Court of Appeal (Civil Division) judgments, 2011

In a professional-negligence claim, a pleaded case that solicitors failed to advise cannot ordinarily be converted at trial into a case that they gave…

Under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, s 2(2), breach depends on whether a feature created a foreseeable risk of injury and whether it was reasonable to…

A Pallant v Morgan equity may arise from a pre-acquisition understanding under which one party acquires property and the other is to obtain an interest. It…

A servient owner may restrain excessive use of an easement, and in rare cases may obstruct the whole easement where lawful and unlawful use cannot be…

A party does not permanently lose its statutory or contractual right to adjudicate a construction dispute merely because an earlier adjudication was allowed to…

A solicitor’s duty is governed by the retainer and the standard of the reasonably competent practitioner, but its content is fact-sensitive. Where an…

Where an appeal has established that the appellant was the successful party, the costs of the appeal should ordinarily be determined without awaiting possible…

An ombudsman scheme funded by participating institutions is not thereby insufficiently independent. The question is whether a fair-minded and informed observer…

For a business-tenancy claim under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, the substance of the arrangements is decisive. An operator who runs the owner’s existing…

An appellate court should assume, unless the judgment demonstrates otherwise, that an experienced trial judge knew how to perform the judicial function and…

In adoption proceedings, the statutory question is whether the child's welfare throughout life requires adoption. That word expresses the Convention necessity…

Where a possession claim raises substantial factual disputes and no clear binding authority resolves the legal issue, an appellate court should generally allow…

A public authority may rely as of right on a new exception to disclosure of environmental information during proceedings before the Information Commissioner or…

Where an employee continues working for the original employer after a proposed transfer to a new company fails, the court may find that the original employer…

For a Norwich Pharmacal application supporting foreign proceedings, necessity is assessed at the permission stage by reference to the particular circumstances…

Rule 61(2) of the Competition Appeal Tribunal Rules 2003 gives a broad, free-standing power to direct the suspension of a statutory time limit. The power is…

An assessment requested by a third party under section 71 of the Solicitors Act 1974 remains an assessment between solicitor and client. The costs judge may…

Beneficial ownership may pass under a repo or stock loan where the parties intend a proprietary transfer and the agreement makes title conditional on payment.…

A passenger’s participation in a criminal enterprise does not bar a negligence claim where the criminal activity merely provides the occasion for the accident.…

A transfer of land must be construed objectively, by reading the instrument as a whole against the relevant factual background. Where an attached plan defines…

A mental health tribunal cannot conditionally discharge a restricted patient on conditions whose inevitable effect is a continuing deprivation of liberty. The…

The domestic VAT finance exemption must be interpreted to give effect to the whole of the corresponding European Union provision, including its exclusion for…

When a court must decide whether a person was a child for the purposes of the Children Act 1989, age is an objective precedent fact. The court must determine…

The jurisdiction of an employment tribunal under the Equal Pay Act 1970 depends on a contravention of a contractual term modified or included by an equality…

A foreign corporation’s claim to recover property or compensation for fraud is a civil claim, even where it is state-owned or acts at a foreign government’s…

A Norwich Pharmacal order may be granted where an applicant shows arguable wrongdoing, the respondent is mixed up in it, the applicant intends to seek redress…

A minister’s spiritual role does not create a general presumption that the parties lacked an intention to create legal relations. The issue is objective and…

Fees paid to a partnership under an investment-management agreement are trading receipts, even where partners invest in the managed fund and later receive…

A public authority’s statutory due regard duty requires a conscious, substantive and informed evaluation of relevant disability-equality needs before and when…

Adverse possession requires factual possession, an intention to possess, and possession without the paper owner’s consent. Factual possession is assessed by…

Administration under Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 1986 is not an insolvency procedure instituted with a view to liquidating the transferor’s assets.…

An arrangement under which a child is accommodated with parental consent may involve restrictions on liberty, but parental consent cannot authorise a…

Where legislation provides that an appeal period begins when a determination is sent, the period does not automatically begin only on actual receipt. A…

The public sector equality duty requires informed consideration of the statutory equality objectives throughout decision-making. Compliance is assessed in…

When a Part 36 offer is made and accepted before proceedings begin, the claimant may recover costs incurred in contemplation of proceedings which would…

A judge should not decide an appeal on a materially different legal basis from that argued without giving the parties notice and an opportunity to make…

Where proceedings commenced in the County Court are transferred to the High Court, they remain one continuous and unified set of proceedings. A contempt…

An appellate court will only exceptionally permit an appeal that is academic between the parties. It must be satisfied that the appeal raises a point of…

Detention pending deportation is lawful only for a period which is reasonable in all the circumstances. The Secretary of State must act with reasonable…

Compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2001 is determined by the Scheme rather than common law rules. Authorities concerning analogous…

For exclusion under article 1(F)(c) of the Refugee Convention, terrorism does not require an international dimension. The relevant inquiry is whether serious…

A history of entry clearances does not create a substantive legitimate expectation that the Home Secretary will refrain from exercising her personal…

A public authority which chooses to consult must act fairly when selecting consultees, as well as in determining the consultation’s subject matter, timing and…

For a discovery assessment under section 29 of the Taxes Management Act 1970, the assessing officer must discover an insufficiency of tax. The officer need not…

In a chain collision, a trial judge may infer causation from findings that a vehicle was travelling too close and made an unnecessary emergency stop, even…

In marine insurance, breach of an express warranty automatically discharges the insurer from liability arising after the breach under Marine Insurance Act…

A contractual agreement conferring jurisdiction on the English courts will ordinarily make England the proper forum, even where proceedings have begun abroad…

An excess “top and drop” policy which continues as the underlying policy after lower layers are exhausted must be construed by reference to the liability…

An inclusive price is not merely an arithmetical total of separate component prices. The question is factual and case-specific: whether the services were sold…

A declaration that an easement continues to exist does not determine its physical width where that issue was not raised or decided. A plan used to identify the…

An interviewee who speaks knowing that the interview will be broadcast in the United Kingdom intends or authorises that republication and may be liable for it.…

Where a claimant is found to have fallen after standing on a hazardous object, the court must evaluate whether the object was sufficiently visible that those…

Under regulation 7(1) of Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, a dismissal before a relevant transfer can be connected with…

In habeas corpus proceedings, the detainer bears the burden of showing that detention is lawful. A writ may issue where a respondent once had control of the…

Article 8 may in principle protect the interest of prisoners in exercising in the open air, particularly during solitary confinement. It does not automatically…

Under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, an employer must assess the foreseeable risk arising from an operation and provide equipment…

A pension scheme must be construed as a coherent whole. A computational provision may also have substantive effect, and a construction which renders a…

Section 1(3)(a) of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 applies only where the course of conduct itself has the sole purpose of preventing or detecting…

In deciding costs after an appeal, the court must assess the parties’ position in the light of the proceedings as a whole and subsequent events. Success on an…

A country guidance determination has special and wide-ranging authority. The tribunal should therefore secure proper argument on the relevant law, evidence and…

Where a commercial agreement admits two possible constructions, the court should prefer the more commercially sensible result, particularly where it accords…

A withdrawn Part 36 offer cannot support the prescribed costs consequences under rule 36.14. A continuing, unwithdrawn offer may nevertheless attract those…

A grant of permission to appeal should be set aside only for a compelling reason. The court must identify material inaccuracies in the material before the…

A specific-performance order reinforces the contractual obligations; it does not dispense with or rewrite them. An honest but mistaken construction of the…

A person is not undergoing “medical or other treatment” for the purposes of regulations 8 and 12A merely because NHS-funded specialist care is required by…

In a discrimination claim under the Race Relations Act 1976, a tribunal must address the statutory burden of proof in two stages. It must first decide whether…

Where an employment tribunal has made an error of law, an appellate tribunal may uphold its conclusion only if it is plainly and unarguably right despite that…

Where a lender’s claimed entitlement to recover money depends on unjust enrichment, the factual basis for that claim must be established. If new evidence shows…

A publication does not breach a protective order where the order permits reporting of a public criminal hearing and contains no specific restriction on…

Under section 33 of the Family Law Act 1996, the court must first consider the significant-harm and comparative-harm provisions in section 33(7). If that…

An arguable uncertainty about the ratio of a leading asylum authority can constitute a point of principle warranting permission for a second appeal. Where a…

Where a highway authority’s proposed works and stated purpose fall squarely within a specific statutory power, a general power should not be treated as…

Applications for a second expert report in family proceedings are matters of judicial discretion. The court must ask whether the report is needed for a fair…

A secure tenant who lives elsewhere continues to satisfy the tenant condition only if the original dwelling remains occupied as the tenant’s only or principal…

At the permission stage, a proposed ground need only show a realistic prospect of success; the court does not determine the appeal’s merits. Here, that…

A solicitor’s retaining lien over money in a client account depends on the terms on which the money is held. The decisive question is whether those terms are…

Foreseeability of harm is necessary but insufficient for a duty of care. The court must also find sufficient proximity or neighbourhood and that imposing the…

Matrimonial home rights survive a spouse’s bankruptcy as a charge binding the trustee in bankruptcy and persons deriving title under the trustee. That…

In proceedings for the summary return of a child, the court must make an unequivocal finding on any objection to return before deciding the legal consequence.…

The amended town or village green regime applied in full to applications made from 30 January 2001. The neighbourhood limb was not postponed for 20 years, even…

In a return application under the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention, Article 13(b) requires an objective assessment of the asserted risk and the protection…

On a permission appeal in judicial review, the court is concerned with arguability rather than the substantive merits. Where a proposed challenge to generally…

In an Article 8 deportation case involving a young adult, the proportionality assessment is intensely fact-sensitive. The criteria identified in Maslov must be…

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

In care proceedings, a late application by a relative for party status must be dealt with through a process that remains fair and permits meaningful…

The meaning of Article 6 of Dublin II was not acte clair where an unaccompanied minor with no family in the European Union had lodged asylum applications in…

In an ordinary contract for the sale of land, an obligation to pay a deposit by a stipulated date is a condition. Time is of the essence, and failure to pay on…

An agent may remain entitled to commission after termination where the contract makes procurement of the relevant transaction the event earning commission. The…

An employment tribunal’s failure to recite the applicable law is not fatal where its findings show that it applied the correct law to the facts, although…

A tenant’s right to buy under Housing Act 1985, section 118 does not itself impose a duty on the landlord. The duty to make the grant arises under section 138…

Where a modification order changes existing planning permissions, the order is a distinct project for environmental-impact-assessment purposes. The…

Permission to amend a pleading so as to allege dishonesty or bad faith should be refused where the proposed allegation is speculative and the available…

Permission to appeal may be granted where the proposed grounds disclose serious arguments and a real prospect that the appellate court will find that the lower…

In a review of Category A security status, an oral hearing is required only where common-law procedural fairness demands it. The assessment is fact-sensitive.…

A transfer or conveyance must be construed as a whole at the date of conveyance. A plan described as being for identification only is evidence, but does not…

A notice to quit served by one of two joint tenants ordinarily ends the tenancy. A representee induced by fraudulent misrepresentation has a binary election…

In fact-finding care proceedings, an appellate court should respect a trial judge’s assessment of witnesses and cumulative evidence, particularly after a…

Under regulation 100(8) of the Civil Legal Aid (General) Regulations 1989, a cause of action to recover the balance of payments made on account accrues when…

Income tax schedules classify income by its real source and are mutually exclusive. Where a realistic appraisal of all the circumstances shows that a receipt…

Permission to bring a late additional claim under Civil Procedure Rules, r 20.7 is a case-management discretion. The court may give substantial weight to the…

A contract of insurance may provide a service or other benefit in kind, including repair or replacement, rather than payment of money. The European non-life…

Section 2(3) of the Equal Pay Act 1970 confers a discretion concerned with the comparative convenience of two available jurisdictions. It is not ordinarily a…

Standard disclosure under rule 31.6(b)(ii) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 includes documents which adversely affect another party’s case, even in two-party…

An oral arrangement allowing occupation indefinitely at the occupiers’ choice, without a term certain, did not create a lease for lives. Although such terms…

All extant allegations of contempt should, so far as possible, be considered on one occasion because the maximum committal term which a superior court may…

At the permission stage of a judicial review alleging incompatibility with Article 8, the court may grant permission where the challenge is arguable even…

A solvent claimant who reasonably hires a replacement vehicle on credit may recover the basic hire rate, but not the cost of credit or other additional…

Termination for a repudiatory breach is distinct from rescission ab initio. Where a contractual obligation falls due after completion of a sale of land, breach…

A claim outside a scheme’s time limit may warrant permission for judicial review where accepted evidence arguably discloses particular circumstances capable of…

A deposit paid under an oral agreement concerning the sale of land is not automatically recoverable merely because Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions)…

A statutory time limit for filing or serving an act is extended to the next working day where the final day falls when the recipient’s office is closed and the…

Housing costs qualify for income support only if the claimant is liable to meet them and the relevant loan or cost satisfies the qualification provisions in…

Permission to continue proceedings against a receiver is discretionary. It should be granted where the claim is genuine and calls for an answer, while…

On an appeal from a preliminary ruling, the Court of Appeal should not decide an issue where the first-instance court made no findings on material facts and…

The common law right of access to the courts requires a person facing removal to have a reasonable opportunity to obtain effective legal advice and, where…

An immigration decision concerning a woman at risk of female genital cutting must address that gender-specific risk. Where the Secretary of State’s reasoning…

A prescriptive easement is acquired through more than 20 years’ uninterrupted use nec vi, nec clam, nec precario. Those three requirements are exhaustive; the…

Section 68 of the Patents Act 1977 concerns the transaction, instrument or event by which a person becomes an exclusive licensee. Once that transaction has…

Article 3 requires an investigation that is independent, effective and reasonably prompt, but does not prescribe a public inquiry in every case. Independence…

Under the Land Registration Act 2002, an equitable easement is not an overriding interest under Schedule 3 paragraph 3, which is confined to legal easements.…

Permission for a second appeal requires a high statutory threshold: an important point of practice or principle, or another compelling reason. An appellate…

Where a public authority gives a regulated sponsor a time-limited opportunity to remedy identified failings under a forward-looking action plan, it must assess…

On an appeal from the Court of Protection, costs are governed by the Civil Procedure Rules, not by the general costs rule applicable to personal welfare…

For VAT partial exemption, a proposed special method must give a fair and reasonable, and more accurate, attribution of residual input tax than the existing…

A claimant cannot unilaterally serve a claim form by a method which the procedural rules do not authorise. Silence generally creates no estoppel, although a…

In a disability discrimination claim under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, a tribunal must be able fairly to decide whether the claimant has a physical…

On a second appeal in an immigration case, the stringent permission test requires an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling reason.…

Where a document purporting to establish a foreign marriage has acquired authentication from the relevant foreign state authorities, the court must evaluate it…

Rule 53(1) of the Prison Rules 1999 requires a disciplinary charge to be laid as soon as possible, meaning within 48 hours unless exceptional circumstances…

Costs in employment tribunals remain discretionary. An appellate court may interfere with a refusal to award costs only where the tribunal erred in legal…

Where parties sign a document intended to record their contractual agreement, the court must construe that document according to its terms. Earlier…

A debt extinguished by completion of an individual voluntary arrangement cannot thereafter be recovered as a debt. A proprietary estoppel remedy gives effect…

In care proceedings concerning disputed causes of child deaths, a finding that one medical cause is improbable or excluded does not itself establish deliberate…

Where a planning appeal engages Article 8, proportionality requires a balance between interference with private and family life and the wider public interest.…

A respondent given notice of a hearing of an application for permission to appeal is not ordinarily required to attend unless the court requests attendance.…

A second appeal in immigration proceedings requires an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling reason. A challenge to the adequacy of…

By a majority, an immigration decision refusing to vary leave may be challenged under section 84(1)(e) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002…

For Part IV of the Education Act 1996, the extended meaning of “child” includes a person who has not attained 19 and is a registered pupil. The age condition…

Under the Land Registration Act 2002, adverse possession is not interrupted merely because the paper owner enters the land, asserts ownership, erects stakes or…

A person may appeal against the rejection of an asylum claim under section 83 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 where the statutory…

On a second-stage appeal, permission requires a material error of law or another compelling reason. The appellate court cannot reopen factual findings made by…

Permission to appeal on a question of law from an arbitral award concerning a private, one-off contractual provision may be granted under section 69(3)(c)(i)…

At first instance in probate proceedings, costs are discretionary under CPR 44.3, read with the residual principles of the old probate practice. The ordinary…

An extension of time for an immigration appeal requires the applicant to show, on the balance of probabilities, special circumstances making refusal unjust.…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal in an asylum case, the court must apply anxious scrutiny to any arguable complaint that the tribunal failed…

An interim payment on the basis of alternate liability requires the court to be satisfied that the claimant would obtain substantial judgment against at least…

Where a local authority’s duty under Children Act 1989, section 20(1), has arisen, the authority must characterise the arrangement actually made for the child.…

Suspension of a possession order requires a forward-looking assessment. The court must have cogent evidence providing a sound basis for hope that the conduct…

Questions concerning which persons are entitled to a writ of summons and may participate in House of Lords proceedings fall within Parliament’s exclusive…

Permission to withdraw a civil admission is a discretionary, multi-factorial decision. The court must consider all the circumstances, including new evidence…

A judge who has expressed views at an earlier error-of-law stage need not recuse himself merely because the same evidence will later be considered when…

Under the homelessness review scheme, a statutory review is a continuation of, or replacement for, the initial decision-making process. A procedural failure to…

Where articles of association require a third-party accountant to value shares, the valuation clause may provide default machinery if the parties do not agree…

For a creditor’s bankruptcy petition, a debt for a liquidated sum must be a liability pre-ascertained by the agreement, including through contractual machinery…

An appeal to the county court under section 204 of the Housing Act 1996 is confined to points of law and is substantively equivalent to judicial review. The…

Whether a person is deprived of liberty under Article 5 is an objective question assessed from the person’s concrete situation as a whole. The court must…

A body empowered to preserve the amenities of a defined area may act as guardian of the public interest in that area, although it is not a public body amenable…

A patent claim is not subject to an automatic Earth Closet costs regime merely because the patentee discontinues after a new invalidity case is pleaded. Civil…

Whether a tribunal’s procedure was fair is a question of law. The sole test is what fairness demanded, not whether the procedural decision was irrational…

Denying a part-time worker the same contractual right of access to an occupational pension scheme as a full-time worker breaches the equality clause, even if…

A service charge remains subject to the statutory forfeiture regime even where the lease reserves it as additional rent. Enforcement by forfeiture requires…

On an appeal listed for one day or less, costs should ordinarily be summarily assessed under para 14.1 of Practice Direction 52, unless there is good reason…

A land transfer must be construed as a whole and against the physical circumstances reasonably available to the parties when it was made. A plan stated to be…

In personal injury claims, proof that the defendant caused the injury is distinct from assessment of the loss caused. Causation of the injury is ordinarily…

For execution against state property, the question is the property’s present or intended use, not merely the commercial origin of the transaction that created…

When considering costs for unreasonable conduct in employment tribunal proceedings, the tribunal must assess the whole picture. It should identify the conduct…

The terms of an oral or partly oral contract are ascertained as a question of fact from the parties’ words and conduct, assessed objectively. Evidence of what…

An omission from a common-land register of a reference to other register units does not conclusively establish that a quantified grazing right is independent.…

An appellate court should not ordinarily determine new strike-out grounds for the first time on appeal where the issue was not decided below and would require…

A challenge to a compulsory purchase order under section 23 of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 must be made within six weeks, and that time limit is absolute.…

An assignment of part of leased premises which physically severs the property gives the assignee privity of estate with the landlord only for that part. The…

Under the statutory parking-enforcement scheme, a reasonable belief that a contravention has occurred may justify issuing a penalty charge notice. It does not…

Duties under the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 do not, without express wording, confer…

Under regulation 8(2) of the homelessness review regulations, a reviewing officer must give advance notice of a proposed adverse decision where an important…

An immigration detainee with a serious medical condition is normally unsuitable for detention under the applicable policy only where the condition…

A conditional interim payment, expressly recoverable if liability fails or the award is lower, is not an offer to settle. It cannot be accepted to achieve…

When a driver turning right cannot see an area from which traffic may be approaching because another vehicle obstructs the view, reasonable care requires the…

In a mesothelioma claim, breach of duty and causation require separate analysis. Breach depends on whether asbestos-related injury was reasonably foreseeable…

A deliberate and substantial breach of the disclosure provisions of a freezing order is a serious civil contempt. It will normally attract an immediate prison…

A trustee in bankruptcy who assigns a claim in return for a share of its proceeds cannot assume in advance that he is immune from an adverse costs order. The…

Where a claimant slips on a hazard in premises under the defendant’s management, the circumstances may establish a prima facie case of negligence. The legal…

An independent higher-education complaints reviewer is not required to adjudicate disputed legal rights or make a formal finding of disability discrimination.…

Registered design infringement depends on whether the accused design produces a different overall impression on the informed user. The comparison is primarily…

Where an appeal alleges inadequate reasons, advocates must promptly identify omissions, ambiguities and deficiencies to the trial judge. A trial judge asked…

Under section 1 AA(3) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967, “house” means the statutory house, namely the building, and does not include gardens or other premises…

Membership of a political party or other association is contractual. Expulsion or suspension is lawful only if the governing rules confer the power, prescribed…

For a statutory levy calculated by reference to the main purpose of a labour-only agreement, purpose is an objective question. It is determined primarily from…

A notice under paragraph 2 of Schedule 2A to the Housing Act 1988 takes effect according to its objective meaning. A clear written notification that a tenant…

Under section 47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996, a protected disclosure must materially influence the employer’s detrimental treatment. A causal background…

The statutory exclusion of appeals from judgments of the High Court in a criminal cause or matter does not extend to every decision arising in the context of…

A default notice under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 must allow the statutory minimum period to remedy a breach. Where its wording may fail to provide that…

Paragraph 4(9) of Schedule 3 to the Income Support (General) Regulations 1987 requires a real link between the claimant’s move, the loan and the acquisition of…

Foreseeability in negligence does not require prediction of the precise accident or the precise chain of events. It is sufficient that the injury is reasonably…

Under the old child-support scheme, a maintenance assessment does not automatically cease merely because parents resume living together for a short period.…

An occupier’s duty to inspect a sports pitch before play is measured by reasonable care in the circumstances. For rugby, a coach or organiser should walk over…

A local authority may lawfully agree to collect a water undertaker’s charges through secure-tenancy obligations where the undertaker remains the supplier…

For statutory redundancy-pay calculations, a week’s pay is determined by the weeks for which the employee is paid, including paid holiday entitlement. It is…

Section 5 of the Debtors Act 1869 requires the debtor to satisfy the debt before a committal order can be discharged. Payment directed by the court from a…

For a professional-services retainer, completion of a coherent package of work does not necessarily make performance of every obligation a condition precedent…

For homelessness under section 175 of the Housing Act 1996, the issue is whether accommodation is available and reasonable for the applicant to continue…

A foreign company cannot be served within England and Wales under CPR Part 6.5(3)(b) merely because one of its senior officers is present here. The company…

A tribunal member may be disqualified for apparent bias where that member holds a leading governance role in a professional body responsible for regulatory…

The appeal was allowed subject to a strict 28-day unless order. The Secretary of State was directed to grant indefinite leave to remain unless, within that…

For retention of worker status under Council Directive No.2004/38/EC, registration as a job seeker does not automatically require a claim for Job Seekers…

Where a human-rights claim accompanying a Dublin II transfer is certified as clearly unfounded, the court must determine for itself whether the certification…

When a public authority seeks an injunction as part of law enforcement, the usual practice is not to require a cross-undertaking in damages. That principle…

Permission to appeal in an interlocutory discrimination matter should be granted where the proposed appeal has a real prospect of success, or raises a point of…

Judges may express preliminary views during case management, but must not create an impression that the outcome is predetermined, particularly before reading…

On an appeal from a discretionary welfare decision, the appellate court asks whether the judge explained the evaluation sufficiently and whether material…

A commission agreement is construed by its language read in its relevant contractual context. The court cannot expand clear words to cover a materially…

Cross-border group relief for losses of a non-resident subsidiary is available where the paragraph 55 conditions are satisfied. Following the earlier Court of…

For a liability to be provable as a future or contingent debt, the company must already be subject to a legal obligation before insolvency by reason of which…

A party seeking a new trial because judgment was given in its absence should normally apply to set it aside under CPR 39.3. An appeal may nevertheless be…

For means-tested social-security schemes, a payment is classified as income or capital by its true characteristics in the recipient's hands, considered within…

Standard disclosure is governed by the precise categories in CPR Part 31.6. A general test of relevance, potential forensic advantage or possible disadvantage…

A claim that a broker’s negligence caused a fire is legally distinct from a claim that negligence deprived an insured of cover for a fire that occurred. The…

Under a sole selling rights agreement, an introduction remains effective where the introduced person participates in a later purchase made for a partnership…

Permission to appeal should be set aside under Civil Procedure Rules r 52.9 only for a compelling reason. The threshold is high. An applicant will ordinarily…

An estate agent who uses the term “sole agency” must explain its intention and effect clearly. The statutory duty cannot be avoided by claiming damages for…

On a creditor’s winding-up petition, a provisional liquidator should be appointed only where the creditor is likely to obtain a winding-up order and the…

On a standard-basis assessment, costs which appear disproportionate overall must be assessed item by item. Each item is recoverable only if necessarily…

A negligence claim for damages for personal injury is a legal thing in action and is capable in principle of assignment. Its personal subject matter does not…

Pay protection under paragraph 132 of the NHS Terms and Conditions preserves remuneration attached to the incremental point reached in the previous…

Under sections 140A and 140B of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the court assesses whether the creditor–debtor relationship arising from a credit agreement is…

A settlement of a demurrage invoice does not settle further demurrage unless the correspondence, construed objectively in context, clearly produces that…

Section 6 of the Statute of Frauds (Amendment) Act 1828 applies only to representations made to enable another person to obtain money or goods upon credit. It…

In care proceedings, relevant evidence should be disclosed where access to it is necessary to give instructions and enable effective testing of a central…

A clear notice of resignation or dismissal ordinarily takes effect according to the ordinary meaning of its terms. Once given, it cannot be unilaterally…

Ministerial technical guidance should be considered in planning decisions, but it does not automatically replace an adopted development-plan provision. Its…

A decision-maker exercising a statutory discretion must distinguish between matters it is legally required to consider and matters it may consider. Failure to…

A settlement offer which does not comply with CPR Part 36 does not automatically attract Part 36 costs consequences. Its effect falls to be assessed under the…

Where contractual termination provisions are linked by a cross-reference, the court must read them together. A clause giving a buyer the right to terminate…

When assessing general damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity arising from multiple injuries, the court should value the separate injuries before…

Habitual residence is determined as a question of fact by examining the actual way of life. A move may create habitual residence even where it is temporary…

At the permission stage, the Court of Appeal asks whether proposed grounds have a real prospect of success or otherwise justify permission. Permission may be…

A professionally drafted transfer must ordinarily be given its natural meaning in its factual context. Where its grant of a right of way permits use with or…

A disclosure of a privileged document for a limited purpose does not ordinarily amount to a general waiver of legal professional privilege. The scope of the…

An appellate court should be slow to interfere with a discretionary case-management ruling. Where the decision-maker has carefully weighed the competing…

For limitation purposes, knowledge of a non-actionable condition does not amount to knowledge of a significant injury. Pleural plaques were not actionable, and…

A decision to move a child from a family placement to foster care at an interim stage is a discretionary welfare decision. An appeal will not succeed merely…

Where an immigration appeal under section 82(1) of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 remains pending before the Court of Appeal, a grant of leave…

An undisputed equitable assignee of part of a debt may vote as the creditor in an individual voluntary arrangement where the debtor has notice of the…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal should grant permission where the proposed ground has a real prospect of success, but…

The duty to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote children’s welfare under section 55 of the Borders, Citizens, and Immigration Act 2009 applies to…

On an application for permission to appeal against security for costs, an appellate court will not second-guess a proportionate first-instance assessment of…

For limitation purposes, a claimant’s date of knowledge is not established merely because symptoms or abnormal medical findings existed earlier. The claimant…

Where a working-time derogation applies to security or surveillance work requiring a permanent presence, the relevant question is whether the individual…

An appellate court should read a trial judgment on the assumption that the judge knew how to perform the judicial function and considered familiar relevant…

On an application to restrain presentation of a winding-up petition, or to set aside a statutory demand, the Companies Court must identify a genuine and…

Immigration Rules must be construed and applied according to their natural and ordinary meaning. Section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 permits compatible…

For calculating the balance of an admitted judgment debt, money paid into court for a claimant and used to discharge the claimant’s concluded costs liabilities…

A freezing order granted in aid of enforcing an arbitration award should ordinarily permit payments made in the ordinary course of business while execution of…

An appellate court should not interfere with trial findings of fact merely because it would assess the evidence differently. Strong material is required to…

A claimant may advance distinct heads of loss arising from trespass, but the court must examine their substance and prevent double recovery. Compensatory…

For costs on an appeal, the successful party is identified by the substance of the result. A party securing a very substantial reduction in the award may…

In care proceedings, a direction for residential assessment under section 38(6) of the Children Act 1989 depends on whether the assessment will provide…

A failure to comply with a fresh mandatory order may constitute a fresh contempt, even where it reflects the same continuing state of mind and resembles an…

On an application for permission to appeal against an ancillary-relief award, primary factual findings will generally be treated as the starting point where…

In assessing unpaid employment-related sums, the court should apply the contractual rates, periods and thresholds established by the substantive findings.…

Permission for an appeal from the Upper Tribunal under the second-tier appeals test requires either an important point of principle or practice calling for…

An alleged odour nuisance is assessed objectively by reference to the locality, the extent and effects of the interference, reasonable use of property, and…

For section 21(1)(a) of the National Assistance Act 1948, “care and attention” means more than accommodation and is wider than nursing or personal care. It…

Interim removal of a child from parental care is a draconian measure and a step of last resort. The court must give serious consideration to returning the…

In care proceedings, shortcomings in a core assessment do not automatically prevent the court deciding the children’s future where the evidence as a whole is…

A money judgment made by a recognised court in insolvency proceedings can fall within Part I of the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933. The…

Article 13 of the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention involves two stages. The court must first determine whether the child objects to return and has sufficient…

Where relevant immigration guidance makes a discretion conditional on authorised employment not being interrupted for more than three months and on…

In Court of Protection personal-welfare proceedings, the general rule is no order for costs, but the court may depart from it where the circumstances justify…

Detention under a detained fast-track asylum procedure is lawful only where the statutory power is used for its proper purpose and the claim can be examined…

An allegation that a person seeks to change a sport’s structure, negotiates confidentially, induces a breach of contract or contravenes its regulations is not…

A claimant who supplies services under a contract with one party cannot ordinarily recover in unjust enrichment from a third party who receives the benefit.…

Under section 3 of the Misrepresentation Act 1967, a term restricting remedies for misrepresentation must satisfy the fair and reasonable requirement in…

A group litigation order is discretionary and should not be made until a sufficient number of claimants seriously intend to proceed with claims raising common…

Section 68 of the Patents Act 1977 does not impose a continuing disability on costs once a relevant transaction has been registered. The costs bar applies only…

On the Court of Appeal’s provisional construction, paragraph 31 of Schedule 1 to the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 covers any action…

Noise nuisance is assessed objectively by asking whether the interference materially affects the use and enjoyment of land. The court considers the…

Under section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, an arrest is lawful where the constable honestly believes, on reasonable grounds and on…

For Article 14 purposes, direct discrimination requires the benefit refusal to be because of the protected status. Imprisonment does not itself establish…

Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, reasonable financial provision for a surviving spouse is what it would be reasonable to…

Under Part III of the Children Act 1989, a local authority’s evaluative choice of accommodation for a child in need is reviewed by conventional public-law…

A complaint under section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 turns on the employer’s sole or main purpose in imposing the…

A company director’s fiduciary duty of loyalty and the no-conflict and no-profit principles are strict. An undisclosed personal benefit from a company customer…

Failure by an occupier or highway authority to operate a proper tree-inspection system does not automatically establish negligence. The claimant must prove…

Bankruptcy may substantially restrict the family court’s discretion in ancillary relief proceedings. Where a spouse’s interest in property has vested in a…

Whether an object has become part of the land depends objectively on the degree and purpose of its annexation. Physical attachment is not decisive. A structure…

Administrative detention is unlawful where a relevant public-law policy has not been applied. A lawful counterfactual affects compensatory damages rather than…

Operations carried out in breach of a condition which expressly prohibits their commencement cannot implement the planning permission. A condition requiring…

Under the Equal Pay Act 1970, comparison is made between discrete contractual terms of similar kind, rather than between total remuneration. A term providing…

Time limits for appeals from the Employment Appeal Tribunal are governed by the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, not by the statutory test applicable to presenting…

The single meaning rule applies when determining a defence of honest comment. Where an honestly expressed media comment rests on sufficient facts but may carry…

On a summary assessment, a judge must carry out the required two-stage consideration of the costs schedule. A reduction in the total claimed does not dispense…

A contact order under section 8 of the Children Act 1989 may include directions, conditions and incidental provisions under section 11(7), but those powers are…

Article 8 does not require a primary care trust to assess non-clinical social circumstances when deciding whether an individual funding request is exceptional.…

Negligence involving an uncontrolled dog requires a foreseeable risk of injury, assessed by reference to what a reasonable person in the defendant’s position…

A controlled parking zone does not become invalid whenever part of a road fails to conform strictly to the prescribed markings. The statutory definition…

Under the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995, an existing or prospective guarantor cannot be required in advance to guarantee a future assignee’s…

On a costs application after a partly successful appeal, the court has discretion whether to order costs and in what amount. It must consider all the…

A corporate contemnor requires permission to appeal against a finding of contempt or a financial sanction. The exception in rule 52.3(1)(a)(i) of the Civil…

A local planning authority granting planning permission subject to conditions must give a summary of its reasons, rather than full reasons or reasons for…

Copyright in newspaper material depends on the author’s original expression, not novelty or merit. A headline may be an original literary work. A short extract…

At the permission stage, full argument should be allowed where a proposed ground has a real prospect of success and its resolution depends on fuller…

When assessing removal under article 8, a child’s best interests form an integral and primary consideration. They must be identified and kept in mind…

Regulation 12.5 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires a suitable and sufficient, secure and substantial handrail on at least…

In ancillary-relief proceedings, personal-injury damages received before marriage remain resources for the statutory assessment. Their compensatory origin…

A fresh asylum claim under rule 353 requires a sequential analysis. The decision-maker must first determine whether the further material has already been…

In construing an asset purchase agreement, a liability attributable to the transferred business and accrued by the effective date may be reflected in the…

Where a public authority grants a judicial review claimant the relief sought after proceedings have been issued, the starting point is that the successful…

Depreciation in the value of a home caused by noise or other physical effects from public works may interfere with the peaceful enjoyment of possessions under…

Detention pending removal is lawful only while removal remains achievable within a reasonable period. A publicly announced practice that the European Court of…

Contractual terms must be construed as a whole. Where bespoke provisions conflict with incorporated standard terms, the court should prefer a reasonable…

Whether negotiations have produced a binding contract must be assessed objectively by considering the communications and dealings as a whole. Where commercial…

A fresh claim under the Immigration Rules requires a two-stage assessment. Further submissions must be significantly different because their content was not…

Retrospective fiscal legislation is not incompatible with Article 1 of the First Protocol merely because it is retrospective. The question is whether it…

Article 56 of the EC Treaty is not engaged merely because a United Kingdom resident transfers money into an Isle of Man interest-in-possession trust. The…

Article 8 does not ordinarily require a state to admit an elderly parent from abroad to join an adult child merely because emotional or financial ties exist.…

Removal of an administrator under paragraph 88 of Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 1986 requires evidence of a good and sufficient ground. The power is wide…

Marshalling may be available where one creditor has two securities and another has only one, even though the creditor with the wider security did not…

An agreement to arbitrate may cover an unfair-prejudice dispute under Companies Act 2006 s 994. The statutory right to petition is not inalienable. Such…

The meaning and scope of a restrictive covenant in a conveyance depend on the instrument read as a whole, in its own context and against the surrounding…

A public authority’s disability equality duty applies whenever it exercises a function that may adversely affect a disabled person. This includes a decision to…

Imprisonment of a person with mental illness will engage article 3 only in the exceptionally rare case where proper medical evidence shows that imprisonment…

An advance payment guarantee subject to the ICC Uniform Rules for Demand Guarantees is construed primarily from its own wording. Where payment is required…

The basis for valuing an outgoing or deceased partner’s share is determined by construing the partnership deed according to ordinary contractual principles…

A contractual reference to performance during this agreement ordinarily covers the contractual term, not a post-termination wind-down period, where the…

An equitable assignment does not require formal words of assignment. It is sufficient that, on the proper construction of the communication and its context…

In an immigration appeal, the Tribunal determines whether the Secretary of State’s decision was lawful. A statement following a one-stop warning may raise…

A planning committee’s decision is assessed by reading the officer’s advice fairly and as a whole. A later planning agreement does not recharacterise the…

Under the Sale of Goods Act 1979, section 14(3), a buyer may make a particular purpose known by implication from the circumstances. Where the seller knows the…

Negotiations expressly conducted subject to contract remain non-binding unless the parties bilaterally agree to change that status. Allowing works to begin may…

Direct contact between a parent and child is a fundamental part of family life, but may be refused where exceptional and cogent welfare reasons make it…

Where an employment contract requires work beyond stated basic hours and contemplates payment for overtime, the absence of separately issued notices or…

A driver owes a pedestrian the care that is reasonable in the circumstances. Where a driver is travelling very close to a young child who is playing with a…

An interim injunction restraining publication of private information requires the applicant to show that publication is likely to be prohibited at trial. The…

In a planning challenge, an inspector’s decision must be read as a whole. Infelicitous wording does not establish an error of law if the determination shows…

A trial judge’s clear factual finding should not be disturbed on appeal merely because another assessment of the evidence is possible. Where the judge has…

The court is the final decision-maker on whether an expert has contractual jurisdiction, even where the expert determination clause purports to make the…

A contractual time bar in a public liability policy runs from a dispute concerning a matured claim for indemnity. It does not run from an insurer’s earlier…

Where an owner does not pursue the statutory procedure for challenging the legality of a customs seizure, the goods are deemed duly condemned as forfeited…

A minister may review, alter or revoke a non-statutory immigration policy whenever the public interest requires, subject to ordinary public law constraints. A…

An order for possession of a dwelling let on an assured tenancy for rent arrears is not a remedy in respect of those arrears under Insolvency Act 1986 section…

A direction under section 38(6) of the Children Act 1989 serves the court’s need for information required to decide care proceedings. A parent has no general…

A court considering a conditional order under the summary judgment or general case-management powers has a wide discretion to secure justice. Where the…

Paragraph 395C of the Immigration Rules identifies factors to which the decision-maker must have regard. Those factors are not requirements or threshold…

For the special inheritance-tax treatment of a disabled person’s settlement, the statutory conditions are assessed when property is transferred into the…

Immigration detention pending removal must comply with the Hardial Singh principles and with published policies that qualify the statutory discretion. Guidance…

A party cannot unilaterally terminate a reference under section 73(7) of the Land Registration Act 2002. The adjudicator’s jurisdiction includes deciding the…

Entitlement to an individual general dental services contract under the General Dental Services and Personal Dental Services Transitional Provisions Order 2005…

In sentencing for contempt arising from breach of a family injunction, flagrant and serious breaches may justify immediate imprisonment, even where this is the…

Separation of children from a parent during care proceedings is justified only where the children’s safety demands it. On an appeal against an interim care…

Article 7.3 of the Citizenship Directive exhaustively identifies the circumstances in which a Union citizen who stops working retains worker status. A person…

Permission to appeal requires the applicant to identify an error of law in the order below. A court may assess numerous defamation claims together and…

Foreseeability of the particular injury or loss is not an additional ingredient of the statutory tort created by the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Once…

A court retains its powers to extend time and grant relief from sanctions where the relevant order was made by consent. Consent is a relevant circumstance, but…

The special costs practice applicable to probate proceedings does not extend to an adversarial claim that mutual wills created a constructive trust. Such a…

In care proceedings, a court may determine disputed maternity or paternity without ordering a separate fact-finding hearing. Where a child refuses a bodily…

Before making a final care order with a plan for adoption, the court must have as clear a picture as reasonably possible of the proposed way forward. Adoption…

Gross misconduct is not confined to conduct expressly prohibited by a workplace rule. A non-exhaustive disciplinary code may encompass conduct whose…

In an appeal where the successful party had lost on substantial issues below, the court’s discretion as to costs remained unusually wide. The ordinary rule…

In wardship proceedings, habitual-residence jurisdiction cannot be founded on a child’s parents intending that the child will live in England and Wales, or on…

For a buyer dealing as a consumer, goods supplied by a business must be of satisfactory quality and reasonably fit for any particular purpose made known to the…

A contracting authority may clarify a tender only within the limits imposed by equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency. It cannot waive an…

A committal order for breach of a possession order is appropriate where the order, bearing a penal notice, was duly served and the breach is established as a…

In an application for permission to remove children permanently from the jurisdiction, the child’s welfare is paramount. The guidance in Payne v Payne is…

In a civil claim for occupational neurological injury, epidemiological scientific proof is not essential to establishing causation. The court may rely on the…

When deciding whether to restore libel proceedings struck out for repeated non-compliance, the court must apply the overriding objective and weigh prejudice to…

A personal injury claimant who recovers more than the defendant offered will normally be the successful party for costs purposes. The comparison concerns the…

The common duty of care under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 requires reasonable care in all the circumstances, not measures that absolutely prevent…

A planning inspector may exercise independent planning judgment and is not generally required to devise an unrequested alternative planning condition. However…

Security for costs against a claimant resident outside the jurisdiction requires more than foreign residence where the discretion is constrained by the…

On a successful appeal against an adjudicator’s wrongful cancellation of a Land Registry application, the appellate court has power under section 111 of the…

The vacation of a fixed trial date is a serious case-management step. It may cause prejudice and requires proper justification under the overriding objective.…

At the interim stage of public law children proceedings, the court has jurisdiction under section 8(1) of the Human Rights Act 1998 to consider an injunction…

In control-order proceedings, Article 6 fairness requires disclosure sufficient to enable the controlee to give effective instructions on the allegations.…

An offer expressed to be made under Part 36 may fail to qualify if its terms cannot comply with the rule’s prescribed costs consequences. Nevertheless, where…

For liability under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, a highway defect must create a danger which may reasonably be anticipated from ordinary public use.…

For a voyage policy, seaworthiness is assessed at commencement against the contemplated adventure insured. Where the parties contemplate a maximum wave height…

An agricultural letting may constitute a tenancy from year to year even if livestock is periodically removed or the owner enters to maintain the land. The…

A lawful unilateral planning obligation which has become enforceable on its terms does not cease to serve a legitimate planning purpose merely because an…

In unusual and extreme family circumstances, a court may properly make no order for contact where the evidence shows that unsupervised contact is harmful and…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the court may grant permission where the proposed appeal raises an issue of public importance and has…

An estate agent claiming commission must establish that it was either “the” or “an” effective cause of the eventual sale. If it establishes neither, the claim…

Under the Court of Protection Rules 2007, hearings remain private as a general rule. Media attendance or publication requires good reason, followed by a…

An immigration decision notice is not invalid merely because it lacks a signature where the governing legislation requires written notice but does not…

Costs ordinarily follow the event. Costs arising from unsuccessful applications, including applications for permission to appeal, security for costs and stays…

For a compensation award subject to a statutory percentage uplift for failure to follow dismissal procedures, the uplift is applied to the loss wholly…

Direct discrimination requires objectively less favourable treatment on the protected ground. Harassment by effect requires conduct which actually produces a…

Where a local authority seeks an interim care order to control the timing and manner of disclosure to children about a parent’s past sexual abuse, the court…

A settlement offer intended to attract the consequences of Part 36 must be consistent with the rules. A term requiring the offeree to pay the offeror’s costs…

An appellate judge reviewing a discretionary financial-remedy order must respect the limited appellate function. The judge may intervene only upon a proper…

An inspector must invite the Secretary of State to reconsider an environmental impact assessment screening direction only where the inspector considers that…

Under the Occupier’s Liability Act 1957, the question is whether premises are reasonably safe for the users who may reasonably be expected to use them, not…

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988, the power to seize a vehicle for suspected uninsured driving is conditional. The driver must fail to produce the relevant…

An injunction made in representative proceedings may bind persons represented by the representative defendant, but binding effect does not itself make those…

An appeal to magistrates against a licensing authority’s decision under the Licensing Act 2003 is a fresh hearing. The magistrates are not confined to the…

When identifying the successful party for costs purposes, the court must determine who, as a matter of substance and reality, won the litigation. The fact that…

On judicial review, an inspector’s decision letter should be read as a whole, using a straightforward approach and without excessive legalism. Where the letter…

A contact order must be assessed as a whole. Replacing two overnight contact periods with two overnight periods at a different point in the week is not…

An agreed overdraft is a facility to borrow money. It is not cash which an immigration applicant has or holds. For Tier 1 maintenance requirements, an…

Bankruptcy is a collective remedy. Security given by one debtor does not prevent a creditor from serving a statutory demand on another debtor, including a…

An English court may appoint a receiver over a judgment debtor’s foreign assets in exercise of its in personam jurisdiction. The order does not itself…

An interim care order removing children from a parent must be determined as an interim measure. The court must not treat it as a final resolution merely…

A refusal of entry for a spouse of a refugee requires a fact-sensitive Article 8 assessment. A post-flight marriage falls outside paragraph 352A of the…

Under section 66(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, preservation of a listed building’s setting is presumptively desirable.…

A standard suspended possession order requiring payment of mortgage arrears and current instalments imposes cumulative obligations. Clearing the arrears by…

An appellate court will not interfere with a trial judge’s finding that misrepresentations induced a transaction merely because the representee received advice…

An appellate tribunal may interfere with an immigration determination only for an error of law. A possible error in an asylum assessment does not necessarily…

When a claim is stayed as non-justiciable, the costs order must reflect the overall conduct and responsibility of both parties. The court should consider…

A party does not retain an automatic right to a jury trial where the required application is made out of time. Under the Senior Courts Act 1981 and Civil…

A county court may grant an interim injunction restraining a local authority from removing a child whom it is authorised to place for adoption, including…

The usual approach is that the Secretary of State should concede an appeal within 28 days after permission is granted. Where a compromise is offered later, the…

On statutory review of a non-derogating control order, the court applies judicial review principles to the Secretary of State’s decisions and assesses the…

For section 9 of the Education Act 1996, the comparison between a parent’s preferred independent school and a maintained school ordinarily concerns the…

In a public procurement exercise, not every matter used to assess a tender is an award criterion requiring separate disclosure. The court must distinguish…

Article 8 procedural fairness in national-security deportation or exclusion cases does not require disclosure of the essence of the case in the manner required…

An auction contract is construed objectively from the catalogue, sale conditions and memorandum, viewed in their commercial context. Where those documents…

Permission to appeal in care proceedings should be granted where the proposed grounds have a real prospect of success. This may include challenges to the…

A mirror order is an ancillary or auxiliary order that precisely reflects the order of the court with primary jurisdiction. It does not invite the ancillary…

A valuer retained by a prospective mortgagee does not ordinarily owe a duty of care to a prospective purchaser merely because the purchaser may receive and…

Restrictions on broadcast speech must be interpreted and applied compatibly with Article 10. Offensive language is not automatically impermissible…

An appellant who receives an adverse paper-sift decision from the Employment Appeal Tribunal must use one of the routes provided by Rule 3. A fresh notice of…

A prohibition restricting free movement of goods must be appropriate and necessary for its legitimate objective, with disadvantages proportionate to that…

In valuing lost property, the price of a genuine transaction involving the specific item may provide better evidence of market value than sales of other items…

A contractual break option conditioned on vacant possession must be exercised strictly by the specified date. Vacant possession requires the premises to be…

An interim care order does not require the court finally to decide that the care threshold is met. Under section 38 of the Children Act 1989, reasonable…

An employer who supplies a reference for a former employee to an identified prospective employer owes a duty of care in negligence. The reference must be true…

In country-guidance appeals, diplomatic reports and letters are relevant country information, not automatically expert evidence or evidence entitled to special…

Where an appeal concerning child contact has effectively been spent and the underlying case is in serious procedural muddle, the appellate court may dismiss…

A court may supply words omitted by drafting error in a commercial contract where it is clear both that an omission occurred and what substantive provision is…

Legal professional privilege in care proceedings belongs to the client, but it may be waived objectively by the client’s own evidence. A statement that…

An employment tribunal’s decision to award costs must be based on the particular facts and on one of the circumstances in rule 40(3) of the Employment…

On an out-of-country appeal against refusal of entry clearance, section 85(5) of the 2002 Act confines the tribunal to circumstances appertaining at the date…

A local authority may use a resource allocation system as an indicative starting point for community-care funding and may take account of relative need and…

A substantive eligibility condition for leave to remain cannot be supplied by external immigration guidance or a list which has not undergone the parliamentary…

A negligent delay in referring a deteriorating patient may remain a cause of permanent injury despite a hospital’s subsequent negligence. Later negligence does…

An appellate court will rarely interfere with a first-instance case-management decision enforcing a debarring order or refusing relief from sanctions.…

Where a public authority knew or should have known before an appellate hearing that it was failing to provide provision required by a special educational needs…

An extension of time for lodging an appeal requires a satisfactory explanation for the default and circumstances sufficiently exceptional to justify exercising…

In an automatic deportation appeal by a foreign criminal, Parliament has declared that deportation is conducive to the public good. Where removal would…

Where a defendant proposes to commit a clear breach of an express negative covenant, the court will ordinarily restrain the breach by injunction. Special…

When a public body undertakes an early statutory review of a subsidy banding decision, the error triggering the review does not ordinarily confine the…

On an appeal on a point of law from a specialist copyright tribunal, the court asks whether the tribunal was legally entitled to reach its conclusion, rather…

Late fresh evidence is not admitted merely because it may materially improve the result. Where the evidence was available throughout the proceedings, the…

Under the pre- Equality Act 2010 disability discrimination regime, direct discrimination required less favourable treatment for a reason that was disability…

The High Court may use its general power under Senior Courts Act 1981 section 37 to protect a contractual right to English arbitration where no arbitration is…

A purported Part 36 offer cannot be time-limited so as to lapse automatically. Under Civil Procedure Rules Part 36, an unwithdrawn offer remains capable of…

A co-existence agreement between businesses using similar marks is construed as a contract, by its language and commercial context. Where the agreement defines…

Economic loss flowing directly and foreseeably from physical damage to revenue-generating property is recoverable in negligence. It includes revenue lost…

Procedural fairness is contextual, but urgency and public concern do not remove an office-holder’s right to answer allegations that may lead to removal.…

A consent settlement, including one recorded in a Tomlin order, does not create a blanket estoppel against later fraud proceedings merely because the earlier…

A prospective change in planning policy may be a material consideration when determining a planning application or appeal, even where legislation is required…

In an unfair-dismissal appeal, the question is whether the employer had a genuine and reasonably based belief in misconduct following a reasonable…

On an appeal concerning committal and receivership orders, the Court of Appeal considers only whether the impugned orders were lawfully made. Complaints about…

Permission to appeal may be refused where the substantive issue has become academic because the applicant has obtained the documents sought. The court will not…

Planning conditions must be construed benevolently and in the context of the decision letter as a whole. A condition is not invalid merely because it is…

Section 57(1) of the Trustee Act 1925 permits the court to confer missing trustee powers for a transaction concerning the management or administration of trust…

Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, s 55(3) creates a special regime for waste tipping. Extending the superficial area of a deposit is a new material…

Under section 1 of the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945, apportionment requires a broad assessment of both comparative blameworthiness and the…

In deciding whether costs should be paid on the standard or indemnity basis, the court must consider whether, and to what extent, it is reasonable for the…

In care proceedings, a court need not adjourn merely because a previously ordered viability assessment is incomplete. It must reassess whether further…

Under article 28 of the Judgments Regulation, the court first seised is identified by applying article 30 chronologically to the pending actions. The inquiry…

A sanctions cancellation clause may be triggered by the assured’s status or the risk of continued dealings, and is not confined to exposure caused by an act or…

State immunity from United Kingdom immigration control depends on executive recognition of the territory as a state and the person as its head of state. A…

CPR Part 19.8(1) governs the continued prosecution of validly instituted proceedings after a relevant death where an estate is unrepresented. It does not cure…

A party seeking to enforce a charge must establish that a genuine debt or other obligation exists and is secured by it. A recital or acknowledgment in the…

A communication threatens trade mark infringement proceedings if a reasonable recipient, knowing the relevant circumstances and reading it as a whole, would…

In ancillary relief proceedings, a discretionary trust may be a party’s financial resource even where the party has no proprietary interest or is not presently…

A person is a de facto director where, considering all relevant circumstances, the person’s actual conduct shows an assumption of directors’ responsibilities…

The presumptions in section 72 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 apply generally once their statutory conditions are met. They do not depend…

In care proceedings, an appellate court should not lightly interfere with a trial judge’s case-management discretion, including decisions about expert or…

A trial judge has a wide discretion under rule 44.3 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 when deciding costs. Although the party recovering damages is ordinarily…

For possession under ground 17 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988, statements in a housing transfer application about intended household composition may be…

The remedies under section 214(3) and (4) of the Housing Act 2004 are unavailable after the relevant tenancy has ended. An application under section 214(1)(a)…

A statutory notice is substantially to the same effect as a prescribed form only if it contains every matter forming part of the form's substance. The tenant’s…

A landlord’s repairing covenant is not engaged by condensation caused solely by a design defect unless the condensation produces physical damage falling within…

The General Medical Council (Fitness to Practice) Rules Order of Council 2004 creates a fair framework whose primary function is to protect public health and…

For priority need under the Housing Act 1996, the first limb of section 189(1)(b) asks where dependent children factually reside at the material date.…

An estimate does not create a fixed-price contract merely because it states a total figure. The court must assess the document objectively, considering its…

A leaseholder with no express right under an underlease to place equipment on a roof cannot establish such a right merely by invoking the law on qualified…

A claimant relying on a hypothetical sequence of events must prove every material counterfactual on the balance of probabilities. In a loss-of-chance case…

Relief from an unless order under CPR rule 3.9 requires the court to consider all relevant circumstances, including the listed factors, and then to make an…

On an appeal confined to questions of law, a new argument requiring evidence and factual findings cannot ordinarily be raised for the first time. For direct…

Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 permits a recovery order concerning recoverable property situated outside England and Wales, whether moveable or…

A condition attached to a planning permission granted for a limited period ordinarily operates only during the period for which the development is authorised.…

The sharing principle applies to non-matrimonial property, but equal division is not its ordinary consequence. The property’s source may retain decisive…

An appellate court should ordinarily decline to determine an appeal that has become academic where the respondent’s offer gives the claimant everything, or…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r 44.3, a party who achieves a net recovery after set-off is ordinarily the successful party and starts with an entitlement…

A non-EEA former spouse seeking permanent residence must first establish a qualifying right of residence before considering whether it was retained after…

Where an immigration tribunal correctly states the governing law and identifies the relevant public-interest considerations, a reviewing court should be slow…

In commercial litigation, costs are determined by the parties’ success on the issues and the commercial context. The approach sometimes adopted in public-law…

A contractual right to rescind arising when conditions remain unsatisfied by a long-stop date does not ordinarily arise from breach. Where the contract makes…

A power to amend pension-scheme rules must be construed objectively, in the context of the instrument as a whole and the relevant circumstances. It is neither…

A creditor does not require the court’s permission to apply for a charging order merely because six years have elapsed since judgment. The rules contain no…

The common law duty of procedural fairness may require an oral hearing before a decision on the security categorisation of a Category A prisoner. The question…

Section 32(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides a class-based exemption for information held only because it is contained in documents placed…

When deciding whether a child should give evidence in care proceedings, the court must balance the evidential advantages against the potential damage to the…

The appeal was dismissed. The supplied text does not reproduce the written judgments containing the court’s reasons, so no substantive legal principle or ratio…

A negligence claim accrues when negligent advice causes actual damage, rather than when a later third-party claim is pursued or proved. A personal…

A non-party costs order under section 51 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 depends on whether it is just, assessed on all the circumstances. Earlier categories of…

An uplift for failure to follow statutory employment procedures applies only to compensation attributable to the claim affected by that failure. The tribunal…

An appellant who contends that security for costs or a financial condition would stifle its appeal must provide full and frank evidence of its means. That…

An executed mortgage is an actual disposition of an interest in land. It is therefore outside section 2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act…

Section 21(1)(a) of the National Assistance Act 1948 concerns a need for care and attention, not a general need for housing. The statutory test is directed to…

Costs following a successful appeal should reflect the overall outcome of the proceedings. Where the respondents’ success below is rendered inconsequential by…

Under Factors Act 1889, section 2(1), good faith is assessed in all the circumstances. A buyer may fail that condition where, knowing that an agent acts for…

A coroner has a wide area of judgment under section 11 of the Coroners Act 1988 when deciding which witnesses it is expedient to examine. The court may…

For rectification based on common mistake, the parties’ continuing intention is determined objectively from their communications and the surrounding context. A…

Accommodation ostensibly provided to a homeless 16 or 17-year-old under housing legislation may count as accommodation under section 20 of the Children Act…

Direct contact between a parent and child is a fundamental aspect of family life and should be stopped only as a last resort. A court must subject any…

A serious delay in delivering judgment does not automatically invalidate findings of fact. The appellate court must apply the usual plainly-wrong standard with…

Under Directive 2004/38/EC, the surviving family members of a Union citizen who dies before acquiring permanent residence must use the specific routes in…

For execution under Companies Act 2006 s 44(4), a document must satisfy the signature requirements in s 44(2) and, read as a whole, be expressed to be executed…

A company cannot be sued merely because it is said to hold assets for, or be controlled by, a shareholder. A viable claim requires pleaded special facts…

Under Part 7 of the Housing Act 1996, section 176 imposes a substantive requirement that accommodation be available for occupation by the applicant together…

Under the Licensing Act 2003, a later resolution by a licensing committee can constitute a fresh delegation of all licensing functions, including licence…

Return to Zimbabwe as a failed asylum-seeker after prolonged residence in the United Kingdom does not, without more, establish a real risk of persecution. The…

In a claim concerning technical trade secrets, the possibility that a product could have been developed independently does not negate a finding that…

Money paid into court as the price of an injunction should not automatically be returned when the injunction is discharged. The court must consider whether the…

The scope of an expert’s remit is determined by construing the parties’ agreement. The court may determine the limits and conditions of that remit, although it…

A buyer’s authority to dispose of goods supplied under a retention-of-title clause depends on the contract construed as a whole, its commercial purpose and the…

An enforcement notice is not a nullity merely because it inaccurately identifies the legal basis of a planning restriction. The decisive question is whether it…

In a statutory community-care assessment, the welfare and needs of the service user remain the centre of decision-making. A host county council that may become…

Rectification of a will under Administration of Justice Act 1982, section 20, requires the will as expressed to fail to carry out the testator’s intentions…

For purposes of section 24C of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, a disabled tenant’s ‘enjoyment’ of let premises means ordinary lawful use and the full…

Article 6 ECHR does not apply to decisions concerning entry, stay or deportation of aliens. In exclusion proceedings under Directive 2004/38/EC, the criminal…

An interim injunction restraining publication of private information may be granted where the claimant is more likely than not to obtain final relief at trial.…

A local authority may charge for designated parking places where charging rationally contributes to the statutory duty to secure suitable and adequate parking…

Where a broker is entitled to reasonable remuneration, a commission rate discussed and agreed for an anticipated transaction is a strong indicator of what is…

In child-contact proceedings under the Children Act 1989, a judge has a broad, quasi-inquisitorial discretion to manage interim arrangements, but that…

Where an in-time application to vary limited leave remains undecided when the original leave expires, section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 extends that…

In relocation cases concerning siblings, each child’s welfare must be considered separately under the Children Act 1989, even where the parties agree that the…

Judicial-review proceedings should not continue merely to obtain a declaration where their practical purpose has been achieved and the remaining vindicatory…

Procedural fairness does not require a civil trial to be reopened whenever late evidence appears potentially important. Evidence must be prepared and…

In a certificate of appropriate alternative development case, the decision-maker must assess the planning prospects of the subject land in the no-scheme world.…

Under the Tier 4 points-based scheme, a student seeking leave to remain to re-sit examinations must still be engaged on a qualifying course meeting paragraph…

The power under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 is accommodation-based. It permits the Secretary of State to provide or arrange accommodation…

Under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, an employee remains assigned to an undertaking where the employment…

For a voluntary aided school, the requirement that some foundation governors be eligible for election or appointment as parent governors is met if they fall…

An appellate court should refer a critical EU-law question under Article 267 where it cannot resolve the issue with complete confidence. A reference is not…

A local authority considering disclosure of a person’s convictions to organisations connected with his work must identify a pressing need and conduct a…

An employment tribunal need not conduct an inquisitorial investigation into vague allegations. A claimant must identify the complaint with sufficient…

Rule 7(1) of the Prison Rules 1999 permits the Secretary of State to issue directions appropriate to prisoner classification. Its references to age…

Where a licensing authority is satisfied that a valid application to vary a premises licence has been made and no timely relevant representations remain, it…

Country-guidance risk categories identify persons who may attract adverse interest, but membership of a category does not establish a real risk. Each case…

Fresh evidence may be admitted on appeal where it could not reasonably have been obtained for the trial, could materially influence the result, and is…

An enhanced redundancy payment may be a contractual benefit conditional upon the employee entering a valid compromise agreement. Whether such a condition has…

Section 1(1) of the Defective Premises Act 1972 concerns work undertaken for or in connection with the provision of a new dwelling. Ordinary extension…

A public law challenge to administrative action determines civil rights for the purposes of article 6(1) only where the action’s nature and purpose make its…

Permission to appeal should be granted where the proposed grounds disclose a real prospect of success. That threshold was met where the appeal raised…

Under the Civil Procedure Rules, rule 52.11(2) gives an appeal court a wide discretion to admit evidence not before the lower court. The three Ladd v Marshall…

Information about family or private life does not automatically attract protection under article 8. The claimant must have a reasonable expectation of privacy.…

The Mobile Homes Act 1983 applies only where the qualifying conditions exist when the agreement is made, or when a contractual variation brings it within the…

The Ramsay principle is an application of ordinary purposive and contextual statutory construction. It does not authorise courts to disregard genuine legal…

An appellate court should not disturb a first-instance costs order merely because it forms a more favourable view of an expert’s objectivity. Where the order’s…

In a negligence claim alleging that neighbouring works caused an old boundary wall to collapse in high winds, causation must be proved on the balance of…

An agent’s warranty of authority is strict, but it ordinarily warrants only the existence of authority to act for the principal. It does not, without more…

Whether conduct amounts to a “crime of violence” under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme is a question of law admitting one correct answer, not merely…

A statutory demand should be set aside where the debt is disputed on substantial grounds. A debtor alleging that payment was deferred must show a credible and…

A local housing authority has no general common-law duty to give reasons when it decides a homelessness review in the applicant’s favour or when it offers…

An offer under Part 36 remains compliant where it requires repayment of money paid on account of costs within a specified period, particularly where the…

An appellate court should not uphold a finding of fraud where the trial judge has failed to address material evidence bearing on the alleged deception. Where…

An appeal must be dismissed where it has become academic and no live issue remains for determination. Where an appellant is given repeated opportunities and…

For inventive-step purposes, the relevant state of the art is fixed at the priority date under the Patents Act 1977. There is no express or implied deadline…

In contact enforcement proceedings, where the respondent says that contact failed because the child was reluctant or refused, the applicant bears the burden of…

On an appeal from summary judgment, fresh evidence should generally be admitted only if it could not reasonably have been obtained earlier, could probably…

On an application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal will not retry factual disputes or reassess witness credibility. A trial judge’s apportionment…

An expert immigration tribunal need not address every potentially relevant matter in its reasons. However, its decision is affected by an error of law where it…

Under section 3(10) of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005, the court must first review whether a control-order decision was flawed when made, using the…

In assessing whether a later injury is attributable to an earlier tort, the court first asks whether the tort causally contributed to the injury. It then asks…

The Aarhus Convention 1998 was not, without implementing legislation or an applicable EU Directive, directly binding in domestic private-nuisance proceedings.…

A reconsideration of an immigration decision is justified only by an arguable error of law. A specialist tribunal’s determination must give clear and…

In proceedings under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, Article 13(b) remains a narrow exception requiring a…

When deciding whether a recalled prisoner should remain detained, the Parole Board must ask whether the risk posed can be managed in the community. It must not…

A clear contractual supersession clause can extinguish earlier agreements or arrangements even if it is not labelled an entire agreement clause. Where a…

Under section 38(6) of the Children Act 1989, a court should ordinarily direct an assessment if it is necessary for determining an application for a care…

Where pension regulations do not define teacher, the term takes its ordinary meaning. Teaching is not confined to classroom delivery, the national curriculum…

Where regulation 8(2) of the 1999 Review Procedures Regulations is engaged, an applicant may require a face-to-face oral hearing before the reviewer. The local…

A court cannot rewrite an agreed contractual formula merely because later events expose an unprovided commercial consequence. Corrective construction under…

Under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, an adult child is not subject to an additional threshold requiring proof of moral…

The anti-deprivation principle prevents parties from arranging that an asset belonging to an insolvent company ceases to be available to its creditors merely…

A child’s wishes and feelings in an interim residence dispute must be taken into account, but they are not automatically determinative. The court must also…

Permission to apply under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 is a gateway to a substantive process. An appeal against permission is…

In a child-relocation case, the child’s welfare remains paramount and Children Act 1989 section 13(1)(b) creates no presumption in favour of the applicant. The…

A repudiatory dismissal that the employee does not accept does not automatically terminate an employment contract at common law. A contract may, however…

The Court of Appeal held that a second appeal from the Upper Tribunal is confined to a question of law and requires an important point of principle or practice…

A seemingly wrongful unilateral removal of a child from a primary carer ordinarily calls for an immediate without-notice application for a peremptory return…

On discontinuance, CPR r 38.6(1) presumptively requires the claimant to pay the defendant’s costs. A departure requires cogent reasons and will be unusual. A…

A statutory relationship does not by itself create the proximity required for a common law duty of care. Negligence may arise from acts performed while…

Damages for breach of Article 5(4) are assessed as just satisfaction under the Human Rights Act 1998, taking account of Strasbourg principles but without a…

In deciding whether deportation is proportionate under article 8, a child's best interests must be identified and treated as a primary consideration. They…

A fiduciary’s unauthorised gain is subject to a proprietary claim only where the gain derives from property beneficially owned by the claimant or from an…

Under article 27 of the Brussels Regulation EC 44/2001, identity of parties, cause and object is assessed autonomously and broadly. The cause includes the…

For direct infringement by making, the question is whether the defendant has made the patented product identified by the claims. Repair and making are mutually…

A prior publication anticipates a patent claim only where it gives clear and unmistakable directions to do what the claim covers. A mere signpost towards the…

The Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 does not permit damages for assault or battery to be reduced for the claimant’s contributory negligence. The…

A court cannot use a stay or case-management order to authorise general conduct which its judgment has held unlawful, unless legislation gives that power.…

Demolition works are capable of constituting a project under Council Directive 85/337/EC. The first limb of article 1.2 includes the execution of schemes other…

When extant leave to enter is cancelled while its holder is abroad, and the cancellation constitutes a variation within section 82(2)(e) of the Nationality…

A forfeiture order may be quashed on judicial review where the person affected had no actual notice of the hearing and was thereby denied a fair opportunity to…

A court fixing or reviewing an insolvency office-holder’s remuneration should apply the guiding principles in the 2004 Practice Statement. Remuneration must…

A sentence for civil contempt must reflect the gravity of the breach and bear a reasonable relationship to the statutory maximum of two years’ imprisonment. An…

An appellate court should respect the broad discretion of a first-instance judge in allocating costs, provided the judge applies a permissible approach and…

A publisher’s liability for a defamatory innuendo does not depend on knowing, or reasonably being able to foresee, the extrinsic facts which give apparently…

A double-taxation convention must be construed purposively, giving effect both to the elimination of double taxation and to the prevention of fiscal avoidance…

An appellate court may adjourn a hearing where the appellant’s intended lay advocate becomes medically unable to proceed and the appellant reasonably…

Whether diplomatic assurances provide a sufficient guarantee against treatment contrary to Article 3 is a fact-sensitive question for SIAC. No rule requires…

When determining an unaccompanied child’s asylum appeal, an immigration tribunal must have regard to the statutory need to safeguard and promote the child’s…

A completed and signed VAT return can establish an enforceable debt for the VAT stated to be payable. The statutory liability arises under the VAT Act 1994…

In a child-relocation application, the welfare of the children is the only overriding consideration under the Children Act 1989, section 1(1). The effect of…

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and discharged an injunction granted by the High Court. The respondent was ordered to pay the appellant’s costs…

An injunction under section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 may restrain an actual or apprehended breach of planning control. It cannot be…

A judicial review claim for which permission has been granted cannot be finally determined without an oral hearing unless all parties agree. The requirement in…

A failed asylum seeker returning to Zimbabwe may face an enhanced risk because he may be unable to demonstrate loyalty to Zanu-PF or the regime. That status…

Where an immigration appeal is confined to an error of law, an appellate court cannot substitute its own assessment of Article 8 proportionality merely because…

In family and adoption proceedings, the starting point is that a parent with a substantial relationship with the other parent, especially a spouse living in…

In proceedings concerning parental responsibility within the European Union, jurisdiction generally depends on the child’s habitual residence when the court is…

The court has a broad discretion to declare the meaning of a document affecting a claimant who is not a party to it. The court should nevertheless decline…

Habitual residence is a question of fact assessed on the whole history at the relevant date. An agreed removal abroad for an open-ended family arrangement does…

A conditional grant of permission to appeal is a single composite decision. A prospective appellant cannot accept the permission while appealing against its…

A commercial arrangement governing money held by solicitors must be interpreted from its words, factual matrix and commercial purpose. Its legal character…

A court considering withdrawal of a pre-action admission under Civil Procedure Rules Part 14 has a wide discretion. It must consider the factors in paragraph…

Under Employment Rights Act 1996, an employment tribunal must objectively decide whether dismissal fell within the range of reasonable responses open to a…

Under the Civil Procedure Rules, permission to discontinue is required only where the court from which permission is sought is the same court that granted the…

For paragraph 322(1A) of the Immigration Rules, an answer is a false representation only where it is made dishonestly. The civil standard of proof applies. The…

In construing a commercial employment agreement, the court must read its words in the context reasonably available to the parties, including documents…

Permission to bring a post-adoption contact application is a threshold decision. Where the proposed relationship merits sensitive investigation, permission…

A public healthcare body may classify a treatment as non-core or low priority and refuse routine funding where its view that clinical effectiveness is…

An education authority may breach its duty to provide a safe system of work where it knows that a pupil has an autistic spectrum disorder but fails to…

Under Rule 353 of the Immigration Rules, the Secretary of State must assess whether new material is significantly different and, with the earlier material…

Whether professional advice was negligent depends on what a reasonable reader in the relevant position would have understood from the words used. The document…

An appeal from a communications regulator to a specialist tribunal is not statutorily confined to material considered, or which ought to have been considered…

An appellate court should not retry factual disputes determined by an employment tribunal. It may interfere only where the tribunal’s findings were perverse or…

Under the Hardial Singh principles, detention pending deportation must remain tied to the statutory purpose and last no longer than is reasonable in all the…

A party absent from trial should normally seek relief under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 r 39.3 where it reasonably believes it can meet the three cumulative…

Under section 23 of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, the effective date of a challenged transaction depends on its true contractual terms.…

A creditor taking a loan guarantee must disclose unusual features of the contractual relationship between the creditor and debtor, or between the creditor and…

An exercise of a fiduciary dispositive power outside the scope of that power is void. An exercise within the power is valid unless set aside for breach of…

In a public procurement, an authority may require tenderers to provide documentary evidence that all planning permissions and other consents needed for the…

An employee working wholly abroad may claim unfair dismissal where the employment has connections with Great Britain and British employment law as strong as…

On an application for summary judgment, the court must distinguish a realistic claim from a fanciful one without conducting a mini-trial. It must consider both…

On the Court’s provisional view, the first authorisation under Article 3(d) of the SPC regime should be the first relevant authorisation for a product within…

On an appeal against findings of fact, the appellate court must remain available to correct a conclusion that was not properly open on the evidence. It must…

Permission to appeal may be granted where a proposed ground raises an arguable issue about whether the English court or an arbitral tribunal should determine…

Under section 123(2) of the Insolvency Act 1986, a company is not deemed unable to pay its debts merely because its liabilities exceed its assets. The court…

Statutory provisions governing industrial-action ballots must receive their ordinary, likely and workable construction. They are not construed strictly against…

A refusal under rule 353 of the Immigration Rules to treat further asylum or human-rights submissions as a fresh claim is reviewed on Wednesbury grounds, with…

Where permission to appeal and the appeal are listed for a rolled-up hearing, security cannot be ordered under rule 25.15 before permission is granted. The…

A claimant bringing a subrogated claim may recover a success fee under a collective conditional fee agreement where solicitors act for the claimant at the…

In a statutory homelessness appeal, accommodation held by one spouse may be available to the other where a joint application to live together and the domestic…

Looked-after-child status does not automatically end when a local authority provides a residential special educational placement. The Children Act 1989 and…

In child-injury fact-finding proceedings, a person should remain within the pool of possible perpetrators only where the evidence, properly evaluated…

Equity may set aside a guarantee procured by a husband's misrepresentation, including an innocent misrepresentation, as well as by undue influence. The…

Legal possession of a chattel requires both factual possession, meaning sufficient physical custody and control, and an intention to possess for one's own…

In apportioning contributory negligence, the court must assess both blameworthiness and the relative causative potency of the things involved. A motor…

The Burns/Barke procedure permits the Employment Appeal Tribunal to invite an employment tribunal to clarify, supplement or provide reasons before finally…

The Court of Appeal’s jurisdiction under section 7(1) of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997 arises only after SIAC has made a final…

Whether care arrangements amount to a deprivation of liberty under Article 5 is an objective, fact-sensitive question. The court must examine the person’s…

When a parent seeks leave to oppose an adoption order after a placement order, the court must apply a two-stage statutory approach. It must first decide…

A person controlling a workplace owes duties under regulations 4(2) and 17 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 in relation to…

A payment made by one party to discharge a mortgage securing another’s debt may create a personal right to reimbursement where it enables the mortgaged…

Under the Duomatic principle, corporate formalities may be dispensed with only where every shareholder entitled to attend and vote gives unqualified assent to…

When a party seeks permission to rely on a replacement expert instructed for proceedings, the court may condition permission on disclosure of the earlier…

At an urgent interlocutory stage, an applicant seeking interim relief need show only an arguable case that the court has jurisdiction. It was therefore…

Oral consent between neighbours to building work is interpreted objectively. It is not ordinarily a simple permission to proceed regardless of planning or…

A self-contained part of a building for collective enfranchisement under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 need not be the smallest…

For Employment Tribunal jurisdiction over discrimination claims, section 8(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976 operates as the first statutory gateway. It is…

In public-procurement proceedings, the three-month period must run from the date when the claimant knew, or ought to have known, of the infringement. The…

An order requiring a party to explain disclosure deficiencies does not, without clear words, require waiver of legal professional privilege. A witness…

A retrospective amendment to a patent removes the basis for enforcing a pre-amendment injunction against future infringements, and any ancillary delivery-up…

A patent claim to a product or system for a stated purpose ordinarily claims an article suitable for that purpose. That strong presumption is displaced only…

The statutory immigration scheme does not require the Secretary of State, when refusing an overstayer leave to remain, simultaneously to make an appealable…

A local authority may adopt a general licensing policy through its executive where the policy is a plan or strategy, even though individual licensing decisions…

After refusing an application to extend leave to remain, the Secretary of State must address removal within a reasonable period. A short pause may be justified…

For limitation purposes, a correction to the legal description of an interest or loss does not itself introduce a new cause of action. The question is whether…

EU-derived health and safety regulations must, so far as possible, be construed compatibly with the relevant directives. That obligation does not require…

For an undervalue transaction, value is assessed objectively by reference to the price which a purchaser might reasonably be expected to pay in the market at…

A driver turning across an oncoming lane must take reasonable care in light of the vehicle’s length and speed, the obstruction created by the manoeuvre, and…

A negative environmental impact assessment screening opinion must contain, or be accompanied by, sufficient information to show that adequate screening has…

In asylum and human-rights country-guidance cases, a tribunal must apply anxious scrutiny to background material. It acts unlawfully if it relies decisively on…

Whether conduct amounts to a repudiatory breach of the implied obligation of trust and confidence is a highly context-specific question, assessed objectively…

Under Land Registration Act 2002, Schedule 6, an applicant may seek registration through adverse possession only if the factual requirement of ten years’…

An employment tribunal may strike out a discrimination claim where the claimant’s conduct and non-compliance with tribunal orders make a fair hearing…

A claimant able to finance commencement and service cannot ordinarily justify extending the time for service by awaiting funding and costs protection for the…

For paragraph 322(1A) of the Immigration Rules (HC 395), a representation or document is false only where it was deliberately made or supplied as false. An…

An entire agreement clause which merely states that the written contract supersedes prior representations does not exclude liability for misrepresentation.…

Where an appeal reduces a damages award, a Part 36 offer must be compared with the judgment sum together with any interest properly included in the comparison.…

In a compensation reference arising from compulsory purchase, appellate intervention is justified only where the tribunal’s findings rest on an error of law…

By a majority, the Court held that cross-border thin-capitalisation legislation does not unlawfully restrict Article 43 of the EC Treaty merely because it…

The meaning of debt and new debt in a commercial consultancy agreement is determined from the agreement read as a whole and in its admissible factual matrix.…

A designation under section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 is lawful unless the evidence clearly establishes a serious and general risk…

A lease covenant requiring a tenant to apply for and use all reasonable endeavours to obtain planning permission and a site licence for landfill to the highest…

A mortgagee owes an equitable duty to obtain the best price reasonably obtainable when selling mortgaged property. An alleged undervalue gives rise to a…

Under Article 12 of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980, a finding that children are settled gives rise to a…

Section 283A of the Insolvency Act 1986 applies only to an interest in a qualifying dwelling-house which was vested in the bankrupt at the commencement of the…

For the allocation of statutory mental-health after-care responsibility, a person’s residence under section 117(3) of the Mental Health Act 1983 is distinct…

In construing an employment competency and pay provision, the words “for genuine reasons, the employee is unable to drive” do not excuse every employee who…

For harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, the court must assess the alleged course of conduct as a whole. Each constituent act need not…

The threshold for leave to seek financial relief after an overseas divorce is modest. A claim must have a solid basis and must be more than merely arguable…

Under the one-stop procedure, the tribunal must determine all permissible asylum and human-rights grounds if the appeal continues, including grounds raised for…

Part 36 costs consequences encourage reasonable settlement offers, but do not give the successful offeror immunity from the costs consequences of later…

Abuse of process is determined by a broad, merits-based assessment of all the circumstances. The fact that a claim could have been raised earlier does not…

A contract may arise from an exchange of commercial communications even though the parties contemplate a later formal document. The question is whether…

A failure to obtain an extension of a stay does not, without more, strike out proceedings. The effect of a conditional stay depends on the order’s terms and…

In a rolling supply agreement with interdependent quarterly obligations, a party’s insistence on performance of an order which both parties believed to be…

In asylum appeals, a tribunal’s assessment of the facts is not an error of law merely because an appellate court might weigh the evidence differently. The…

Where a contractual waiver provides for removal of fixtures after termination of a lease, notice may be oral and need not identify the waiver or state that the…

In a cost-plus building contract, the court must apply the agreed percentage to the costs properly falling within the contract. It cannot substitute a lower…

The discretion to disapply the one-year limitation period for defamation claims requires an equitable assessment of all the circumstances and the comparative…

On an application under the Insolvency Act 1986 to sanction a liquidator’s compromise, the court must objectively decide whether creditors’ interests are…

The majority held that an appellate court should not decide difficult questions about statutory deeming provisions in the abstract where the Employment…

In ancillary relief, an unexpected death soon after an order does not reopen an award calculated by reference to an earned share of matrimonial assets rather…

In an Article 8 deportation appeal, a tribunal’s determination must be read as a whole. Short or compressed reasons may be adequate where the findings show…

In a trespass claim, the claimant bears the burden of proving trespass on the balance of probabilities. That burden does not permit a court to refuse an…

An applicant seeking a certificate of inadequacy bears the burden of proving that current realisable property is insufficient to discharge the confiscation…

Costs in an appeal should reflect the relative importance and extent of success on the issues. Success on one short issue may justify an issue-based…

In unfair dismissal proceedings, the Employment Tribunal must decide whether dismissal fell within the range of reasonable responses open to a reasonable…

A prescriptive right of way requires at least 20 years’ use of a kind capable of constituting an easement, together with acquiescence by the servient owner.…

An instrument described as a loan agreement and charge must be construed according to its terms and the factual matrix objectively established by the parties’…

Where costs are not fixed, the normal procedure under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 is summary or detailed assessment. A court must not fix a costs figure by…

For running-account credit, a signed application form can constitute the debtor’s offer to be bound by its terms. The creditor may accept by countersigning it…

A failure to conduct a suitable and sufficient risk assessment does not itself establish liability. Liability follows where a proper assessment would probably…

Under the reconsideration procedure in section 103A of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, reconsideration was normally confined to the grounds…

A final order ending parent-child contact in a highly conflicted case requires a reliable welfare assessment. Where a CAFCASS recommendation against contact is…

On an application for leave to seek financial relief after a foreign divorce, the court must consider whether there is a substantial or solid ground for the…

In an automatically unfair dismissal claim under section 104 of the Employment Rights Act 1996, the compensatory award under section 123 is a just and…

For the purposes of Employment Rights Act 1996 section 98, a corporate employer’s relevant state of mind is ordinarily that of the person deputed to…

Section 62 of the Law of Property Act 1925 can, on severance of land formerly in common ownership, convert a facility or quasi-easement enjoyed with conveyed…

On an application for permission to challenge a local authority’s age assessment on factual grounds, the court should consider whether the claimant’s case…

A trustee’s right to indemnity and lien over trust assets does not take priority over a lender’s security merely because the security was granted by the…

A tribunal conducting a remitted hearing de novo must decide the remitted issues afresh. Findings from an earlier hearing that have been set aside do not bind…

The court has a discretionary power to order security for the costs of an appeal where the claimant is resident outside the jurisdiction and outside the…

Under UCP 600 article 16, an issuing bank that rejects documents must act in accordance with its disposal notice. A notice that documents will be returned…

Anonymity and reporting restrictions are derogations from open justice. A court must scrutinise their necessity, balance Articles 8 and 10 of the European…

Adequate maintenance under paragraph 281(v) of the Immigration Rules is assessed objectively. The income-support level may be treated as the Government’s…

The likelihood of future significant harm required by section 31(2)(a) of the Children Act 1989 must be founded on facts proved on the balance of…

An appellate court reviewing a tribunal must decide whether the determination contains a material error of law. It must not substitute its own view of the…

For the sharing principle, a spouse’s established earning capacity at the date of marriage is not a capital asset capable of classification as non-matrimonial…

Ancillary relief proceedings remain family proceedings where a preliminary issue determines whether assets legally held by third parties belong beneficially to…

When deciding whether to dispense with statutory service-charge consultation, the tribunal must focus on the circumstances of the non-compliance and its effect…

A professional adviser who supplies specific information is responsible for the foreseeable consequences of that information being wrong. The adviser does not…

For divorce jurisdiction in the courts of England and Wales, domicile is determined by the lex fori, namely the law of England and Wales. Article 3.1(b) of…

A final care order that substantially interferes with a child’s and parents’ family life under Article 8 must be a measure of last resort. Where expert…

A statutory licensing appeal to a magistrates’ court is a rehearing on the full material before the court. The court must nevertheless pay careful attention to…

A request for a statutory review made by an unrepresented person should be read sensibly and broadly, so far as necessary to make effective use of the…

The Framework Directive is directed to equal treatment in employment and occupation within the labour market. Its purposive and generous interpretation does…

Capture or seizure does not automatically constitute an actual total loss under the Marine Insurance Act 1906. The question is whether the insured has been…

In planning decisions affecting an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, landscape impact and visual impact are related but distinct. Visual impact is a subset…

For a proposed agricultural project, the local planning authority must first construe the relevant EIA category and then decide whether its application to the…

Equitable merger of a leasehold estate with its reversion depends upon the intention of the person in whom both estates vest. Where there is no express or…

For a request under section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the creditor must provide a copy of the whole regulated agreement, including incorporated…

On an appeal, the court should address the grounds and issues properly before it. It should not devise a new basis for allowing an appeal in the absence of the…

Where a shareholder agreement uses audited accounts to calculate an option price, formally adopted accounts cannot be created by unilateral action of directors…

A listed-building entry must be construed objectively and as a whole. Under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation) Act 1990, the question is whether…

An adverse-costs indemnity given by a solicitor to a claimant client under an otherwise compliant conditional fee agreement is not champertous merely because…

On an application for permission to appeal in a media-regulation judicial review, grounds alleging that the court below applied the wrong Article 10 framework…

On an interlocutory appeal concerning judicial review of a tribunal’s indemnity-costs order, the court identified an arguable distinction between whether the…

Notification of a homelessness review decision to solicitors authorised, or reasonably presumed to be authorised, to receive it is notification to the…

Under section 23 of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, a disposition intended to defeat a claim for financial relief may be restrained or set…

Eligibility for compensation under the Justices of the Peace Act 1949 (Compensation) Regulations 1978 depends on the substance of the work, not an employee’s…

An affidavit in committal proceedings must ordinarily identify a personal source of information or belief sufficiently for the affected person to investigate…

For regulation 6(2)(b), fully maintained means that the religious order provides for the member’s maintenance. The enquiry concerns who maintains the member…

A possession hearing conducted in a tenant’s absence is not a trial for the purposes of the Civil Procedure Rules. The court may therefore set aside the…

A patent claim is construed purposively. A specific embodiment does not restrict its general language unless the patent indicates that the restriction serves…

A commercial term requiring payment without set-off preserves a customer’s right to dispute sums that have not fallen due. A dispute about part of an invoice…

An Achieving Best Evidence interview that contains no meaningful free narrative and is driven by leading suggestions may have no evidential value. A…

The Worker Registration Scheme lawfully required A8 nationals who had only temporary admission as asylum seekers, or who were unlawfully resident, to complete…

In a contractual joint venture, a clause requiring land to be disposed of in parcels of equal value ordinarily operates at the time of each disposal, unless…

A party seeking to introduce a new and significantly different case at the opening of trial bears a heavy burden. The court must balance justice to the…

A contractual term stating that fees are subject to review as costs increase does not, without clear language, permit a provider to impose and enforce a…

Interest under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 may be payable even while liability for the debt is genuinely disputed. The statutory…

In a follow-on competition damages claim, the Competition Appeal Tribunal is bound by clearly identifiable findings of fact made by the regulator, unless it…

When sensitive, disputed or historic information is considered for inclusion in an enhanced criminal record certificate, procedural fairness is fact-specific.…

Findings of fact in family proceedings must rest on evidence and proper inferences. Suspicion and relative plausibility alone cannot establish an allegation. A…

A planning condition must be construed in the context of the planning permission as a whole, including the description of the development and the reason for…

For appellate jurisdiction under the Access to Justice Act 1999 (Destination of Appeals) Order 2000, the court must assess the substance of the decision. An…

A builder does not, merely by contracting to construct a building, assume a concurrent duty in tort to protect the purchaser from the purely economic cost of…

Whether an arrangement creates a tenancy depends on its substance and the parties’ arrangement, not on labels such as rent, tenant or lease. Regular payments…

A highway authority's duty to maintain a highway is an absolute duty to keep its physical surface in repair. Where a dangerous defect establishes a breach, the…

For a fresh claim under paragraph 353 of the Immigration Rules, further submissions are significantly different only where their content has not already been…

The management of a night club owes its guests a duty to take reasonable care to protect them from foreseeable violence by other guests. The duty arises where…

A company should not be wound up on a petition founded on a debt where there is a bona fide dispute on substantial grounds as to whether the company owes it.…

A court should not determine an academic or hypothetical dispute about medical treatment. A declaration concerning a person who lacks capacity must address a…

In an international relocation case, the Court of Appeal’s role is one of handicapped review. It will not interfere with a welfare decision entrusted to the…

The statutory prohibition on gambling contracts does not make every associated payment irrecoverable. Under the Gaming Act 1892, a promise to repay money…

A person may be falsely imprisoned where one public authority unlawfully and directly causes another authority to detain that person, even though the detaining…

An appeal confined to a point of law cannot reopen factual findings or a tribunal’s penalty discretion merely because the appellant disputes the evidence or…

A statutory financial restriction may be proportionate despite severe commercial consequences where it pursues an exceptionally important national-security…

Rule 395C of the Immigration Rules requires an individual assessment of all relevant factors, including compassionate circumstances. It is neither confined to…

At the permission stage, an appeal should proceed where the material relied on could reasonably have affected the decision-maker’s assessment, particularly…

A statutory duty imposed on a police chief officer to respond to a request for information for an enhanced criminal record certificate does not, without more…