House of Lords judgments 2009

Date	Case	Cited by
30 Jul 2009	R (on the application of Purdy) (Appellant) v Director of Public Prosecutions (Respondent) [2009] UKHL 45 Article 8 protects personal autonomy in deciding how and when to end one’s life. A legal prohibition which deters the assistance needed to exercise that choice…	28
30 Jul 2009	Transport for London (London Underground Limited) (Appellants) v Spirerose Limited (in administration) (Respondents) [2009] UKHL 44 Land compulsorily acquired under rule (2) of section 5 of the Land Compensation Act 1961 must be valued in the hypothetical open market. An unrealised prospect…	14
30 Jul 2009	Masri (Respondent) v Consolidated Contractors International Company SAL and others and another (Appellant) and another [2009] UKHL 43 The power under rule 71 of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 to require an officer of a corporate judgment debtor to attend court and provide enforcement…	35
30 Jul 2009	R v C (Respondent) (On Appeal from the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)) [2009] UKHL 42 Under section 30 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, a mental disorder may deprive a person of capacity to choose even where that person understands the nature…	7
30 Jul 2009	Fisher (Original Respondent and Cross-appellant) v Brooker and others (Original Appellants and Cross-respondents) [2009] UKHL 41 A court should not refuse to recognise a subsisting property right merely because its owner delayed in asserting it. Laches bars equitable relief, while mere…	36
30 Jul 2009	Lexington Insurance Company (Respondents) v AGF Insurance Limited (Appellants) and one other action Lexington Insurance Company (Respondent) v Wasa International Insurance Company Limited (Appellants) and one other action [2009] UKHL 40 A proportional facultative reinsurance is ordinarily intended to be back-to-back with the underlying insurance. That presumption remains a principle of…	14
30 Jul 2009	Moore Stephens (a firm) (Respondents) v Stone Rolls Limited (in liquidation (Appellants) [2009] UKHL 39 By a majority, the House held that a company wholly controlled and beneficially owned by the person responsible for its fraud could not recover from its…	32
1 Jul 2009	Chartbrook Limited (Respondents) v Persimmon Homes Limited and others (Appellants) and another (Respondent) [2009] UKHL 38 A contract is interpreted according to what a reasonable person, possessing the background knowledge available to the parties, would understand its language to…	488
1 Jul 2009	SCA Packaging Limited (Appellants) v Boyle (Respondent) (Northern Ireland) [2009] UKHL 37 For paragraph 6(1) of Schedule 1 to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, an impairment is likely to have a substantial adverse effect if that effect could…	46
1 Jul 2009	Birmingham City Council (Appellants) v Ali (FC) and others (FC) (Respondents) Moran (FC) (Appellant) v Manchester City Council (Respondents) [2009] UKHL 36 The statutory question whether accommodation is reasonable to continue to occupy looks to the future as well as the present. A person may therefore be homeless…	46
17 Jun 2009	TRM Copy Centres (UK) Limited and others (Respondents) v Lanwall Services Limited (Appellants) [2009] UKHL 35 A consumer hire agreement under section 15 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 requires bailment by way of hire. The recipient must acquire possession and use of…	3
17 Jun 2009	Attorney-General's Reference No. 3 of 1999: Application by the British Broadcasting corporation to set aside or vary a Reporting Restriction Order [2009] UKHL 34 An acquitted defendant may have a reasonable expectation of privacy where publication would identify him through personal DNA information and imply his guilt.…	28
17 Jun 2009	Gray (Original Respondent and Cross appellants) v Thames Trains and others (Original Appellant and Cross respondents) [2009] UKHL 33 A claimant cannot recover damages for imprisonment, restricted hospital detention or consequential loss of earnings resulting from a sentence lawfully imposed…	45
17 Jun 2009	AS (Somalia) (FC) and another (Appellants) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) [2009] UKHL 32 On an appeal against refusal of entry clearance, section 85(5) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 confines the tribunal to the circumstances…	8
10 Jun 2009	Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (Respondents) v Stringer and others (Appellants) [2009] UKHL 31 Payments due for statutory annual leave, including a payment in lieu of untaken leave on termination, are holiday pay or an emolument payable in connection…	26
10 Jun 2009	R v Islam (Respondent) (on appeal from the Court of Appeal Criminal Division) [2009] UKHL 30 For confiscation proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, “market value” is not invariably confined to value in a lawful market. The relevant market…	9
10 Jun 2009	Hanoman (FC) (Respondent) v London Borough of Southwark (Appellants) [2009] UKHL 29 When housing benefit is credited to a local authority tenant’s rent account as a rent rebate, thereby reducing or discharging the tenant’s liability, it…	1
10 Jun 2009	Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) v AF (Appellant) (FC) and another (Appellant) and one other action [2009] UKHL 28 Fair-hearing minimum. A court reviewing a non-derogating control order may receive closed material and use a special advocate. However, article 6 requires…	85
20 May 2009	Smith (Appellant) v Northamptonshire County Council (Respondents) [2009] UKHL 27 An employer’s strict duties under the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 do not extend to every item used by an employee while working.…
20 May 2009	R (on the application of G) (FC) (Appellant) v London Borough of Southwark (Respondents) [2009] UKHL 26 When the criteria in section 20(1) of the Children Act 1989 are met, a children's services authority owes the child a mandatory individual duty to provide…	42
20 May 2009	Odelola (FC) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) [2009] UKHL 25 Where a change to the immigration rules contains no transitional provision, it ordinarily applies from its stated commencement date to every application…	96
20 May 2009	McConkey and another (Appellants) v The Simon Community (Respondents) (Northern Ireland) [2009] UKHL 24 Employment discrimination on the ground of political opinion concerns an opinion held by the applicant, whether presently or formerly. It does not prevent an…
6 May 2009	Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) v Nasseri (FC)(Appellant) [2009] UKHL 23 An article 3 challenge to removal concerns the substantive result, not whether the decision-maker followed a particular investigative process. Article 3…	26
6 May 2009	Secretary of State for Justice (Respondent) v James (FC) (Appellant) (formerly Walker and another) R (on the application of Lee) (FC) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for Justice (Respondent) and one other action [2009] UKHL 22 Under the statutory scheme for imprisonment for public protection, post-tariff detention remains lawful until the Parole Board is satisfied that confinement is…	78
29 Apr 2009	Gomes (Appellant) v Government of Trinidad and Tobago (Respondents) (Criminal Appeal from Her Majesty's High Court of Justice) Goodyer (Appellant) v Government of Trinidad and Tobago (Respondents) (Criminal Appeal from Her Majesty's High Court of Justice) (Conjoined Appeals) [2009] UKHL 21 Under sections 14 and 82 of the Extradition Act 2003, a person who deliberately flees, conceals his whereabouts or evades arrest cannot rely on the resulting…	141
29 Apr 2009	R v JTB (Appellant) (on appeal from the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)) [2009] UKHL 20 Section 34 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 abolished both the rebuttable presumption that a child aged 10 or over but under 14 was doli incapax and the…	3
29 Apr 2009	R v Briggs-Price (Appellant) (on appeal from the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)) [2009] UKHL 19 Once a person has been convicted of a drug-trafficking offence, the prosecution may prove benefit from other drug trafficking by direct evidence. The statutory…	15
25 Mar 2009	Thorner (Appellant) v Majors and others (Respondents) [2009] UKHL 18 Proprietary estoppel requires a sufficiently clear assurance relating to identified property, reasonable reliance and consequential detriment. Clarity is…	131
18 Mar 2009	King (Respondent) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office (Appellant) (On Appeal from the Court of Appeal Criminal Division) [2009] UKHL 17 Under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (External Requests and Orders) Order 2005, the Crown Court may restrain only property situated in England and Wales when…	5
11 Mar 2009	Ofulue and another (FC) (Appellant) v Bossert (FC) (Respondent) [2009] UKHL 16 An acknowledgment of a paper owner's title under section 29 of the Limitation Act 1980 takes effect when the signed writing is provided. It does not continue…	33
11 Mar 2009	In re McE (Appellant) (Northern Ireland) In re M (Appellant) (Northern Ireland) In re C (AP) and another (AP) (Appellants) (Northern Ireland) [2009] UKHL 15 Part II of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 permits properly authorised covert surveillance of consultations between detainees and their…	11
4 Mar 2009	R (on the application of Ahmad) (Respondent) v Mayor and Burgesses of London Borough of Newham (Appellants) [2009] UKHL 14 Part VI of the Housing Act 1996 does not confer an individual entitlement to social housing. A lawful allocation scheme must give reasonable preference to the…	47
4 Mar 2009	R v G (Respondent) (on appeal from the Court of Appeal Criminal Division) R v J (Respondent) (on appeal from the Court of Appeal Criminal Division) [2009] UKHL 13 An offence under section 58(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000 concerns information which, by its nature, is likely to provide practical assistance to a person…	9
25 Feb 2009	Generics (UK) Limited and others (Appellants) v H Lundbeck A/S (Respondents) [2009] UKHL 12 A patent claim to a single chemical product is sufficiently disclosed where the specification enables a skilled person to make that product across the full…	13
18 Feb 2009	Mitchell (AP) and another (Original Respondents and Cross-appellants) v Glasgow City Council (Original Appellant and Cross-respondents) (Scotland) [2009] UKHL 11 Foreseeability of harm, even serious physical harm, does not alone impose a duty to protect another from a third party’s deliberate crime. A duty to warn of…	42
18 Feb 2009	RB (Algeria) (FC) and another (Appellants) v Secretary of State for the Home Department OO (Jordan) (Original Respondent and Cross-appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Original Appellant and Cross-respondent) [2009] UKHL 10 An appeal from the Special Immigration Appeals Commission limited to a question of law does not permit a general reassessment of whether established facts…	54
11 Feb 2009	Sugar (Appellant) v British Broadcasting Corporation and another (Respondents) [2009] UKHL 9 A body named in Schedule 1 to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 remains a public authority even where its listing is limited by reference to specified…	2
4 Feb 2009	Marks and Spencer plc (Appellants) v Her Majesty's Commissioners of Customs and Excise (Respondents) [2009] UKHL 8 Where domestic legislation maintains a permitted VAT exemption with refund of input tax, the trader has no directly enforceable right under the relevant…	1
4 Feb 2009	Holmes-Moorhouse(FC) (Original Respondent and Cross-appellant) v London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (Original Appellants and Cross-respondents) [2009] UKHL 7 Whether dependent children might reasonably be expected to reside with a homeless parent under section 189(1)(b) of the Housing Act 1996 is determined by an…	69
4 Feb 2009	Z T (Kosovo) (Respondent) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Appellant) [2009] UKHL 6 Rule 353 of the Immigration Rules (HC 395) applies after refusal of an asylum or human rights claim where no appeal is pending. This includes a claim certified…	90
28 Jan 2009	Austin (FC) (Appellant) & another v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (Respondent) [2009] UKHL 5 Whether a restriction amounts to deprivation of liberty under article 5(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights depends on its degree and intensity…	18
21 Jan 2009	Trent Strategic Health Authority (Respondents) v Jain and another (Appellants) [2009] UKHL 4 A public authority exercising a statutory power to protect a specified class does not ordinarily owe a common law duty of care to persons whose conflicting…	22
21 Jan 2009	R (On the application of Wright and others) (Appellants) v Secretary of State for Health and another (Respondents) [2009] UKHL 3 A statutory scheme which provisionally excludes care workers from employment may determine their civil rights for article 6 purposes where its impact is clear…	44
21 Jan 2009	Mucelli (Appellant) v Government of Albania (Respondents) (Criminal Appeal from Her Majesty's High Court of Justice) Moulai (Respondent) v Deputy Public Prosecutor in Creteil, France (Appellant) (Criminal Appeal from Her Majesty's High Court of Justice) [2009] UKHL 2 Under sections 26(4) and 103(9) of the Extradition Act 2003, notice of an appeal must be both filed with the court and served on the respondent within the…	67
21 Jan 2009	R (On The Application of Black) (Respondent) v Secretary of State for Justice (Appellant) [2009] UKHL 1 For a prisoner serving a determinate sentence imposed as punishment, the judicial supervision required by article 5(4) of the Convention is ordinarily…	14