Privy Council judgments, 2019

Registration of a judgment under the Remedies of Creditors Act creates a charge on the debtor’s existing interest in land and on property later acquired. It is…

Challenges to arbitral awards under the Mauritian International Arbitration Act 2008 are confined to the statutory grounds, and the court retains discretion…

Proprietary estoppel is not confined by rigid categories. Once a claim moves beyond specific contractual rights, an assurance may arise from conduct or…

Once an international business corporation enters insolvent liquidation, the insolvency scheme displaces discretionary relief for oppression or unfair…

At the leave stage, the threshold for judicial review is low. The claimant need show only an arguable ground with a realistic prospect of success. A court may…

Statutory criminal offences are presumed to require proof that the defendant knew the facts constituting each ingredient. The presumption is displaced only by…

A judicial review application must be made promptly. The three-month period is a longstop, not a period available as of right, so an application made within…

For the purposes of the Constitution of Bermuda, belonging to Bermuda is a local constitutional concept. It is not a common-law status arising from birth in…

For private international law purposes, a foreign declaration of paternity may be recognised under the principle of jurisdictional reciprocity where the…

Ownership of immovable property acquired by acquisitive prescription is not lost merely because the owner does not sue within the ordinary limitation period.…

In defamation, the cause of action is generally complete when defamatory words are published. That does not impose an absolute bar on considering later…

International Business Companies Act 2000, section 160 may operate extraterritorially where its language and statutory context support that construction. A…

A redemption price crystallises as a debt on the redemption day where the articles so provide. A later period for remittance is supplementary and does not…

Regulation 15 of the Public Service Commission Regulations is self-standing. A decision to advertise a vacancy externally does not require a prior finding…

For the purpose of section 16(1)(a) of the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966, whether a foreign conviction is for a criminal offence is ordinarily determined by the…

In personal injury proceedings, special pleading requirements for medical reports do not displace judicial control of expert evidence. A defendant must state…

Legal dower under the superseded Civil Code of 1879 attached only to the immoveables identified in article 1347: one half owned by the husband at marriage and…

Ostensible authority requires a representation by the principal, made by someone with relevant actual authority, and reasonable reliance by the contracting…

The privilege against self-incrimination under article 6 is not a general bar on compelling the production of pre-existing documents during an investigation.…

Under section 32(1)(b)(i) of the Labour Act 1975, summary dismissal for alleged misconduct is justified only where the employer cannot in good faith take any…

A public authority’s decision whether to enter a commercial contract, and how to exercise contractual rights, can be judicially reviewed because the authority…

An officer may write the qualifying examination for promotion within the First Division while still serving probation in the existing office. The governing…

For statutory purposes, a requirement that a local company be controlled by Bermudians concerns control of corporate decision-making, not every form of…

For the purposes of section 30(4)(ii) of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Virgin Islands) Act, a freezing order must be read as a unified protective…

Under Mauritian law, an agreement for the sale of land may transfer ownership immediately, but the parties may make the transfer subject to a condition…

Under section 4(d) of the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, constitutional relief is not excluded merely because challenged conduct arises…

At the leave stage of a judicial-review claim, the threshold is low: the applicant need show an arguable ground with a realistic prospect of success. A refusal…

Section 249 of the Insolvency Act 2003, read with section 2, identifies the BVI High Court as the domestic court exercising statutory avoidance powers. It does…

Under section 4(d) of the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago, situations must be comparable, analogous or broadly similar before a public authority must…

An appellate court deciding a costs appeal should ordinarily respect the lower court’s evaluative discretion. It may intervene for an error of law or…

In a wrongful-termination claim, the employee retains the ultimate legal burden of establishing wrongful dismissal. Where the employer relies on justification…

Contractual construction must precede implication. The court must first determine the meaning of the express words, then ask whether an unstated term is…

The oppression remedy under the Bahamian Companies Act 1992 is broad, but it addresses an existing oppressive or unfair state of affairs capable of correction…

An option must be exercised in strict conformity with its terms. Where it specifies no period for exercise, it must be exercised within a reasonable time…

An express obligation to convey land with good marketable title does not require a separate implied term allocating responsibility for planning permission…

A public body responsible for appointments must exercise its statutory functions compatibly with constitutional rights and common-law standards of rationality…

For admission to the Bar under the Legal Profession Act 2011, “good character” is a condition of eligibility, not a residual discretion. The Supreme Court must…

An appellate court should not interfere with concurrent findings of pure primary fact unless the appeal falls within a very limited special category. That…

For a criminal conflict-of-interest offence, the prosecution must prove both the statutory factual elements and the corresponding mens rea. Liability cannot be…

Interim relief in constitutional proceedings should be assessed by the tripartite test in RJR-MacDonald Inc v Canada (Attorney General) [1994] 1 SCR 311…

The Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago must be interpreted in its full structure and contemporary context. Section 110(3)(a) and (b) create distinct…

When deciding whether a delayed judicial review claim was brought promptly, or whether there is good reason to extend time, the court must consider all…

Assessment of future loss of earnings should separately capitalise the earnings that would have been received without injury and the earnings likely to be…

Under the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules 2000, rule 13.3(2), exceptional circumstances require more than a real prospect of defending…

A statutory public body’s implied power extends only to acts reasonably incidental to an express power. A municipal guarantee must serve an authorised…

When deciding whether to exclude a defamation limitation period, the court must consider the whole delay after expiry of the primary limitation period. The…