Supreme Court judgments, 2015

A suspicionless stop-and-search power is compatible with article 8 where the legal framework is accessible and foreseeable and contains sufficient safeguards…

A party whose first application for relief from a sanction has been refused cannot normally make a second application which effectively varies or rescinds that…

On a Scottish criminal compatibility appeal concerning non-disclosure, the Supreme Court may determine the legal test required by article 6(1) and whether the…

A domestic court retains a common law discretion to restrain disclosure of material heard in camera, including disclosure intended for proceedings before the…

A business need not be trading at the time of acquisition to remain an “enterprise” under the Enterprise Act 2002. It is sufficient that the capacity remains…

A fact-specific term may be implied into a contract only where it is necessary for business efficacy or so obvious that it goes without saying. The proposed…

A director’s fiduciary power must be exercised only for its proper purposes. The purpose is inferred from the provision’s terms, effect, mischief and business…

Article 11 of the 1996 Hague Child Protection Convention confers substantive but secondary jurisdiction on the Contracting State where a child is present. Its…

A state’s investigative duty under article 2 cannot extend indefinitely to deaths predating the Convention. On the majority approach, the relevant temporal…

An Immigration Rule challenged under article 8 is not invalid merely because its application may be disproportionate in individual cases. It must be incapable…

The penalty rule applies only to a secondary obligation arising on breach of contract. The controlling question is whether that obligation imposes a detriment…

An enrichment is at the claimant’s expense where the facts establish a sufficient causal nexus between the claimant’s loss and the defendant’s benefit. Direct…

Article 31.1 of the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road is a complete jurisdictional code for claims against successive…

A standard-form freezing order is construed restrictively, in its historical and enforcement context, because breach has penal consequences. Flexibility may…

Domestic legislation which implements an EU directive may extend beyond the directive where Parliament intended a wider domestic regime. The duty to interpret…

The principles governing fresh evidence on appeal do not apply to an initial application to set aside a financial order for fraudulent non-disclosure. The…

A matrimonial financial consent order derives its authority from the court, but valid consent remains essential. Fraud which induces a party to compromise a…

A public authority must determine an application under the lawful policy it has adopted unless there is good reason to depart from it. This public law duty…

Under Rule 94(5) of the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 2006, segregation beyond 72 hours is lawful only if ministerial written…

Where Revenue approval of a pension scheme is withdrawn retrospectively under section 591B(1) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988, the tax imposed by…

Where a person receiving the care component of disability living allowance moves permanently to another EU member state, Regulation No 1408/71 may prevent a…

Under rule 45 of the Prison Rules 1999, a prison governor may order segregation for no more than 72 hours. Continued segregation requires authority from the…

For non-domestic rating, a hereditament is identified primarily by its geographical and physical unity, not by the business use chosen by its occupier.…

Article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive does not require a formal screening procedure equivalent to environmental impact assessment screening. It requires an…

Where a public body has acted unlawfully but coercive relief is inappropriate, a court will usually make a declaratory order reflecting its finding. A…

The former civil costs regime permitting recovery of conditional-fee success fees and after-the-event insurance premiums was compatible with article 6 and…

The suspicionless questioning and search powers at ports under Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000 are compatible with article 8 of the Convention. Their…

For VAT purposes, an element of chance is provided “by means of” a gaming terminal where the player’s operation of the terminal actively determines the winning…

A social-security benefit falling within the ambit of a Convention right must be administered without discrimination under article 14, although the Convention…

For allocating responsibility under the National Assistance Act 1948, ordinary residence concerns the individual’s own residence and the nature of that…

A modification of a public contract does not considerably extend its scope merely because it increases the level of services supplied. Where the original…

Credit under a double taxation convention for tax computed by reference to the same profits or income requires three steps. The court identifies the income…

Contract damages compensate the injured party for the value of the performance actually lost. Following an accepted anticipatory repudiation, a court may…

Whether publication of a photograph engages article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms depends on an objectively reasonable…

When a national authorisation measure restricts an EU fundamental freedom, the national court must decide proportionality for itself. It must determine whether…

An asylum appeal determines whether the applicant currently satisfies the criteria for refugee status or humanitarian protection. The tribunal must decide that…

A trustee in bankruptcy who adopts an appeal becomes personally liable for the costs of that appeal, subject to an indemnity from the estate. Adoption of the…

A construction adjudicator’s decision is provisionally binding unless and until the referred dispute is finally determined. The statutory scheme necessarily…

A formally compliant VAT arrangement is abusive where it produces a tax advantage contrary to the purpose of the applicable provisions and objective factors…

A written contract is interpreted objectively, through the eyes of a reasonable person possessing the background knowledge reasonably available to both…

A child’s habitual residence depends on all the circumstances and the degree of integration in a social and family environment. For an infant or young child…

For intentional homelessness, there are two distinct causal questions. Under section 191(1) of the Housing Act 1996, the applicant’s deliberate conduct must…

At common law, liability for mesothelioma under the Fairchild rule remains proportionate to each wrongdoer’s contribution to the overall risk. Section 3 of the…

A claimant in passing off must possess actual goodwill within the jurisdiction. Reputation alone is insufficient. Goodwill requires customers in the…

Indefinite police retention of the DNA profile, fingerprints and photograph of an adult convicted of a recordable offence interferes with private life under…

Where binding air-quality limits have been exceeded, an air-quality plan does not cure the breach. The responsible authority must adopt measures which bring…

An “establishment” under article 2(h) of EU Regulation 1346/2000 on Insolvency Proceedings requires a fixed place from which the debtor conducts non-transitory…

The expiry and non-renewal of a limited-term contract is a dismissal. Whether it is a dismissal “as redundant” for collective consultation purposes depends on…

A licensing authority may recover the reasonable costs of administering and enforcing a licensing scheme from licensed operators. Under article 13(2) of…

Where a company suffers loss through wrongdoing by its directors, their conduct and knowledge are not attributed to the company so as to defeat its claim…

An executive certificate under section 53 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 cannot override a judicial disclosure decision merely because the accountable…

Proceedings about children, including care proceedings and related appeals, do not attract the ordinary civil rule that the unsuccessful party pays the…

The statutory prohibition on depriving a person of citizenship where that would make the person stateless is assessed when the deprivation order is made. For…

A map accompanying an application to modify a definitive map satisfies the prescribed scale requirement when the map as presented is on a scale of at least…

A contractual power to make a decision affecting both parties is ordinarily subject to an implied term requiring honesty, good faith and rationality…

Indirect discrimination under article 14 may arise where a facially neutral measure disproportionately affects a protected group. A general welfare measure…

A possession claim cannot succeed if eviction would constitute disability discrimination under sections 15 and 35(1)(b) of the Equality Act 2010. Unlike an…

An application for financial provision or property adjustment following divorce has no statutory time limit. Delay may substantially reduce or eliminate any…

In Scots law, a unilateral undertaking intended to have legal effect is binding without consideration. Whether such an intention exists is determined…

A contractual payment calculated partly by reference to elapsed time does not necessarily accrue by reference to time. Accrual ordinarily concerns the coming…

A doctor advising an adult patient of sound mind must take reasonable care to ensure that the patient knows the material risks of recommended treatment and any…

Systematic collection and retrievable storage by the state of personal information may engage article 8, even when the recorded conduct occurred in public.…

A state cannot be designated as generally safe under section 94(5) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 merely because most of its population…

Accessory liability as a joint tortfeasor requires more than knowing facilitation. The defendant must provide assistance which is more than trivial and must do…

Recreational use of land is “by right”, rather than “as of right”, where valid byelaws made under statutory authority implicitly permit that use. The…

A public authority distributing finite funds under a broad statutory scheme enjoys a wide margin of judgment where the exercise requires complex economic…

Under section 1(1) of the Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945, responsibility for damage is apportioned by a broad assessment of the parties’…

When determining a development application under the Electricity Act 1989, ministers must consider all material considerations. Relevant obligations under the…

The police owe a public duty to preserve the peace, but that duty does not ordinarily create a private duty of care to protect individuals from criminals.…