Earlier reported cases judgments, 1995

In care proceedings, the applicant bears the burden of proving the threshold conditions in section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989. Past or present facts must…

Compensatory damages for defamation must compensate injury to reputation, provide vindication and reflect distress, while remaining proportionate to the harm…

When determining a reasonable period for curing mortgage arrears under section 36 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, the court should start with the…

Section 375(1) of the Insolvency Act 1986 gives a broad discretion to rescind a bankruptcy order. An application normally depends on a post-order change of…

A landlord’s contractual right to enter leased premises, remedy disrepair and recover the expenditure from the tenant creates a claim in debt, not damages for…

An administrative decision may be set aside on substantive judicial review only if it lies beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision-maker.…

A trespasser engaged in crime is not an outlaw. The doctrine of ex turpi causa does not provide a complete defence where unreasonable or excessive force is…

Choice of law requires identification of the particular issue, selection of the appropriate connecting factor and identification of the applicable legal…

An employer directly discriminates on grounds of sex by dismissing a woman employed for an indefinite period because pregnancy will make her temporarily…

A party in adoption proceedings has a strong presumptive right to inspect material which the court may use adversely. Under rule 53(2) of the Adoption Rules…

A confirming body may assess both positive and negative factors when deciding whether to approve a candidate elected to public office. The election is relevant…

Qualified privilege depends on the separate origin and circumstances of each participant's communication. An occasion is not indivisible merely because parties…

The High Court and county court may restrain otherwise lawful entry into an exclusion zone where an arguable cause of action exists and the restraint is…

Where a gratuitous transfer is made to a person in whose favour the presumption of advancement applies, the transferor will ordinarily fail if recovery…

Equitable compensation for breach of trust makes good loss caused by the breach. Although equity’s detailed rules differ from common law rules, compensation…

For malicious prosecution, a private complainant may be the prosecutor even though the police formally initiated the proceedings. Liability depends on…

For the purposes of homelessness and intentional homelessness under Part III of the Housing Act 1985, accommodation need not be settled or permanent. It must…

A duty of care in negligence depends on foreseeability, proximity, and whether its imposition is fair, just and reasonable, even where the claimant has…

Legal professional privilege does not protect communications concerning the structuring of a transaction at an undervalue where there is a strong prima facie…

Costs remain within the court’s discretion. A longstanding practice must not harden into an inflexible rule. Where several parties are separately represented…

A mortgagee induced by fraud to make an advance cannot retain the surplus proceeds of sale after affirming the mortgage and recovering the secured debt in…

A pension scheme may constitute a post-nuptial settlement within section 24(1)(c) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. The scheme must be considered as a whole…

Careless performance of a statutory function does not itself create a claim in damages. Liability requires either a statutory right of action or an…

Section 14(5) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 applies whenever a person acting in the course of a business sells goods as agent for another, whether the…

A planning decision-maker must consider every material consideration but need not mention each one in the decision letter. The reasons must be intelligible and…

A crime is political under article 1F(b) of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees only if it serves a political purpose and has a sufficiently…

An express contractual option to terminate employment summarily by making a payment in lieu of notice creates an alternative lawful mode of termination. The…

Bankruptcy set-off under section 323 of the Insolvency Act 1986 operates automatically at the date of bankruptcy and alters substantive rights. The parties’…

Where negligent advice deprives a claimant of an opportunity involving an independent third party, the claimant need not prove that the third party would…

Where a person is directly involved in an accident and exposed to a foreseeable risk of personal injury, the duty of care extends to recognised psychiatric…

In determining an application for planning permission, a “material” consideration means a relevant consideration. Relevance is a question of law, but the…

Tracing is a process, not a remedy. It identifies what has happened to trust property and whether money used by a defendant represents that property.…

For indirect sex discrimination, the application and detriment requirements may be assessed when the employment contract is entered into. An employer applies a…

A commencement provision giving a minister discretion to appoint the operative date of legislation does not, without clear language, impose an enforceable duty…

In defamation, where no legal innuendo based on extrinsic facts is pleaded, the natural and ordinary meaning of a publication is the single meaning conveyed to…

Discovery in unfair redundancy selection proceedings is confined to documents relevant to an issue already raised and necessary for fair disposal at the…

A court has no inherent jurisdiction to set aside a regularly made adoption order merely because it was founded upon a fundamental mistake or material…

A local authority managing land has no private owner’s unfettered discretion. It must exercise its powers for a purpose authorised by positive law and direct…

A child aged between 10 and 14 is presumed to be doli incapax. The prosecution must rebut that presumption beyond reasonable doubt by proving that the…

Judicial review of a health authority’s treatment-funding decision concerns lawfulness, not clinical or financial merits. The court cannot substitute its own…

A solicitor who accepts instructions to prepare a will may owe the intended beneficiary a duty to exercise proper care and expedition. The duty arises through…

Under section 178(4) of the Insolvency Act 1986, disclaimer determines an insolvent tenant’s rights, interest and liabilities under a lease. It does not…

Ordinary proceedings arising in a public-law setting are not automatically an abuse of process. Although public authorities ordinarily receive the procedural…

Where a person intentionally kills or causes serious injury, excessive and unreasonable force cannot reduce murder to manslaughter. Self-defence succeeds…

Entrapment is not a defence in English law. The court may nevertheless stay a prosecution where official misconduct makes a fair trial impossible or, after…