Supreme Court judgments, 2014

The conscientious objection in section 4(1) of the Abortion Act 1967 protects a person who objects to taking part in a hands-on capacity in the whole course of…

Article 3 of Protocol No 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights protects participation in periodic elections for membership of a legislature. It does not…

An appellate court should interfere with a first-instance case-management decision only where it was plainly wrong and fell outside the generous ambit within…

One joint tenant may determine a joint periodic tenancy by serving notice to quit without the consent or knowledge of the other joint tenant, unless the…

Interim accommodation secured by a local housing authority under section 188 of the Housing Act 1996 is not licensed “as a dwelling” for section 3 of the…

Compliance with regulatory rules does not determine whether a debtor-creditor relationship is unfair under section 140A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The…

When exclusion from the United Kingdom interferes with freedom of expression, the potential consequences of admission are legally relevant. This includes a…

A remediable breach of a covenant against anti-social behaviour is remedied when the occupier refrains from further breach for a reasonable time, sufficient to…

The illegality defence is a rule of law founded on public policy, rather than a discretion to balance culpability, proportionality or the parties’ merits.…

The courts of the United Kingdom generally have jurisdiction to review an Order in Council made on the advice of the United Kingdom Government acting wholly or…

A court may order the insurers of a negligent solicitor to pay the parties’ costs where the solicitor’s admitted error caused the litigation, the successful…

In public procurement, whether tender criteria satisfy the principle of transparency is determined objectively. The court asks whether all reasonably…

Under section 11(3) of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, the five-year prescriptive period for an obligation to make reparation is postponed…

The illegality defence does not automatically bar a statutory discrimination claim arising from unlawful employment. In tort, the claimant’s illegality must be…

A landlord is liable for a tenant’s nuisance if the landlord directly participates in it or authorises it by letting property where nuisance is an inevitable…

An agent holds on trust for the principal any benefit acquired as a result of the agency and in breach of fiduciary duty. This rule includes bribes and secret…

Jurisdiction under article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights is primarily territorial. Diplomatic or consular conduct abroad engages jurisdiction…

When a communications provider has a contractual discretion to vary interconnection charges, the agreement is the starting point for resolving a dispute. The…

An appellate court may interfere with a trial judge’s findings of fact where there is an identifiable material error, or where the decision cannot reasonably…

A sewerage undertaker has no general statutory right under the Water Industry Act 1991 to create new outfalls which discharge surface water or treated effluent…

Article 5(4) of the European Convention of Human Rights does not ordinarily require a further judicial review of detention during a determinate sentence…

A statutory prohibition on assisting suicide engages the right to respect for private life under article 8. Domestic courts may determine its compatibility…

The prosecution’s pre-trial disclosure duty does not continue indefinitely after conviction. Fairness requires disclosure duties to be adapted to the stage…

Where offenders obtain property together through a joint criminal enterprise, each may have obtained the whole property for confiscation purposes. This depends…

Mandatory state disclosure of every spent conviction and caution, without regard to the offence, disposal, elapsed time or relevance, lacks adequate safeguards…

A statutory power to seize or detain goods which are “liable to forfeiture” applies only where the goods are objectively liable to forfeiture. Reasonable…

A religious dispute is not inherently non-justiciable. Courts will not determine the truth of religious beliefs or the validity of rites. They must, however…

A member of a limited liability partnership may be a limb (b) worker under section 230(3)(b) of the Employment Rights Act 1996. Section 4(4) of the Limited…

Public recreational use of land is not “as of right” where a public authority has lawfully allocated and maintains the land for that use under statutory…

Specialist tribunals may admit relevant expert evidence despite informality or non-compliance with court procedures. Its weight depends on demonstrated…

Revocation of a deportation order under section 5(2) of the Immigration Act 1971 operates prospectively. It does not reverse the section 5(1) invalidation of…

A covenant to keep commercial premises in good and tenantable condition imposes a continuing obligation. It requires no notice from the landlord, whether…

Open justice is a constitutional common law principle. Public reporting by the media is integral to effective scrutiny of the courts. A court may nevertheless…

A European Commission decision finding a competition infringement against several addressees is legally a series of individual decisions. An appeal by one…

Damages for a foreign tort are governed by the applicable substantive law. Rules defining recoverable loss, mitigation and receipts for which credit must be…

Consumer Credit Act 1974 section 75 makes a creditor concurrently liable for a supplier’s misrepresentation or breach of contract. It does not itself confer a…

Section 32 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 creates an absolute exemption determined by the historical purpose for which an inquiry document was placed…

Article 5 protects the physical liberty of disabled and non-disabled people on the same basis. In state-arranged care, the acid test for an objective…

Capacity to conduct litigation is assessed by reference to the claim or cause of action which the party actually has. It does not depend on how lawyers have…

An inter partes application for a production order requiring access to journalistic material must be determined only on evidence disclosed to both parties.…

For VAT purposes, the legal and commercial character of a relationship governed by written agreements must first be determined by construing the parties’…

The Montreal Convention provides an exclusive code governing an air carrier’s liability for damages arising from events during international carriage. A…

For national insurance purposes, “earnings” are wider than income tax “emoluments” and may include non-convertible benefits in kind. Whether earnings have been…

Private nuisance by noise depends on whether the interference with the reasonable enjoyment of land is objectively unacceptable in its locality. A defendant’s…

An asylum seeker or refugee resisting transfer to another European state need not prove systemic deficiencies in that state’s asylum procedures or reception…

A company may make successive claims for cross-border group relief for the same losses while the statutory claim period remains open. Each claim is assessed by…

For limitation purposes, a constructive trustee is a true trustee whose fiduciary status preceded the transaction complained of. A person liable solely because…

A pre-contractual representation intended to induce a contract will ordinarily continue until the contract is concluded. Its continuation depends on the…

For aggravated trespass under section 68 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, an occupant’s activity is unlawful only where a criminal offence or…

When land has wrongly been registered as a town or village green, lapse of time is relevant but does not itself bar rectification under section 14 of the…

Rules governing criminal legal-aid remuneration must reflect the time and skill required for the work covered by the statutory scheme. A rule-making body acts…

A child’s habitual residence is a factual, child-centred question: whether the child has some degree of integration in a social and family environment.…