Privy Council judgments, 2018

A party cannot execute a judgment for a sum which has not been adjudged. An appellate order allowing an appeal on a defined issue does not reopen unchallenged…

Compulsory retirement of a public officer against his will is a dismissal, whatever label is used. Under section 129(4) of the Constitution of 1976, a penalty…

Enforcement immunity under the State Immunity Act 1978 requires the asset first to be shown to be property of a State under section 13(2)(b). Only then does…

A judge’s prior involvement does not automatically require recusal. The decisive question is whether a fair-minded and informed observer would conclude that…

A contre lettre is a secret transaction, not merely a document. It requires a simultaneous meeting of minds, although the documents recording the transactions…

Constitutional rights do not provide an additional route to relief where adequate redress exists under ordinary law. A claim under section 17(1) is barred by…

Under the Quieting Titles Act 1959, a certificate confirms title established under ordinary legal principles. The Act cannot create title where neither…

A contractual obligation to provide employees with transport home may arise from a separate transport agreement, even where transport is not part of the…

An appellate court must exercise great caution before disturbing a trial judge’s primary findings of fact, particularly where they depend on oral evidence. It…

Applications for judicial review must be made promptly and within the statutory three-month limit. For certiorari, time runs from the decision itself, even if…

A constitutional procedure for removing a judge does not exclude preliminary inquiries by other persons or bodies. Section 137 of the Constitution of Trinidad…

A fixed-term appointment to a public judicial office expires by effluxion of time unless terminated earlier in accordance with the contract or governing law.…

Beneficial ownership following a gratuitous transfer is determined primarily by the parties’ declared or inferred common intention. The court may consider…

Constitutional redress is inappropriate, and may be an abuse of process, where an adequate remedy exists within criminal proceedings. Judicial review is a…

Acquiescence or waiver in the enforcement of estate-wide restrictive covenants depends on whether the claimant’s conduct represented that the covenants were no…

Under Cook Islands customary law, a non-blood adopted child may succeed to an adoptive parent’s Native land if the adoption has matured by the parent’s death.…

Under the Civil Proceedings Rules, a claimant must apply for a case management conference date if the court office has not fixed one within the prescribed…

Judicial review proceedings are classified as civil or criminal according to their subject matter. They are criminal only where they could culminate in…

A commercial agreement expressed at a high level is construed as a whole, in its admissible factual context and by reference to its business purpose. A general…

A termination made under an agreed notice clause remains a termination by the employer. Contractual permission for notice does not exclude statutory severance…

An appellate court should not interfere with concurrent findings of pure fact except in very limited circumstances. Where a contractual payment is due to…

Summary judgment does not require the court to try every disputed fact. A trial is necessary only where resolving the dispute could affect the claimant’s…

Under the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules 2000, a public-law claim is not necessarily an application for judicial review. Part 56…

Under the Customs Act, goods seized under customs laws are deemed condemned after one month unless claimed under section 215(1). Once condemned, they may be…

An insurer’s contractual power to take over and conduct a third-party claim in the insured’s name may arise before proceedings and may include waiving service…

A claim by a judgment creditor against a motor insurer under section 10(1) of the Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third-Party Risks) Act is an action to recover a…

A trustee of a Jersey trust may incur liability in a separate fiduciary capacity where the counterparty knows that the trustee acts as trustee. Under article…

In assessing compensatory damages for lost profits based on counterfactual trading, the claimant bears the burden of proving the loss. The court may adopt a…

An appellate court has a broad statutory discretion to admit fresh evidence where necessary in the interests of justice. The usual requirements that evidence…

An appeal from Guernsey is an appeal as of right where the value in dispute is at least £500 under the Court of Appeal (Guernsey) Law 1961. Courts cannot…

Apparent bias is assessed by asking whether a fair-minded and informed observer, having considered the facts in their full context, would conclude that there…

For the purpose of postponing limitation under section 14 of the Limitation of Certain Actions Act 1997, the relevant knowledge or discoverability is…

Approved planning documents must be interpreted objectively by reference to their language and proper context. The task is one of legal interpretation, not a…