Supreme Court judgments, 2016

A review of a professional suspension is directed to the registrant’s current fitness to practise and professional rehabilitation. It asks whether impairment…

An application made before the expiry of limited leave engages section 3C of the Immigration Act 1971 only if it is validly made. An application submitted…

A tribunal deciding whether deportation of a foreign offender is compatible with article 8 must make its own proportionality assessment on the current facts.…

When a deportation or removal decision affects children, their best interests must be considered separately from the interests of the adults and the public…

Where discrimination arises within the design of a welfare-benefit scheme, the justification question is whether the policy choice is manifestly without…

A professional indemnity policy must be construed as a whole, in its documentary, factual, commercial and regulatory context. An exclusion which delineates the…

The denial of citizenship by descent affects a person’s social identity and therefore falls within the ambit of article 8, engaging article 14. A current…

The statutory duty protecting taxpayer information is subject to an exception only where disclosure is reasonably necessary for HMRC to perform its primary…

The prohibition of sex discrimination in article 4 of Council Directive 79/7/EEC has direct effect in relation to state benefits. It remained unclear whether…

Under the European motor insurance scheme, compensation for a victim of an accident in another member state is measured by the law of the state where the…

A devolved provision relates to a reserved matter only where its purpose, assessed with regard to its effect, has more than a loose or consequential connection…

Compensation following the exercise of emergency powers under Building Act 1984 section 78 is barred only where the claimant was in default as to the matter…

Periods of imprisonment cannot count towards the five years’ continuous legal residence required to acquire permanent residence under article 16 of Directive…

For deceit, belief in the truth of a fraudulent representation is not an independent requirement. The representation must have induced the representee to act…

An agent’s authority remains revocable even where the parties agreed that it would be irrevocable. It becomes irrevocable only where they also intended the…

The common law fraudulent claims rule defeats a wholly fabricated or fraudulently exaggerated insurance claim. It also defeats the genuine part of a single…

The common law illegality defence requires a principled assessment of whether granting relief would harm the integrity of the legal system. The court must…

For customs classification, a product’s objective characteristics and properties are decisive. Its intended use is relevant where that use is inherent in the…

A path outside a building is not part of the building’s exterior merely because it provides necessary access. The expressions “structure and exterior” in…

A statutory instrument, including one requiring affirmative parliamentary approval, is invalid if its effect or purpose exceeds the enabling statute. A Henry…

A statutory obligation can support a civil claim for breach of statutory duty only against a person on whom the statute places that obligation. A person cannot…

The service of foreign criminal process under section 1 of the Crime (International Co-operation) Act 2003 is ordinarily a formal, administrative act. The…

A European arrest warrant issued to execute a sentence need not identify domestic summonses or arrest warrants issued merely to enforce an already enforceable…

An ultimate appellate court has inherent jurisdiction to reopen its own final decision, or that of its predecessor, where a party was subjected through no…

Under the Brussels II (Revised) Regulation, a judgment on the first appeal against registration or enforcement may be contested only through the procedure…

Under section 83 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, refusal of an asylum claim attracts an additional right of appeal only where the claimant…

It is unresolved whether subsidiary protection under article 2(e), read with article 15(b), of the Qualification Directive extends to a real risk of serious…

An alienation is gratuitous for the purposes of Insolvency Act 1986 section 242 where the company receives nothing in return and there is no reciprocity…

Terms governing negotiable debt securities are construed primarily from the instrument as a whole and its apparent commercial purpose. External background…

A residential occupier cannot invoke article 8 to require a court to assess the proportionality of granting possession to a private landlord where the parties’…

An order for reinstatement following unfair dismissal restores the employee’s contractual rights, terms and conditions, together with such privileges as…

An interim restraint on publication may be granted where the applicant is likely to establish at trial that publication should not be allowed. Human Rights Act…

The First-tier Tribunal’s statutory power to award costs is subject to the applicable Tribunal Procedure Rules. Under the Tax Chamber Rules, rule 10 generally…

A bunker-supply agreement permitting consumption before payment, while reserving title until payment, is not necessarily a contract of sale. Where the…

An ombudsman’s powers depend on the particular statutory scheme governing the office. Under the Commissioner for Complaints (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, the…

A person who pays VAT on services supplied to another cannot deduct it as input tax merely because the services confer a substantial business benefit on the…

In a time charter, an “agent” may include a subcontractor or cargo interest which exercises the charterer’s rights or performs its obligations down a…

A failure by the Home Secretary lawfully to apply a published detention policy renders immigration detention unlawful. This applies whether the statutory…

Compensation under section 2 of the Riot (Damages) Act 1886 is confined to physical damage to specified buildings and property within them. It does not extend…

A collective investment scheme under section 235 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 is identified from the substance of the arrangements, assessed…

A statutory power to detain a person while considering removal under the EU free-movement regime is lawful where it is ancillary to the removal power…

Under article 15 of the Brussels II revised Regulation, the court must determine separately whether another member state is better placed to hear the case and…

The nature and extent of a prescriptive right are determined by the actual use as of right proved over the requisite period, viewed in its practical setting.…

A tax statute must be construed purposively. The actual transaction must then be viewed realistically to decide whether it answers the statutory description.…

The scope of a Community Registered Design is determined principally by interpreting the images filed by the applicant. A monochrome representation is not…

Vicarious liability requires a qualifying relationship between the defendant and wrongdoer, followed by a sufficient connection between that relationship and…

Vicarious liability can arise without a contract of employment. A relationship qualifies where the tortfeasor performs assigned activities as an integral part…

In claims under the Fatal Accidents Act 1976, damages for dependency suffered before trial should be calculated separately from damages for future loss. An…

Under Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988, section 103 charges corporation tax on sums which arise from a trade before its permanent discontinuance and are…

An employee is at work throughout the course of employment. Health and safety duties therefore cover environmental risks encountered while travelling between…

A child’s established habitual residence is lost when the child achieves the requisite degree of disengagement from the old social and family environment.…

A minister participating in an international sanctions committee is judged in domestic judicial review by reference to the minister’s own reasons. The…

Under rule 39.2(4) of the Civil Procedure Rules 1998, anonymity in civil proceedings concerning compulsory mental health powers is neither automatic nor…

An economically inactive EU citizen who does not satisfy the conditions for lawful residence under the applicable EU instruments cannot invoke EU citizenship…