Court of Appeal (Civil Division) judgments, 2024

Section 67(1) and (2) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 confer conditional powers, not a duty, on a Welsh local planning authority to adopt a…

Under the restrictive doctrine of state immunity, an employment claim against a foreign state is ordinarily classified by the nature of the employment…

Interim relief which would effectively grant the final relief sought in judicial review requires a particularly strong case. When deciding whether continued…

In a Hague Convention return case based on a taking parent’s mental health, Article 13(b) requires a forward-looking assessment of the nature and likelihood of…

An appellate court should rarely interfere with findings of primary fact, credibility assessments, evaluations or inferences drawn by a trial judge who has…

Paragraph 5(2) of Schedule 3 to the Animal Health Act 1981 requires compensation only for poultry which is healthy when actually slaughtered. It does not…

For committal for breach of a mandatory return or contact order, the applicant must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was able to comply and…

A court may adjourn, rather than dismiss, a best-interests application concerning medical treatment where an evolving regulatory setting and a private…

For claims based on pre-IP completion day facts, a post-completion day CJEU decision is not binding on a UK court under the European Union (Withdrawal) Act…

Applications to change a child’s given name and surname are governed by the same welfare principles. Under the Children Act 1989, welfare is paramount and the…

Where an appeal raises a genuine issue about a party’s litigation capacity, the issue must be determined, but a final declaration should not be made without…

In financial services regulation, recklessness requires subjective awareness of a risk and an objectively unreasonable decision to take it, assessed in light…

Where a child’s objections engage Article 13, the discretion to refuse a summary return order is at large. The child’s views are important but not…

A property-damage insurance policy ordinarily provides an indemnity through damages for breach of the insurer’s promise to hold the assured harmless from…

For an equality claim brought outside the three-month period, Equality Act 2010, section 123 gives the employment tribunal a very wide discretion to allow such…

Statutory reporting privilege under section 15 of the Defamation Act 1996 is considered in sequence. The court must first decide whether the report falls…

For designation under section 31(8) of the Children Act 1989, the court must first determine the child’s ordinary residence. Only if the child is not…

In a mixed case involving defendants served within and outside the jurisdiction, the appropriate forum must be assessed holistically, while respecting the…

A non-party may in principle be permitted to appeal, but must comply with the 21-day time limit in the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 or obtain an extension. The…

The conclusive evidential effect of a definitive map under section 56 is distinct from the rebuttable evidential presumption applicable when the map is…

For the tenant condition in section 81 of the Housing Act 1985, a tenant who is absent from the dwelling may continue to occupy it as their only or principal…

Paragraph 29 of Schedule 1 to the Welfare of Farmed Animals (England) Regulations 2007 is a prohibition subject to a proviso. Animals may be kept for farming…

A “landlord under a lease” for the right-to-manage provisions of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 is the holder of the legal estate. A purchaser of…

An order under section 194 of the Legal Services Act 2007 is discretionary. The court must consider the costs order it would have made without pro bono…

A CJEU preliminary ruling made on a valid reference is binding in the United Kingdom, including where it gives a qualified answer to the questions referred. A…

In a planning statutory review under section 288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, CPR 7.6(3) applies by analogy to an application made after expiry…

An Employment Tribunal exercising the discretion under section 123(1)(b) of the Equality Act 2010 must explain why justice and equity favour or disfavor an…

Patient-identifiable information in medical records will normally attract a reasonable expectation of privacy, but that is a starting point rather than an…

Where an adult child has acquired a derived right of residence as a dependent family member, exercising the right to work under Article 23 of the Citizens’…

Whether a child requires accommodation under section 20 of the Children Act 1989 is a fact-sensitive evaluative judgment. It is not determined by the separate…

A permission under section 73 of the TCPA 1990 is an independent permission for the same development as the extant permission, subject to new or amended…

Under rule 44.11 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, costs may be disallowed where conduct before or during proceedings, or in assessment proceedings, is…

On an appeal against a penalty notice under section 163 of the Data Protection Act 2018, the appellant bears the burden of proof throughout unless the statute…

For a housing-benefit overpayment to be recovered from someone other than the claimant, the administering authority must make a specific decision to that…

An amendment made after expiry of a limitation period does not engage Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r 17.4 where it merely gives further particulars of a broadly…

Risk on return must be assessed by applying the relevant country guidance to the claimant’s complete history of political activity. Kurdish ethnicity is a…

Patent claims are construed in the context of the specification as a whole. General wording may receive a specific limitation where the document makes that…

Deliberate and substantial breaches of a freezing order are inherently serious because they undermine the administration of justice. Where custody is required…

A loss-of-use claim is founded on inconvenience caused by the tort and a proven need for convenient transport. A claimant may quantify that loss by reasonable…

A determination made by the Secretary of State, or an appointed adjudicator, under a statutory NHS dispute-resolution scheme is presumptively a public function…

Capacity to engage in sexual relations is assessed under sections 2 and 3 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 using the decision-specific approach in A Local…

Tribunal Procedure (Upper Tribunal) Rules 2008, rule 43 provides a limited procedural safeguard. An applicant must identify a procedural irregularity in the…

For direct discrimination by a qualifications body, the relevant treatment must be treatment by that body within its own arrangements for deciding whom to…

When deciding whether to withdraw life-sustaining treatment for a person lacking capacity, the court must assess best interests from the patient’s perspective…

For the purposes of Article 7(1)(b) of Directive 2004/38/EC, the key question is whether an EU national’s exercise of free movement rights has a causal link…

Designation in Article 78(2) and Annex VII, Part III of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 includes a trade mark, or part of one. It is not confined to a generic…

In an application for relief from sanctions, the merits of the underlying claim are generally irrelevant. The recognised exception is where the case is so…

Under the Withdrawal Agreement, an extended family member’s residence is being facilitated only where the person applied before the end of the transition…

The Tenant Fees Act 2019 is not retrospective. A payment required and made before commencement does not become a prohibited payment for a later tenancy merely…

Under Part V of the Housing Act 1985, a secure tenant’s right to buy arises from qualifying status and occupation. The statutory notices and any later…

A determination of a group litigation order issue ordinarily binds all parties on the group register. Under CPR r 19.23, however, the court may exceptionally…

A winding-up petition is not presented merely because it has been electronically submitted. Delivery to the court is the core element, but valid presentation…

An appellate court may interfere with a discretionary decision where the lower court makes an error of principle or reaches a conclusion outside the reasonable…

A regulation 33 certification under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 is tied to the proposed removal that has not yet occurred. It…

Permission to appeal in an academic case remains discretionary even where the second-appeal threshold is met. Applying Hutcheson v Popdog Ltd [2012] 1 WLR 782…

Where a bank’s governing framework delegates authority to a manager within the manager’s functional remit, later signature rules conferring authority for…

Section 91 of the Pensions Act 1995 protects a member’s entitlement or right to future benefits under an occupational pension scheme from creditor attachment.…

Open justice does not give a non-party an automatic right to obtain every document referred to in proceedings. The applicant must explain why access is sought…

An advance pricing agreement binds the parties only for the chargeable periods and matters for which it makes provision. Under section 220 of the Taxation…

For a foreign criminal sentenced to at least four years, Exception 2 does not itself establish very compelling circumstances under section 117C(6) of the…

Under CPR Part 24, summary judgment may be granted where a defence has no realistic prospect of success and no other compelling reason requires a trial. The…

In an appeal from a Trade Marks Registry decision, similarity of goods or services is a multifactorial and evaluative question. Relevant factors include…

Fresh evidence on appeal is governed by the discretion in CPR 52.11(2)(b), exercised in accordance with the overriding objective. The Ladd v Marshall criteria…

The general boundaries rule means that a registered title plan normally identifies the property but does not fix the exact boundary. This remains so where the…

Section 15(6)(a) requires a civil penalty notice to state why the Secretary of State considers the employer liable, but the requirement is general and…

Dissolution and apparent completion of a partnership’s accounts do not, by themselves, extinguish the limited authority preserved by section 38 of the…

The 14-day period for appealing to the First-tier Tribunal runs from service of a notice of decision which complies, or substantially complies, with the…

Permission to appeal may be granted despite an appeal being academic between the parties only in exceptional circumstances. The court should ordinarily be…

For a rent repayment order, the relevant landlord is the landlord under the tenancy generating the rent. An owner may be that landlord where an agent…

Where a contract caps the total liability of each party to the other, the cap applies separately to each party’s liability before contractual set-off, unless…

Preparatory steps taken by a director towards a competing business are neither automatically lawful nor automatically a breach of fiduciary duty. The question…

Estoppel by conduct, as a species of abuse of process, requires a broad, merits-based assessment. A party may be precluded from adopting a position clearly…

At the certification and permission stages, an unfair-price claim in competition law may be arguable even where the alleged price is expressed through data…

A third-party payment does not reduce recoverable damages where its effective cause is an existing and independent contractual relationship, rather than the…

When deciding whether to make a placement order, the court must determine the arrangements for continuing contact between the child and the birth family. Where…

When a parent opposing summary return under Article 13(b) asserts that they will not accompany the child, the court must assess the likelihood of non-return…

An order requiring payment into court by a specified date, while permitting payment by cheque, is ordinarily satisfied when the cheque is received by the Court…

Fair redundancy consultation is assessed under the broad reasonableness duty in section 98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, applying established guidance…

On an appeal from findings of fact, the appellate court should not reassess the weight of evidence merely because another evaluation is possible. A trial judge…

Each party to financial remedy proceedings must give full and frank disclosure of all material financial resources. A final order may be set aside for material…

A non-damage denial-of-access clause referring to prevention or hindrance by a policing authority applies to the police and similar bodies performing policing…

When deciding whether to transfer a prisoner to open conditions, the Secretary of State is the sole decision-maker. A Parole Board recommendation is expert…

In consumer car-finance cases, a dealer who acts as a credit broker to source and select finance owes the consumer a disinterested duty and, ordinarily, an ad…

In a civil claim for assault and battery arising from police use of force, the defendant must prove that the officer honestly and reasonably believed force was…

In children proceedings, an appellate court may admit new evidence where the interests of justice require welfare decisions to be based on sound factual…

In family fact-finding, admitted or proven lies form part of the totality of the evidence. The judge must assess their relevance and weight after considering…

Statutory notice requirements for possession proceedings should be interpreted purposively. Where the tenant has received the required notice, review…

An undefined contractual expression such as Turnover ordinarily bears its ordinary commercial meaning, read in the context of the agreement as a whole. A…

Registration of an ICSID award against a foreign state is an exercise of adjudicative jurisdiction to which the general immunity under the State Immunity Act…

In a costs-neutral tribunal regime, unreasonable conduct under rule 13(1)(b) is an objective and fact-specific question. It need not be vexatious or harassing.…

The procedure for discontinuing a claim under Part 38 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 does not appear to extend to an appeal. An appellate court may instead…

Charitable contributions must be applied in accordance with the contributors’ objectively ascertained intention. Where money is entrusted to individuals or a…

Primary liability for breach of confidence requires the defendant both to receive confidential information and actually to use it without consent. Once there…

A right of appeal under section 82(1)(b) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 depends on the substance and structure of the decision, not merely…

On redetermining development consent after an earlier decision has been quashed, procedural fairness does not invariably require a reopened examination or…

For an EEA national with a permanent right of residence and ten years’ continuous residence, removal under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations…

A contractual context does not dilute ordinary public law controls on an exchange’s regulatory decisions. Suspension and cancellation are distinct powers, and…

Under section 5 of the State Immunity Act 1978, remotely manipulating a computer situated in the United Kingdom is an act in the United Kingdom, even where the…

Where a standard-essential patent holder invokes the English court’s jurisdiction to determine global FRAND terms, and both parties undertake to enter the…

A term requiring a consumer to pay the full fee for legal services when the contracted hearing does not proceed is not protected from fairness assessment…

The FCA may impose a single-firm redress requirement as a condition of continued permission under sections 55L and 55N(5) of the Financial Services and Markets…

An amendment introducing a new claim should be refused or disallowed on limitation grounds only where relation back creates a real prospect of prejudicing a…

Likelihood of confusion must be assessed globally, having regard to all relevant factors. A tribunal need not describe visual or aural similarity as high…

In property catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance, an undefined “catastrophe” takes its ordinary meaning in its contractual and market context. It need not be…

For a freezing injunction, a good arguable case on the merits is a case which is more than barely capable of serious argument. It does not require the court to…

In an interim injunction application founded on patent infringement, the claimant must show a serious issue to be tried and identify harm caused by the alleged…

Sections 140A and 140B of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 require a fact-sensitive, broad and holistic assessment of whether the debtor-creditor relationship is…

When deciding contact between children and a parent convicted of domestic abuse, the court must assess the relevant welfare checklist factors in light of the…

A new Human Rights Act compatibility point may be permitted on appeal even where it was not fully argued below. There is no general requirement that such a…

Sections 9 and 10 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016 address different requests to foreign authorities. Section 9 is confined to requests to intercept…

In care proceedings involving serious non-accidental injuries, the attributability condition in section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 can in some…

A local authority’s civil-penalty policy does not fetter discretion merely because it states that a specified percentage will normally be applied for…

In an appeal against family fact-findings, the appellate court must not interfere with primary factual conclusions merely because it might have assessed the…

For business interruption cover requiring an occurrence, manifestation or suffering of a notifiable disease at insured premises, the parties may agree a causal…

An appeal against a competition infringement decision is a unitary process. The Competition Appeal Tribunal must determine it on the evidence and submissions…

A stay pending appeal is governed by the risk of injustice if it is granted or refused, assessed in all the circumstances. An appeal is not rendered immaterial…

In contempt proceedings arising from undertakings to carry out remedial works, a party cannot rely on a statutory consent requirement unless the promised works…

When deciding between adoption and long-term fostering, the court must compare the realistic options side by side and carry out a global, holistic evaluation…

Public authorities do not have a general immunity from the ordinary requirement to give a cross-undertaking in damages. The exception for law-enforcement…

Under clause 8.9.4 of the 2016 JCT Design and Build Contract, a contractor may terminate for a repeated specified employer default even where no right to give…

A free-standing claim for damages for unlawful detention under section 9 of the Human Rights Act 1998 is not subject to a blanket requirement that the impugned…

The lawfulness of an existing use is a question of law where it depends on the construction of a planning permission. Whether use is long-standing is…

Under Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982, section 25, a worldwide freezing order supporting proceedings elsewhere requires both satisfaction of the…

In a judicial review of a decision about a failing school’s Academy viability, rationality turns on whether the decision-maker had sufficient legally relevant…

When choosing between adoption and long-term fostering, the court must make a rounded evaluation of the child’s welfare throughout life. The expression…

For the validity of members’ resolutions, membership is generally determined by the register of members unless and until it is rectified. The register is only…

Once the threshold criteria are established, the court must determine welfare by a global, holistic and proportionate evaluation of the realistic options. It…

An interim statutory bill for the purposes of section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974 must be complete, final and self-contained for the work or period it…

In an appeal against deprivation of citizenship on national-security grounds, meaningful exculpatory material is an obviously material consideration which the…

Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, there is no separate requirement that a person must believe relevant medical information before they can understand it or…

In decisions about withdrawing clinically assisted nutrition and hydration from a person in permanent prolonged disorder of consciousness, the 2020 PDOC…

A partnership exists where persons carry on a business in common with a view of profit under the Partnership Act 1890, s 1(1). The inquiry is objective and…

After a Trigger Notice in a securitisation, a direction by the Senior Noteholders to remove and replace the Fiscal Agent may fall within a contractual power to…

On an appeal from the Upper Tribunal under section 13(1) of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, the Court of Appeal may intervene only for an error…

A child’s legal parents are ordinarily the gestational mother and genetic father. That common law rule is displaced by the statutory scheme for assisted…

Section 103 of the Finance Act 2020 has broad retrospective effect. It permits anything capable of being done by a tax officer to be done by HMRC, including…

Contractual interpretation begins with the language chosen by the parties. Commercial common sense and the surrounding circumstances inform that exercise, but…

When deciding whether to extend time for an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal, the tribunal must weigh all relevant circumstances under the broad…

Under the Pension Schemes Act 1993 and the Contracting-out Regulations, the expression section 9(2B) rights included pension rights attributable to both past…

A local authority should not implement a placement order or adoption care plan until the 21-day appeal period has expired. Once an appeal notice is filed, it…

Where disputed allegations of domestic abuse remain undetermined and a fact-finding hearing has been directed, an interim child-arrangements order must satisfy…

A Category A prisoner has no general right to comment on the Local Advisory Panel’s recommendation before the Category A Team decides the annual review. PSI…

A failure to notify the court of a connected claim in accordance with the Aldi guidelines is a serious and material factor, but it does not automatically make…

A civil-emergency provision in regulatory reporting guidance that permits a company to make representations for an exception to be granted creates a procedural…

A local authority may be vicariously liable for torts committed by a relative who is an approved foster carer, but liability is fact-sensitive. The question is…

A release in a settlement may cover unknown claims in fraud or dishonesty without express words, if the deed, read with its factual and commercial context…

Likelihood of confusion under section 10(2) of the Trade Marks Act 1994 requires a global assessment from the perspective of the average consumer. Third-party…

For Patents Act 1977, s 1(2), an artificial neural network is a computer and its weights and biases constitute a computer program, whether implemented in…

For the miscellaneous-income charge under Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005, a source need not be an enforceable legal right to receive the…

For caravan-site licensing, the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 treats as occupier the person entitled to possession by virtue of an estate…

For a company to be a treaty resident under Article 4(1), comprehensive taxation must arise by reason of an actual legal or factual local connection within an…

An unincorporated association has no separate legal personality. Its assets are held for its members from time to time, subject to their contractual rights…

Under Part II of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, operating a private hire vehicle means making arrangements for the invitation or…

In an appeal against an immediate custodial sentence for contempt, suspension is a matter of judgment requiring an overall assessment of the seriousness of the…

A court has broad and flexible powers under Children Act 1989 to regulate the exercise of parental responsibility. In exceptional cases, it may use specific…

Section 68(4) of the Arbitration Act 1996 does not bar an appeal from a final consequential costs order merely because the substantive arbitral-award challenge…

When a court determines the terms of a global FRAND licence, national limitation periods do not exclude earlier sales. A willing licensee would pay a fair…

Permission to appeal from a judicial-review permission decision requires a real prospect of success or another compelling reason. Judicial review examines the…

Entry clearance granted under Appendix EU (Family Permit) automatically has effect as leave to enter under the Immigration (Leave to Enter and Remain) Order…

Residence may be facilitated for the purposes of Article 10(2) of the Withdrawal Agreement by an immigration officer’s decision admitting an extended family…

In a direct discrimination claim, a comparator is appropriate only where there is no material difference between the circumstances of the two cases. A tribunal…

An amendment power in a pension scheme must be construed precisely, even-handedly and in its documentary context. The word “interests” is not necessarily…

Under Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, section 39, “business of a prescribed description” refers to the regulated activity prescribed in generic terms…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 Practice Direction 7A, paragraph 6.1, a claim is treated as brought on an earlier date only where the claim form eventually…

Under the Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995, section 11(2)(c) requires a geographical analysis of the events constituting a tort…

An interim injunction in civil proceedings is granted on a provisional basis. The court asks whether the evidence, assumed true, raises a serious issue to be…

A site is a “protected site” for the purposes of the Mobile Homes Act 1983 where planning permission exists for a caravan to be stationed on the relevant land…

An appeal against a penalty under section 32 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 is a rehearing. The court must decide afresh whether to cancel the penalty…

In a multi-stage planning process, an appropriate assessment under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 may be required before the…

A default-interest clause engaged on breach must be analysed by identifying whether it is a secondary obligation, the innocent party’s legitimate interest, and…

A purposive construction of tax legislation requires a realistic appraisal of a planned composite arrangement. A temporary transfer of legal and beneficial…

For a claim seeking a declaration of ineffectiveness concerning a directly awarded contract, the six-month period under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015…

Where a contractual debt is conditional on an event and the obligor, in breach, prevents the condition from occurring, the obligor cannot rely on its own…

For the purposes of Rome II, whether a matter constitutes evidence or procedure has an autonomous meaning. The words should receive their natural meaning in…

Law-enforcement bodies have broad discretion over whether to investigate, and courts should intervene only exceptionally. That restraint does not permit a…

A tribunal judge must conduct an immigration appeal with the same fairness required of any judicial hearing. The fact-sensitive and cumulative assessment of…

In construing a commercial engagement letter, an adjective placed before a list of related nouns will naturally tend to qualify the whole list unless the…

The Competition Appeal Tribunal has substantial latitude to manage collective proceedings, particularly where information is initially held by the defendant.…

Detriment remains essential to proprietary estoppel and must be assessed in the round. Where reliance produces both disadvantages and benefits, the court must…

In contempt proceedings, personal service is the default, but alternative service may be authorised where there is good reason and the method is likely to…

Publication of a family judgment requires an individualised balancing of privacy under Article 8 and freedom of expression under Article 10. Open justice and…

Under Schedule 12 to the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, a creditor may be ordered to pay damages for loss caused by an enforcement agent’s breach…

In care proceedings, a court may hold an early North Yorkshire hearing and exclude a parent as a future carer where the evidence shows that the parent is not a…

A judge must approach an application with an open mind, allow a litigant a fair opportunity to present the case orally, and give intelligible reasons. A care…

An employment tribunal may have jurisdiction over discrimination concerning benefits payable after an employment relationship has ended. A disablement gratuity…

Medical research cited by experts forms part of the evidence and may, where necessary, be scrutinised to test the cogency of their opinions. A judge must not…

In construing a participation agreement made under an umbrella master agreement, the court must read the instruments as a whole and apply the ordinary unitary…

An allegation of fraud or dishonesty must be unequivocal and adequately particularised. A pleading need not disclose a solid evidential foundation or set out…

A public body operating a discretionary remediation fund should ordinarily follow its published guidance and general principles of good administration. A…

At the permission stage, an in-principle challenge to a public appointment process should proceed to a full hearing where it is arguable and the public…

Under the unallowable-purpose rule in the Corporation Tax Act 2009, the relevant inquiry is the company’s subjective purpose in being party to the particular…

In contempt proceedings, documents needed to defend the application, including a hearing notice, must be personally served, served on the legal representative…

Where sophisticated parties have used clear language in a traded financial instrument, contractual construction must give primacy to that language. Commercial…

Payment under a letter of credit may be prohibited by sanctions against funding arrangements connected with restricted goods, even where the credit and…

Contractual interpretation is a unitary exercise in which the court reads the agreement as a whole, balancing its language, context and commercial…

Consumer status is assessed objectively by reference to the particular transaction, not the individual’s subjective motive or general personal circumstances.…

A settlement deed ordinarily settles the disputes identified by the claims, counterclaims and defences in the litigation, together with genuinely connected…

A declaration of incompatibility is concerned with the present effect of legislation. It is not a general mechanism for securing compensation for historic…

A court or tribunal may direct a single joint expert even where the instructing parties have conflicting interests. Conflict is a material factor, but it is…

A judge’s intervention in oral evidence does not automatically make a hearing unfair. The question is an objective, fact- and context-specific one: whether the…

A patent claim must be construed purposively through the eyes of the skilled person, with the common general knowledge and the specification in view. Clear…

On dissolution of a partnership, assets capable of sale should ordinarily be realised on the open market, with liabilities discharged and the surplus divided…

A trustee’s agreement to make an unsecured, undocumented loan at a low interest rate does not, without more, establish a breach of fiduciary duty. The question…

Equality Act 2010 section 41 protects a contract worker against discrimination in the principal-worker relationship. It does not make the principal liable for…

Obviousness of a pharmaceutical dosing claim is assessed by the same fact-sensitive, multi-factorial standard as any other claim. The question is whether the…

An appellate court will usually refuse a new argument where its determination requires factual findings not made below or evidence which the opposing party…

The Court of Protection must select the best practical outcome realistically available, even where every option carries serious harm. It is an inquisitorial…

For the sharing principle, an asset’s source, rather than its legal title, determines whether it is matrimonial property. Matrimonial property is ordinarily…

Capacity to conduct civil contempt proceedings is governed by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 through CPR Part 21. Criminal fitness-to-plead rules, including the…

For a claim against a director to avoid ordinary limitation under the Limitation Act 1980, the breach of fiduciary duty must be fraudulent. A failure to obtain…

Civil contempt for breaching a court order does not require an intention to breach the order. Once notice and knowledge of the relevant facts are proved, it is…

In excess-of-loss insurance, recoveries reducing the insured’s aggregate loss are applied top down: first against the highest layer of loss and then downwards.…

Input tax on services used in an exempt share sale is irrecoverable where those services have a direct and immediate link with the sale. A fundraising purpose…

In a statutory planning examination, procedural fairness does not require disclosure of confidential or commercially sensitive material underlying an expert…

A lien is possessory and lasts only while the lienholder retains, or can retain, the goods. Removal of the goods destroys it. A maritime lien is distinct from…

A claimant who defeats an allegation of fundamental dishonesty has no presumptive or default entitlement to indemnity costs. Standard-basis assessment remains…

A financial ombudsman determines a complaint by reference to what is fair and reasonable in all the circumstances. The ombudsman may award compensation for…

Section 23 of the Care Act 2014 preserves the priority of the housing schemes under the Housing Act 1996. A local authority cannot use Care Act powers or…

On an application for interim injunctive relief, the claimant’s pleaded and evidenced primary facts must be accepted unless plainly false or fanciful. The…

Under the Arbitration Act 1996, a decision refusing permission to appeal an arbitral award on paper is final unless the court considers that a hearing is…

Interim relief in judicial review is granted under the court’s public law jurisdiction, with private law injunction principles applied by analogy. When…

For statutory location restrictions governing crematoria, the definition of a crematorium under the Cremation Act 1902 may extend to buildings or structures…

Under an interim care order, removal of a child from a parent or primary family carer is justified only where immediate separation is necessary and…

The second limb of regulation 13(3) of the Income Tax (Construction Industry Scheme) Regulations 2005 does not prevent HMRC from making a regulation 9(5)…

An existing-property exclusion in a composite insurance policy may exclude claims for damage to property owned by any member of a defined group of principal…

In a novel duty-of-care case, the court must identify any analogous established duty and develop the law incrementally. The Caparo factors remain relevant…

Notice-of-claim clauses in share purchase agreements are contractual limitation provisions. Their requirements must be interpreted primarily from their wording…

In interim public-law proceedings, contact arrangements must be determined by a careful, child-focused evaluation of welfare. An earlier agreement or recital…

A tax avoidance purpose under the loan relationships code depends on the company’s subjective purposes, assessed from all the evidence. A permitted tax result…

An enforcement notice directed at an unauthorised material change of use may, under section 173(4)(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, require…

In a negotiated warranty and indemnity policy, the inclusion of warranties as covered does not necessarily prevail over a specific exclusion. The policy must…

In deciding whether to make a placement order, the court must conduct a robust and rigorous comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of each realistic…

A person induces a breach of contract where, with the necessary knowledge and intention, their participation has a sufficient causal connection with the breach…

A finding made by one tribunal does not automatically create res judicata in later proceedings involving a different public body. Strict res judicata depends…

A business interruption clause which expressly requires physical loss, damage or destruction does not provide non-damage cover merely because its application…

Successive contempt committals may be imposed for breaches of later mandatory orders, even where the orders concern the same subject matter. The legality of a…

A local authority has no implied power under section 80 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 to vary an abatement notice which it has served for a…

After a company enters liquidation under the BVI insolvency regime, a director’s formal continuation in office does not preserve ordinary powers or fiduciary…

Universal Credit is a single, composite benefit. Regulation 883/2004 does not permit a court to disaggregate one of its components into a separate family…

In care proceedings involving alleged inflicted injury, the court must assess the whole evidential picture. Medical evidence is important, but it does not take…

Package travel regulations do not determine when a contract is formed. That is governed by ordinary objective principles of contract formation, taking account…

Whether to hold a fact-finding hearing in care proceedings is a flexible, case-specific case-management decision governed by the overriding objective. The…

Under section 16(6) of the Commons Act 2006, a decision-maker determining deregistration and exchange of village-green land must consider all four statutory…

Where a pending application to vary leave is later varied, the original application remains in existence in varied form. Paragraph 322(1A) therefore applies to…

Suitability of accommodation under Part VII is a practical, fact-sensitive evaluation. The decision-maker must identify relevant factors and give them…

Patent claims are construed through the eyes of the skilled person using the common general knowledge. Limitations cannot be read into broad claim language…

Any number of claimants or defendants may be joined in one set of proceedings. A single claim form may start all claims which can be conveniently disposed of…

A public authority which imposes a no-recourse-to-public-funds condition owes a low-level systems duty under article 3 to protect affected persons from…

The four-question framework for discrimination under Article 14 is a useful guide, not a sequence of separate tests. Except where a claim plainly falls outside…

Article 8 private life may be engaged when a settled non-national with an established private life in the United Kingdom seeks re-entry after an absence…

In an employer cost cap mechanism for public service pensions, the broad statutory term costs is not confined to the new scheme. It may include costs of a…

In an appeal by a medium offender against deportation, a tribunal applying section 117C(6) must conduct a proportionality assessment against the strong public…

For the withholding-tax exception concerning payments to UK resident companies, beneficial entitlement requires a real and practical entitlement carrying some…

Whether a later contractual document supersedes an existing contract depends on an objective assessment of what the parties said and did. Their subjective…

In fact-finding care proceedings, expert medical evidence must be evaluated holistically with the evidence as a whole. A medical consensus that an injury was…

When an appeal raises seriously arguable issues of wider potential importance, and an appellant becomes unrepresented because representation is no longer…

On judicial review of a merger decision, the Competition Appeal Tribunal must scrutinise whether the Competition and Markets Authority had adequate evidential…

Transfer pricing comparisons may hypothesise third-party covenants which an independent lender would require where they make the economically relevant…

In child-arrangements proceedings involving domestic abuse or other evidence of harm, the child’s welfare remains paramount and the presumption that parental…

Retirement from a partnership means ceasing to be a partner while the remaining partners continue. It does not, without more, amount to an agreement to…

In a non-commercial secured borrowing transaction involving parties in a relationship, the lender’s position is determined from its own knowledge and…

Regulation 7(2) of the Homelessness (Review Procedure etc) Regulations 2018 can apply to a review of an accommodation offer, even though the original offer…

The Henderson v Henderson doctrine requires a broad, merits-based assessment of whether raising an issue later misuses the court’s process. A matter is not…

In construing a residential lease’s service-charge provisions, a proportionate part or a fair proportion is not necessarily an equal share. The wording may…

Under the Trustee Act 2000, a professional trustee or executor cannot use the statutory remuneration route unless every other current trustee or executor has…

For VAT purposes, the statutory time-of-supply rules can determine not only when a continuous supply is treated as made, but also the nature and VAT…

A member seeking to continue a derivative claim for an overseas company must establish a prima facie case under the applicable common-law principles. The case…

A statutory consultation must enable informed participation in the decision required by the statutory scheme. Where section 113 of the Local Democracy…

Non-objection clauses used when land is acquired for a planning scheme are not inherently unlawful. Their use is permissible where the planning process remains…

A longitudinal load moment control system does not inherently require a rear-axle load sensor. It may sense a predetermined safety limit by measuring arm…

A court deciding whether to make a care order on a local authority care plan for adoption is making a decision relating to adoption. It must therefore apply…

Eligibility under ARAP 3.6 requires each specified condition to be satisfied separately. Condition 1(iii) requires work alongside a UK government department…

A person may be committed for breach of an undertaking only on the allegations particularised in the application notice and proved beyond reasonable doubt.…

Evidence of actual consumer reactions is admissible in trade mark and passing-off cases, although no individual stands as a proxy for the average or ordinary…

Parties may conclude a binding contract while contemplating a later formal document and further terms. Whether they have done so depends on an objective…

Relevant evidence may be withheld from a party in family proceedings only where non-disclosure is strictly necessary and the case for it is compelling. The…

Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 does not create an exhaustive and exclusive code requiring every third-party dispute over property relevant to confiscation…

Whether a mortgage-backed agreement is an investment property loan is determined when the agreement is made. The inquiry concerns the intended use of the land…

Solicitors’ costs of attending rehabilitation case management meetings in personal injury litigation are not irrecoverable as a generic category.…

An extended family member falls within article 10(3) of the Withdrawal Agreement only by applying, before the end of the transition period, under the…

An agent entrusted with the whole operation of another’s business may owe fiduciary duties even without general authority to bind the principal by contract.…

For section 24(2) of the Limitation Act 1980, interest becomes due when it is payable and enforceable, not when the liability to pay interest accrues. The…

In employer negligence claims arising from historical asbestos exposure, foreseeability is assessed by reference to the injury recognised at the time and the…

Costs are discretionary, but the court must first identify whether an order should be made and the successful and unsuccessful parties. A global approach is…

Prospective adopters are parties to their adoption proceedings. Under the Family Procedure Rules 2010, the court must give them notice of hearings and they may…

On an application for permission to appeal, the Court of Appeal does not decide whether the proposed appeal will succeed. It asks whether the proposed grounds…

An appellate court may dismiss an appeal where the appellant intentionally fails to attend and is not represented, particularly after having clear notice and…

An injunction restraining a breach of planning control may be enforced against the individual named in it; the individual need not be the landowner. A human…

For birthright citizenship under the British Nationality Act 1981, a parent is “settled” only if ordinarily resident and not subject under the immigration laws…

Paragraph 49(1) of the 2008 Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme permits repayment only where retaining a later payment would otherwise result in double…

Under Part 1 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, begging is not automatically anti-social behaviour. The labels ‘passive’ and…

In a restitutionary claim for charges said to have been paid by mistake, the claimant retains the legal burden of proving every essential element, including…

In assessing suitability for collective proceedings, the Competition Appeal Tribunal has a broad evaluative discretion. The comparison with individual…

For purposes of sections 53 and 62(1) and Schedule 7 to the Family Law Act 1996, parties to a void marriage are not married to each other as a matter of…

The two-stage test in Ivey governs allegations of dishonesty in citizenship-deprivation proceedings. The tribunal must ascertain the person’s actual knowledge…

For a claim under section 15 of the Equality Act 2010, a disability-related factor cannot cause unfavourable treatment where an independent and decisive…

The right to manage under Part 2 Chapter 1 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 may be claimed for premises satisfying section 72 even where those…

For Universal Credit, the period covered by a claim is not a defining part that becomes immutable when the Secretary of State determines the claim. Whether the…

A contract made online must be construed as a whole. A screen instruction does not override incorporated game procedures which define a valid winning play…

A claimant cannot use a challenge to a decision refusing to treat representations as a fresh claim to reopen a separate refusal of a statelessness application.…

For service of an English claim in a Commonwealth state that is not party to the Hague Convention, CPR 6.42 and Practice Direction 6B must be read together.…

The automatic deportation regime applies to a person who is not a British citizen and satisfies the conviction and sentence conditions. It includes a person…

A purposive construction of tax legislation may treat a series of pre-planned steps as one composite transaction. A distribution made by a company out of its…

Compensation under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is limited by causation. The court must identify the damage caused by the works and then the work required to…

Once a court has conducted a full investigation into the merits of children’s future care, the resulting decision is a long-term welfare decision, not an order…

Once a claimant proves substantial loss from a competition-law infringement on the balance of probabilities, the court must quantify that loss as best it can.…

The scope of a registered design is determined objectively from the registration, particularly its images. Separate registrations must be assessed separately…

For VAT purposes, a public-law body acts as a public authority when the activity is carried on under a special legal regime, rather than under the same legal…

A court determining whether executive action is compatible with a Convention right must decide proportionality as a matter of substance. It applies the…

An exclusive licensee’s right to sue for patent infringement derives from section 67(1) of the Patents Act 1977. The mandatory requirement in section 67(3) to…

When deciding whether non-disclosure justifies discharging a without-notice injunction, the overriding consideration is the interests of justice. The court…

Testamentary undue influence requires coercion which overbears the testator’s volition. Persuasion, encouragement, appeals to affection or gratitude, and even…

Part II of the Coal Industry Act 1994 creates one legal instrument: the licence. An authorisation to conduct coal-mining operations is contained in that…

A petition under section 994 of the Companies Act 2006 is a statutory action and falls within the limitation scheme in the Limitation Act 1980. Where the only…

On an appeal against deprivation of citizenship on national security grounds, the Special Immigration Appeals Commission must scrutinise the evidence…

Under Article 16(1)(b) of the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces (Compensation Scheme) Order 2011, the correct descriptor is the one that best describes the…

In care proceedings, alleged inflicted injury must be decided by a thorough and synthesised evaluation of all the evidence, including medical evidence, lay…

An Upper Tribunal error in taking account of later country guidance is material where the First-tier Tribunal’s own decision was unlawful. In assessing risk to…

Environmental impact assessment of greenhouse-gas emissions requires an appropriate assessment of significant cumulative effects. The adequacy of that…

A condition attached to permission to appeal under CPR requires a compelling reason. That requirement is necessary but not sufficient. The court must still…

The illegality defence does not bar a negligence claim by a claimant who committed an unlawful act while insane and was found not guilty by reason of insanity.…

For article 3(b) of Regulation (EC) No. 469/2009, the authorised product is the active ingredient, or combination of active ingredients, identified in the…

In care proceedings, ‘sexual abuse’ is a statutory form of ill-treatment within the definition of harm in the Children Act 1989. It is not confined to physical…

An appellate court should not substitute its own view for a trial judge’s findings of fact. Intervention requires a conclusion that was plainly wrong…

An appeal by a judgment creditor against a Part 71 committal-related order made by a circuit judge in the county court does not ordinarily lie directly to the…

An inclusive statutory definition extends a word’s ordinary meaning. It does not ordinarily exclude matters already within that meaning. Accordingly, the…

Pension scheme provisions are construed primarily from their language, read in the context of the scheme as a whole. Practical consequences and purpose may be…

Under section 4(2)(b) of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Upper Tribunal may find that the Disclosure and Barring Service made a material…

A patent licence does not carry a presumption that its royalty obligation matches the scope of the patent claims. Parties may agree a broader royalty for…

Properly issued and constituted proceedings exist despite defective service or a failure to serve them in time. A defendant wishing to rely on defective…

SDLT provisions, including tightly defined land-law concepts, are subject to a purposive interpretation. The court identifies the statutory purpose and the…

A stay pending EUIPO or EU-court validity proceedings is governed by the balance of justice. The court should consider delay, prejudice, commercial certainty…

In financial-relief proceedings after an overseas divorce, the court may make a needs-based or needs-light award rather than share assets, particularly where a…

Requests to clarify a judgment must be confined to material omissions, ambiguities or deficiencies. Counsel must explain why clarification is necessary for the…

In a family appeal, the ordinary rule that the unsuccessful party pays costs does not apply automatically. The court must exercise its discretion by…

Under CPR 52.30, reopening a final appellate determination requires three cumulative conditions: reopening must be necessary to avoid real injustice, the…

An immigration decision-maker has an ancillary or incidental power under the Immigration Act 1971 to defer determining a leave application, including while a…

Under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, destruction of a prohibited dog is the default where release would contravene the statutory prohibition, unless the court is…

In a serious-offender deportation case involving circumstances described in the statutory Exceptions, a tribunal need not always make separate express findings…

For a surrender by operation of law of a joint tenancy, the landlord and all joint tenants must participate in an arrangement inconsistent with the tenancy’s…

The duration of a freezing injunction is determined by its language, construed restrictively and in context. Where an English order under section 25 of the…

The duty of candour in judicial review is a duty to explain the reasoning behind the challenged decision. A public authority which relies on disclosed…

Where a contract expressly chooses English law but provides for arbitration at a foreign seat, that choice generally extends to the arbitration agreement. The…

A solicitor may assume responsibility in tort for limited preliminary legal advice without a retainer, including where the advice is gratuitous. The scope of…

An appeal court may impose or vary a condition on permission to appeal under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, Part 52.18, after permission has been granted where…

Under section 15(3) of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996, a dispute requires the court to have regard to the circumstances and wishes of…

Where land is acquired in joint names for business purposes, equity normally presumes that the beneficial ownership is held in equal shares as a tenancy in…

Where parties operate a running account, payments are ordinarily appropriated on a first-in, first-out basis, unless an alternative appropriation is agreed.…

For Francovich damages in public-procurement litigation, a claimant must separately establish a sufficiently serious breach. Proof that, but for an error, the…

Likelihood of confusion under section 10(2) requires a global assessment from the perspective of the average consumer, with marks considered as wholes and…

Criminal-law concepts and jury directions do not transfer automatically to family fact-finding hearings. Delay, missing evidence and a person’s character…

A civil contempt is established where a person intentionally performs the relevant act or omission, knowing the facts that make it a breach of the court order…

The iniquity exception to legal professional privilege requires a prima facie case of iniquity. In this context, that means that the iniquity is more likely…

Satisfaction of the statutory conditions for cross-class cram down creates no presumption that a restructuring plan should be sanctioned. The court must…

Public-policy exclusion under the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016 requires a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting a…

When assessing an EU citizen’s protection against expulsion, a tribunal must give effect to the mandatory direction to attach little weight to integrating…

A general Henry VIII power to make provision in connection with reviews and appeals does not, without clear words, authorise subordinate legislation to remove…

An application engages CPR r 3.9 only where a party has breached a rule, practice direction or order and that breach attracts a sanction. Apart from recognised…

The same-interest requirement for a representative claim is satisfied where the represented persons share a common issue and no conflict of interest prevents…

A beneficiary applying under section 71(3) of the Solicitors Act 1974 is not confined to the restrictions governing an application by a third party liable for…

A reservation in a conveyance allowing the governors to permit a departure from restrictive stipulations may confer a power to waive or release covenants…

A policy requiring flood risk from all sources to be considered does not necessarily extend a sequential test framed by reference to fluvial flood zones to…

An occurrence-based aggregation clause requires an identifiable occurrence, the causal connection specified by the wording, and an absence of remoteness.…

Compulsory solicitors’ professional indemnity cover is interpreted with its public-protection purpose in mind, but policy terms and exclusions are otherwise…

A non-assignment clause which prohibits assignment or transfer “by any Party” applies to a transfer effected by a contracting party. It does not invalidate a…

Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007, Schedule 12 does not create a self-contained enforcement code. A writ of control is directed to the High Court…

Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, a best-interests decision is a fact-sensitive evaluative exercise. The court must consider all relevant circumstances…

The family court is a single, unified court with wide and flexible powers. Where family proceedings have been properly issued, the allocated judge may make…

Under section 356LA(3) of the Corporation Tax Act 2010, one use of an asset is incidental to another where it arises from, is connected with, or is a…