Earlier reported cases judgments, 1999

The equitable duty of confidence protects the privacy of a person who supplies confidential medical information. It does not give that person a proprietary…

A public body charged with statutory responsibilities in the public interest ordinarily has standing to seek an injunction preventing interference with their…

This judgment holds that the TUPE objection route under Regulation 5(4A)–(4B) does not extinguish an employee's common law right to treat a transfer as…

Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, section 9(2), does not prevent an English court from endorsing under section 4 of the Summary Jurisdiction (Process) Act…

Deceit requires a knowingly or recklessly false representation intended to induce reliance, actual reliance and resulting loss. A benign commercial motive does…

Property acquired through an illegal transaction may be recovered where the claimant can establish a possessory or proprietary right without relying upon the…

A solicitor's agreement to charge a reduced fee if the client loses, but the solicitor's normal fee if the client wins, was in 1993 an unlawful contingency fee…

Where negligent sterilisation advice results in the birth of a healthy child, the mother may recover damages for the pain, suffering and financial loss…

Under article 3(2)(a)(ii) of the Electricity Generators (Rateable Values) Order 1989, use in connection with a combined heat and power scheme must itself be…

For the purposes of Case 1 of Schedule 15 to the Rent Act 1977, a lease condition permitting re-entry upon the tenant’s bankruptcy constitutes an obligation of…

Under section 2(2) of the Backing of Warrants (Republic of Ireland) Act 1965, offences need not correspond exactly or share every juristic element. The warrant…

A continuing contract of employment between casual engagements requires an irreducible minimum of mutual obligation. The employer and worker must undertake…

A domestic tax provision must be disapplied to the extent necessary to protect directly enforceable Community rights. It remains applicable to situations…

A judge is automatically disqualified where the outcome could realistically affect a direct personal interest, including a narrowly defined non-financial…

A solicitor asked to provide independent legal advice to a spouse giving security for the other spouse’s borrowing must investigate whether the transaction is…

Article XXII of the Union settlement did not entrench a permanent number or guaranteed class of Scottish members in the House of Lords. Parliament had already…

An appeal on a point of law under section 204 of the Housing Act 1996 encompasses judicial review grounds, including irrationality, procedural error and…

A statutory employment tribunal exhausts its jurisdiction when it delivers a final decision, subject only to its limited review power and any remission by the…

Political information does not attract a generic common-law qualified privilege. For a defamatory factual allegation, the publisher must establish that the…

For succession under paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the Rent Act 1977, an adult same-sex partner can be a member of the original tenant’s family. The statutory…

A decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions to consent to a prosecution is ordinarily not amenable to judicial review unless dishonesty, bad faith or…

The without prejudice rule protects genuine settlement negotiations as a whole. Its protection extends beyond admissions against interest and rests on public…

A member state must compensate an individual for breach of Community law where the rule infringed confers individual rights, the breach is sufficiently…

A solicitor’s retainer ordinarily requires litigation to be conducted with due expedition. The solicitor is not automatically liable for the risk that a…

A claimant’s failure to beat a payment into court does not compel the usual costs order. The court must consider all relevant circumstances, including the late…

A residential landlord gives no implied warranty that demised premises are fit for habitation or adequately soundproofed. A repairing covenant ordinarily…

A person arriving in a country for the first time does not become habitually resident there merely by intending to settle permanently. Habitual residence…

The tachograph exemption for vehicles used in connection with highway maintenance requires a close connection between the vehicle’s journey and the maintenance…

The English court has jurisdiction to determine whether a person abroad has a sufficient connection with proceedings before it to bear their costs under…

For a person claiming a right of abode, section 3(9) of the Immigration Act 1971 prescribes the documentary means of proof: a current United Kingdom passport…

A substantive legitimate expectation cannot compel a public authority to act contrary to statute. A statutory discretion framed for exceptional, individual…

Pension trustees dealing with an actuarial surplus must consider what is fair and equitable in all the circumstances. Beneficiaries have a right to proper…

A public health authority may set treatment priorities to reflect finite resources and may place a recognised illness low in priority. It must, however, assess…

The expiry of the statutory period for taxation of a solicitor’s bill does not prevent a client from disputing the reasonableness of unpaid fees in ordinary…

When an inquiry proposes to disclose witnesses’ identities despite a reasonably founded risk to life, it must identify a compelling justification for…

A litigant in person should generally be allowed reasonable assistance from a McKenzie friend where this promotes fairness and the interests of justice. The…

An injunction under section 152(1)(a) of the Housing Act 1996 may protect a person engaged in lawful activity in the locality of qualifying residential…

Under the transitional arrangements, conduct before the commencement of the Civil Procedure Rules must be assessed against the former rules, but a later…

The common law right of access to the courts does not entitle an insolvent debtor to invoke a statutory bankruptcy rehabilitation scheme without contributing…

Under section 2(2)(c) of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996, the Secretary of State must distinguish between the Convention’s interpretation and its…

In an occupational injury claim, the claimant retains the burden of proving injury and causation on the balance of probabilities. Where the evidence presents a…

A transfer of an undertaking under the Transfer of Undertakings (Transfer of Employment) Regulations 1981 depends on whether an economic entity retains its…

An equal-pay rule does not require an employer to adopt the method of calculating severance pay that would be most advantageous to women. The court must…

Under Children Act 1989 section 31(8), designation of the local authority responsible for a care order is a simple administrative mechanism, not a…

Where a local education authority lawfully ceases to maintain existing county schools and establishes a new school, the statutory scheme does not treat that…

A clear and lawful promise by a public authority may create a substantive legitimate expectation. Where the promise is made to an individual or small group and…

A payment in lieu of notice made under a contractual termination provision agreed when employment began is an emolument from the employment. It is paid in…

Direct discrimination and statutory victimisation turn on the reason for less favourable treatment. Conscious motivation is unnecessary. Liability arises where…

A custodial authority which knows that a detainee presents a suicide risk may owe a duty to take reasonable care to prevent deliberate self-harm, whether or…

Redundancy under section 11(2)(b) of the Contracts of Employment and Redundancy Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 1965 depends on two factual questions. The…

Under section 25(2)(a)(ii) of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1973, accommodation is provided for a consideration arising by reason of…

Where a discrete jurisdiction issue has generated substantial costs, the court may order their immediate detailed assessment before the proceedings as a whole…

For VAT purposes, a transaction comprising several elements must be characterised by examining all its circumstances and essential features. A service is…

A court will not enforce a fee-sharing agreement which a solicitor is prohibited by delegated professional rules from making. Although the prohibition is…

The court may exercise its inherent jurisdiction to stay a bona fide English action temporarily pending related arbitration against another party abroad. A…

An oral bargain for an interest in land may be invalid as a contract under section 2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989, while the…

A residential agreement creates a tenancy where, objectively construed, it grants exclusive possession for a fixed or renewable period and possession is not…

Use of land is “as of right” when it is open, peaceable and without the landowner’s permission: nec vi, nec clam, nec precario. The users’ subjective beliefs…

An employment tribunal may award compensation for physical or psychiatric injury caused by the statutory tort of racial discrimination. Compensation is not…

A negligence claim concerning a public authority's care of a child should not be struck out merely because the challenged conduct involved statutory powers or…

Legal expenses incurred in defending disciplinary proceedings are deductible from trading profits where their exclusive purpose is to preserve the trade from…

In a London-market reinsurance contract, wording such as as original ordinarily identifies the scope of the reinsured risk, including its period, geographical…

Adjoining owners may impliedly agree that a newly erected dividing wall defines their boundary, even though it stands slightly inside the previous boundary.…

For county court jurisdiction, the substance of proceedings matters more than the form of the remedy. Where a statute provides that a sum may be recovered as a…

A receiver who manages mortgaged property owes equitable duties to the mortgagor and those interested in the equity of redemption. Those duties are not…

Police interview material is confidential, but confidentiality is not absolute. Disclosure to a professional or regulatory body may be justified where the body…

An application for planning permission or listed building consent remains an application for the statutory appeal provisions even if the local planning…

For the purposes of Case 1 of Part I of Schedule 15 to the Rent Act 1977, a proviso for re-entry on the tenant’s bankruptcy creates an obligation owed by the…

Failure to comply strictly with a procedural requirement does not, without more, render subsequent proceedings a nullity. The mandatory or directory…

English courts will not enforce a foreign state’s revenue laws, either directly or indirectly. Indirect enforcement occurs where a foreign state or its nominee…

A contractual limitation of liability must satisfy the statutory requirement of reasonableness in relation to the particular breach for which it is invoked. A…

Unfair prejudice under section 459 of the Companies Act 1985 is not a free-standing appeal to subjective fairness. A member will ordinarily need to show either…

Damages for gratuitous services supplied to an injured claimant’s business are not ordinarily recoverable as the reasonable value of those services. Commercial…

A Convention award will ordinarily be enforced where the arbitrators considered and rejected an allegation that the underlying contract involved bribery.…

Acquiescence or estoppel requires more than delay in asserting a legal right. The court must ask whether the right-holder’s action or inaction encouraged or…

A hire agreement which creates an indebtedness but contractually defers payment beyond the time when payment would otherwise be earned provides “credit” for…

A solicitor’s failure to advise a client is not presumed to have caused the client’s loss. Causation remains a question of fact, and the claimant bears the…

A claim for discretionary litigation costs becomes a liability only when the court makes a costs order. Before that order, participation in proceedings creates…

A private nuisance claim is not barred merely because harmful activities by third parties occur off the defendant’s land. An occupier may be liable where…

A person having a special business domicile in a Contracting State under that State’s law is domiciled there for the purposes of article 2 of the Brussels…

The High Court has an inherent jurisdiction to restrain a litigant from commencing specified fresh proceedings without leave where their commencement would…

For conversion or wrongful detention of goods, consequential loss exceeding the goods’ market value is recoverable only if the loss was reasonably foreseeable…

The rule against collateral attack does not automatically bar a defamation claim concerning conduct previously investigated by Parliament. Courts must not…

For section 5(1) of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the comparator is identified by asking whether the reason for the disabled person's treatment would…

For article 1A(2) of the Refugee Convention, a particular social group need not possess cohesiveness, co-operation or interdependence. The group must exist…

For VAT purposes, continuous services within regulation 23 of the Value Added Tax (General) Regulations 1985 are not treated as supplied until payment is…

A commercial instrument must be read in its contextual setting. The court should generally favour the construction which a reasonable commercial person would…

An activity is subject to value added tax only if it has an economic character. The supply of services for payment, even by a professional body, does not by…

The double criminality requirement for extradition is assessed at the date of the alleged conduct. Conduct must then have constituted the corresponding United…

Under section 146 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992, as an individual is not confined to action affecting an employee’s general…

The principle derived from Walkley prevents recourse to section 33 of the Limitation Act 1980 only where earlier proceedings, commenced within the primary…

Under section 16(1)(c) of the Interpretation Act 1978, repeal preserves a specific entitlement which existed at the date of repeal, even if it was inchoate or…

An order for possession made under the Housing Act 1988 brings an assured tenancy to an end. The landlord does not need, and the Act does not permit, a…

For jurisdiction under Article 5(1) of the Brussels Convention, the relevant obligation is the contractual obligation forming the basis of the claim. An…

The question whether timely presentation was reasonably practicable requires a common-sense assessment of whether it was reasonably feasible in the…

For the offence of permitting a driver to contravene restrictions on driving hours, “permitting” means failing to take reasonable steps to prevent the…

A contractual tenancy may be surrendered by operation of law where landlord and tenant unequivocally treat it as ended. A spouse’s continued occupation does…

For unfair-dismissal jurisdiction under the Employment Rights Act 1996, the phrase ordinarily works refers to the employee’s contractual place of work. The…

For the purposes of identifying a transaction at an undervalue under section 238 of the Insolvency Act 1986, the court must identify the person with whom the…

The County Court’s general power under County Courts Act 1984, section 38, includes power to make interim and ex parte orders displacing a mental patient’s…

A contract of employment requires an irreducible obligation upon the worker to perform services personally. A genuine contractual right allowing the worker…

When deciding whether to make an adoption order, the court must consider all circumstances resulting from the adoption. It must give first consideration to the…

An accused who enters the witness box and is sworn under article 4 of the Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 becomes available for questioning…

Abuse of process falling short of cause of action or issue estoppel is a flexible doctrine, distinct from res judicata. It may apply although the later…

A client who sues a former solicitor for negligence impliedly waives legal professional privilege only so far as necessary to determine issues arising from…

The public’s right to use a highway is not invariably confined to passage and activities strictly incidental to passage. A peaceful assembly may fall within…

Premises are not prejudicial to health under section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 merely because their condition creates a risk of accidental…

Witness immunity bars civil liability arising from evidence given in judicial proceedings, including the preparation of that evidence. It cannot be avoided…

Council Directive 89/665/EEC establishes a single, limited and rapid procurement-review scheme. Its damages remedy is not the general Community-law remedy for…

A court-appointed receiver’s reasonable remuneration and properly incurred expenses are expenses of the receivership. They are payable from assets under the…

A licensee with a contractual right to enter and occupy land may obtain an order for possession against bare trespassers, even if the licensee has not entered…

A tribunal with a broad statutory costs discretion must exercise it judicially, reasonably and proportionately by considering all relevant circumstances. It…

In a negligent valuation claim, contributory negligence is assessed against the lender’s overall basic loss from the transaction. It is not automatically…

Subject to context-specific exceptions, a professional judge must give reasons sufficient to explain why the decision was reached. A simple conflict of…

An employer is vicariously liable for a joint tort only where all conduct necessary to establish the employee's liability occurred in the course of that…

A controlling or sole shareholder may be an employee of the company for the purposes of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Shareholding control is relevant and…

A decision determining the conditions under which development may commence or continue can constitute “development consent” under Council Directive 85/337/EEC…

For value added tax purposes, a taxable person may deduct tax on a supply where it paid the consideration, obtained something of value for its business, and…

An appellate court has discretion to hear an academic appeal in public-law proceedings involving a public authority, even though no live issue remains between…

In a discretionary ex gratia compensation scheme, the court determines the true meaning of the published policy. Where its language permits a spectrum of…

A solicitor’s retainer to obtain a person’s signature to a mortgage is ordinarily a contract for professional services requiring reasonable care and skill. It…

Whether a lender is a money-lender under section 6 of the Money-Lenders Act 1900 depends principally on whether money-lending was a business of the lender when…

An employer’s undertaking that withholding £40,000 to meet employees’ tax liabilities would create no additional tax liability was held to have been breached…

The House of Lords may use its inherent jurisdiction to set aside its own order where an unfair procedure, arising through no fault of a party, has caused…