and cause…

An appellate court should not set aside an immigration decision for inadequate reasons unless the decision-maker’s thought process cannot be understood on a…

An important application for relief from sanctions should not ordinarily be disposed of on paper without considering whether a hearing is appropriate. An order…

In deceit, damages may include profits lost through the claimant’s alternative use of money fraudulently depleted. Discovery of the fraud does not itself…

A commercial contract requiring an airline to establish and operate a two-aircraft base was enforceable although it did not prescribe a minimum number of…

Köbler liability for a final national court's breach of Community law is exceptional. A claimant must establish a Community rule conferring individual rights…

After a derivative action is compromised, costs should be assessed by reference to the compromise and common ground, without turning a short costs application…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in a deprivation-of-liberty case, permission should be granted where an arguable legal issue raises an…

In a professional disciplinary appeal, the court may remit a panel’s decision for further reasons. Remittal is inappropriate where the fairness of the…

Article 6(1) guarantees every party to civil litigation an irreducible minimum right to sufficient information about the evidential case against it to permit…

In an ordinary civil claim, a court cannot order a closed material procedure without statutory authority or, arguably, the agreement of all parties. A…

A modification of a non-derogating control order may be challenged by judicial review, and the High Court has power to grant interim relief. Where an adequate…

A closed material procedure may be used in Employment Tribunal proceedings involving national security where legislation permits it and the procedure is…

Damages for false imprisonment must reflect the claimant’s particular circumstances. The court should make a global assessment rather than apply a rigid daily…

Indirect discrimination is concerned with the discriminatory effects or outcomes of a provision, criterion or practice, rather than the actor’s motive. A…

A planning inspector must correctly understand and apply the relevant development-plan policy. A court should not infer an error of construction merely because…

When a destitute person unlawfully present in the United Kingdom has an outstanding, arguable application for leave to remain on Convention grounds, a local…

Where an unusual permission application concerning child contact raises substantial fairness concerns, a single Lord Justice may consider that it should be…

An agreement to share professional costs may be binding where each party obtains a benefit, including avoiding possible liability for the whole of a disputed…

Under the Child Support Act 1991, the welfare duty applies to discretionary enforcement decisions, not formula-based assessments. It requires consideration of…

Under a CIP sale contract, the seller must arrange carriage on usual trade terms and obtain the insurance expressly required by the contract. A prior booking…

In multi-issue proceedings, the exclusive jurisdiction conferred by Article 22.2 of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 applies only where the proceedings…

The jurisdiction under section 37 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 may in principle support restraint, passport and Tipstaff orders designed to prevent a…

In a possession claim by a local authority against a trespasser where the right to possession is unqualified, the county court should ordinarily proceed…

For secure-tenancy protection under section 81 of the Housing Act 1985, the tenant must occupy the property as their only or principal home when the notice to…

Misfeasance in public office based on untargeted abuse requires subjective knowledge of, or reckless indifference to, both the illegality of the act and the…

Where legislation creates an assured periodic tenancy to replace a long residential tenancy, provisions fixing the initial rent do not generally govern later…

For indirect age discrimination, a neutral provision, criterion or practice must place the claimant’s age group at a particular disadvantage because of its…

Contempt for breach of a freezing order must be proved by the applicant to the criminal standard. Documentary evidence may establish a prima facie breach…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, a difficult point may proceed to a full hearing where it is sufficiently arguable and requires fuller…

Under Article 3.1 of the Rome Convention, an implied choice of law requires a real choice demonstrated with reasonable certainty and sufficient clarity from…

Article 15(c) protection is additional to protection under article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. A civilian need not show that he or she is…

Whether a person is in actual occupation for the purposes of an overriding interest under the Land Registration Act 2002 is a question of fact and degree.…

On a summary-judgment application, the court may determine the construction of a written contract where the relevant background facts are undisputed and there…

On an application for permission to appeal from the Upper Tribunal, the Court of Appeal may hear the matter only if the proposed appeal raises an important…

Market abuse under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 is assessed objectively. The statutory test does not generally require an actuating purpose to…

The insurance-intermediary VAT exemption must be interpreted consistently with EU VAT law. It is construed strictly, but not by choosing the narrowest possible…

Before endorsing a changed interim-care plan that removes children from a parent, the court must ensure that the proposal is formulated, supported by evidence…

Commercial break clauses are ordinarily incidents of the landlord and tenant relationship, so their benefit and burden pass with the term or reversion. A…

A breach of statutory duty does not ordinarily create a private damages action. The question depends on the true construction of the legislation and its…

The judgment proceeded on the accepted basis that an unincorporated trust is not a legal person and, absent a legal provision conferring standing, cannot sue…

For section 32(1)(b), the court must identify the loss that completed the negligence cause of action. A concealed charge does not postpone limitation as a…

An assent transferring land into joint names does not, without more, establish a beneficial gift. Its effect depends on the transferor’s true intention…

A trustee who holds property as nominee or bare trustee must comply with the trust instrument’s express directions. Where the instrument requires effect to be…

Professional disciplinary decisions must make clear why the practitioner has lost. In straightforward factual disputes, findings on specified charges may…

An appellate tribunal may identify an error in a price control and state what the control would have been if calculated correctly. It may direct the regulator…

Damages for a ruined holiday may include diminution in value, consequential financial loss, physical inconvenience, and distress and disappointment. Diminution…

When section 89(7) of Finance Act 1989 requires Case I profits for BLAGAB apportionment, it invokes the provisions applicable to a Case I computation, although…

An application for early discharge from imprisonment for civil contempt requires a legal judgment on all the circumstances, rather than an unfettered…

In deportation cases engaging Article 8, a tribunal must assess proportionately the impact on every affected family member. A policy concerning parents of…

A contractual power to cap commission is not unfettered where the scheme calculates an employee’s entitlement by reference to agreed targets and sales.…

A valid order requiring a judgment debtor to produce documents at a specified examination remains effective when the examination is adjourned, unless the order…

A court considering permanent separation through adoption must conduct a transparent welfare assessment. It must apply the statutory checklists, consider…

In a permanent-removal case, the court must decide on full and fairly tested evidence. An incomplete CAFCASS report is not automatically fatal because the…

In a child-welfare case, an appellate court should not interfere with a first-instance balancing exercise merely because the order causes severe short-term…

Whether words are fact or comment depends on their full context and subject matter. In a scientific controversy, an assertion that there is no evidence for a…

Costs following cross-appeals should be assessed by considering success in the round. Relevant matters include the number of issues decided, the time, effort…

When deciding whether to capitalise periodical payments, the court should first determine the payments that should continue in principle, including whether…

A trial judge is not required to address every argument or item of evidence. An appellate challenge based on alleged lack of objectivity requires a substantial…

A detention policy referring to those who are mentally ill must, in the context of the amended Mental Health Act 1983, be applied to a detainee with a…

A public decision-maker may reject post-hoc subgroup evidence, but it must explain why the particular analysis is unreliable. Generic weaknesses in post-hoc…

Commencing judicial review alongside private debt proceedings is not automatically an abuse of process. The court must assess the context, including the…

Court of Protection hearings are normally private, reflecting the personal autonomy and privacy of adults who lack capacity. An order permitting attendance or…

An informal, pre-acquisition arrangement may give rise to a Pallant v Morgan constructive trust even if it is not contractually enforceable or intended to have…

Where a public authority has been ordered to reconsider an application, it must reach its decision within a reasonable time. Prolonged and unexplained delay…

In deportation cases involving serious criminals, Article 8 proportionality requires more than a general reference to immigration control or the seriousness of…

For the purposes of Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, section 13, an appealable decision is identified by substance rather than its label. An Upper…

A gateway (b) defence against possession by a public authority permits only conventional judicial review. It does not require the county court to decide for…

A domicile of origin continues unless satisfactory evidence establishes the acquisition and continuance of a domicile of choice. The required intention is an…

Employment status is determined by assessing the relationship in the round. Mutuality of obligation is an essential feature of employment. Regular commission…

An application under section 39A of the Child Support Act 1991 is not an action to recover money within section 9 of the Limitation Act 1980. The available…

Once the reasonable-grounds threshold for an interim care order is met, the court must decide the child’s welfare. Continued removal from parental care is…

A company signs a formal statutory notice itself only by using the method of corporate execution prescribed by the applicable companies legislation. Under…

A contractual capability procedure may be invoked only where an inadequate standard of care results from lack of knowledge, lack of ability, or consistently…

Issues concerning fair comment arise only if the words complained of are defamatory or capable of bearing a defamatory meaning. Where that essential predicate…

A conditional fee agreement is not rendered unenforceable by every breach of prescribed requirements. Under the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990…

Liability for procuring a breach of contract requires an act which precedes the breach and has a causal connection with it. Knowledge of the contract need not…

An application engages the homelessness duties in Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996 when its substance gives a local housing authority reason to believe that the…

On an urgent interim application, the court may proceed on the basis that a child remains habitually resident in England where the child has lived here and has…

An employment tribunal may reject a health-and-safety unfair-dismissal claim where its primary factual findings support the conclusion that there was no…

On judicial review of a decision not to hold an oral hearing, the court considers whether the procedure was unfair or the decision unreasonable. It does not…

A reasonable domestic limitation period may be applied to claims enforcing directly effective Community-law rights. It must be no less favourable than the…

A solicitor’s retainer is defined by the instructions actually given, interpreted objectively against the factual background known to the parties. A solicitor…

In an application for disclosure of deleted electronic documents, the court must apply the factors in Civil Procedure Rules 1998, rule 31.7, and paragraph 2A…

Undue influence may vitiate consent even where the claimant made a conscious choice. In a relationship of trust and confidence, a person proposing a risky…

For a claimant who can pay hire charges, damages for a replacement vehicle are normally assessed by reference to spot hire rates for a broadly similar vehicle.…

In a child-contact application, a judge must evaluate evidence on both sides and give reasons addressing material factors bearing on the child’s welfare. The…

For a wasted costs order under the Senior Courts Act 1981, a weak claim, a less-than-even prospect of success, or ultimate failure is insufficient. The…

A binding domestic authority may prevent the Court of Appeal from allowing an appeal on the existing state of the law. That does not prevent the court from…

For industrial injuries benefit, personal injury caused by accident requires proof of a causative event or incident distinct from the injury. A sudden…

A person may be an employed person for the purposes of Article 1(a)(ii) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 despite not being in current employment. It is…

On an application for permission to appeal against refusal to strike out pleadings, the court must apply the proper pleading test: whether the pleading…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the proposed grounds disclose no real prospect of success. A transfer of legal title from joint names to one owner…

Under s 98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, an employment tribunal must objectively decide whether dismissal fell within the range of reasonable responses…

A composite transaction involving land may be divided into separate contracts without infringing section 2(1) of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions)…

Section 101 of the Finance Act 2002 restricted enhanced relief under section 48 of the Finance (No 2) Act 1997 for successive acquisitions of small films. It…

For the purposes of section 7 of the Race Relations Act 1976, the inquiry is fact-sensitive and requires consideration of both the work performed and the…

A public authority which already owes an employee a common-law duty of care may, in an appropriate case, be required to use a public-law discretion to fulfil…

Under the Criminal Justice Act 1988, a management receiver may be appointed where there is a good arguable case that property is realisable property, even…

Where a case is remitted after an error of law, it is ordinarily convenient and economical to return it to the same tribunal, unless there is a good reason to…

Section 113 of the Housing Grants (Construction and Regeneration) Act 1996 invalidates pay-when-paid clauses unless the employer is insolvent in a specified…

For an application to modify a definitive map to qualify under section 67(3) of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006, paragraph 1 of Schedule…

The power under section 4(3) of the Fisheries Act 1981 to levy sea fish and sea fish products landed in the United Kingdom ordinarily concerns fish brought to…

Under a loan agreement, contractual interest depends on the amount actually outstanding within the meaning of the agreement. Where legal-cost disbursements…

In child-arrangements enforcement, an appellate court may intervene where the trial judge’s chosen method of transferring residence is shown to be wrong. The…

A landlord’s duty to change a term of a letting under section 24D of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 arises only where the term makes it impossible or…

In construing a nationally negotiated employment agreement, the meaning of a category of post must be determined from its contractual context. A…

An informal family arrangement permitting occupation and farming without an express time limit does not, without more, create an irrevocable entitlement. For…

The reasonable care and skill of a supplier providing services abroad is ordinarily assessed by the prevailing local standards, rather than by United Kingdom…

In redundancy selection cases, an employment tribunal must assess whether the employer’s selection process was fairly designed and administered. It must not…

Permission to appeal and an extension of time should be refused where the proposed grounds have no real prospect of success. A foreign conviction, sentence and…

Under the social security appellate regime preceding the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, a refusal by a social security commissioner of permission…

An employer is vicariously liable for sexual abuse where the employment and the authority, power or intimacy it creates are so closely connected with the abuse…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal held that an appellate court must not substitute its own view for a tribunal’s…

A landlord’s contractual right to recover legal and surveying costs depends on the wording of the lease. A clause referring to costs connected with forfeiture…

A court need not resolve difficult common-law, statutory or Convention questions where an appeal can be disposed of on the facts. Assuming that a tenancy…

An occupier’s compliance with the common duty of care under section 2(2) of the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 is judged objectively. An occupier’s internal…

The Saunders v Vautier principle can apply to a pension trust, but only where all possible beneficiaries are identified, sui juris and together entitled to the…

A genuine redundancy situation does not prevent discrimination in how redundancy is implemented. The implementation may include the employer’s handling of…

On construction of a bailiff-enforcement contract, a clause preserving rights accrued before termination does not itself create an accrued right to fees. Where…

Where material issues remain unresolved at an issues resolution hearing, including contact, psychological treatment, expert evidence or the Guardian’s final…

Refusal of an adjournment may be an error of law where the tribunal fails to account for the case’s true complexity or relies on irrelevant considerations, and…

In a professional-negligence wrong transaction case, actual damage sufficient to complete the tort may arise when negligent advice causes a claimant to obtain…

Summary judgment should not be granted where a lender’s claim arising from a negligent valuation raises genuinely arguable questions about its own loss, an…

A general release is construed by ordinary contractual principles in its contractual matrix. The court must identify the subject matter at which the release…

A discretionary immigration decision may be unlawful where the decision-maker disregards a relevant policy. The consequences of a past unlawful failure to…

An appeal against a removal decision on human-rights grounds is not an appeal against a refusal of leave to remain. A tribunal determination that removal would…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the court need only decide whether the proposed grounds are reasonably arguable. It need not finally…

An implied contractual term is derived by construing the agreement in its relevant factual setting. The court cannot insert a term merely because it would be…

Where fresh evidence raises a contested allegation that a party deliberately misled the trial court, an appellate court should not set aside an established…

For limitation purposes, part payment is a freestanding mechanism under Limitation Act 1980 s.29(5), separate from acknowledgment. The historical…

The requirement of ten years’ continuous lawful residence under the Immigration Rules HC 395 bears its plain meaning. Lawful residence is exhaustively defined…

A consent order settling claims of which the parties were aware does not ordinarily bar a later nuisance claim based on a cause of action that had not accrued…

Adverse possession cannot extinguish a public right of way over a highway. The Limitation Act 1980 extinguishes the title of a person to land after the…

An express contractual indemnity is not inherently personal or unassignable. Its assignability depends on the true construction of the contract. A business…

A later claim is not an abuse of process merely because it could have been raised in earlier proceedings. The court must make a broad, merits-based assessment…

Laches and estoppel by acquiescence are distinct. Mere undue delay bars equitable relief but does not extinguish the legal right or prevent common-law damages.…

An adverse inference from a failure to call a relevant witness must remain within the issues fairly raised by the pleadings and evidence. It cannot, without…

Section 27 of the Trustee Act 1925 protects trustees against claims of which they had not had notice when property was distributed. It does not protect…

For time-bar purposes under Race Relations Act 1976, separate discriminatory incidents form an act extending over a period only where they are linked as part…

Constructive knowledge under section 14(3) of the Limitation Act 1980 is assessed mainly objectively in all the circumstances. Significant injury creates a…

A person who owns only the beneficial interest in shares cannot make an effective gift of that interest merely by handing over a stock transfer form signed in…

An indemnity for a party’s own negligence must be found in the language of the relevant agreement, construed with the contractual scheme as a whole. General…

In a hybrid occupational pension scheme, whether a benefit is a money purchase benefit depends on the statutory definition and the scheme construed as a whole.…

Once assurance, reliance and detriment establish a proprietary estoppel equity, the court must satisfy it proportionately to the claimant’s expectation and…

A receiver appointed over another person’s assets does not thereby acquire title to them or authority to sue in the receiver’s own name, or in the owner’s…

An oral agreement for the sale or other disposition of an interest in land is void under Law of Property Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1989, section 2, if not…

A human rights claim need not qualify as a fresh claim under paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules before a person may bring an in-country appeal against…

A costs decision by a judge who has heard the case and considered its detail is an exercise of discretion. The Court of Appeal should intervene only where the…

On an application for interim relief in a protected-disclosure unfair-dismissal claim, an employment tribunal may decide the application on written submissions…

A draft judgment and submissions made in response to it remain confidential until hand-down. The draft may ordinarily be corrected, but reopening substantive…

Under Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, civil recovery is independent of criminal prosecution. Evidence excluded from a criminal trial because it was…

Article 6 is not engaged by a school-exclusion appeal unless the pupil has an arguable domestic-law right which falls within its autonomous concept of a civil…

Under regulation 20(2)(a) of the Electricity Supply Regulations 1988, compliance is not determined by fence height alone. Surrounding features may require…

A foreign court-appointed receiver who submits to the jurisdiction may be ordered to pay the opposing parties’ costs. Uncertainty about whether payment…

An interim care order separating a newborn child from a parent requires evidence of a very high level of immediate risk to the child’s safety. The potential…

In judicial review of a regulatory decision, a public authority may rely on a departmental impact assessment if it distils the salient facts that give shape…

A receivership obtained in securities-fraud proceedings is not a foreign insolvency proceeding merely because a court-appointed receiver may later seek a…

An adjudicator’s decision provides an interim resolution and ordinarily must be enforced despite errors of fact, law or procedure. Enforcement may be refused…

The practical difference between the rule 353 test of a realistic prospect of success and certification of a claim as clearly unfounded under section 94(2) of…

An asylum application must be decided within a reasonable time. The standard is flexible, but prolonged unexplained administrative inaction may be unlawful.…

A passenger’s failure to wear a seat belt warrants a reduction for contributory negligence only where the defendant proves that wearing it would probably have…

In a winding-up petition based on an admitted debt, a genuine and serious cross-claim which is likely to exceed the petition debt will normally justify staying…

Permission to bring a second appeal should be granted where the proposed grounds have realistic prospects of success and raise important issues of general…

When a domestic regulator assists an overseas regulator, it may rely on the information supplied and need not verify the foreign regulator’s allegations…

Whether an employer has committed a repudiatory breach for the purpose of constructive dismissal is determined objectively under ordinary contractual…

For capital gains tax, the time of a disposal made under a conditional contract is the time when the condition is satisfied. The connection between the parties…

A tenancy deposit under the Housing Act 2004 requires a transfer of money or property by the tenant. A deferred part of the price payable to a former owner…

A public vehicular highway is not established merely because land resembles an estate road, has been improved, or has been described in planning material as an…

A company’s “own name” for the Community trade mark defence may include an established trading name as well as its corporate name. A newly adopted name which…

In contested children proceedings, the court must make orders within the statutory forms authorised by the Children Act 1989. It has no free-standing…

Permission to appeal may be granted where the lower court’s limitation decision may have failed to address separate causes of action or a material argument on…

A solicitor retained to conduct litigation to its conclusion may terminate the retainer on reasonable notice for good reason. Good reason is a fact-sensitive…

In financial remedy proceedings, an appellate court should intervene in a discretionary order only for an error of principle or a result outside the judge’s…

Early-replacement charges may legitimately protect sunk installation costs, but they become abusive where their actual or likely foreclosure effect is…

Restitution under the Woolwich principle extends to tax unlawfully exacted through compulsory self-assessment. A formal demand is unnecessary. Community law…

A parent’s dissatisfaction with a guardian ad litem’s report or conduct is ordinarily addressed in the underlying family proceedings, including by…

A court has discretion to hear an appeal that has become wholly academic, but that discretion must be exercised sparingly and cautiously. The party seeking to…

When making an interim child-contact order, the court must apply the welfare checklist in the Children Act 1989 to the evidence available. It must give proper…

In a construction subcontract, a valuation clause referring to work properly completed does not necessarily require every component to be valued by physical…

A rebuttable policy presumption favouring detention pending deportation is lawful if it respects the statutory purpose, the limitations on detention and…

A charterparty referring collectively to alternative questionnaire forms does not thereby incorporate each form. A reference to a paragraph of another standard…

Under section 234A(3)(b) of the Trade Union Labour Relations Consolidation Act 1992, one notice may cover both continuous and discontinuous industrial action.…

Where a medical diagnosis may affect credibility in an asylum appeal, the tribunal must clearly state whether it accepts the diagnosis and, if so, its effect…

A court should not summarily dismiss a claim based on an alleged oral agreement where material questions of fact require oral evidence. Payment of the…

Permission to appeal should be granted where the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success, even though the appellant’s prospects are not necessarily high…

An invention is obvious where the difference from the prior art is a technically motivated step which the skilled person would expect to work without real or…

Foreign law is proved as fact. A defendant relying on a foreign limitation rule must establish that the relevant foreign court would apply it to bar the claim.…

On an application under section 38(6) of the Children Act 1989 by the Official Solicitor to instruct an expert whose evidence is relevant to an incapacitated…

When deciding whether to reopen a fact-finding hearing, the court must exercise a discretionary balance. It may look ahead and assess the realistic benefit of…

Where a constructive trust arises from a director’s pre-existing fiduciary relationship with a company, it is a type 1 constructive trust. The ordinary…

In a negligence claim, factual causation is only the first stage. The court must also decide how far, in fairness, the defendant should be held responsible for…

Published administrative guidance can create a lawful public-law assurance. Where a taxpayer falls within a specified IR20 circumstance, HMRC must apply the…

Under section 8(3) of the Coroners Act 1988, a coroner must summon a jury where material before him provides a reason to suspect poisoning or circumstances…

Article 8 proportionality requires a fact-sensitive balance between the impact of removal on family life and the public interest in immigration control.…

Work done under a court order to obtain an expert valuation that is necessary to work out and complete the relief ordered in litigation is contentious business…

A statutory tribunal has implied powers to regulate its procedure and make administrative arrangements incidental to its functions, unless legislation provides…

The without prejudice rule protects communications made in genuine settlement negotiations, including after a settlement has been concluded. The protection is…

Indirect discrimination under Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, regulation 3(1)(b), requires an identifiable group sharing the…

A highway authority’s duty under section 41(1) of the Highways Act 1980 requires the highway to be reasonably passable for ordinary traffic without danger…

When a party seeks to amend its pleadings after evidence and argument have concluded, the court must consider the overall consequences of granting or refusing…

A person subject to a civil proceedings order must obtain leave under section 42(3) of the Senior Courts Act 1981 before applying for permission to bring…

Section 27 of the Hire Purchase Act 1964 protects a good-faith private purchaser where a motor vehicle is disposed of by a debtor during the relevant…

A promise in a newbuilding bareboat charter that a vessel will be constructed in accordance with a building contract and its specifications is satisfied if the…

Indirect sex discrimination in a social-security scheme is justified under article 14 ECHR where it pursues a legitimate social-policy aim and bears a…

A local housing authority must keep its decision to recover possession under review throughout the proceedings. It must consider material facts that emerge…

In professional disciplinary proceedings, a finding of misconduct does not itself determine present fitness to practise. The tribunal must make a separate…

An appellate court should respect a trial judge’s fact-finding and welfare assessment unless an error of fact or law is shown or the decision falls outside the…

An unqualified communication confirming a purchase may objectively accept the whole offer, including incorporated governing-law and arbitration clauses. An…

A minister’s assessment that disclosure would endanger national security receives very substantial weight, but the court retains the ultimate decision on…

Planning permission for a caravan site must be read with its conditions and in the statutory and policy context in which it operates. A condition is not void…

A substantial pay disparity between predominantly female and predominantly male groups performing work of equal value is indirectly discriminatory where…

Permission to appeal should be granted only where the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success and raises a question of law. An appellate court cannot…

An undefined word in a statute which has an ordinary meaning must be construed in its statutory context. The court may begin with its natural, relatively wide…

The Bills of Sale Act 1878 and Bills of Sale Act 1882 apply to individuals, not incorporated companies. A contractual right to take possession of goods as…

Removal of an asylum seeker to another EU or ECHR member state under the Dublin II Regulation is impermissible where substantial grounds establish a real risk…

For leave to apply for discharge or variation of a special guardianship order, section 14D(5) of the Children Act 1989 sets a threshold, not the whole…

Where an immigration tribunal has lawfully found that removal will not disproportionately interfere with the applicant’s or children’s Article 8 rights, the…

A party seeking taxation of a solicitor’s bill must make an actual application within the statutory time limit. Ongoing litigation about the right to taxation…

In care proceedings, whether a child should give oral evidence and face cross-examination is a discretionary case-management decision. The court must balance…

In judicial review, a court should ordinarily declare a fundamentally flawed charging decision unlawful. A later offer to review the decision does not cure the…

Expert evidence, including a joint statement, remains evidence for the trial judge to evaluate with the whole evidential picture. A judge may reject competing…

A costs judge assessing costs on the standard basis must give effect to the costs order and cannot vary or rescind it. The judge may nevertheless consider all…

A consent order awarding costs on the standard basis prevents a costs judge from substituting the fixed-cost regime applicable to the small claims track. The…

Permission to appeal in a relocation case may be granted only if the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success or there is another compelling reason for…

For an invention consisting of an isolated gene sequence or encoded protein, industrial applicability requires more than proof that the structure can be made…

A serious error in understanding a parent's position does not invariably require a child-arrangements order to be set aside. An appellate court may uphold the…

In assessing whether an employer breached its duty of care in relation to vibration exposure, the question is what a reasonable employer in the relevant…

In an Article 8 removal case, proportionality is not determined by asking whether there are “insurmountable obstacles” to family life continuing in the country…

Separate representation for a child should be ordered only where the child wishes to give instructions conflicting with those of the Children’s Guardian and…

In an application for permission to bring a second appeal in ancillary-relief proceedings, the court identified an important and arguable question concerning…

In a costs appeal, the general rule remains that the unsuccessful party pays the successful party. A claimant who recovers damages under every head is…

A preliminary ruling should be set aside where the issue was unsatisfactorily framed, answered in terms for which neither party contended, or requires full…

A second claim is not automatically an abuse of process because it could and should have been advanced in earlier proceedings. The court must make a broad…

A driver approaching a junction is not subject to an absolute prohibition on overtaking. Under Highway Code rules 142 and 143, the question is whether the…

A claimant seeking to sue a foreign state in England must establish both a service-out gateway and a good arguable case that the state is not immune on the…

Under section 64 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, a magistrates’ court has a broad discretion over both liability for costs and their amount. The provision…

A bank relying on the money-laundering provisions to refuse a customer’s payment instruction must prove the relevant suspicion if challenged. The statutory…

Whether mooring a vessel gives rise to adverse possession of a tidal river bed or foreshore is fact-sensitive. The court should determine the actual facts and…

An appellate court should not interfere with a discretionary family-law decision unless the judge was plainly wrong or improperly conducted the balancing…

After mixed appellate success, costs may be apportioned by reference to the issues on which each party succeeded or failed and to the practical outcome of the…

An appeal against conditions on a solicitor’s practising certificate is a rehearing, although the appellate court should have regard to the regulator’s…

In an Article 8 deportation appeal, the likely duration of exclusion is a relevant factor in the proportionality assessment. A tribunal need not refer…

Fresh evidence that could have been placed before the lower court is not admissible on an appeal. Permission to appeal should be granted where a proposed…

A wasted costs application against an opposing representative is not governed by an inflexible summary procedure. The EAT has discretion under Rule 34C, but…

A mechanical defect should be specifically pleaded in a negligence claim. Broad allegations of unsafe equipment or systems require particularisation. Reliance…

An appeal on a point of law following reconsideration by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal must generally arise from that tribunal’s decision and remain…

Community law does not impose an absolute prohibition on retrospective planning permission for unauthorised EIA development. Regularisation may be permitted in…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, a jurisdictional question is arguable where the lower court adopted one possible construction of Article…

A commercial contract giving one party discretion over a matter affecting parties with different interests is likely to contain an implied obligation against…

An appeal against a conclusion or amendment in a closure notice is confined to the subject matter of the enquiry and the conclusions closing it. It is not…

An agency worker becomes an employee of an end-user only where it is necessary to imply a contract of employment to give business reality to the relationship.…

For a payment to be disregarded under paragraph 15(5A)(e) of the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987, the agreement or court order under which it is…

On a late application to amend a defence to allege fraud, the court must ask whether refusal creates a substantial risk of injustice through an incorrect…

A contractual notice intended to terminate the parties’ obligations takes immediate effect when served, unless the agreement provides otherwise. It is not…

For the purposes of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, a building permitted for one use may undergo a change of use to a single dwelling house even if it…

On a transfer of an undertaking, contractual terms incorporated into an employee’s contract by reference to collective agreements are transferred to the…

A tenancy is not surrendered merely because the tenant is absent, has failed to pay rent, or has removed some possessions. Surrender requires a proved act by…

A tribunal may permit the withdrawal of a concession where there is good reason in all the circumstances and the opposing party can fairly meet the altered…

On expiry of a fixed-term tenancy, the law presumes a tenancy at will. That presumption is displaced only by evidence of a different contractual arrangement…

In a quasi-partnership company, the parties’ mutual rights and obligations depend on the particular arrangements by which their joint venture was established…

A committal order must state with complete precision the conduct required or forbidden. Ambiguity prevents proof of contempt. Where an unusual order binds…

Rateable value is the hypothetical annual rent of the hereditament. Available valuation methods are different routes to the same figure. A tribunal may decide…

On an interim application to vary a restraining order pending an appeal, the court must balance the practical need for works to proceed against their likely…

Contractual damages are assessed by reference to the breach that caused the loss. The duty to mitigate arises only after breach; a party in breach cannot argue…

Permission for a second appeal may be granted where a proposed ground is properly arguable and raises a question of general importance, even though the court…

For article 14 purposes, welfare benefits fall within the ambit of the right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions. The relevant comparison may be between…

Where a dispute pits one person’s privacy against another’s fair-trial rights in divorce proceedings, the balance under Article 8(2) may require a trial rather…

Permission to appeal may be granted where a substantial and genuinely arguable point remains undecided, particularly where it concerns a common form of…

A party must ordinarily set out in its statements of case the factual case it intends to advance at trial. This requirement enables each side to know and…

In an export-refund scheme, ‘the beneficiary’ of refunds unduly received is identified by substance and fact. It can include a parent company that participated…

Permission to appeal will ordinarily be refused where the dispute has become academic, particularly where the underlying industrial dispute has settled and the…

Permission for a second appeal requires exceptional circumstances and a compelling reason. Where there is no point of principle of general importance, a clear…

Summary dismissal for gross misconduct is justified where conduct so undermines the trust and confidence inherent in the employment contract that the employer…

Adult children may retain family life with parents for the purposes of article 8 even where full dependency is absent. The existence of family life must be…

Deportation and non-criminal removal engage the same Article 8 proportionality framework. Each requires a careful, informed and fact-sensitive evaluation.…

Article 8 requires a fact-sensitive proportionality assessment when a foreign national faces deportation or administrative removal. A settled migrant who…

In an appeal concerning child contact, a judge exercising discretion must address current welfare evidence, including professional and guardian…

A renewed application for permission to appeal may succeed where a later Supreme Court decision provides apparently compelling support that the case below…

In child-welfare proceedings, the Court of Appeal will not interfere with a residence decision made in the trial judge’s discretion where the judge acted on…

A specialist tribunal conducting a statutory judicial review applies the ordinary, flexible principles of judicial review. Its expertise improves its…

A clean-break order should normally end one former spouse’s use of the other’s property as security for borrowing. Where exceptional circumstances justify…

Service-charge provisions are construed restrictively. General wording will not normally make tenants liable for a charge unless the lease clearly includes it.…

A court assessing the threshold for a care order must determine whether, when protective arrangements began, there was a real possibility of significant future…

Where a written decision contains an error or omission but the decision-maker’s true intention is clear from the decision read as a whole, the reviewing court…

When a party reasonably settles a claim arising from another party’s breach, the recoverable settlement need only fall within the range of reasonable outcomes.…

A caterer ordinarily owes no general duty to warn customers that food contains eggs merely because some people have egg allergies. The scope of the duty…

Article 6 may require legal representation in disciplinary proceedings even where a later independent authority decides whether the person is barred from…

The public-policy exception to recognition of another Member State’s judgment is narrow. Refusal under article 34(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001…

Appellate courts should respect case-management decisions on adjournments unless no reasonable judge could have made them. An inadequate medical note, a…

On an application for permission to appeal in care proceedings, the Court of Appeal does not rehear the evidence or substitute its own view of the facts. It…

At the permission stage, an appeal may proceed where it is arguable that a factual conclusion was perverse, even though such appellate intervention is rare. A…

Contributory negligence requires an identifiable act or omission that caused or contributed to the accident. A pedestrian standing in a designated pedestrian…

Permission to appeal against a costs order should be refused unless the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success. The Court of Appeal will interfere with…

An LEA must arrange the special educational provision specified in a child’s statement under section 324(5) of the Education Act 1996. The duty is mandatory.…

In ancillary relief proceedings, misconduct is a statutory factor but not a punitive device. Its relevance lies in the consequences for the other spouse and…

Fresh evidence on appeal may be refused where it arises late, was not raised below, is untested or of doubtful relevance, and is unnecessary to the proposed…

A police driver owes a suspect the same duty as any other driver: to exercise reasonable skill and care in all the circumstances. An officer may use a vehicle…

Article 49 protects genuine temporary movement of an undertaking’s workers from the Member State of establishment to a host State. It does not confer a general…

Permission to appeal may be granted only where the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success or another compelling reason for it to be heard. On a renewed…

An appellate court may interfere with a discretionary child-contact order where the lower court proceeded on a material misapprehension of fact or relied on an…

Damages for trespass are flexible and may be assessed by the user principle: the court considers the benefit obtained from the defendant’s use of the land…