High Court: King's Bench Division judgments, 2026

Actual authority is determined objectively from the principal’s manifestations and does not extend to an agent’s dishonest conduct against the principal’s…

An annual review of an injunction, particularly one against persons unknown, must assess whether its continuation remains justified. The court should consider…

Open justice is the starting point for court hearings, party identification and access to judgments. A derogation, including anonymity or a reporting…

A final charging order requires the court to consider all the circumstances, particularly the debtor’s personal circumstances and whether another creditor…

When deciding whether to continue a planning injunction against persons unknown, the court must assess the cause of action, evidence, justification, adequacy…

A defendant facing contempt proceedings that may result in imprisonment must have a reasonable opportunity to obtain legal representation for the substantive…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r. 44.2, the unsuccessful party generally pays the successful party’s costs. Losing one or more issues does not, without…

An appellate court should interfere with factual findings only for an identifiable error or where the decision cannot reasonably be explained or justified. It…

For Article 14, “ambit” and “interference” are distinct. A measure falls within the ambit of a substantive Convention right if it has more than a merely…

A contractual undertaking not to “denigrate” is given its ordinary meaning. It covers blackening or belittling a person’s character or reputation and is wider…

Norwich Pharmacal relief requires a good arguable case of a legally recognised wrong, a respondent sufficiently mixed up in it, a respondent able or likely to…

In a defamation damages assessment following default judgment, the court ordinarily proceeds on the pleaded case, but must reject meanings or serious-harm…

In a private nuisance claim arising from recurrent flooding from a highway, a highway authority’s common-law duty is measured by what is fair, just and…

Legal professional privilege is a fundamental right. A statutory power to require a regulated solicitor to produce documents cannot override a client’s…

A final injunction to restrain an unauthorised traveller site under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is discretionary. Establishing a breach does not…

Permission to withdraw admissions or amend a defence is discretionary and must be assessed against all the circumstances and the overriding objective. The…

Under CPR 3.4, a claim may be struck out where its factual basis is hopeless or fanciful, although that power is exceptional and the court normally assumes…

An environmental tort claim does not become an impermissible global claim merely because some causative events are unidentified and causation is proved by…

Litigation capacity is decision-specific and time-specific. Under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the question is whether, at the material time, an impairment or…

In assessing future care and accommodation damages, the court must ask whether the claimed regime meets the claimant’s reasonable needs and whether the regime…

Section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 gives the court a discretionary power to restrain actual or apprehended breaches of planning control.…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, indemnity costs require conduct or circumstances taking litigation outside ordinary and reasonable proceedings. The…

Clear and repeated non-compliance with unless orders requiring disclosure of medical testing material can justify strike out under CPR 3.4(2)(c). An order…

For a civil personal-injury claim attributable to child sexual abuse, sections 11ZA and 11ZB of the Limitation Act 1980 remove the former limitation regime for…

For Article 14, an alleged “other status” must exist independently of the discrimination complained of. A tenant of a Crown or government landlord is not…

For false imprisonment arising from detention under the Mental Health Act 1983, the detaining defendant bears the burden of proving lawful authority. A patient…

Appeals from County Court case-management orders are by way of review, not rehearing. An appellate court may intervene only for an error of law or fact, an…

In assessing road-traffic liability, a driver who encounters drifting and thickening smoke in fading light must reduce speed sufficiently to react to an unseen…

When enforcement of a judgment is challenged on appeal, the court may grant a stay before formal enforcement proceedings have begun where the procedural…

A stay pending an intended appeal is discretionary and fact-sensitive. The court must weigh the risk of injustice in granting or refusing it, the effect of…

In complex group litigation, costs must be assessed by looking at the litigation as a whole, not simply by asking which party received money or won individual…

Strike-out and summary judgment may be granted at an early stage where a claim has no reasonable grounds, no real prospect of success, or continuation would…

In contempt proceedings, the applicant must prove every essential ingredient beyond reasonable doubt. Where the case depends on circumstantial evidence…

When a party seeks a paper determination but may wish to request an oral hearing if the result is adverse, the court may require a clear statement about…

Public interest immunity requires a staged inquiry. The decision-maker must ask whether the material would otherwise be disclosed, whether disclosure would…

Summary disposal in media litigation requires separate analysis of viability, abuse of process and pleading conformity. A failed attempt to rely on a misuse of…

An interim injunction restraining a credit reference agency from publishing or linking county court judgments requires a serious issue to be tried. Where the…

An employer’s duty to take reasonable care extends to work-related travel, but liability depends on a risk being reasonably foreseeable and sufficiently…

A highway authority may obtain a final injunction against named defendants or persons unknown where there is compelling evidence of repeated and imminent…

An order made without a hearing may be challenged by rehearing, but the original decision carries fact-dependent weight. A civil claim does not become a…

A High Court cannot be used as a substitute for the county court’s appellate or procedural jurisdiction over a possession order. An appeal from a district…

A foreign judgment has no direct operation in England. It may be enforced only where the foreign court had jurisdiction under English conflict-of-laws…

After an issue-estoppel ruling, a defence must not directly or indirectly allege that a claimant committed the estopped misconduct. It may describe the…

In a claim for unjust enrichment, the four questions are signposts to distinct legal requirements, not a substitute for careful analysis. Enrichment is at the…

The statutory removal of limitation for child sexual abuse applies by reference to the act or omission causing the personal injury. It does not extend to…

An interim non-disclosure injunction may be continued in a blackmail case where serious threats, a reasonable expectation of privacy, likely disclosure without…

An appeal bundle must remain focused on documents relevant and necessary to the issues, and proportionate to the hearing. A catch-all provision allowing…

Costs ordinarily follow the event, but the court retains a wide discretion under Civil Procedure Rules r44.2. An alleged failure to engage in ADR must be shown…

Where an employee is contractually required to report threats to the employer’s business, failure to disclose a major client’s termination notice can breach…

Civil contempt for breach of a court order is established only where the applicant proves, to the criminal standard, notice, the prohibited act or required…

Contempt depends on the meaning of the order, not its wider purpose. The order must be construed strictly, with clear words given their natural and ordinary…

In a defamation remedies hearing following judgment in default, the court may rely on unchallenged pleaded facts which were necessary to liability, while…

Indemnity costs are exceptional but do not require dishonesty or moral blame. The court asks whether conduct or circumstances, viewed in the litigation as a…

Where parallel proceedings seek the same interim relief, the court may decline to make a different without-notice order after another High Court judge has…

On applications to strike out and for summary judgment, a pleaded claim should proceed only if it has a realistic, rather than fanciful, prospect of success…

In group litigation, a substantial reduction in the claimant cohort, later discontinuance, or failure to meet group-admission requirements does not by itself…

Where a tenancy agreement creates separate rent, service, electricity and water charges, each charging mechanism should be given a coherent contractual…

On a summary judgment application involving contractual construction, a court should decide a short point where the agreement and necessary objective…

For indemnity costs, the court must apply its wide discretion and require conduct or circumstances taking the case out of the norm. Conduct-based cases require…

In a workplace injury claim, the claimant must prove breach of the duty to provide a safe system of work on the balance of probabilities. Competing accounts…

The public-policy exception to recognition or enforcement under the Brussels I Recast Regulation is exceptional and strictly construed. It applies only where…

A Voluntary Bill of Indictment after dismissal is an exceptional remedy. The High Court must be satisfied that the new material supports a prima facie case and…

In a professional negligence claim arising from an investment transaction, actionable damage may be suffered when a claimant enters a flawed bilateral…

For an apparently private or grey-area site, public access is not established merely because members of the public could enter. Evidence must show that the…

For the consumer-jurisdiction provisions of the Civil Jurisdiction and Judgments Act 1982, consumer status depends on the purpose of the contract viewed as a…

A third-party claim to controlled goods under Schedule 12 to the Tribunals Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 must comply with the strict seven-day notice…

On summary judgment, a court may decide the merits in a party’s absence where proper notice, a fair opportunity to respond and no good reason to adjourn are…

Summary disposal is inappropriate where an arguable legal issue may depend on facts at trial, may not arise, or would benefit from a decision on established…

Where a pleading defect is accepted but may be corrected, the court may strike out the defective pleading while preserving an opportunity to file a replacement…

A sealed final order refusing permission to appeal, including after an oral renewal, is a final determination governed by CPR 52.30. The High Court has no…

Litigation capacity is issue- and time-specific. The court must identify the decisions and information relevant to the particular proceedings, assess…

In a social-media libel claim, the court must determine the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader, reading the…

Costs following a breach of full and frank disclosure are fact-sensitive. There is no automatic rule requiring discharge of the order, loss of all costs, or…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 r 23.11(2), a court may re-list an application decided in a party’s absence by weighing promptness, the reason for absence and…

Natural and ordinary meaning is assessed from the publication as a whole and through the hypothetical reasonable reader. A request to investigate does not…

Permission to appeal requires a real prospect of success or another compelling reason. A challenge to a default costs certificate needs Points of Dispute…

Under section 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, a local planning authority need not exhaust other enforcement powers before seeking an…

A claimant’s request to withdraw contempt proceedings does not end the matter automatically. The court retains an interest in enforcing its orders and may…

On an appeal from strike-out and summary judgment, a restitutionary claim for the unpaid value of services should proceed where properly pleaded facts and…

In large shareholder claims under sections 90 and 90A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the decision whether to split a trial is an essentially…

On an application for strike-out or summary judgment, a claim should proceed where the pleaded case has a realistic, evidence-based prospect of success.…

In a clinical negligence claim, the claimant must prove on the balance of probabilities that the admitted breach caused the injury. Causation may be…

A proprietary injunction may be granted where there is a serious issue to be tried, the balance of convenience favours relief, and it is just and convenient to…

Under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976, services dependency is valued at the date of death. A later event ends dependency only if it removes the basis for it.…

In determining defamatory meaning, the court must identify the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader, reading the…

Accessory liability for a wrongful arrest requires more than the provision of information. The accessory must have procured the arrest, or provided non-trivial…

A court may revisit an earlier order where there is a proper basis to exercise its power or discretion. A contention that a High Court judge made an error of…

Where a party has succeeded overall, the general rule is that costs should follow the event. The court must assess success in substance and may adjust the…

On an application to set aside regular default judgment, the court must first decide whether the defence has a real prospect of success or whether there is…

An interim confidentiality injunction must be clear and supported by evidence of a real risk; it cannot serve as insurance against possible future misuse. An…

Persons-unknown injunctions may restrain organised dangerous or antisocial driving where there is a compelling and imminent need, real risk of harm, and no…

When an amendment introduces a new claim after expiry of the limitation period, the court must apply the four-stage test under CPR 17.4. If the new claim does…

Closed material supplied to a Special Advocate is subject to the same fundamental restriction on collateral use as material disclosed to a party or solicitor.…

The court may grant a short, territorially limited injunction against identified defendants and “persons unknown”, including genuine newcomers, where a…

Customer databases containing contact details, purchasing history and related commercial information may constitute trade secrets or equivalent highly…

On an application to strike out or obtain summary judgment, the court should not conduct a mini-trial or a detailed examination of disputed facts. Strike-out…

Summary judgment is appropriate where a party has no realistic prospect of success, as distinct from a fanciful prospect, and there is no other compelling…

Where a public body exercises contractual powers under a standard-form public service contract, its discretion may be constrained by express duties of…

In disclosure disputes involving substantial asymmetry of information, the court should use disclosure to place the parties on an equal footing so far as…

When assessing a payment on account of costs, the court must make a reasonable estimate of the likely recovery, allowing an appropriate margin for uncertainty.…

In a services or public-functions case under Schedule 2 to the Equality Act 2010, the reasonable-adjustments duty is anticipatory and operates at a systemic…

An unsuccessful party will ordinarily pay costs, but indemnity costs require a further exercise of the court’s broad discretion. They are justified where the…

An arrest is lawful only if the officer honestly believes that arrest is necessary for a statutory reason and that belief has objectively reasonable grounds.…

Costs are discretionary and must be determined consistently with Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r 44.2. The general rule that the unsuccessful party pays the…

Claims cannot be used to reopen welfare decisions made by the family court. A damages claim is an abuse of process where determining it would require the…

Applications to set aside an automatic strike-out of appeals engage the three-stage approach in Denton. The court assesses the seriousness and significance of…

The principle of open justice may be displaced only in exceptional circumstances, where the derogation is strictly necessary, supported by clear and cogent…

Contributory negligence is assessed objectively. The claimant must take the precautions which an ordinarily prudent person would observe and must reasonably…

A landlord’s choice of method for discharging a repairing covenant must be reasonable and must take account of the tenant’s right to quiet enjoyment. Neither…

Issue estoppel applies to factual findings made by the First-tier Tribunal in immigration proceedings, including findings that an individual did not obtain a…

In complex group litigation, permission to amend pleadings is governed by the overriding objective and requires a balance between prejudice to the applicant…

Claims may be struck out where the pleaded case discloses no reasonable grounds, has no real prospect of success, or would serve no useful purpose at trial. A…

An application to adjourn a trial is determined by asking whether proceeding would be fair in all the circumstances. The decision is a case-management decision…

An appeal on a question of fact is a review, not a rehearing. The appellate court must not interfere merely because it might have reached a different…

A proprietary freezing injunction may be continued where the claimant shows a good arguable case, a real risk of dissipation defeating enforcement, and that…

Where a parent provides money for property acquired in an adult child’s name, the court must determine the provider’s actual subjective intention. The…

Costs budgets must reflect work that is reasonably and proportionately required for the issues and evidence actually permitted. In expert phases, legal input…

Where an interim injunction preserves the position pending trial and the underlying merits remain unresolved, the court may find that there is no successful…

On an application to strike out a defence under CPR 3.4(2), the pleaded facts are assumed to be true and the court should strike out only where the pleading…

On an application to serve proceedings outside the jurisdiction, the claimant must establish a serious issue to be tried, a gateway under Practice Direction…

A group-litigation cut-off date must be applied according to its purpose and wording. Where an electronic court filing is accepted and made available for…

In clinical negligence claims, a prescription-only medicine administered in hospital must be directed in writing where the statutory hospital exemption…

On an appeal from a case-management decision, the appellate court must respect the first-instance judge’s wide discretion. Intervention is justified only where…

Where an application for interim relief is refused, the general rule is that costs follow the event. That rule applies even where the court declines to…

Claims based on fraud, conspiracy or misfeasance in public office must plead the primary facts said to constitute dishonesty. Assertions that reports were…

Under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976, services dependency is assessed by identifying the services the deceased would have provided, translating them into a…

Under section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, a personal injury claim must be dismissed where the claimant is fundamentally dishonest in…

In a defamation claim arising from statements made in complaint correspondence, serious harm is assessed separately for each publication and each publishee.…

On an application for summary judgment, a proposed collaborative fundraising arrangement will not be enforceable where the parties did not objectively intend…

Renewal of an injunction against newcomer persons unknown requires a focused, evidence-based review rather than a mechanical checklist. The court should…

In determining meaning as a preliminary issue in a libel claim, the court must identify the single natural and ordinary meaning which the hypothetical…

A stay of enforcement pending appeal is exceptional. The court must identify a solid basis for departing from the usual position and assess the balance of…

Where a claimant discontinues, the starting point is that the claimant pays the defendant’s costs under CPR rule 38.6. Departure requires cogent reasons…

For an interim injunction restraining actual or apprehended breaches of planning control, the court applies the American Cyanamid approach, while taking…

A default judgment must be set aside where the claim form was not validly served. Parallel proceedings concerning the same defamation publication, particularly…

An appellate court may interfere with a costs order where the lower court’s exercise of discretion was wrong in principle or failed to reflect the parties’…

The court may determine an application in the applicant’s absence where the applicant had, or ought to have had, notice and a further adjournment would…

An amendment sought after expiry of limitation is impermissible under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, rule 17.4 unless the proposed claim arises out of the same or…

On an application for mandatory interim relief requiring an employer to restore a clinician to practice, the court must have a high degree of assurance that…

In a peaceful seizure of goods under a writ of control, the third-party claimant bears the legal burden of showing that it owned the goods or possessed them…

An imaging order is an exceptional preservation remedy. It may be granted without notice where there is a strong prima facie case, very serious potential…

Applications to strike out and for summary judgment apply the same test: whether the claim has a realistic, rather than fanciful, prospect of success and is…

An application to discharge or vary a freezing order after a contested return date requires proof of a material change of circumstances. The change must have a…

Permission to amend a pleading is discretionary and must be determined under the overriding objective. A very late amendment which threatens a fixed trial date…

In determining defamatory meaning, the court must identify the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader, reading the…

A stay of civil proceedings pending a criminal investigation or prosecution should be ordered only where it is in the interests of justice and there is a real…

On a summary judgment application, the unsuccessful applicant will ordinarily pay the respondent’s costs. That starting point may be adjusted where the…

Permission to serve a foreign defendant out of the jurisdiction requires a serious issue to be tried, a good arguable case within a jurisdictional gateway, and…

For an interim injunction restraining alleged harassment by publication, the threshold in Human Rights Act 1998, section 12(3), applies where the essential…

In a historic asbestos-exposure claim, the claimant must prove exposure on the balance of probabilities. The special causation rule in Fairchild v Glenhaven…

The iniquity exception to legal professional privilege applies where conduct amounts to fraud or equivalent underhand conduct which abuses the professional…

Anonymity in civil proceedings is a strictly necessary derogation from open justice. A large data-protection claim does not create a general entitlement to…

Strike out is appropriate where a defamation pleading is materially deficient and cannot be amended into a claim with a realistic prospect of success. A…

Non-party disclosure is exceptional. The court must apply a three-stage test: whether the documents may well support or adversely affect a party’s case…

Whether an invoice is an interim statute bill depends on the parties’ contract. A statute bill must be final and complete for the work it covers, although it…

A director and full-time employee remains subject to fiduciary, statutory and contractual duties despite deteriorating relations or unresolved exit…

Meaning in defamation is determined objectively by the natural and ordinary meaning conveyed by the words read as a whole to the hypothetical ordinary…

In a mesothelioma claim, the claimant bears the burden of proving exposure to asbestos on the balance of probabilities. The court must assess the whole of the…

In military noise-induced hearing-loss litigation, diagnosis remains a matter of clinical judgment informed by, but not mechanically determined by, diagnostic…

All persons are subject to the law and to the jurisdiction of the courts. A person cannot avoid a court order by asserting that he is a separate “living man”…

A breach of a court order is not necessarily serious or significant for the purposes of relief from sanction. The court should assess its practical effect…

In contempt proceedings for breach of an injunction, liability is determined by whether the order was properly served, whether the defendant intentionally…

For interim relief affecting freedom of expression, the court must apply the statutory threshold in Human Rights Act 1998, section 12(3): publication should be…

A claim form amended without permission under CPR 17.1(1) before service may be validly served without first being filed with the court, where the amendments…

A claimant alleging conversion of chattels must establish possession or an immediate right to possession. Ownership alone is neither necessary nor sufficient.…

In a medical-negligence claim concerning psychiatric risk assessment, a clinician does not breach the Bolam standard merely because another competent…

An employer’s disciplinary process should ordinarily be allowed to run its course before the High Court intervenes. The court should avoid micro-management of…

Where a statutory appeal is subject to an inflexible time limit, the court may have a narrow discretion under Article 6 to prevent the statutory scheme from…

In an uncontested assessment of damages for personal injuries caused by prolonged domestic abuse, the court assessed psychiatric injury by reference to the…

Vicarious liability for deliberate wrongdoing requires a close connection between the wrongful conduct and the functions the tortfeasor was authorised to…

A claimant in a road-traffic negligence claim must prove breach and causation on the balance of probabilities. The standard is that of the reasonably careful…

For service of a claim form, the address supplied need not reproduce every descriptive element appearing in a land-register entry. The question is whether it…

Indemnity costs may be ordered after discontinuance where proceedings, viewed objectively and in the round, were pursued for an improper or collateral purpose…

In a disputed medical diagnosis, the court must determine the balance of probabilities from the totality of the available evidence. That evidence may include…

Abuse of process under the rule in Henderson v Henderson is determined by a broad, merits-based assessment of all the circumstances. A later claim may be…

In a clinical negligence claim, causation must be determined on the balance of probabilities by evaluating the whole evidential picture. Where competing…

For the purposes of CPR 44.16(1), conscious exaggeration of symptoms to convey genuine suffering may be dishonest, even where the claimant does not regard the…

Where an English court assists a foreign court by ordering examination of a witness, the usual starting point is that the party obtaining the order bears the…

For an arrest under section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, reasonable suspicion must relate to the particular offence for which the arrest is…

In a libel claim involving online reviews, the court must determine the natural and ordinary meaning of each publication separately. A review may contain both…

Injunctions restraining an employment disciplinary process are exceptional. The court should intervene for a contractual breach or procedural unfairness only…

In a professional and commercial context, the ordinary and natural meaning of words used in an exchange of emails must be respected. An indication that a party…

A court may determine issues raised by an application before determining other issues under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, rule 3.1(2)(k), including where the…

The court may grant relief from sanctions to a litigant in person where the breach was significant but inadvertent and the interests of justice favour relief.…

A strike-out application is a draconian remedy and should be used as a last resort. A provisional defence may disclose reasonable grounds where it represents…

Where interim relief is sought to restrain publication, the court must identify the essential purpose of the application. If its gravamen is protection of…

A contribution claim under the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 requires the proposed contributor to be liable to the injured claimant for the same…

In assessing damages for clinical negligence, the court must compensate reasonable needs arising from the injury. Proportionality has a limited role: the court…

A public interest immunity application should be granted where the material is relevant, disclosure creates a real risk of serious harm to the public interest…

Where applications cannot be fairly and properly determined within the time available, the court may adjourn them of its own motion under Civil Procedure Rules…

In proceedings concerning unlawfully exfiltrated confidential data, the court may proceed in a defendant’s absence where the defendant knew of the hearing…

Meaning in a defamation claim is determined by the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the hypothetical ordinary reasonable reader, assessed in…

A financial sanction for civil contempt must be just, proportionate and directed to the purposes of punishment, deterrence, rehabilitation and securing…

An applicant who obtains an interlocutory injunction ordinarily gives a cross-undertaking in damages. Where the injunction is later discharged and loss may…

For a secondary-victim psychiatric-injury claim arising from clinical negligence, the claimant must have witnessed an accident causing, or having the capacity…

In medical negligence claims involving multiple possible causes of an indivisible injury, the claimant must ordinarily prove on the balance of probabilities…

In determining meaning and related issues in a libel claim, the court must assess the publication objectively and holistically, by reference to the natural and…

In ordinary adversarial civil proceedings, the court has no general power to call a witness without the parties’ consent. A party which deliberately elects to…

A penal notice is a warning added to an order. Following the relevant amendments to Civil Procedure Rules 1998, it is not part of the order itself. A party may…

On an application to terminate defamation proceedings, the court must test the pleaded case against the applicable legal rules, while allowing amendment where…

Bitcoin may attract personal property rights as a third category of property, but that recognition does not make it subject to every existing proprietary tort.…

Under Town and Country Planning Act 1990, s 187B, the court has a discretionary power to grant an injunction restraining an actual or apprehended breach of…

A claim to set aside a judgment for fraud is a freestanding cause of action. The claimant must establish, cumulatively, new evidence, conscious and deliberate…

A pre-issue mandatory injunction requires a high degree of assurance that the proposed claim will succeed. A claimant alleging misfeasance in public office…

A reporting restriction order under section 4(2) of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 is an exceptional derogation from open justice. It may be made only where…

Third-party disclosure is exceptional. Under CPR 31.17, the applicant must show both that the documents are likely to support its case or adversely affect…

At a review of a quasi-final injunction against persons unknown, the court must consider whether material factual or legal changes have occurred since the…

At an annual review of a quasi-final injunction against street cruising, the court must examine whether any material factual or legal change has occurred since…

Recognition and enforcement of a final foreign judgment is not a further appeal on errors of fact or law. Impeachment requires a recognised defect, such as…

A claim cannot be re-litigated by reformulating allegations arising from the same underlying proceedings. The principles of res judicata and Henderson v…

Remote evidence from a foreign jurisdiction may be permitted where there is a good reason, the order serves a legitimate aim and it is consistent with the…

Where litigation capacity is disputed, the court may appoint a litigation friend on the claimant’s evidence-only basis so that proceedings can progress. The…

At a review of a continuing injunction against persons unknown, the court should not start again from first principles. It should understand the findings…

A general civil restraint order may be made even after the relevant claim has been struck out and need not remain tied to existing proceedings. The court must…

Where protesters are unidentified, the court should ordinarily use alternative service capable of bringing proceedings to their attention. Dispensing with…

A solicitor advising on settlement must exercise reasonable care and skill, but the court must allow for the difficult, experience-based nature of settlement…

Senior employees and directors must act loyally for their employer. A senior employee who knows that a competitor is recruiting members of his team will…

Permission to pursue private contempt proceedings should be granted only where the public interest requires them and there is a strong prima facie case capable…

An appeal court must address allegations and evidence that are material to the pleaded claim and the relief sought. A failure to determine material allegations…

For limitation purposes, proceedings are not necessarily brought when a claim form reaches the court. A claimant must have done at least all that could…

In delayed claims for historic personal injury, the discretion under Limitation Act 1980, s 33, requires a broad assessment of all the circumstances and a…

Payment under a dental services contract is ordinarily for dental treatment actually provided, rather than for compliance with record-keeping or notification…

In determining the natural and ordinary meaning of allegedly defamatory words, the court must consider the publication as a whole from the perspective of the…

An indemnity costs order requires conduct or circumstances taking the case out of the norm. Serious failures in a without-notice application, including breach…

An interim injunction requires a real threat or sufficiently strong risk of the conduct sought to be restrained. The claimant must also satisfy the threshold…

A pleading is the lawyers’ formulation of a client’s case, not the client’s evidence. Counsel may clarify instructions, formulate generic allegations and put…

Surveillance evidence is ordinarily admissible where relevant, but may be excluded under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, r 32.1 if disclosure denies the claimant a…

A solicitor’s duty in a secured lending transaction is defined by the retainer and does not generally extend to making the loan risk-free or policing the…

The fraud exception to enforcement of a foreign judgment is carefully delimited. It requires conscious and deliberate fraud practised on the foreign court…

For the purposes of CPR 6.33(3), an enactment need not expressly authorise service of a claim form out of the jurisdiction without permission. It is sufficient…

On an application for security for costs, the court’s discretion must be exercised having regard to all the circumstances. A claimant’s strong merits will…

An employer must take a proactive and reasonable approach to workplace safety. Introducing materially different work equipment ordinarily calls for a risk…

On strike-out and summary-judgment applications, the court must identify claims that are bound to fail while avoiding a mini-trial. A deficient pleading may be…

A burial board or joint committee abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 cannot continue to operate a public cemetery, and a local authority cannot…

Relief from sanction requires application of the three-stage test in Denton v TH White Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 906. The court must assess the seriousness and…

Injunctions against newcomer persons unknown are exceptional. They require compelling evidence of need, adequate procedural protection, stringent disclosure…

In accelerated possession proceedings, a riverbed owner may recover possession from vessels trespassing in the water above it. The order may extend beyond each…

Permission under section 329 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 requires evidence giving the claim a real prospect of success. The court must undertake…

Permission to serve a Chabra freezing-order application out of the jurisdiction requires an applicable gateway under CPR Practice Direction 6B. A post-judgment…

In an asbestos-exposure claim, the claimant must prove on the balance of probabilities that the deceased was exposed to asbestos in the pleaded circumstances.…

In defamation proceedings, the meaning of allegations such as “fraudulent charges” depends on the words read as a whole, their immediate context and the mode…

In determining the meaning of a television programme, the court must assess the programme as a whole and as an audiovisual experience, from the perspective of…

A claim in false imprisonment against a complainant requires more than proof that the complaint triggered an arrest. The pleaded case must show that the…

Summary judgment may be granted where a defendant has had a proper opportunity to participate, has no real prospect of defending the claim, and there is no…

For committal for contempt of an injunction, the claimant must prove proper service, that the defendant was bound by the order, that its terms were clear and…

In civil claims arising from police use of force, the defendant must establish that the officer honestly believed force was necessary, that belief was…

A director may breach Companies Act 2006, section 171(a), by exercising powers without constitutional authority, even where the conduct is otherwise motivated…

In a libel claim, the court must determine the single meaning conveyed to the hypothetical ordinary, reasonable reader by applying an objective test. A…

Under Civil Procedure Rules 1998 Part 24, summary judgment may be entered on a discrete issue, including an issue falling short of the ultimate questions of…

Damages for modern slavery should reflect the claimant’s complete experience and avoid double recovery. False imprisonment and injury to feelings will…

A first-instance court is bound by an indistinguishable higher-court decision and cannot decline to follow it on the ground that it was decided per incuriam.…

Where no reciprocal enforcement regime applies, an English court may enforce a final and conclusive foreign money judgment at common law by entering its own…

In complex group litigation, the court may select representative lead claimants where common issues can be tried efficiently, but the selection should reflect…

On a summary judgment application involving contractual construction, the court may decide a short point of law where the evidence is sufficient and the…

Claims for disease-related injury must ordinarily be proved on the balance of probabilities by showing that the defendant’s breach caused the disease. The…

Interim mandatory relief is available where there is a serious question to be tried, damages would not be adequate and the balance of convenience favours…

Employment status is determined from the whole relationship and surrounding facts. Payment of a worker’s own tax and national insurance is not decisive. Nor is…

A course of conduct may amount to harassment when its overall character is persistent, deliberate, unreasonable and oppressive, even if individual acts appear…

On an interlocutory jurisdiction challenge under the Defamation Act 2013, the claimant must satisfy the reformulated good arguable case test. The court must…

An order for pre-action disclosure under Civil Procedure Rules 1998, rule 31.16, may be made where the anticipated parties and the documents falling within…