Privy Council judgments, 2024

The constitutional allocation of functions between a service commission and the executive must be respected, but it does not prevent the legislature from…

A lease is capable in principle of termination for repudiatory breach, but the remedy will be rare because a lease also confers a proprietary interest…

An appellate court will not review concurrent findings of fact by two courts below where the findings depend on the evaluation of competing oral and…

Where a sale contract refers both to illustrative plans and to plans forming part of the registered title, the latter may define the vendor’s obligation to…

PAYE is a collection mechanism, not necessarily an exclusive route for recovering income tax on employment income. The underlying liability remains with the…

A shareholder, including a minority shareholder, may sue the company personally to challenge an allotment of shares made by directors for an improper purpose…

For private international law purposes, company shares are incorporeal movables. Succession to movable property is generally governed by the deceased’s…

A criminal conviction based materially on flawed expert DNA evidence is unsafe where the analysis uses an artificial composite profile, unsupported…

An absolute assignment transfers the legal right to a debt and the right to sue. Whether an assignment is absolute or by way of charge is determined by…

Under section 33(3), a limited partner may bring a derivative action where the general partner has failed or refused to institute proceedings without cause.…

Section 16 of the Judicial Review Act does not itself create a statutory right or mandatory duty to provide reasons. It reinforces a pre-existing common-law or…

On an ex parte application for a restraint order, a public authority owes a duty of full and frank disclosure. An obvious typographical error is not material…

Freedom of expression does not confer an unconditional right to use a government-controlled broadcasting platform. The ancillary right is a right to fair…

The Constitution does not prohibit Parliament from transferring a governmental function to a separate statutory body merely because the function is core…

For judicial review of a commission of inquiry report, the court must look beyond labels such as findings or observations. Review is available where a…

A statutory director-disqualification order must be construed from the governing Act. Where section 66(1) refers to “the company”, the order should identify…

Probate and Administration of Estates Act 2011, section 65, allocates responsibility for charges only between interests in property forming part of the…

Credible fresh evidence is not necessarily admissible on appeal. Under Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (Saint Christopher and Nevis) Act 2009, it must also be…

Under the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011, only a person who made written representations about a draft pastoral scheme within the notified period, or within…

Undue influence is a single equitable concept. Actual and presumed undue influence describe different methods of proving it, not different forms of liability.…

Judicial review of a decision to bring or continue criminal proceedings is available in principle, but it is a highly exceptional remedy. Leave should…

Statutory unfair-dismissal rights and contractual wrongful-dismissal rights remain distinct. An employment contract may provide notice rights more generous…

Section 54(2) of the Environmental Protection Act 2002 imposes two cumulative standing requirements: an appellant must be a person aggrieved and must show…

Whether a property-development agreement creates an agency or a sale depends on construing the agreement as a whole and examining its substantive consequences.…

The forum for an appeal against a driving disqualification imposed by the Licensing Authority under section 88M(9) of the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act…

A creditor’s liquidation application is not a claim seeking determination or enforcement of the underlying debt. An arbitration agreement therefore does not…

On a criminal appeal, a conviction cannot be upheld where a combination of material misdirections on central issues creates a serious irregularity and…

In joint enterprise cases, secondary liability requires proof that the defendant intended to assist or encourage the principal to commit the offence with the…

A court or tribunal whose decision is challenged by judicial review has no interest of its own in defending that decision. If it participates, it must maintain…

An appeal from a professional disciplinary committee by way of rehearing gives the appellate court full appellate jurisdiction, including power to substitute…

Liability in negligence for failing to prevent a third party causing loss is liability for an omission. It does not arise merely because harm was foreseeable…

For an appeal as of right to the Privy Council, the meaning of “final” depends on context. Where the local jurisdiction has a statutory provision, procedural…

A regulator operating an ex ante licensing regime cannot be assumed to have power to backdate a licence so as to validate earlier prohibited conduct. The…

An applicant seeking to set aside a statutory demand must show an arguable genuine and substantial dispute about whether the debt exists or is due. The court…

In detinue, once goods have been returned and their return accepted, the claimant ordinarily recovers damages for detention, not the goods’ full value. Those…

In a jury trial affected by alleged bribery or other misconduct, the judge must investigate the facts and the spread of any contamination before deciding what…

On a second appeal, the Privy Council ordinarily will not revisit concurrent findings of fact by the courts below. The restriction applies even where the…

An easement of necessity may be implied from the circumstances of a disposition, as a matter of construction, where common ownership, necessary access over the…

Standing in judicial review under the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Civil Procedure Rules 2000 depends on sufficient interest assessed in the legal and…

Contractual interpretation is an objective, unitary exercise directed to the meaning of the language read as a whole in its contemporaneous factual setting.…

In a malicious prosecution claim, reasonable and probable cause is assessed on the information available when charges were brought, together with information…