Supreme Court judgments, 2013

A child cared for under the Islamic institution of Kafala is not the child of an adoptive parent for the purpose of paragraph 352D of the Immigration Rules…

An NHS employer must follow disciplinary procedures which have contractual effect. A case manager may assess evidence gathered by the case investigator and…

When determining whether a patient is detained under conditions of excessive security, the tribunal applies a two-stage process. It first decides whether the…

In environmental proceedings governed by the Aarhus costs requirement, costs must neither exceed the claimant’s financial resources nor be objectively…

For the purposes of the Places of Worship Registration Act 1855, religion is a spiritual or non-secular belief system, held by a group, which claims to explain…

The High Court’s inherent jurisdiction may support the effective exercise of its judicial functions, including where legislation regulates the subject matter.…

Habitual residence is a factual question centred on the child’s integration in a social and family environment. Parental intention and the precariousness of a…

When an immigration decision affects a child, the child’s best interests form an integral part of the article 8 proportionality assessment. They are a primary…

A commercial service provider directly discriminates on grounds of sexual orientation by treating civil partners less favourably than married opposite-sex…

A refusal to vary leave to remain is not unlawful merely because the Secretary of State does not simultaneously make a removal decision. The removal provisions…

A ministry may issue a European arrest warrant for a convicted person as a judicial authority where it acts only at the request of, and endorses the decision…

For the mandatory lis pendens rule in Article 27, proceedings have the same cause of action only where the claims, assessed without regard to defences, have…

A claim entered on a tax return form is not necessarily part of the statutory return for the relevant assessment year. Where the taxpayer leaves the…

Delegated legislation requiring benefit claimants to participate in employment schemes must contain the description which Parliament required to be prescribed.…

For an adult lacking capacity, the court asks whether proposed medical treatment is in that person’s best interests, not whether withholding it is. The court…

A school or other institutional carer may owe an exceptional, personal duty to ensure that reasonable care is taken by an independent contractor. The duty may…

The equitable doctrine of marshalling ordinarily requires the second security to secure an underlying personal liability owed by the chargor to the chargee.…

The definition of terrorism in section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000 is deliberately broad. It is capable of covering military attacks by non-state armed groups…

A domestic court should ordinarily follow a clear and settled line of Grand Chamber authority on Convention rights. Departure requires an exceptional…

Under section 40(4) of the British Nationality Act 1981, the question is whether the person holds another nationality on the date of a citizenship deprivation…

The Parole Board must hold an oral hearing whenever procedural fairness requires one, having regard to the facts, the importance of the interests at stake and…

An inherent-jurisdiction order requiring a child’s return is not necessarily a Part I order under the Family Law Act 1986, although wardship and return orders…

Under regulation 44(1)(d) of the Food Labelling Regulations 1996, the prosecution need prove only that the defendant possessed food for sale, the food bore a…

An appellate court may reverse a trial judge’s findings of fact only where the judge was plainly wrong. It must respect the trial judge’s advantages in seeing…

Under a liability insurance programme with aggregate limits, an insured loss engages and exhausts the available cover, wholly or pro tanto, when the insured’s…

An unlicensed, disqualified or uninsured driver causes death by driving for the purposes of section 3ZB of the Road Traffic Act 1988 only where an act or…

Under condition 6 of Schedule 2 to the Data Protection Act 1998, lawful processing requires a legitimate interest, processing necessary for that interest, and…

Conditions attached to a dispensation from statutory service-charge consultation requirements must be satisfied before the landlord may rely on the…

The Secretary of State’s power under section 67(1) of the Mental Health Act 1983 remains subject to ordinary public law principles and Convention rights. It…

A statutory liability arising after a company enters administration or liquidation is provable where it results from an obligation incurred beforehand. The…

A rule must be laid before Parliament under section 3(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 where it prescribes a requirement which a migrant must satisfy to obtain…

A restitutionary quantum meruit for services supplied without a valid and subsisting contract is normally measured by their objective value when received. The…

The duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 requires the Secretary of State to establish proper arrangements for…

Extradition must be refused where there is a real risk of a flagrant denial of justice. The threshold is stringent: the unfairness must be so fundamental that…

The statutory test for releasing a prisoner serving imprisonment for public protection differs substantively from the test governing the sentence’s imposition.…

A judgment that a patent is valid and infringed does not prevent the defendant from relying, during an outstanding damages enquiry, on a later retrospective…

Where an equal pay claimant and comparator work at different establishments, the common-terms inquiry asks whether the comparator would retain the same or…

Where no service convention or bilateral treaty applies, the court asks whether, in all the circumstances, there is a good reason retrospectively to validate…

The common law strongly presumes that mens rea is required for criminal liability. Clear statutory language or unmistakably necessary implication may displace…

A national court is not necessarily obliged to make a further reference for a preliminary ruling merely because it considers that an earlier ruling proceeded…

British armed forces serving abroad remain within the United Kingdom’s article 1 jurisdiction because the state exercises authority and control over them.…

Where two independent statutory powers overlap, a public authority may ordinarily use either power, although only one carries compensation. Its choice must be…

A measure interfering with a fundamental right must pursue a sufficiently important objective, be rationally connected to that objective, use no more intrusive…

The Supreme Court may use a closed material procedure on an appeal where statute authorises closed proceedings below and its appellate jurisdiction, construed…

A decision of the Inner House dismissing a stated case without answering the questions of law is distinct from a non-appealable opinion given on a stated case.…

The reasonable-time guarantee in article 6(1) of the European Convention on Human Rights is distinct from the protection of access to legal assistance required…

An arbitration agreement contains both a positive promise to arbitrate and a fundamental negative promise not to pursue covered claims elsewhere. The negative…

A company’s property belongs to the company, not to its shareholder, even where one person owns and controls it. Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, section 24(1)(a)…

The threshold in section 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 requires a real possibility of significant harm, founded on facts proved on the balance of…

Evidence obtained or created through an unlawful process remains admissible at common law if it is relevant, subject to statutory exclusion and the court’s…

Breach of confidence is founded on conscience. A person who has neither acquired a claimant’s trade secrets nor knows that they are being misused is not…

The exceptional entitlement to cross-border group relief depends on a practical assessment of whether the foreign subsidiary’s losses can be used in its state…

A minister of religion is neither presumed to be an employee nor presumed to lack contractual status. The court must examine how the minister was engaged, the…

Section 123(1)(e) of the Insolvency Act 1986 extends beyond presently due debts to those falling due in the reasonably near future. That period depends on all…

Under section 21(1)(a) of the National Assistance Act 1948, a need for “care and attention” means a need for looking after. The concept takes its meaning from…

An exercise of a fiduciary power within its scope is voidable only where inadequate deliberation amounts to a breach of fiduciary duty. Trustees who…

Where a member state has exceeded the nitrogen dioxide limit values imposed by Article 13 of Directive 2008/50/EC, a domestic court may formally declare the…

Whether a person receives a supply for VAT purposes depends on a realistic assessment of the transaction in its full economic context. Payment for services…

Delay contrary to article 5(4) in reviewing a prisoner’s continued detention does not itself render the detention unlawful or constitute false imprisonment.…

A statutory restriction on a landlord’s ability to terminate a lease controls the use of property for article 1 of the First Protocol. Although economic and…

The adequacy of reasons given for a planning decision depends on the nature and context of the decision, the purpose served by the reasons and the audience to…

A contractual pay-protection provision requiring a practitioner to continue to be paid on the incremental point reached in a previous appointment protects the…

A tribunal deciding whether an injury is attributable to a crime of violence must ask first whether a criminal offence was committed and, secondly, whether the…

Temporary screen and cache copies created during ordinary internet browsing fall within the exception in article 5.1 of Directive 2001/29/EC where they arise…

The defence under section 1(3)(a) of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 depends on the alleged harasser’s subjective purpose, not on whether a reasonable…

Replacing a component of a patented product amounts to “making” the product only where that conclusion follows from a practical, contextual assessment of fact…

For input VAT in a multi-party loyalty scheme, the court must identify the supplies by assessing the economic arrangements realistically and as a whole. A…

On an application to dispense with statutory consultation requirements for major works, the tribunal should normally focus on the relevant prejudice caused to…

Under the European regime for the insolvency of credit institutions, each institution is wound up on a strict entity basis under the law of its home EEA State.…

Where transitional legislation continues a repealed statutory regime but omits to identify the successor to a dissolved public body, a court may correct the…

A public authority seeking an interim injunction to enforce the law in the public interest should not ordinarily be required to give a cross-undertaking in…

Under section 31(2)(a) of the Children Act 1989, “likely” means a real possibility of significant harm, but the prediction must rest on facts proved on the…

Until an order is perfected by sealing, a judge in civil or family proceedings retains jurisdiction to reconsider an announced decision. The discretion is…

A housing authority may satisfy its duty under section 176 of the Housing Act 1996 by providing a family with more than one unit of accommodation. The units…

European Union non-life insurance directives prescribe the categories of business which national law must regulate. They do not prevent a member state from…

A fee-paid part-time judge may be a worker despite holding statutory office and exercising judicial independence. The essential distinction is between persons…

On an application to serve proceedings outside the jurisdiction, the claimant must show that England and Wales is clearly the appropriate forum. The place…

Where the basis on which a court sentenced a person for contempt was flawed, an appellate court must assess afresh whether imprisonment is appropriate in light…

A contract must be interpreted objectively and in its legal, factual and commercial context. Where unforeseen changes have altered the meaning or consequences…

A European arrest warrant is valid if it contains the prescribed statutory particulars. Validity depends on their presence, rather than their factual…

Legal advice privilege protects confidential communications between a client and a professional lawyer acting as such for the purpose of giving legal advice.…