Earlier reported cases judgments, 1996

A procedural defect in a civil committal application or order does not automatically invalidate a committal. Where the contemnor had a fair trial, the order…

An immediate-notice insurance condition requires the likelihood of a claim to be assessed by reference to the circumstances immediately following the relevant…

A disputed contributory’s locus standi is not an inflexible bar to a winding-up petition. The Companies Court must consider all the circumstances. A creditor’s…

A party has a continuing duty to disclose relevant documents acquired after initial discovery. The duty ordinarily continues until the proceedings conclude. A…

Applications to open adoption records under section 50(5) of the Adoption Act 1976 require more than a birth relative’s emotional desire, strongly held wish or…

The Warsaw Convention, as amended at The Hague, provides an exclusive and uniform code in the fields with which it deals. In relation to an air carrier’s…

A constable may arrest without warrant under a provision requiring suspicion on reasonable grounds only if the constable personally and genuinely suspects the…

In assessing damages for future pecuniary loss in personal injury cases, the court should continue to apply the conventional discount rate rather than adopt a…

A temporary worker’s general relationship with an employment agency and each specific assignment are separate engagements. Either may constitute a contract of…

Section 32(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976 requires the expression in the course of employment to be given its ordinary meaning. It does not incorporate the…

A bankrupt may retain solicitors and authorise proceedings in the bankrupt’s own name, even where the claim concerns property vested in the trustee under…

Where a professional qualifying body operates an allegedly discriminatory exemptions regime, each refusal of a fresh application made under that regime may…

An unless order is a last opportunity to comply with procedural obligations. Its sanction will ordinarily follow a breach unless there is a compelling and…

Expiry of a custody time limit makes continued detention unlawful and entitles the accused to bail by order of the court. It does not authorise or require a…

Sections 38(6) and 38(7) of the Children Act 1989 confer a broad power to direct or prohibit an assessment involving a child subject to an interim care order.…

Under the County Court Rules, a plaintiff’s failure to request a hearing date within six months does not invalidate a later request made before the 15-month…

For compulsory third-party motor insurance, a road may include a roadway within an off-street car park. The relevant question is whether the car park contains…

An applicant was not automatically barred from seeking financial relief after a decree of nullity merely because the purported marriage had been procured…

Damages for deceit protect the claimant’s negative interest. The defendant must compensate all actual loss directly caused by entry into the fraudulently…

A statutory discretion to regulate prison temporary release is not converted into a fixed entitlement by a former policy, notice or compact. On a lawful change…

A non-party costs order requires exceptional circumstances which make the order reasonable and just. Funding litigation alone does not suffice. The commercial…

The court held that a statutory penal provision does not, by implication, create a private civil cause of action for persons harmed by the statutory nuisance…

An employer’s duty under section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 concerns the employer’s own conduct of its undertaking. It does not depend…

An express provision that the Secretary of State is not required to give reasons for a discretionary naturalisation decision does not, without clear language…

Damages for a surveyor’s negligent failure to report a property defect are ordinarily the difference, at the date of purchase, between the price paid and the…

For a fixed-term business tenancy, protection under Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 depends upon the tenant’s current occupation for business…

The meaning of “tenancies of immovable property” in article 16(1) of the Brussels Convention is autonomous and does not depend upon the law of the place where…

An insolvency rule giving finality to a judge’s decision may exclude both reconsideration and an appeal, even where general statutory provisions confer review…

For service of a writ by letterbox under the Rules of the Supreme Court, Order 10 rule 1(2)(b), a defendant’s usual or last known address is not confined to a…

After an order for possession terminates a secure tenancy on the date fixed for possession, an agreement to forbear from execution does not ordinarily create a…

When the court’s inherent jurisdiction is invoked to decide whether a child should receive medical treatment, the child’s welfare is paramount. The court must…

Damages for future pecuniary loss must achieve full compensation as nearly as possible without over-compensation. A claimant is not entitled to have the award…

Section 36 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970, as amended, provides the relevant statutory power to delay possession of a mortgaged dwelling-house. It…

Under Sale of Goods Act 1979, section 53(3) supplies only a prima facie market-value measure for breach of a warranty of quality. Damages must instead reflect…

A post-employment restrictive covenant is not void merely because it is expressed to operate after termination of employment “howsoever” caused. Where an…

For statutory sick pay, a contractual deeming provision must be applied according to its purpose and the relationship to which it applies. Where an employee…

A police officer may provide a service within section 20 of the Race Relations Act 1976 when assisting or protecting a member of the public. The performance of…

A liquidator’s statutory power to sell the company’s property does not extend to the fruits of wrongful-trading proceedings which only the liquidator may bring…

A personal costs order against a liquidator as a non-party is within the court’s jurisdiction, but it is exceptional. Where the liquidator brings bona fide and…

In a third-party guarantee and security transaction, the lender’s central duty is to ensure that the surety understands the nature and effect of the documents.…

A spouse’s periodical payments order expires when the specified term expires. There is then no continuing order capable of variation under section 31. The…

A fiduciary’s defining obligation is loyalty. A person’s fiduciary status does not convert every duty of care, or every negligent act, into a fiduciary…

A scheme is a lottery when, viewed as a matter of ordinary language and common sense, it offers substantial rewards which depend entirely on chance. It remains…

A public authority’s statutory power does not ordinarily create a common law duty to exercise it. A duty of care based on non-exercise can arise, if at all…

A statutory enforcement role does not automatically exclude a common-law duty of care. Where an officer assumes responsibility for stating what must be done…

A transfer between bank accounts does not constitute obtaining property belonging to another under section 15(1) of the Theft Act 1968. The payer’s chose in…

Under section 14(3) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979, a business seller is strictly liable for reasonable fitness only for a purpose made known expressly or by…

On an application by a surviving spouse under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, the court asks whether the deceased made…

There is generally no property in a corpse. A person charged by law with its interment may have custody and possession until burial, but any such right is…

Subordinate legislation made under a broadly expressed benefit power may classify claimants differently from a separate statutory scheme. It must nevertheless…

For the purposes of section 32A of the Limitation Act 1980, facts relevant to a cause of action for libel or slander are the facts which the claimant must…

A professional who negligently supplies information to assist another person’s decision is generally liable only for the foreseeable consequences of the…

In the excess of loss reinsurance wording considered, the expression actually paid measured the reinsured’s ultimate net liability. It did not require…

A freezing injunction preserves assets capable of satisfying a judgment. It must not be used to pressurise a judgment debtor into payment by withholding…

Money paid under a contract which is void for the recipient’s lack of capacity ordinarily passes into the recipient’s legal and beneficial ownership. Failure…

A publisher cannot justify a defamatory republication by proving only that another person made the allegation. The publisher must prove the truth of the…

A byelaw is not void for uncertainty merely because its language or application may be difficult at the margins. The applicable test is whether the byelaw has…

A defendant on bail who is required to surrender to the court, but has not already done so, surrenders by operation of law upon valid arraignment. Arraignment…

When a trustee in bankruptcy’s title relates back to an act of bankruptcy, the bankrupt has no legal or equitable title to property falling within the…

A court deciding whether a party may withdraw an admission must consider all the circumstances and balance the prejudice to each side. The adequacy of the…

At common law, the prosecution must disclose material which may undermine its case or assist the defence. This includes material affecting the credibility or…

A debt is property capable of legal assignment under section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925. The fact that recovery will require litigation, or that the…

An insurance policy’s reference to compensation is construed in its contractual context. The term may include exemplary damages where the policy covers torts…

A material fraudulent representation establishes causation where it induces the claimant to act to his detriment. The claimant need not additionally prove that…

A person whose earlier asylum claim and appeal have failed may nevertheless make a further claim for asylum without first leaving the United Kingdom. The…

A police force does not have a blanket immunity from a negligence claim arising from the handling of confidential information supplied by an informant. Where…

For the purposes of Limitation Act 1980 section 14, a claimant alleging negligence by omission must know the factual omission said to have caused the injury.…

On a review of the recall of a discretionary life prisoner, the Parole Board is the primary and independent decision-maker. It must determine for itself…

A member of the armed forces owes no common law duty of care in tort to another member while they are engaging the enemy in the course of hostilities. The same…

An unpaid vendor of land retains an equitable lien for unpaid purchase money by operation of law. The lien survives an outright conveyance and an…

In an expedited asylum appeal against a certificate that a claim is without foundation, the Secretary of State has no implied duty to disclose all relevant…

A deposit of title deeds by way of security cannot, after section 2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, create an equitable mortgage or…