Court of Appeal (Civil Division) judgments, 2014

Once a spousal periodical-payments order has been discharged after capitalisation, the court has no jurisdiction to make further periodical-payment orders…

A statutory appeal concerning the revocation of excise registration is ordinarily the exclusive means of challenging a decision alleged merely to be…

A policy governing police post-incident investigations is unlawful only if it creates an unacceptable risk that action taken under it will breach legal…

An informal boundary agreement which is intended to transfer land is subject to the statutory formalities governing dispositions of land. An agreement merely…

Police may make unannounced visits to a registered sex offender’s home to seek consensual entry. Knowledge that refusal may lead to a warrant does not…

In care and adoption proceedings, the threshold may be satisfied by evidence that a child was exposed to a volatile parental relationship and serious…

An appellate court should not interfere with a trial judge’s assessment of a witness where the judge considered the witness’s alleged psychological…

In care proceedings, a court must not decide between rehabilitation, family placement and adoption on the basis of an evidential vacuum. If available parenting…

Secret dealing with another party’s agent is not, without more, an independent basis for terminating a contract. The principle in bribery cases concerns…

For foreign criminals, the relevant deportation provisions in the Immigration Rules form a complete code for determining whether deportation would breach…

Patent claims must be construed purposively and in their full context under European Patent Convention, but the purpose revealed by the description and…

A local plan must assess the full, objectively assessed need for housing before considering whether other national planning policies justify meeting less than…

Under Article 3.2 of the Citizens' Directive and regulation 8(2) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, an extended family member must…

A published policy governing executive detention must state with sufficient clarity and transparency the circumstances in which the power will be exercised. An…

An application made after the deadline for filing a notice of appeal is governed by the rigorous principles applicable to relief from sanctions, although…

An executor must administer an estate for all persons interested in it, but an unsubstantiated personal-injury claim remains contingent. It does not place the…

A custodial sentence is not retrospectively unlawful merely because an appellate court later quashes or replaces it after disagreeing with the sentencing…

In disciplinary proceedings against barristers, the President of COIC and the Lord Chief Justice were not confined to appointing tribunal or Visitors’ panel…

For the purposes of article 8(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the required precision of published policy is contextual. Complex prison decisions…

In a contested adoption case, the court must evaluate the child’s welfare globally and holistically by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of each…

Under Council Regulation (EC) 2201/2003 (Brussels II revised), a child's habitual residence is determined by integration in a social and family environment…

In an asylum appeal, a tribunal need not identify the precise date or legal category of departure where the claimant’s account is wholly disbelieved and the…

A landlord cannot serve a section 21 notice while a tenancy deposit paid in connection with a shorthold tenancy is not being held in an authorised scheme. This…

An exceptional case determination under Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 section 10(3)(a) is mandatory where withholding legal…

Proceedings concerning the retention of property seized in aid of a criminal investigation are a “criminal cause or matter” where the statutory procedure…

A strike-out for non-compliance with a court order under the Civil Procedure Rules must be a proportionate sanction. The principles governing relief from…

In an asylum appeal, country guidance governs only the country issues it actually decided. Where it does not address the risk faced by women in particular…

Permission to amend a statement of case is subject to proportionate case management. The court must consider the proposed pleading’s focus, explanation…

In a sole-name family-home dispute, the non-registered cohabitant must establish any beneficial interest by proving a common intention constructive trust.…

Direct contact between a child and a non-resident parent should be stopped only in exceptional circumstances, where there are cogent reasons, no workable…

Procedural orders in long-running litigation must be construed in the context of the court’s active case management and the sequence of orders made. A later…

A third party debt order may attach only a debt presently payable or payable in the future under an existing obligation. Money is not an attachable debt where…

Financial provision under Children Act 1989, Schedule 1 is directed to a child’s needs. It does not import the matrimonial principles of sharing or…

In a disability discrimination appeal, the tribunal was entitled to find that requiring face-to-face attendance at sickness-review meetings did not place the…

Medical evidence of scars may strongly corroborate that serious injuries were inflicted, but it need not establish their timing, perpetrator or circumstances.…

Safeguarding directions do not set the framework for future development consent under article 3(2) of the Directive 2001/42/EC where they impose procedural…

A winding-up petition based on an unpaid contractual debt is not subject to the mandatory stay imposed by section 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996. The petition…

A bus operator’s reasonable-adjustment duty does not automatically require an absolute rule compelling every non-wheelchair user to leave a wheelchair space.…

Procedural fairness in an informal planning hearing is fact- and context-specific. Objectors must receive notice of the hearing, know the main points advanced…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 rule 44.2, the unsuccessful-party rule remains the starting point, but the court must weigh all the circumstances. In…

When determining a child-abduction application under the High Court’s inherent jurisdiction, the court must consider whether and how the child should be heard.…

For criminal injuries compensation, a tribunal must first decide whether a criminal offence was committed and then whether its nature makes it a crime of…

Under Council Regulation (EC) No. 1408/71, the prohibition on residence clauses for old-age benefits is subject to provisions coordinating qualifying periods.…

Presumed undue influence requires both a relationship of trust and confidence and a transaction calling for an explanation. Whether either requirement is met…

Article 4 of the Hague Trusts Convention excludes only preliminary issues concerning acts by which assets are transferred to a trustee. It does not exclude…

An enforcement notice is not a nullity merely because a variation later proves defective by reference to facts outside the notice. Under the Town and Country…

In child residence and contact appeals, an order made by consent will ordinarily defeat an appeal directed to the order itself where the judge explained its…

In contact proceedings, the child’s welfare is paramount. Parent-child contact is ordinarily a fundamental element of family life and may be ended only as a…

In financial remedy appeals, the Court of Appeal should not substitute its own assessment where the judge applied the correct approach and reached an outcome…

Where an appeal court grants permission to appeal on limited grounds after an oral hearing, it necessarily refuses permission on the remaining grounds unless…

In a claim for breach of a contractual warranty, a claimant’s negligent failure to discover the breach will not ordinarily break the chain of causation where…

In an application to dispense with parental consent to adoption, the phrase ‘nothing else will do’ must be read with the statutory requirements that adoption…

A contractual requirement that a public body act reasonably and as a responsible public body may import standards familiar from public law. In this contract…

In care and placement proceedings, actual harm is not required for state intervention. Under Children Act 1989, section 31, sufficient facts showing a…

A return on capital which is not to be amortised is fact-specific. The assumptions used in a Duxbury calculation do not establish an industry-standard rate for…

A lease transfer is ineffective as a deed until delivery, which depends on the maker’s intention that the document be binding. A deed held by solicitors…

In a contribution claim following settlement of an underlying action, limitation under section 10(4) of the Limitation Act 1980 begins when the amount payable…

For specialist registration through the equivalence route, a qualification is not automatically equivalent to a CCT merely because it is a specialist…

In care proceedings, a decision to separate children from parental care for the long term requires a rigorous, individualised welfare analysis. The court must…

In a foreign-criminal deportation appeal, Article 8 must be assessed under the legal framework applicable to the decision. Under the Immigration Rules, where…

A statutory planning challenge may fall within Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention where it alleges a failure to give effect to environmental planning…

For a package holiday abroad, the contractual standard of care is ordinarily informed by local standards and practices applicable to a comparable…

A costs order under rule 44.2 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 involves a broad discretion based on success, conduct and all the circumstances. An appellate…

Issue estoppel does not arise merely because earlier proceedings were dismissed for want of jurisdiction. Where no substantive issue was adjudicated, the…

In a partnership dissolution account, the usual starting point is that there is no order for costs, unless a party’s misconduct makes an adverse order…

Whether non-compliance with a statutory notice requirement invalidates the notice is an ordinary question of statutory interpretation. The mandatory-directory…

The common-law duty of fairness applies to decisions under the points-based immigration system, but its content depends on the statutory and administrative…

In an application to remove a child temporarily to a non-Convention country, the court must keep three matters in focus: the magnitude of the risk of breach…

In assessing whether possession of a secure tenancy is reasonable on anti-social behaviour grounds, the court must focus on the effect of the nuisance or…

Under Article 13 of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980, a child’s objection to return is distinct from a…

Section 17(1) of the Children Act 1989 gives a local authority a power, rather than a duty, to provide assessed services to a child in need. The duty to assess…

Committal proceedings require the safeguards applicable to a criminal charge. A court must decide only the contempts identified in the application notice. If…

A public social landlord is subject to the same Article 8 proportionality approach as a local housing authority. Its proper management and allocation of scarce…

An appeal against findings of fact and witness credibility will not succeed merely by re-arguing the evidence where the trial judge had documentary and oral…

In settling the terms of a patent appeal order, the court may stay a final injunction for a short period where the patentee primarily seeks financial relief…

An employer exercising a contractual power to remove an employee from a posting must act fairly. An operational label does not avoid that obligation where the…

Where a public authority has conceded an Article 5(4) breach and will provide all relief due, a court may refuse to continue an effectively duplicative claim…

An anonymity direction under section 39 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 protects its subject only while that person remains a child or young person.…

An application under the former Tier 1 post-study work route made before the applicant’s qualification was awarded could not attract the points required by the…

In child welfare proceedings, a first-instance judge need not investigate local-authority history line by line or address every item in the statutory welfare…

The Court’s inherent supervisory jurisdiction over solicitors arises from their status as officers of the court. It is principally punitive and disciplinary…

A person is a former relevant child only if the statutory conditions were actually met before adulthood. A local authority’s failure to provide accommodation…

An appellate court must explain how material evidence bears on the welfare decision under challenge. Where contact evidence is central to criticism of a…

In financial-remedy appeals, an appellate court should respect the first-instance judge’s discretionary assessment where it is supported by the evidence, but…

A tenancy created by payment and acceptance of rent may be a tenancy without a lease in writing, although its terms reproduce an earlier written agreement…

A placement order requires a structured welfare and proportionality evaluation. The court must analyse each realistic option, compare its benefits and…

Habeas corpus does not lie to challenge imprisonment imposed by a court of competent jurisdiction. The proper remedy is an appeal. Nor is the writ available…

In a professional indemnity policy, paid employee was not confined to common-law employees. It included a consultant who continued to work under the insured…

A direction under s37 of the Children Act 1989 has a specific protective purpose. It requires an investigation of whether care or supervision proceedings…

An application under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 Part 31.22 does not automatically attract indemnity costs. The ordinary costs rules apply, and the court…

For computer-program inventions, novelty and inventive step do not themselves overcome the exclusion in Patents Act 1977, section 1(2). The court must identify…

The legacy programme was an administrative arrangement for resolving a backlog of asylum and immigration cases. It created no special policy, substantive right…

In professional negligence, proof that a recognised surgical complication is rare does not, without more, establish breach of duty. The claimant must identify…

Where a contract promises insurance by reference to a summary of minimum cover, the contractual entitlement depends on the proper construction of the whole…

The Court of Appeal confined the matters requiring retrial to infringement claims under section 10(1) of the Trade Marks Act 1994 and Article 9(1)(a) of the…

Long-standing honest concurrent use may mean that a trade mark’s guarantee of origin differs from the guarantee ordinarily provided by a mark used by one…

Patent claims are construed through the understanding of the skilled person, having regard to the language, context and purpose of the invention. Limitations…

In professional disciplinary proceedings, dishonesty is assessed by applying the relevant objective standard and then considering the practitioner’s own…

At a fact-finding hearing, the burden remains on the local authority to establish, on the balance of probabilities and from the whole evidence, that injuries…

For an environmental impact assessment screening decision, the decision-maker must consider relevant cumulative effects of the proposed development with other…

A local housing authority’s power to determine which classes are qualifying persons for social housing is subject to the statutory duty to secure reasonable…

In children’s proceedings, costs do not ordinarily follow the event. An adverse costs order is exceptional and ordinarily requires unreasonable or…

In keyword-advertising cases, a trade mark proprietor bears the burden of proving that the advertisement does not enable reasonably well-informed and…

When assessing the interim threshold for a new child, a court may rely on findings concerning injuries to another child where the evidence forms part of a…

For Article 3 purposes, allegedly degrading detention conditions must be assessed in context and against the quality of the evidence. Lack of in-cell toilets…

Section 38(6) of the Highways Act 1980 is wide and unqualified. It permits an agreement allocating expenses of construction, maintenance or improvement after…

An enforcement appeal on ground (f) cannot secure planning permission for a proposed alternative development which falls outside the matters identified in the…

Permission for collateral use of disclosed documents under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r 31.22(1)(b), requires special circumstances amounting to a cogent…

For limitation purposes, constructive knowledge under section 14(3) of the Limitation Act 1980 is assessed objectively by asking what knowledge the claimant…

For the consultation trigger under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, qualifying works are assessed by identifying individual sets of works. They are not…

Paragraph 33(2) of Schedule 3 to the Equality Act 2010 excludes section 29 duties only for matters governed by Regulation (EC) No 1107/2006. The Regulation’s…

Occupiers’ liability is determined by whether the occupier took such care as was reasonable in all the circumstances to keep visitors reasonably safe. The…

An irremediably unenforceable consumer credit agreement continues to exist, with its contractual rights and obligations intact. However, once a competent court…

The discretion under section 32A of the Limitation Act 1980 is wide, but disapplication of the one-year limitation period for libel remains exceptional. A…

For negligence claims under the Limitation Act 1980, constructive knowledge is assessed objectively. The court considers the circumstances and characteristics…

When deciding whether adoption is necessary, the court must evaluate every realistic option by reference to the child’s welfare throughout life. The question…

The act of state doctrine may ordinarily preclude an English court from deciding a claim which requires it to rule on the legality of sovereign acts of a…

Section 84(2)(a) of the Finance Act 1996 excludes a gain arising from a loan relationship or related transaction where the amount is required to be transferred…

In an unfair-dismissal case involving alleged misconduct, the tribunal must examine the substance of the employer’s reason and apply the Burchell questions…

Contractual damages are normally assessed at the date of breach, but the rule is flexible where another date would more accurately reflect the compensatory…

A late respondent’s notice is subject to the same Mitchell principles as a late notice of appeal. Although the rules prescribe no express sanction for late…

Section 26(6)(a) of the Local Government Act 1974 excludes the Local Government Ombudsman’s jurisdiction over action, including a failure to act, in respect of…

A substantive legitimate expectation requires a representation or promise that is clear, unambiguous and devoid of relevant qualification, together with a…

In a foreign-criminal deportation appeal under the 2012 Immigration Rules, where paragraphs 399 and 399A do not apply, the public interest is outweighed only…

An interim injunction protecting a vulnerable child may extend to passages which are seriously liable to be understood by the child as vividly descriptive and…

Permission to appeal should be granted where a subsequent Court of Justice decision raises an arguable question whether domestic VAT legislation complies with…

A placement order dispensing with parental consent may be made only in exceptional circumstances where the child’s overriding welfare requirements demand…

An environmental report need evaluate only reasonable alternatives. A proposal which lacks necessary support, funding, agreement from landowners and a viable…

For EU equality law, employment is an autonomous concept. A formal domestic contract of employment is not decisive. The relationship must, however, involve an…

Under the original Article 5 of the Authorisation Directive, public security could justify subjecting radio-frequency use to individual licensing rather than…

On a repeat asylum appeal, earlier tribunal determinations provide the starting point, but they are not determinative. A later tribunal must assess new…

Under Green Belt policy, “any other harm” includes every harm relevant for planning purposes, not merely harm to the Green Belt. The decision-maker must give…

A residential lease may permit recovery of management costs for services that the landlord is not expressly obliged to provide. The question is one of…

A care provider cannot assume that a local authority’s direction to seek payment from a resident terminates an apparently long-term care contract. Where the…

An employer seeking to restrain an employee from working for a competitor during a subsisting employment contract need not invariably undertake to pay the…

In judicial review proceedings, disclosure should be ordered only where it is necessary for a fair and just determination of the issues. Broad relevance is…

Appellate interference with a trial judge’s findings of fact, particularly a finding on fraud after the judge has heard the witnesses, requires a rare case or…

Under section 25 of the Mental Health Act 1983, a nearest relative’s discharge order takes effect only when served in the manner prescribed by the Mental…

Under section 208(1) of the Housing Act 1996, a local housing authority must secure accommodation in its district so far as reasonably practicable. The duty is…

Under section 5(2)(b) of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992, completion of an indorsement by delivery requires more than physical possession. The holder…

An appellate court should admit fresh evidence only after a rigorous assessment of the established criteria and the overriding objective. In children’s cases…

A solicitor cannot avoid the statutory controls on conditional and contingent fees by remaining off the court record. A retainer under which fees are payable…

Patent claims are construed through the understanding of the skilled person, reading the specification as a whole. Where a patent uses a technical term in…

An application for permission to revoke a placement order under section 24 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 has two stages. The court must first identify…

In a special requirements investigation, an IPCC report must state the investigator’s opinion whether there is a case to answer before a criminal court or…

General words incorporating a charterparty into a bill of lading do not ordinarily incorporate ancillary arbitration or jurisdiction clauses. Where the bill…

Under Article 13 of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980, once a child’s objection and sufficient age and maturity…

Without prejudice protection has two foundations. Public policy protects genuine attempts to settle an objectively existing dispute or issue. The concept of a…

On an application to approve a trustee’s momentous decision, the trustees must provide sufficient evidence to show that they have fulfilled their duties and…

The common-law rule that a fraudulent insurance claim forfeits the whole claim extends to a fraudulent device supporting an otherwise valid claim. The device…

Freezing relief requires a real risk that a judgment or award will go unsatisfied. That may be shown by dissipation outside ordinary business, or by dealings…

Proprietary estoppel requires a broad and integrated assessment of assurance, reliance, detriment and unconscionability. The assurance must be clear and…

A staged route from discretionary leave to remain to indefinite leave to remain is lawful in principle. Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration…

An accounting party bears the legal burden of justifying discharges, while the beneficiary must prove any surcharge. The accounting party need not support…

A testamentary gift defined by reference to the testator’s unused inheritance-tax nil-rate band at death includes a statutory increase which takes effect…

For transfer of a judicial review application to the Upper Tribunal, the relevant question is the decision which the application actually calls into question…

An apparently successful cognitive or knowledge test does not, without more, establish malingering or disprove brain-injury-related impairment. It must be…

For genuine use of a registered figurative trade mark, the court must determine whether use in a composite form has altered the distinctive character of the…

When judicial review is allowed and a case is remitted to the reviewed tribunal, the ratio of the High Court’s judgment binds that tribunal on reconsideration.…

A solicitor is not negligent merely because, with hindsight, a different procedural application might have been conceived. Where the legal position is…

A trial judge’s adverse findings, even when strongly expressed, do not ordinarily prevent that judge from hearing later committal proceedings arising from the…

Skeleton arguments are case-management tools. They must be concise, identify and confine the issues, and avoid unnecessary quotation or repetition. A party…

On an appeal from the Upper Tribunal, legal error is assessed under the law applicable when that tribunal decided the case. Later statutory provisions and…

An appeal does not automatically stay the lower court’s order. The court must assess all circumstances and balance the risks of injustice, including the risk…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r 31.16, pre-action disclosure does not require the applicant to establish a minimum level of arguability or a prima facie…

For foreign criminals sentenced to four years’ imprisonment or more, the Article 8 proportionality assessment is governed by the complete code in paragraphs…

On an application under CPR 13.3, a real prospect of successfully defending the claim is necessary but may not be sufficient. The court must exercise its…

Under sections 140A and 140B of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, fairness is assessed by reference to the agreement’s terms, the creditor’s enforcement of its…

Cause of action estoppel may prevent a mortgagee from relying on an all-monies charge to recover a different secured debt after obtaining a judgment framed as…

A party seeking fortification of a cross-undertaking in damages need not prove loss on the balance of probabilities. It must show a good arguable case by…

Patent disputes may be determined by summary judgment where the court can confidently construe the claim and decide the issue without a trial. The need to…

Relief under section 25 of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982 must have some utility which supports or is ancillary to the foreign proceedings.…

The positive duties under Articles 2 and 3 require an adequate legislative and administrative framework containing reasonable and effective safeguards against…

In a systemic judicial review challenge, the court has a wide discretion as to remedy. A finding that a detention or fast-track system is being operated…

Vulnerability under section 189(1)(c) of the Housing Act 1996 requires a composite assessment in the statutory context. The Pereira formulation is a judicial…

A lawful consultation must begin while proposals remain formative, give sufficient reasons for an intelligent response, allow adequate time and conscientiously…

The Legal Services Board must make a judgment which balances all the regulatory objectives under the Legal Services Act 2007. The independence of advocates is…

An employer breaches its duty when deciding whether to commence disciplinary proceedings only if the decision falls outside the range of reasonable responses…

An arguable contractual construction point does not alone justify permission to appeal. The court should consider whether the point was pleaded, supported by…

Where a protected party’s litigation friend has a serious conflict of interest, the court must secure independent representation before determining substantive…

A non-Part 36 settlement offer falls within the broad costs discretion under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, Part 44. The rigid consequences governing Part 36…

A chargor cannot use an unliquidated and unadmitted cross-claim, including one capable of equitable set-off if established, to discharge a secured debt…

In assessing compensation on a remittal, an employment tribunal must consider all information relevant to the issue remitted, including subsequent facts which…

In construing articles of association, the court must first decide whether the language is capable of bearing competing meanings. Commercial common sense may…

An employee who both works and lives abroad will ordinarily fall outside the territorial scope of section 94(1) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. The employee…

On an application for permission to appeal concerning removal to Italy under Dublin II, the court held that the evidential presumption that an EU member state…

The Court of Appeal should be slow to interfere with a case-management decision concerning intervention. Permission to appeal should not be granted merely…

Interim proceedings should not ordinarily be used to obtain final mandatory relief, such as an order requiring an entry clearance officer to grant a visa.…

A contractual provision is void under section 25 of the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995 once it gives a landlord the ability to frustrate the…

An issue conclusively determined in earlier proceedings cannot be reopened by recasting the same dispute as separate legal components. Where prior orders and…

In an urgent private-law children hearing, the court must identify the orders sought, the problem to be solved, the key issues and the evidence required. It…

In a private-law relocation application, the children’s welfare remains paramount. Relocation authorities provide guidance, not rigid principles or…

In a step-parent adoption, the court must apply the statutory welfare and consent requirements in their particular factual context. Proportionality is central.…

When deciding contact for a child in long-term foster care, the court must assess welfare over the foreseeable future using up-to-date evidence about wishes…

Where a care-order decision is finely balanced, the judge must conduct an exacting review of the evidence, make precise findings on pivotal matters, and…

An appellate court may order security for costs where the applicable jurisdictional conditions are met and the evidence shows a real risk that the respondent’s…

Wednesbury review is supervisory. The court asks whether the decision was reasonably open to the primary decision-maker on the material before it. The…

In a forum conveniens application, the court must identify an available foreign forum that is clearly or distinctly more appropriate, having regard to the…

An appellate court considering permission to appeal against care and placement orders must have sufficient papers to scrutinise serious challenges to the…

The ordinary rule is that the press may report everything occurring in open court. It may be displaced only in unusual or exceptional circumstances. Where open…

Under article 7(1) of the EIA Directive, a project is likely to have significant environmental effects where there is a real risk of those effects. Likelihood…

Liability for negligent misstatement requires reliance on an existing representation. A purchaser cannot rely retrospectively on a certificate issued after…

Access to higher-education funding falls within the ambit of Article 2 of the First Protocol, and exclusion based on immigration status engages Article 14. The…

For jurisdiction under Regulation EC 44/2001, a company’s “central administration” is the place where that company, through its own constitutional organs…

Where a privileged document is inadvertently disclosed, permission to use it under rule 31.20 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 generally turns on whether the…

A restriction on using disclosed documents extends to information derived from them and to their provenance. It prevents a recipient from using disclosure in…

A transsexual person’s acquired gender is not recognised for legal rights depending on gender unless a full gender recognition certificate has been issued…

An appellate court should not readily interfere with a trial judge’s case-management decision refusing further expert evidence where the judge has identified…

Article 13 of Decision No 1/80 does not protect a Turkish worker who has already acquired employment and residence rights under Article 6(1). The two…

A bank may debit a customer’s account after a CHAPS transfer where the payment has been processed in accordance with the identifiers ordinarily used by the…

An appellate court should give a generous margin of discretion to case-management decisions. It may intervene where the judge misdirected himself in law or…

Qualified one-way costs shifting is validly made under the court-rules power. The costs discretion in section 51 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 remains subject…

A contract is interpreted objectively, in context and as a whole. A general condition stating that sums are exclusive of VAT may ordinarily require the buyer…

An appellate court should not interfere with a trial judge’s primary factual findings unless there is an identifiable error or the decision cannot reasonably…

A military interrogation policy must be assessed on its face against the legal standards it adopts, assuming compliance with its terms. Common Article 3…

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, an applicant who requests an electronic copy may ordinarily specify the software format in which it is supplied…

An employment tribunal should give a litigant the assistance appropriate to the circumstances, taking account of representation, legal qualification…

Compliance with an unless order requiring standard disclosure is an objective question of interpretation and application of the order and the disclosure rules.…

In care proceedings, experts may assess family members before the court has resolved historical allegations. They may rely on substantial records and take…

Permission to appeal may be made conditional on payment or security for the judgment debt only where there is a compelling reason, followed by a discretionary…

On an application to impose conditions on an appeal, the touchstone is whether there is a compelling reason to protect the ordinary enforcement process. The…

In discrimination claims subject to a reverse burden, the claimant must first prove, on the balance of probabilities, the primary facts from which a tribunal…

A disability-discrimination defence to possession proceedings may be determined summarily. The court should assess whether it is seriously arguable, assuming…

For collective enfranchisement under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, the relevant date is the date on which the initial notice is…

Under section 123(4) of the Capital Allowances Act 2001, the question is whether obtaining an allowance determined without reference to section 109 was a main…

In an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the First-tier Tribunal may exclude both a party and that party’s legal representative from a closed…

A child’s habitual residence is determined by a factual inquiry tailored to the individual circumstances. The former rule that one of two parents with parental…

Under section 189(1)(c) of Housing Act 1996, vulnerability is assessed by comparing the applicant’s ability to cope when homeless with that of an ordinary…

Under Schedule 4 to the Land Registration Act 2002, a court correcting the mistaken removal of a registered interest may restore that interest and change, for…

Under section 9(1) of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975, the court must first identify whether the deceased had a severable…

The duties in regulation 4(1) of the Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 operate in stages. An employer must avoid risky manual handling where…

A claimant may recover money paid under an unlawful agreement where the unlawful purpose has not been carried into effect. The claimant need not show genuine…

EU equal treatment requires comparable situations to be treated alike and different situations differently, unless objectively justified. In complex funding…

In private law children proceedings, the court must obtain evidence essential to a proper assessment of each carer’s ability to meet the children’s needs. The…

Open justice is the fundamental starting point. A private appellate hearing is exceptional and requires strict necessity to achieve justice. The applicant…

Article 8 does not automatically provide a proportionality defence to a possession claim by a tenant of a private landlord under the mandatory regime in the…

Witness immunity protects a complaint and supporting statements made to the police about conduct which might lead to prosecution. Where no court proceedings…

For VAT input-tax purposes, payment for a service, a need for the work, or a consequential benefit does not by itself establish that the service was supplied…

A contractual notice or claims-conduct provision will not ordinarily be construed as a condition precedent to an indemnity unless the agreement uses clear…

In a presumed undue influence case, related transactions should be assessed as a whole where they form one process. A transaction calls for an explanation when…

In an Article 8 deportation appeal involving a foreign criminal, the Immigration Rules do more than list relevant factors. They require great weight to be…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal from summary judgment, the applicant must show a real prospect of success. A challenge to a settlement based…

A trial judge must decide a case within the issues left open by earlier judgments and case-management orders. Where liability has already been determined and…

The ordinary rule that costs follow the event remains appropriate where fresh evidence is admitted on appeal but the successful party was not unreasonable in…

Habitual residence is a question of fact. The court must assess whether the child has acquired some degree of integration in a social and family environment…

A court considering whether a child should provide evidence must conduct the individual balancing exercise prescribed in Re W. It must weigh the likely…

The police bear the burden of proving lawful justification for an arrest and ensuing detention. Where one officer directly procures an arrest by another…

A court may prefer a commercially sensible construction to an apparent absurdity only where the contractual language is genuinely ambiguous and admits clear…

In an Article 8 removal case, a child’s best interests are a primary consideration of substantial importance, but are not paramount. A tribunal must not assume…

An employee’s contractual right to appeal against a disciplinary warning or dismissal is ordinarily protective. Where the contractual procedure contains no…

A private nuisance claim may fall within article 9.3 of the Aarhus Convention where the complaint is closely linked to environmental matters regulated by the…

Compensation under the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 is assessed by valuing the agency’s future income stream at termination. The…

Documents obtained through foreign lawyers carry no rebuttable presumption of authenticity in asylum proceedings. Evidence must be assessed as a whole.…

A commercial settlement expressed as a full and final settlement of claims under an insurance policy may extend to tortious or delictual claims concerning the…

On a conventional application to amend, a defendant who raises a prima facie limitation defence places the burden on the claimant to show that the defence is…

Article 13(2) of Directive 2004/38/EC contains no express requirement that a Union citizen’s former spouse was exercising Treaty rights in the host Member…

Whether mental illness is satisfactorily managed in immigration detention is an objective question. The treatment need not match the best treatment available…

When permission is sought to remove a child temporarily to a non-Hague Convention country, the court must rigorously assess the likelihood and magnitude of…

Assessor suitability is determined case by case. The relevant question is whether the proposed assessor has skill and experience in the matter to which the…

The Secretary of State has an implied power to withdraw a course designation where there are reasonable grounds to believe that public money is being paid for…

On an application for summary judgment, the court must not conduct a mini trial to resolve significant factual disputes. It may analyse the evidence and reject…

An expert determination is final and binding unless the expert materially departs from the mandate defined by the parties’ contract. The court must distinguish…

An economically inactive EEA citizen who resides as a student must hold comprehensive sickness insurance cover during the relevant five-year period.…

A pension scheme deed must be construed in its contractual and factual context. A purposive approach cannot create a substantial employer funding obligation…

Anonymity in judicial review proceedings is governed by CPR 39.2 on a case-by-case basis. Mental patients do not enjoy a general or legal presumption of…

The 26-week limit for care proceedings is not an inflexible constraint. An extension may be granted only where it is necessary to resolve the proceedings…

In proceedings concerning permanent placement, the court must evaluate each realistic welfare option holistically and assess whether adoption is proportionate.…

In care and placement proceedings, a court must not use a late case-management decision to exclude a realistic relative-care option without analysing the…

Habitual residence is a child-centred question of fact. The court assesses the quality and stability of the child’s residence and whether there is sufficient…

For an other family member under the Directive 2004/38/EC, the host Member State must conduct an extensive examination of personal circumstances and justify…

Immigration Rules need not themselves guarantee compliance with Article 8 in every individual case. They are unlawful if their interference with Convention…

Interpreting a tradable financial instrument requires an iterative process. The court must test rival meanings against the instrument as a whole and evaluate…

The Canada Steamship principle is a rule of construction based on the parties’ presumed intention and applies to indemnity clauses. Its application must…

Immigration decisions should ordinarily be determined under the law and policy in force when they are made. Inclusion in an operational legacy programme does…

An appellate court must exercise great restraint before overturning first-instance findings of fact, including evaluative findings. Intervention requires an…

A person is a de facto director only if, viewed objectively and in the light of the company’s governance, that person has assumed the status and functions of a…

Restrictions attached to discretionary leave for a person who cannot presently be removed may interfere with private life under article 8. Their…

An appellate court may review an Employment Tribunal for procedural irregularity only within the permitted grounds of appeal. A tribunal need not intervene…

A direction under paragraph 3 of Schedule 6 to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 must be read as a whole. It must itself state the reasons for which it is…

A fixed price expressly made conditional upon specified accounting records being in order does not govern where that condition fails. If the contract…

Under the Wimbledon and Putney Commons Act 1871, the Conservators may grant easements over the Commons. The prohibition on disposing of any part of the Commons…

A Strasbourg finding that removal would breach Article 3 prevents removal while the relevant risk persists. It does not itself prescribe the domestic legal…

In care proceedings, an appellate court should not require a first-instance judgment to articulate every consideration exhaustively. The question is whether…

An Employment Tribunal’s decision must be that of all members who sat, including the essential reasoning supporting it. That requirement does not mean that lay…

In a road collision at a single long staggered junction, a driver's breach in crossing a red light can remain causative of an impact occurring further inside…

A discrimination claim based on a protected philosophical belief requires evidence that the relevant decision-maker knew of the belief and was materially…

Paragraph 353B of the Immigration Rules is a narrow safety valve concerning removal. It does not confer the underlying discretion not to remove, create a duty…

Under paragraph 18(b) of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (2008), a late applicant must show that, in the particular circumstances, it was not…

The small claims costs rule applies to the costs of an appeal, including an appeal to the Court of Appeal. Accordingly, where a claim remains allocated to the…

For a settled migrant who spent all or most of childhood and youth lawfully in the host country, the requirement for very serious reasons to justify…

An appellate court hearing a fact-based appeal must respect the trial judge’s assessment of witnesses, commercial probabilities and documents. It should not…

A family judge may actively manage care proceedings and may invite parties to reconsider weak issues. That role permits preliminary views, but it does not…

A proposed amendment does not add a new cause of action merely because disclosure enables a claimant to replace an inference that something went wrong with…

Conversion protects proprietary rights in tangible goods. It does not enable recovery of copies made and owned by the defendant. Electronic data is intangible…

A person who knowingly shares in secret commissions paid to an agent may dishonestly assist the agent’s continuing breach of fiduciary duty by negotiating…

An application for relief from sanctions requires three stages. The court must assess the seriousness and significance of the breach, consider why it occurred…

Time limits for appealing under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 apply equally to litigants in person. An extension of time requires justification beyond the…

Permission to appeal should be refused where the first-instance judge has resolved the decisive factual issue against the applicant, the proposed grounds do…

A court has no jurisdiction to entertain a purported second appeal where permission to bring the first appeal has been refused. The absence of a first appeal…

Noise-induced hearing loss is a divisible injury. Where exposure continues after the claimant has knowledge of significant injury, later damage does not…

Internal relocation in an asylum claim based on a blood feud is a fact-sensitive inquiry. The tribunal must assess whether the risk extends beyond the local…

Costs in complex litigation may be determined by a broad-brush assessment of the parties’ conduct and the issues on which they succeeded or failed. The court…

Under CPR 6.15(2), the court determines whether there is a good reason to validate steps already taken to bring a claim form to a defendant’s attention by…

For opposition to renewal of a protected business tenancy, the statutory “ought not” inquiry is discretionary but must remain tied to the ground relied on.…

Judicial review remedies are discretionary from permission through to final relief. Where parties agree an age assessment and its consequences, leaving no live…

A police officer who is neither exercising a power of arrest nor relying on another lawful power has no greater right than an ordinary citizen to detain a…

Under section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004, a planning decision-maker must ordinarily decide whether a proposal accords with the…

An appeal should not proceed where it has no real prospect of success and there is no other compelling reason for it to be heard. An appellate court is very…

Expenditure is deductible only where the taxpayer’s trade is its sole purpose under section 74(1)(a) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988. A genuine…

A judge assessing disputed allegations must evaluate the evidence as a whole and give express, proportionate weight to material weaknesses affecting its…

A review under section 202 of the Housing Act 1996 reconsiders the authority’s whole decision as to what duty, if any, is owed. The reviewer must address…

In an Article 8 removal case, a child’s best interests are a primary consideration, but not the paramount consideration. The tribunal must identify those…

The slip rule permits correction of an accidental slip or omission in a court’s formal judgment or order. It does not permit a party to reopen the judge’s…

An unqualified admission of liability, or judgment entered on an admitted sum, removes that amount from the amount in dispute for track allocation. A claimant…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, permission is appropriate where the proposed grounds have a realistic prospect of success. That threshold…

In a boundary dispute, construction begins with the conveyance containing the parcels clause. A plan stated to be for identification is not ordinarily precise.…

Where an intermediary is authorised to submit a customer's hire proposal to a finance company, that authority ordinarily includes authority, at least…

A general civil restraint order must preserve an affected party’s procedural right to challenge an order made without a hearing. That right does not permit…

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

In a Dublin II transfer case, a challenge based on articles 8, 9 or 14 to the receiving state’s religious-dress law requires a flagrant violation: a…

Civil Procedure Rules Part 36 is a self-contained and highly prescriptive procedural code. Its specified costs consequences arise only where an offer complies…

The inherent jurisdiction permits orders requiring third parties to provide information or, where justified, attend to give evidence concerning an abducted…

For the purposes of Schedule 13 to the Finance Act 1996, an amount payable on redemption is excluded as interest where, in substance, it compensates for the…

A private fishery established by long enjoyment and presumed lost grant is governed by the scope of the notional grant, not simply by evidence of past user.…

Standardised compensation under article 7 of EC Regulation No. 261/2004 for a flight arriving three or more hours late is redress for inconvenience. It falls…

Where legislation gives HMRC discretion to admit late group relief claims, HMRC may operate a published policy but must retain the statutory discretion. The…

In employment discrimination proceedings, a claim may be struck out before trial where the evidence gives it no reasonable prospect of success. The tribunal…

A policy challenged for procedural unfairness is unlawful only where the system it establishes is inherently unfair. The question is whether, considered as a…

A national planning policy must be interpreted objectively from its language, read in its proper context and as part of the policy document as a whole. In…

Where contractual completion accounts are to be prepared by reference to accounting policies, principles, practices and procedures adopted in earlier accounts…

An extension of time for filing an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal is ordinarily granted only in rare and exceptional cases, particularly where the…

Country guidance may depart from UNHCR guidance where an expert tribunal considers all the evidence, has a rational evidential basis for its conclusions and…

Whether ill-treatment is capable of constituting persecution is a question of law. Whether particular ill-treatment constitutes persecution is a mixed question…

Summary judgment under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, Part 24 is reserved for claims that are fanciful, hopeless or bound to fail. The court must not conduct a…

A document is a sham only where all parties share a subjective intention that it should create rights or obligations different from those which it appears to…

Presumed undue influence requires proof of both a relationship of trust and confidence concerning the complainant’s affairs and a transaction calling for…

A decision to place a DNACPR notice engages Article 8 because it directly affects how a person manages the end of life, including autonomy, integrity, dignity…

Issue estoppel is not lost merely because the party seeking to rely on it has allowed the other party to investigate the merits or has raised the point late.…

Under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996, intentional homelessness is assessed by reference to the deliberate act that caused the applicant to cease occupying…

Where the Secretary of State has failed to apply a relevant immigration policy, an appellate tribunal should normally apply the policy itself. It need not…

In care proceedings with a foreign dimension, jurisdiction under Brussels II revised ordinarily depends on the child’s habitual residence when the court is…

A technical problem constitutes an extraordinary circumstance under the passenger-compensation regime only if the event causing it is not inherent in the…

At the interim stage, removal of a child from a parent is justified only where the child’s safety requires immediate protection. Safety includes emotional and…

When determining whether a continuing credit relationship is unfair under section 140A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the court must consider the whole…

The hot-food exception to zero-rating requires an objective enquiry. The question is whether, viewed as the terms of the bargain, the food was heated to enable…

Where an indeterminate sentence for public protection is later quashed because its statutory conditions were not met, it remains arguable that post-tariff…

An application for permission to apply for judicial review is totally without merit if it is bound to fail. The standard under the Civil Procedure Rules does…

In an international child-relocation case, the welfare analysis must be based on relevant evidence and the statutory welfare principles. A parent’s alleged…

On an appeal raising a point of law, fresh evidence is not admissible merely because it supports or confirms findings of fact which the appellant does not…

In family proceedings, a judge’s meeting with a child is for hearing anything the child wishes to say and explaining the process, not for gathering evidence.…

Where a charterparty gives charterers an option to transfer cargo to any other vessel, including one of the same size, approval cannot be withheld merely…

Section 212 of the Insolvency Act 1986 provides a procedural route for recovery for the benefit of the company. The merits of a misfeasance claim do not depend…

Under paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 3 to the Immigration Act 1971, detention of a person recommended for deportation is mandated by statute, unlike discretionary…

Constructive knowledge under section 14(3) of the Limitation Act 1980 is assessed objectively. A person with a serious injury will ordinarily be expected to…

Where the Employment Appeal Tribunal identifies an error of law, it must remit the case unless the error could not have affected the result or the correct…

CPR 81.4(3) applies to a foreign director or officer outside the jurisdiction where the company is properly subject to the English court’s jurisdiction and is…

Compensation under a cross-undertaking in damages is normally assessed by analogy with contractual damages. A defendant may recover loss naturally flowing from…

Diplomatic inviolability protects a mission and its documents from interference or compulsion by the receiving state. It does not generally exclude a document…

A relocation application must be decided by evaluating the children’s welfare as a whole. The relationship with the parent left behind is central, but it has…

An application for permission to appeal will be refused where the proposed grounds disclose no real prospect of success. A civil tribunal need not require a…

For the purposes of section 117(3) of the Mental Health Act 1983, compulsory detention is disregarded when determining residence. A person made subject to a…

Where a contract permits variations to a fixed lump-sum price, omitted work should ordinarily be valued by approximating its contribution to the original…

After expiry of the limitation period, an amendment adding a cause of action is permissible only where the new cause arises from the same or substantially the…

Where a taxpayer invokes a directly effective VAT exemption, it must be placed in the position it would have occupied had the directive been implemented fully…

For refugee status, the required nexus between feared persecution and a Convention ground requires a real-risk finding that the ground is an operative reason…

A draft judgment supplied before hand-down is confidential. It may be used for the limited purposes of suggesting amendments, preparing consequential orders…

In an asylum appeal involving disputed age, a tribunal is not bound by a High Court age finding made under a different statutory regime. It must determine age…

Fresh evidence may be admitted on appeal where the overriding objective of doing justice requires it, although Ladd v Marshall remains relevant and persuasive.…

In a professional-negligence claim arising from advice to accept a full and final settlement, causation may be proved where the court is entitled to find that…

A bankruptcy order does not itself divest a bankrupt of a cause of action. Until a trustee is appointed, the official receiver acts only as receiver and…

A transfer made on the basis of a failed bargain may support restitution, even without a contract, but there must be a joint understanding or endeavour making…

An appellate court cannot set aside an employment tribunal strike-out order which was not itself appealed. Where a claim has been struck out for deliberate…

In private-law children proceedings, the fact that other parties contribute to or may benefit from an expert report does not by itself make the expert a single…

An application to set aside a certificate and obtain leave to file an answer out of time is governed by an amalgam of the Family Procedure Rules 2010, rule…

When administrators seek authority to dispose of property free from a fixed charge under paragraph 71 of Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 1986, the court must…

Liability in private nuisance does not depend on proof of negligence, but it remains controlled by reasonable use and foreseeability. An occupier making normal…

A change in country guidance is a change in the factual assessment of conditions in the country concerned, not a change in the law. An appellate tribunal does…

For liability under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886, “riotously” follows the statutory definition of riot, while “tumultuously” requires an assembly of…

In professional negligence, loss is not allocated by a rigid distinction between “no-transaction” and “successful-transaction” cases. The court asks whether…

An appeal under section 204 of the Housing Act 1996 is confined to a point of law and is reviewed on ordinary judicial-review principles. EU-law considerations…

In Green Belt planning policy, a mobile home is not a building merely because it is lawfully stationed for residential use. The exception for replacement…

Under Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, the court second seised of parental-responsibility proceedings concerning the same child and cause of action must…

Planning obligations under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 are contractual. Following a substantial breach, an injunction will normally…

An application filed before the expiry of the prescribed period for taking a procedural step is an application for an extension of time, not for relief from…

An immigration officer may check the veracity of a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies through an interview and may act on material discrepancies. Such a…

The reason for dismissal is the factor operating on the mind of the person who made the decision. An employer’s enthusiasm for dismissing an employee does not…

A court’s service of a claim form contrary to a claimant’s notification that the claimant wishes to serve it is an error of procedure, not an automatic…

An applicant for naturalisation bears the burden of establishing good character under section 6(1) and Schedule 1 to the British Nationality Act 1981. The…

Removal of a seriously ill child to a country providing substantially inferior healthcare will breach article 3 only if the exceptional threshold governing…

In a claim for detriment for trade-union activities under section 146(1)(b) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, the union’s…

Patent claims must be construed as a whole, using the specification and admissible evidence. The court should not impose uncertain wording absent from the…

A judge deciding whether children should remain with a parent or be removed for adoption must compare the realistic welfare options and evaluate whether the…

On applications for permission to appeal from care fact-finding proceedings, the Court of Appeal held that late disclosure, judicial intervention and alleged…

A standard-form freezing order restrains assets beneficially owned by the defendant. It does not directly freeze assets owned by a separate company merely…

A defective application to register a town or village green may be corrected under regulation 5(4) of the Commons (Registration of Town or Village Greens)…

A shareholder’s request to inspect or copy a company’s register of members must serve a purpose relevant to members’ interests or the exercise of shareholder…

Implication of a contractual term is an exercise in interpretation. The question is whether the instrument, read as a whole against the admissible background…

A third party affected by a freezing or receivership order may use the order’s liberty-to-apply procedure to seek removal of assets. Where beneficial ownership…

In determining defamatory meaning, the court must apply the ordinary and natural meaning which a reasonable reader would take from the publication read as a…

A foreign limitation period causes undue hardship where it deprives a claimant of a reasonable opportunity to pursue the claim and the consequence is…

For a reasonable-adjustments claim, the claimant must identify the provision, criterion or practice said to cause a substantial disadvantage in comparison with…

Article 5 of the Council Directive 2000/78/EC requires reasonable accommodation for disabled employees, prospective employees and trainees. It does not require…

Restrictions on shareholder voting imposed to obtain information about interests in shares operate within the statutory and constitutional transparency regime.…

A parent company does not owe a direct duty of care to a subsidiary’s employees merely because it appoints or nominates a director of the subsidiary, or…

A protective costs order is discretionary and the Corner House principles are not rigid thresholds. The private-interest requirement must be assessed flexibly…

Under section 41A(1) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, a business tenant may apply alone for a new tenancy only where all statutory conditions are…

In public-law family proceedings, a first appeal is ordinarily a review, not a rehearing. The appellate court must identify an error sufficient to justify…

Paragraph 27 of the Immigration Rules prevents refusal of entry clearance solely because an applicant turned 18 between applying and the decision. It does not…

An appellate court may decline to determine an appeal that has become academic where the respondent has subsequently obtained the relief sought. A claimed…

When deciding whether inappropriate development in the Green Belt is justified by very special circumstances, a planning authority must consider every matter…

In care proceedings, the court must identify the risk said to justify intervention and determine whether it remains a real risk to the children. Disputed…

A settlement offer not made under CPR Part 36 carries no automatic costs consequence. It is only a factor in the court’s general discretion. The court must…

In a settlement agreement giving a purchaser an opportunity to exchange contracts for an alternative property, the reference to exchange contracts may include…

Permission for a second appeal may be granted where the proposed appeal raises important questions of principle or practice and is sufficiently arguable. Where…

On a second appeal, permission requires a point of principle or practice, or another compelling reason for the Court of Appeal to intervene. Serious but…

An employment tribunal deciding whether an employer failed to make reasonable adjustments must identify the relevant provision, criterion or practice and the…

In a professional negligence claim, causation must be established by evidence of the relevant counterfactual, not speculation. A claimant who says proper…

An appellate tribunal does not err in law merely because it states an inference before explaining the findings supporting it. A finding that an asylum claimant…

Proprietary estoppel requires an assurance, reasonable reliance and consequent detriment, assessed together in the round by reference to whether repudiation of…

A local plan’s supporting text assists interpretation of its policies but cannot impose an additional policy requirement. Saving an existing policy preserves…

On an appeal against a planning enforcement notice, an inspector must consider an obvious alternative which emerges from the appellant’s submissions and may…

Permission to bring committal proceedings for a false statement requires a strong prima facie case that the maker knew the statement was false, or was reckless…

A statutory compensation provision for damage caused by emergency action concerning dangerous buildings is controlled by its own default proviso. “In default”…

Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, capacity must be assessed by applying the statutory functional test to the particular decision, not by treating another…

Whether a person who passes on information supplied by another has adopted it as a representation is determined objectively. The court asks what a reasonable…

In proceedings restricting an individual’s liberty, procedural fairness does not permit the Secretary of State’s entire response to a potentially dispositive…

An Article 8 proportionality assessment must be made in the policy context of the Immigration Rules (HC 395). The Rules are more than a starting point. A…

A judicial meeting with a child in Hague Convention proceedings is primarily for the child’s benefit. It enables the child to communicate directly with the…

On a recall under section 42(3) of Mental Health Act 1983, Article 5.1 does not require reasons to be given at the moment of detention, still less in writing.…

For a conditionally discharged restricted patient recalled under section 42(3) of the Mental Health Act 1983, neither the common law nor Article 5.1 requires…

In care proceedings, case management must not become a premature welfare determination. A judge must keep potentially viable family placements, including…

Under CPR 3.19(5), a costs-capping order requires all three prescribed conditions to be met. Adequate control of the risk of disproportionate costs does not…

An appeal withdrawn by counsel is dismissed without determination of its merits. Where an immigration application and the Secretary of State’s response proceed…

Gambling winnings are not earnings from self-employment for child-support purposes merely because a player gambles regularly, skilfully and methodically for a…

The sanction in CPR 32.10 for late service of a witness statement takes effect when the deadline expires. A pre-trial request to call the witness or extend…

Under the Insurance Conduct of Business Rules, a firm must communicate customer information clearly, fairly and without misleading the customer whenever it…

An appellate court may interfere with a specialist tribunal only for an error of law. Adequate reasons need not set out every step of the tribunal’s reasoning…

Permission to appeal in a defamation claim should be granted where the proposed challenge has a better than fanciful prospect of showing that the trial judge…

A personal medical services agreement remained an NHS contract where the contractor’s existing health service body status continued both contractually and…

On a renewed application for permission to appeal, the court may grant permission on limited grounds that are properly arguable while refusing grounds with no…

In assessing patent obviousness, the skilled person is deemed to read prior art properly and with interest. The court need not determine the degree of…

Tax-avoidance purpose alone does not prevent genuine employment-related securities from falling within Chapter 2 of Part 7 of the Income Tax (Earnings and…

The Employment Appeal Tribunal supervises legality rather than deciding the merits of employment disputes. After identifying an error of law, it must remit…

An award of costs, including indemnity costs, is a matter for the trial judge’s discretion. The Court of Appeal will not interfere where the judge considered…

Public law unlawfulness and private law liability are distinct. Quashing an unlawful warrant, or declaring searches unlawful on public-law grounds, does not…

Procedural fairness at a planning inquiry requires knowledge of the opposing case and a reasonable opportunity to answer it through evidence and submissions.…

Section 86(1)(c) of the Enterprise Act 2002 does not require a foreign company to maintain a physical presence or fixed place of business in the United…

A mediated settlement agreement must be construed as a whole. Where confirmation of specified invoice schedules is a precondition to an account, the account is…

For a second appeal, a properly arguable issue concerning the fairness of an earlier hearing can constitute a compelling reason for permission. The issue may…

Lease easements and reservations allowing access to conduits must be construed according to their wording. A right to repair, maintain or renew existing pipes…

A deed admitting a new employer and its employees to an occupational pension scheme must be construed by reference to its language, the scheme documents…

Article 11C(1) of the Sixth VAT Directive conferred a directly effective right to proportionate VAT bad debt relief. Member States could prescribe formal…

For section 235 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, “arrangements” is a broad and objective concept. It may arise from an operator’s…

Where an appeal substantially changes the result at trial, the appellate court may revisit the trial costs order. Costs should reflect the issues on which each…

Copyright infringement requires the claimant to prove use of copyright materials without consent. Where defendants positively assert a licence, the evidential…

In a renewed application for permission to appeal against a costs order made after duplicate judicial review proceedings, the Court of Appeal held that a form…

An express planning permission must be construed from the words used on its face. The broader inquiry into uses capable of replacing an established use without…

Under Part 52.9(1) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, the court may impose a condition on pursuing an appeal only where there is a compelling reason. An unpaid…

Common-law fairness in asylum proceedings requires careful scrutiny of the reliability and weight of interview records before they are used to determine…

The statutory right to appeal on a point of law is subject to excluded decisions. Section 11(5)(f) of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 validly…

In prolonged child-contact proceedings, the court must decide on the evidence and circumstances as they exist, while giving substantial weight to the value of…

A contractual obligation to make monthly payments on time is not ordinarily a condition. Unless the agreement makes time essential, it is an innominate term. A…

An appellate court reviewing an order ending direct contact must decide whether the lower court’s judgment was wrong. The former requirement that it be…

A person who is neither a parent nor guardian may seek leave under section 29(4)(b) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 to apply for a residence order in…

Where circumstances relevant to representation change, the court may revisit a litigant’s capacity to conduct proceedings and obtain oral expert evidence…

Under a time charterparty, hire continues unless the charterer brings the case within the plain words of an off-hire provision. A vessel detained or arrested…

For succession to a statutory tenancy, “the surviving spouse” in paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 1 to the Rent Act 1977 denotes a person who is legally the tenant’s…

Under rule 8(2) of the Competition Appeal Tribunal Rules 2003, the threshold of exceptional circumstances is strictly construed. The first question is why the…

Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, bare but-for causation is insufficient to establish that property was obtained through unlawful conduct. A false…

Whether successive flights qualify as connected flights for air passenger duty depends on the conditions prescribed by the relevant delegated legislation. The…

A welfare decision in care proceedings requires a fact-specific evaluation of every relevant factor in the welfare checklist. Family ties are an important part…

Where a local authority proposes to close a day centre, procedural fairness ordinarily requires consultation with that centre’s users and carers before the…

A company may be insolvent although it is currently paying its debts as they fall due. The cash-flow and balance-sheet tests under section 123 of the…

An option to break a lease is a unilateral contract. Every contractual condition governing its exercise must be fulfilled precisely. The court cannot excuse…

On an appeal against sentence for contempt of a planning injunction, the court must assess the circumstances as they stand at the appeal hearing. Belated full…

An appellate court should order a retrial where fresh evidence raises a central factual issue that cannot be satisfactorily determined on the existing record…

An express transitional provision stating that applications made before a specified date will be decided under the earlier Immigration Rules prevents reliance…

Section 9 of the Education Act 1996 requires a local authority to have regard to parental preference, subject to efficient instruction and training and the…

Where a parent requests a change to the school named in a statement of special educational needs, the local authority must comply unless a statutory exception…

A claimant seeking or maintaining a freezing injunction must show a good arguable case. That test does not require the claimant to have much the better of the…

Exposure to second-hand smoke in prison does not automatically engage Article 8. The court must assess whether the particular exposure reaches the minimum…

In managing an appeal involving two patents, the court may retain a single hearing where the claims were brought in one action, the trial order was single, and…

On an application for an interim injunction, the court should not resolve critical factual disputes or difficult legal questions, particularly where the law…

The interpretation of a development plan policy is a question of law. A policy must be read objectively, according to its language and proper context, although…

A wall replacing a boundary fence and built on the boundary is a party fence wall. Its long-standing presence does not establish adverse possession by either…

When deciding whether to continue an interim stay pending permission to appeal, the court should focus on the steps that best enable the order under challenge…

A lender carrying on regulated consumer-credit business without the required licence cannot enforce a regulated credit agreement or linked security unless the…

A purchaser who receives a valuable vehicle registration mark which the contract did not include may be unjustly enriched, even though the statutory…

Equitable tracing follows the value inherent in misappropriated property through causally and transactionally linked substitutions. The court may infer a chain…

In a return application under the 1980 Hague Convention, a child's objection gives the court a discretion to order or refuse return once age and maturity…

When awarding pre-judgment interest on legal costs, the court conducts a general appraisal of what is reasonable for both the paying and receiving parties. The…

The duty under section 11(4) of the Mental Health Act 1983 to consult the nearest relative is not limited to cases where consultation is physically possible.…

Recognition and enforcement of a New York Convention award involves two stages. The applicant must first produce the award and the original arbitration…

The statutory power for a party wall surveyor to act ex parte after a request under Party Wall etc Act 1996, section 10(7), is conditional. A surveyor’s…

Customs valuation under the Community Customs Code is based first on transaction value: the total payment made to or for the benefit of the seller in the…

A contractual net contribution clause is construed by its ordinary and natural meaning. Context may show that wording is wrong only in a compelling case…

In an intentional-homelessness assessment, a rent shortfall is not enough to show deliberate homelessness. The housing authority must decide whether the…

On an application to end parental responsibility, the child’s welfare is paramount. The welfare checklist may provide a useful analytical framework, but it is…

In financial provision proceedings after divorce, an order may be reopened for material non-disclosure only where the evidence establishes that relevant…

In an estate claim for pain, suffering and loss of amenity, damages are assessed by the ordinary causation comparison between the actual course and the course…

An appeal lies against a subsisting order or decision, not against the reasons or findings supporting an order. Where the order against an appellant has been…

An accountant’s duty is determined by the terms and limits of the retainer. A general accountant providing routine tax compliance and advice on ordinary…

A claimant may recover replacement vehicle hire charges only so far as the expenditure was reasonably incurred. Reasonableness is conventionally assessed by…

A shared residence order sought to confer parental responsibility must be decided by the children’s welfare, not by adult equality or legal parenthood alone.…

A covenant for quiet enjoyment is prospective and is construed by ordinary contractual principles. The fact that the parties did not foresee a later statutory…

A valuation surveyor’s duty depends on the type and scope of the report requested. A limited mortgage valuation is not a full structural survey. The surveyor’s…

An insurance intermediary recommending a non-investment insurance contract must first take reasonable steps to identify the customer’s genuine demands and…

A retail insurance policy may be rescinded or avoided for a material misrepresentation where the misrepresentation was at least negligent. Insurance Conduct of…

A mortgage term concerning goods left after possession should be construed purposively. A provision allowing removal, storage, disposal or return of goods gave…

Under the Russian Civil Code, a communication may constitute an offer if it is sufficiently certain, shows an intention to be bound and contains the essential…

In construing a contractual charge over shares and related assets, the court must give the words their natural and ordinary meaning in their commercial and…

Where a contract requires a party to determine consent in a commercially reasonable manner, the requirement ordinarily controls the manner of determination…

The alternative limb of section 30(1)(c) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 is not dependent on a breach of covenant. It permits consideration of any…

The procedural obligation to investigate under article 2 of the Convention is detachable from the substantive obligation. A genuine connection may exist for…

For capital gains tax, the exemption for disposing of tangible movable property that is a wasting asset is not confined to a disposal by the trader who used…

For jurisdiction under the fifth indent of Article 3(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, habitual residence requires permanence or stability, the…

In care proceedings, adequate practical day-to-day parenting may not answer concerns arising from personality or psychiatric difficulties and their longer-term…

A contractual obligation to carry out works identified by a later expert report is not capped by an earlier estimate used only to calculate a retention, unless…

The acceptance of rent from an occupier who holds over does not create a presumption of a periodic tenancy. The parties’ objectively determined intention…

Consent by a private landowner to the appointment of a taxi stand does not, without more, create an implied right of unrestricted access for licensed taxis.…

An anti-suit injunction may restrain foreign re-litigation where it would be unconscionable, although follow-on financial provision in another connected…

In proceedings under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989, financial provision is a broad discretionary assessment. The child’s circumstances should bear a…

A common law possessory lien cannot be exercised over an electronic database. Such a lien depends upon the lawful, continuing possession of tangible goods.…

Under section 1 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1988, a landlord must consent to an assignment unless refusal is reasonable. Any conditions attached to consent…

Testamentary capacity concerns a testator’s capacity to understand the essential matters governing a will. It does not require proof of actual understanding or…

Direct racial discrimination requires the protected characteristic to be a ground of treatment. It need not be the sole or conscious reason, but the ground and…

In Hague Convention return proceedings, expert psychiatric evidence is permitted only where the material before the court makes it necessary to resolve the…

A final financial relief order, including a consent order, may be set aside for fraud, mistake or material non-disclosure concerning facts existing when the…

A published Air Accident Investigation Branch report is admissible in civil proceedings for its factual evidence, including hearsay, and its opinions informed…

When deciding whether deportation of a foreign criminal is proportionate under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the decision-maker must…

In health-related removal cases under Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR, powerful existing authorities do not prevent permission to appeal where there is an…

In an asylum appeal involving internal relocation, a tribunal may find that a claimant can live safely in a proposed place of return after assessing country…

An employer is not automatically negligent because workplace equipment lacks a purpose-built handrail or because no specific training or prior risk assessment…

An accountable person acting under section 53(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 cannot override a reasonable and unappealed decision of an independent…

A tribunal’s decision must be construed objectively by reading its operative terms and written reasons together, in their procedural context. Where the…

The discretion to make an interim third-party debt order final is broad and fact-sensitive. The court must consider all relevant circumstances, before and…

A claim should not be struck out under the Civil Procedure Rules 3.4(2) merely because it has no real prospect of success: that is the summary-judgment test…

An Article 8 proportionality decision in possession proceedings is a value judgment. An appellate court should not substitute its own assessment merely because…

A planning decision is not vitiated by apparent bias merely because officials formulate reasons after a minister has indicated a provisional view. The…

Section 103(1) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 charges qualifying post-cessation receipts on the recipient, whether or not it was the original…

Pending central amendment proceedings before the European Patent Office do not, by themselves, prevent an English appeal from being adjourned or justify…

Participation in the Dublin II Regulation does not, by itself, give an asylum applicant a general right to challenge the allocation of responsibility between…

The rules of an unincorporated members’ club form a contract and are construed like any other contract, with allowance for their operation by non-lawyers.…

Under regulation 8(2) of the homelessness review regulations, a reviewing officer must consider whether matters emerging after the original decision reveal…

In a child welfare appeal, the appellate court must respect the trial judge’s evaluative function. It should intervene only where the judge failed to consider…

A claimant does not become the successful party in judicial review proceedings merely because an independent, concurrent statutory appeal produces the same…

Termination of an agency does not, by itself, extinguish the agent’s accrued contractual rights or authority to collect debts arising from sales completed…

A court must adjourn a hearing where proceeding would materially prejudice a party who prepared for a narrower issue and lacked a fair opportunity to address…

A contractual exclusion or limitation of damages governs the secondary obligation to compensate for breach. It does not excuse performance of the primary…

Section 61G(5) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 gives a local planning authority a broad discretion to decide whether a specified area is appropriate…

Article 11.2 of the International Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976 gives a person constituting a limitation fund a choice between…

Whether a person contracts as seller or as agent depends on an objective assessment of the communications and conduct between the contracting parties. The…

Where confidential information is potentially material to an application, fairness does not require unrestricted disclosure. The court may permit its use…

In a road-collision claim, the court must determine separately whether the defendant was negligent and whether the claimant was contributorily negligent. It is…

Immigration Rules are construed according to the natural and ordinary meaning of their words. A UK recognised bachelor’s or postgraduate degree means an actual…

Compensation for the grant of a statutory wayleave under paragraph 7(1) of Schedule 4 to the Electricity Act 1989 is not confined to diminution in the land’s…

A state receiving a UNHCR resettlement application is entitled to apply its own resettlement policy. Article 35 of the Refugee Convention requires co-operation…

Patent claims must be construed by giving effect to their language and to every intentional integer. A claimed notch described as a housing for receiving a…

The scope of a Community registered design is determined by its graphical representation. A monochrome filing does not confine the design to white or exclude…

In placement-order cases, a parent has no automatic right to a further assessment when circumstances change. The court must decide whether assessment would be…

Police retention of records concerning an allegation may be justified where the information has objective utility, including potential value in understanding…

An appellate court should not interfere with a trial judge’s findings of fact, evaluative conclusions or inferences unless compelled to do so. A trial judge…

A secure tenant’s statutory right-to-buy discount is prima facie a contribution in money’s worth towards acquiring the property. Clear words are required…

For compensation under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, a category 2 miscarriage of justice arises only where a new fact so undermines the…

Under PPG2, outdoor sport, outdoor recreation and cemeteries are not automatically excluded from inappropriate development in the Green Belt. Essential…

A shareholder’s breach of a share pre-emption agreement does not, by itself, constitute an act or omission of the company or conduct of its affairs for the…

Where a loan agreement provides for repayment on the first occurrence of specified events, including notice that the loan is immediately due and repayable, the…

A defendant who voluntarily undertakes a limited safety task during another person’s work may owe a duty of care in respect of that task. In personal injury…

A planning inspector’s decision letter must be read as a whole, practically and with common sense. It need address only the principal controversial issues. A…

An appellant may abandon a ground of appeal. A tribunal may treat an unargued claim as abandoned, and failure to determine an unsupported ground will not…

The Equality Act 2010 prohibits victimisation arising out of a former employment relationship. Although the Act’s natural reading omits an express prohibition…

A tribunal’s general case-management power may require parties to undertake procedural work which entails their own expenditure. It does not, however…

Article 9 of the Bill of Rights 1689 may exceptionally protect speech outside Parliament. The case normally requires both a public interest in repetition which…

A constabulary for the purposes of section 200(2)(a) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 is an organised body of constables. The organisation required depends on…

An appellate court’s power under rule 52.9A of the Civil Procedure Rules permits a symmetrical limit on the costs recoverable by whichever party wins an appeal…

For VAT, whether a payment is consideration for services depends on the contractual bargain viewed through the economic and commercial reality of the…

A solicitor holding mortgage funds on trust pending completion commits a breach of trust by transferring them to a firm that is not in fact acting for the…

When an office-holder retains leasehold property for the benefit of an administration or winding up, payments calculated at the contractual rent must be made…

For social-benefit measures with a disproportionate sex impact, justification is assessed by whether the measure is manifestly without reasonable foundation.…

A clearly worded contractual condition is not converted into an unconditional entitlement merely because the specified event has become unlikely or a…

Jurisdiction in matters of parental responsibility ordinarily lies with the courts of the Member State where the child is habitually resident. Transfer under…

Where a statutory certification scheme makes SIAC an effective alternative forum with a closed material procedure, appellants should pursue that remedy…

Disability discrimination arising from housing benefit bedroom criteria must be assessed within the whole scheme, including discretionary housing payments. In…

Where foreign law governs the assessment of damages under Council Regulation 864/2007, the forum continues to govern evidence and procedure. An English court…

Litigation privilege requires more than an assertion that litigation was contemplated or that a document was later supplied to lawyers. The party claiming…

An easement or right of way is appurtenant to land, not granted to persons or classes of users. Long non-use does not itself establish abandonment. The…

Complex contract documents forming one agreement should, so far as possible, be read as complementary and coherently. A contractual order of precedence is…

In an application to rely on late-disclosed evidence and extend time for an appeal, the evidence must bear materially on the proposed grounds and be capable of…

Vicarious liability is not confined to a contractual employment relationship. The court must make a principled and incremental assessment by synthesising the…

Intensification of an existing use can amount to a material change of use only where it materially changes the definable character of the use of the land. A…

When development would harm the setting of a listed building, section 66(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 requires the…

For a person lacking capacity, ordinary residence cannot be fixed by treating the residence of parents or guardians as decisive. The voluntary settled-purpose…

An appellate court should interfere with a trial judge’s findings of fact based on oral evidence only in exceptional circumstances. The trial judge’s…

Section 316 of the Communications Act 2003 gives Ofcom power to impose licence conditions securing fair and effective competition in the provision of licensed…

An implied easement may arise where parties to a land transfer share a definite and particular intended use and the easement is necessary to give effect to it.…

Administrative delay in notifying an immigration applicant of an adverse decision may be relevant to the article 8 proportionality assessment. Its significance…

A domicile of choice is acquired through residence coupled with a fixed intention to reside permanently or indefinitely. A domicile of choice is abandoned only…

An accepted determination of the Financial Ombudsman Service may create cause of action estoppel. The adviser must show that the complaint was substantively…

A tenant’s prima facie right to remove tenant’s fixtures during the term may be modified or excluded by the lease. No prescribed formula or express reference…

An appeal from an Employment Tribunal lies only on an error of law. The Employment Appeal Tribunal and Court of Appeal do not re-try factual issues, and…

A trial of issues which substantially overlap an outstanding appeal against strike-out or summary judgment may pre-empt that appeal and should ordinarily be…

Clinical negligence is assessed prospectively against the practice of a responsible body of doctors skilled in the relevant specialty. The duty to advise and…

Vicarious liability for an employee’s intentional tort requires a relationship capable of giving rise to liability and a sufficiently close connection between…

A statutory duty backed by a specified criminal sanction does not ordinarily confer a private civil remedy. The question depends on construction of the…

When permission to appeal is limited to a defined issue, disclosure must relate to that issue. Applications concerning collateral matters are irrelevant to the…

For section 32(1) of the Limitation Act 1980, discovery means discovery of the precise deceit alleged, rather than knowledge of fraud in a general sense. The…

An unlawful removal decision made under section 47 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 does not invalidate a lawful decision, notified at the…

A licensing authority may reconsider renewal of a sexual entertainment venue licence without proof of a change in the locality. It must give due weight to the…

Liability for an agent’s discrimination under section 32(2) of the Race Relations Act 1976 requires an agency relationship which reflects the essence of the…

For section 96(1) of the Nationality Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, “matter” has a broad meaning. It includes a new ground and evidence supporting an…

An Article 2-compliant inquest must provide a full and fair inquiry into the circumstances of death. The coroner retains that duty in inquisitorial proceedings…

An order for financial provision made by consent is an exercise of statutory power, not a private contract. Non-disclosure, whether innocent, negligent or…

Under the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, an adjudicator’s decision remains binding until final determination, but it does not bind the…

A person’s name is personal data where the individual is identified by the name alone or by the name combined with contextual information, including…

A decision to prosecute may, in exceptional circumstances, engage Article 8 even where the underlying offence is Convention-compliant. Ordinarily, however…

In family fact-finding proceedings, a finding of non-accidental injury may be made even where the medical evidence does not itself establish such an injury.…

In assessing damages for repudiation where contractual services were available at the innocent party’s request, the court must value the contractual benefit…

In a c.i.f. sale, a contractual requirement that the buyer notify the seller of customs fees and provide supporting documents immediately after discharge will…

On a second appeal, permission may be granted where a compelling reason exists, including a procedural irregularity making the first appeal unfair. An…

An appellate court reviews findings of primary fact; it does not retry the evidence. It may intervene only where there was no evidential basis, the evidence…

In an appeal involving discrete issues and different financial orders, success should be assessed issue by issue and by the practical effect of the result.…

Under Regulation 7(8) of the Housing Benefit Regulations 2006, adapting a dwelling to meet disablement needs does not require structural alteration. Adaptation…

A section 8 notice under the Housing Act 1988 need not reproduce the statutory wording verbatim. It is sufficient if it identifies the ground and gives the…

For the statutory burden of proof in a direct race-discrimination claim to shift, the claimant must prove facts which, without an adequate explanation, would…

Under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE), an economic, technical or organisational reason is an exception to automatic…

The suspension of disability living allowance for a child after 84 days in hospital did not breach Article 8. Article 8 does not generally require the state to…

In a foreign-criminal deportation case, seven years’ residence by a child is a relevant starting point in the Article 8 proportionality assessment, not an…

The three-stage Caparo test—foreseeability, proximity, and whether it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty—applies to negligence claims involving…

Section 35(d) of the Partnership Act 1890 establishes an independent, discretionary test: whether a partner’s breach or conduct makes it not reasonably…

Domestic collective redundancy legislation must be construed from its own language and context. A general policy against “gold-plating” EU directives does not…

A brief stop and search under section 60 does not ordinarily constitute a deprivation of liberty for Article 5 purposes. Article 8 is engaged marginally by a…

For a detriment claim arising from a protected disclosure, time runs under section 48(3)(a) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 from the employer’s act or…

When a financial remedy is capitalised but payable in stages, the court must evaluate the balance of hardship created by the payment schedule. It should…

For compensation under a scheme requiring injuries to be directly attributable to a crime of violence, the court must consider the nature of the offence, not…

An express right of way is construed from the language of the grant read in its factual setting. A grant to pass over and along an accessway may confer a…

For service of a claim form within the jurisdiction under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, an individual is served at their usual or last known residence. The…

A continuing covenant in a commercial lease is construed by reference to the subject matter contemplated when the lease was granted. An assignee’s knowledge of…

A statutory stock-lending definition may apply to the matched transfer and retransfer of borrowed securities even where the arrangement also requires…

For wrongful arrest, the relevant question is whether officers honestly held reasonable grounds for suspicion at the time, not whether the suspicion later…

Common law fairness applies when a detained mental health patient is considered for transfer from medium to high security. Ordinarily, the patient or…

A contractual duty to keep confidential information confidential can continue after the parties enter the business relationship for which the information was…

The Court of Appeal held that an appellate court reviews, rather than retries, a trial judge’s factual and evaluative conclusions. Interference is justified…

A geographical and descriptive name may support extended passing off where it has acquired goodwill as denoting a reasonably defined class of products with…

The immigration-detention policy for a person with serious mental illness requires a purposive and pragmatic, fact-sensitive assessment. A diagnosis alone…

A housing authority does not ordinarily have to give reasons in a final offer explaining why accommodation is suitable and reasonable to accept, even where the…

A claim amended to express an invention more generally than the embodiments in the application does not necessarily add matter. The decisive question is…

Where parallel divorce proceedings are brought in Member States participating in the Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003, the first court seised has priority…

A public authority may restrict paid advertising on a publicly controlled transport network by reference to content. The restriction must have a basis in…

A court may consider relief from a procedural sanction of its own motion, although a party in default should ordinarily apply for it and cannot require the…

Permission for survey evidence in a passing-off action depends on a real-value and cost-benefit assessment. The court must assess the survey’s likely…

On a second appeal, the admission of fresh evidence requires a more stringent approach than on a first appeal. Finality, and the applicant’s two earlier…

When an appellate tribunal sets aside a first-instance decision for error of law, factual findings are not automatically preserved. The scope of remaking…

Where a decision restricting a Union citizen’s free movement rights is based on public security, the person concerned must always be informed of the essence of…

To justify an imputation that reasonable grounds exist to suspect wrongdoing, a defendant must prove primary facts which, viewed objectively and as a whole at…

A judicial review claim should not be treated as academic merely because a DNACPR notice has been revoked and the patient’s death was not caused by it.…

The threshold for a care or supervision order is concerned with significant harm, its attribution to the care provided, and the objective standard reasonably…

Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, capacity to consent to sexual relations is assessed prospectively and generally, by reference to the nature of the act…

The right to recover overpaid VAT is subject to domestic procedural rules, including an unjust-enrichment defence, provided those rules comply with EU law. A…

Under the Land Registration Act 2002, a unilateral notice need not state every legal basis on which the beneficiary claims protection. Where it identifies a…

Interference with a right of way becomes actionable when it substantially obstructs the reasonable use of the easement. An appellate court may overturn a trial…

A tortfeasor may be liable where its negligence shortens a claimant’s life and thereby diminishes the value of the claimant’s statutory dependency claim. The…

On an appeal concerning the suitability of accommodation offered to a homeless person, the court determines whether the housing authority’s review decision…

Preventive arrest and detention may fall within article 5(1)(c) of the European Convention on Human Rights even though the person has not committed, and is not…

Under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, a landlord’s counter-notice must identify accepted and rejected proposals and specify a…

Bankruptcy automatically divests a registered proprietor of the legal estate, which vests in the trustee in bankruptcy by operation of law. Continued…

Under article 267, a court must first decide whether a ruling on particular questions is necessary to enable it to give judgment. If that threshold is met…

The Highly Trusted Sponsor policy required the refusal rate to be assessed over the 12 months immediately preceding the application where that was the…

In the statutory scheme for individual voluntary arrangements, creditors entitled to notice of a further creditors’ meeting summoned after a successful…

For a second appeal, permission requires an important point of principle or practice, or another compelling reason. A mere prospect of success is insufficient.…

A surety is discharged by an unauthorised variation of guaranteed obligations where the variation is not self-evidently unsubstantial or incapable of…

Care proceedings must accommodate a parent’s hearing or cognitive disability so that assessments, participation and judicial evaluation are effective. Profound…

An English court will refuse to entertain a claim which, in substance and practical effect, requires it to condemn the sovereign acts or policy of a foreign…

Under the Points Based System, documentary maintenance requirements are strict. The Evidential Flexibility policy requires further evidence to be sought only…

A claim under section 231(3) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 to set off or receive a tax credit is a claim for the credit itself, even though…

Under section 83 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, an asylum appeal requires leave exceeding one year in aggregate to have been granted…

Recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment involves distinct questions. English law determines the requirements for finality and the public-policy…

A committal sentence for breach of an injunction has coercive and punitive elements, but neither element is considered in isolation when a contemnor seeks…

A second application for relief from a sanction cannot circumvent an existing order refusing the same relief. Where the later application would require that…

For permission purposes, a proposed appeal is sufficient where it is realistically arguable and has a real prospect of success. It was arguable that a bank’s…

A withdrawn Part 36 offer does not carry the automatic costs consequences applicable to a subsisting offer. It remains relevant to costs under the general…

Where a tribunal decision contains conceded material errors of law in fact-sensitive asylum findings, the proper course may be to set it aside and remit the…

The Upper Tribunal cannot review its refusal of permission to appeal from the First-tier Tribunal. Such a refusal is an excluded decision under section…