Privy Council judgments, 2025

Where a contract is formed or performed in breach of statute, the court must first decide whether the statute has dealt with contractual enforceability.…

For section 10(3)(c) of the Income Tax Act 1995, the relevant question is whether land was acquired in the course of a business whose main purpose was…

The statutory just and equitable winding-up jurisdiction permits equity to restrain exercise of otherwise valid legal rights where personal considerations…

Inconsistent jury verdicts are not established merely because one possible route through the evidence would have produced matching convictions. The appellant…

Submission to a foreign jurisdiction depends on the substance and purpose of the steps taken, assessed under Cayman law and in all the circumstances. A party…

An insurer that promises to invest policy assets according to the policyholder’s chosen mandate is responsible for that investment duty, even where asset…

A contractual quantum meruit and an unjust-enrichment quantum meruit are alternative bases of recovery. A claimant who pleads the latter may rely on the former…

In a public inquiry, procedural fairness is fact-sensitive. It will often require a person who may be adversely affected by a report to receive the gist of the…

Section 1 of the Bermuda Constitution is a preamble and does not confer separately enforceable rights. Section 1(a) may nevertheless provide independently…

For fair value under the Companies Act (2016 revision), the court may consider transaction price, market price, comparable-company valuation and discounted…

A director may not transfer or distribute company assets for personal benefit without authority, even where the company was established for a purpose that the…

Under the Public Service Commission Regulations, an “eligible fire officer” is one who satisfies the office qualifications under regulation 9. A job…

Party-and-party costs must reflect work actually done in the particular case and must be proportionate, reasonable and fair to both parties. Assessment…

For a scheme of arrangement, class composition is determined by members’ legal rights against the company and the effect of the scheme on those rights.…

An appellate court must take account of a material change in circumstances occurring before judgment, including an event resulting from the very appeal under…

For prosecutions under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the six-month limit in section 93 applies to both summary offences and safety and health…

In a time-based liquidation remuneration regime, officeholders must establish that claimed time was reasonably incurred. They must provide information…

A statutory deeming provision must be construed in its statutory context and in light of its purpose. Its fiction extends to consequences necessary to give…

Section 7 of the Bill of Rights provides procedural protection. It does not create substantive employment rights. Where Labour Act (2021 Revision) excludes…

Where legislation expressly authorises exemplary damages, common-law restrictions on exemplary damages do not add conditions to that statutory power. Under the…

An appellate court may overturn a trial judge’s primary factual findings only where satisfied that the judge was plainly wrong. It is insufficient that the…

An appeal from a specialist tribunal limited to a point of law cannot be used to reargue competing factual evidence. A factual finding is reviewable only where…

A stay of criminal proceedings for abuse of process is an exceptional remedy. It may be justified because a fair trial is no longer possible, or because it…

The Privy Council will not ordinarily reopen concurrent findings of fact made by the trial court and upheld on appeal. Departure requires exceptional…

Legal advice privilege is a fundamental and ordinarily absolute protection. An automatic status-based Shareholder Rule cannot be justified by shareholders’…

Under a statutory amalgamation scheme, a shareholder who did not vote in favour and is dissatisfied with the value offered may seek a court appraisal. That…

In exercising a discretionary trust power, a trustee must consider the settlor’s wishes and the relevant needs and wishes of beneficiaries. For a corporate…

The expression ‘external affairs’ in a territorial constitution may extend to legislation needed to secure compliance with international obligations. Where a…

Under a price-fluctuation clause incorporating FIDIC Conditions, a contractor that has not complied with the contractual notice and record-keeping process may…

For article 6(1) ECHR, the decisive question is the nature of the proceedings and the measure challenged. The exercise of public-law powers in tax matters lies…

Under a Torrens registration system, an instrument creates and binds successors according to the substance of the rights it records, not merely the label…

Knowledge and approval of a will is generally presumed where the will was duly executed by a testator with testamentary capacity. Reading the will to or by the…

Adverse possession may defeat an action to recover land in the Bahamas, including land within the Freeport Port Area. The Hawksbill Creek Acts, applicable…

A mortgagee exercising a power of sale must take reasonable precautions to obtain the best price reasonably obtainable at the time of sale. In an ordinary…

Where property is seized and detained by a constable under sections 25–27 of the State Lands Act, the statutory powers do not depend on charges having been…

A declaration of incompatibility should ordinarily be based on the facts of the dispute before the court. It should not be used to decide whether legislation…

A substitute sentence must be fixed through a fair sentencing process. The defendant must have an opportunity to address the appropriate sentence, including…

For a statutory power to disregard an artificial or fictitious transaction, the transaction must be assessed in its legal and commercial context. A dividend…

A consent order embodying a binding test-case agreement should not be reopened merely because an appellate court later considers the chosen categories…

Standing to challenge an insolvency office-holder’s decision depends on whether the applicant has a legitimate interest in the relief sought, assessed in the…

Whether an activity is a business carried on “with a view to profit” is determined by the taxpayer’s subjective intention. Profit need not be the sole or main…

A condominium body corporate may delegate its statutory powers and duties where the governing regime permits powers conferred by the declaration and the…

A judge may be removed only for inability or misbehaviour and through the constitutional procedure. Conduct before appointment can fall within that regime…

The threshold for leave to apply for judicial review is low. The applicant must show an arguable ground with a realistic prospect of success, subject to any…

For a statutory value threshold governing an appeal as of right, the relevant value is what is at stake on the appeal. It is assessed by reference to the…

Where a Cayman short-form merger compulsorily takes minority shares, Part 16 of the Companies Act confers appraisal rights under section 238(1), as in a…

On a second appeal, the Board will not ordinarily review concurrent findings of fact by two lower courts. Departure is justified only in exceptional…

Under rule 67.13, the word awarded includes costs already awarded and costs still to be awarded. A recipient who is not VAT-registered may recover the…

Under a construction contract allowing termination for convenience, a contractor may generally incur costs and liabilities on the assumption that the contract…

A statutory power to enter contracts must be read with the legislation’s financial-control scheme. A public body cannot use contractual form to evade…

Under Jamaica’s Labour Relations Code, the duty to consult about redundancies has no fixed starting date. The potential need must, where possible, be raised…

Where a contract makes compliance with a verification process essential to payment, removal of goods without verification may amount to theft, but only if the…

Open occupation alone does not establish adverse possession. A claimant must show factual possession and an intention to possess land to the exclusion of all…

Leave to apply for judicial review requires an arguable ground with a realistic prospect of success, free from a discretionary bar or other knockout blow. On…

For an IBCA company, the shareholder bargain is defined by its constitution and the statutory framework. At an annual general meeting, the election of…

Section 108(c) of the Constitution of Trinidad and Tobago gives a right of appeal where the High Court determines a constitutional question concerning the…

Where access to a specialist Industrial Court depends on a worker being a union member in good standing, the statutory board may assess what constitutes sound…