Privy Council judgments, 2017

Strata by-laws should be construed benevolently, having regard to their purpose of securing good management for residents and, where possible, consistency with…

Where joint account holders sign an account-opening document which, on its true construction, declares their beneficial interests, that declaration governs the…

A company’s alteration of its articles is valid if made in good faith in the interests of the company. The shareholders, rather than the court, decide whether…

Public Authorities Protection Act (Cap.62) must be construed restrictively. Its six-month limitation period is not triggered merely because a defendant is a…

Under rule 17(1) of the Supreme Court Rules 2000, a court considering an amendment must hear the applicant if submissions are offered, but it is not required…

Under the Copyright Act 1993, the author is first owner of copyright unless an agreement provides otherwise. An implied assignment requires necessity for…

In construing a lease, a recital may assist interpretation only where it can be read consistently with the substantive and operative provisions. A clear…

An appellate court should ordinarily respect concurrent findings of fact, given the trial judge’s advantage in assessing witnesses. That restraint does not…

The Polluter Pays Principle requires charges for polluting activities to internalise environmental costs. Under the National Environmental Policy, money…

For commercial solvency purposes, debts owed to former shareholders after valid redemption are included among debts falling due. In an open-ended investment…

A deed cannot be delivered in escrow on a condition that the grantee will later come into existence. Delivery of an escrow creates binding obligations…

A statutory claim for misrepresentation requires a material misstatement that induced the contract and was not believed on reasonable grounds. It is distinct…

Where the procedural rules of a superior court require a claimant or applicant to institute proceedings through an attorney, a document signed personally is…

Corporate personality is not disregarded merely because an individual controls a one-man company, negotiated a transaction personally, occupied premises, or…

Constitutional independence does not prevent an executive-appointed examination board from being made available to an independent public-service commission as…

In environmental negligence and nuisance claims, ordinary causation principles remain applicable. A claimant must establish a causative link between the…

Section 3 of the Electric Lighting Act 1890 authorised the Minister to license electricity supply within any area, including the whole island of Jamaica. The…

General competition legislation continues to apply to a sector regulated by a later specialised statute unless continued application would be inconsistent with…

A person who voluntarily invokes a court’s jurisdiction to determine an in personam ownership dispute cannot later deny that jurisdiction merely because the…

The right to silence consists of distinct, qualified immunities rather than one universal or absolute right. Requiring a defendant to give advance notice of a…

A lawful mandatory death sentence is not retrospectively invalidated by delay; only its execution becomes unlawful. The presidential power under the…

A contractual call option triggered by a change in shareholding structure and the loss of an existing controlling interest cannot be rewritten to cover the…

Under Mauritian law, a claim for loss caused by non-performance of an obligation created by contract is contractual. It cannot be brought in delict merely…

Under Jamaica’s Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act, the Industrial Disputes Tribunal has original jurisdiction to settle referred dismissal disputes…

Under the Property (Rights of Spouses) Act, existing beneficial ownership may be used as a broad starting point when dividing property. The statutory scheme…

A regulatory appeal tribunal empowered to confirm, modify or reverse a utility regulator’s decision may examine the available material and form its own view on…

Redemption of a company’s own shares ordinarily occurs when the shareholder’s status is surrendered and extinguished, not when the redemption price is paid.…

When domestic law provides a criminal appeal, constitutional fair-trial protection extends to the appellate process and includes effective access to that…

Where property is conveyed into joint names, the starting point is joint legal and beneficial ownership. That principle is not confined to a family home or…

An accused person tried for a criminal offence is entitled under section 10(3) of the Constitution, on payment of a reasonable fee, to a copy of any record of…

General damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity must be compensatory and fair, but they cannot be fixed by a rigid or automatic tariff. Foreign…

Evidence showing only a defendant’s general propensity for violence is ordinarily inadmissible absent a statutory exception. Evidence of persistent hostility…

Freedom of conscience under article 22(1) of the Constitution of The Bahamas protects both belief and its manifestation in conduct. Whether a person is…

The High Court may entertain a citizen’s bona fide, arguable public-interest application seeking constitutional interpretation and review of alleged non-Bill…

In a contractors all risks policy, coverage of “Contract Works” ordinarily extends to the permanent and temporary works described in the building contract, not…

An agreement to assign shares by way of deposit as security can create an equitable mortgage and pass a beneficial interest, even without a formal assignment…

An appeal from an interlocutory order requires leave where the applicable statute so provides, and procedural rules may require the application to be made…

A knowing recipient of property transferred in breach of fiduciary duty may be personally liable to account as if a trustee. That liability is distinct from a…

In Trinidad and Tobago, the admissibility of a confession depends on voluntariness and absence of unfairness. Breach of a police code does not automatically…

An order made abroad to recover the value of criminal proceeds can be an external confiscation order even when the foreign jurisdiction calls it a forfeiture…

For a statutory construction condition requiring a specified cost of building construction to be exceeded by a fixed date, the relevant costs are those of…

In a malicious prosecution claim, the claimant must prove both absence of reasonable and probable cause and malice. Reasonable and probable cause has…

A court may imply a contractual term only where it is necessary to make the contract work, because it is obvious or required for business efficacy. It may not…

A complaint that counsel made an erroneous tactical decision will only exceptionally establish a miscarriage of justice. That principle differs from an…