Supreme Court judgments, 2019

Under regulation 8 of the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, denial of a judicial pension can constitute less…

A third-country national has a derivative right of residence under EU citizenship law only where a relationship of dependency means that refusal of residence…

Land held by a public authority under statutory powers is incapable of registration as a town or village green where the recreational rights arising from…

Whether consideration is adequate under section 242(4)(b) of the Insolvency Act 1986 is determined objectively in all the circumstances. The assumed parties…

Detention under article 28(2) of the Dublin III Regulation requires objective criteria for assessing a significant risk of absconding. Those criteria must be…

When identifying an employer’s reason for dismissal, a tribunal will generally examine the reason given by the authorised decision-maker. A narrow…

A claimant alleging that negligent professional advice caused the loss of an opportunity must prove that the lost claim had a real and substantial, rather than…

A consideration is material to a planning application only if it relates to the proposed change in the character of the use of the land. A developer benefit…

A public authority, court or tribunal must disapply subordinate legislation where applying it would breach a Convention right, unless primary legislation…

A person acts in an official capacity for the offence of torture under section 134(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 when acting or purporting to act…

A bank must refrain from executing an authorised payment instruction while reasonable grounds exist for believing that it is an attempt to misappropriate the…

The High Court's inherent jurisdiction remains available to order a child's summary return abroad even where a specific issue order could be sought under the…

When a liability insurer faces a non-party costs application under section 51 of the Senior Courts Act 1981, the governing principle depends on the scope of…

When a landlord’s consent under a fully qualified leasehold covenant must not be unreasonably withheld, three principles govern. The landlord’s reason must…

Equitable relief from forfeiture may be available where a termination provision, given as security for a lesser primary obligation, would forfeit proprietary…

Under section 40(1) of the Patents Act 1977, an employee may receive compensation where the patented invention belongs to the employer, the patent confers an…

A judicial office-holder does not ordinarily qualify as a limb (b) worker where the statutory scheme, governing terms and constitutional context show no…

Whether a territory associated with an EU member state is a third country for a particular freedom depends on whether the relevant EU rules apply in that…

A 16 or 17-year-old child who lacks capacity is deprived of liberty under article 5 where the child is continuously supervised and controlled, is not free to…

A prerogative decision to prorogue Parliament is unlawful where it frustrates or prevents, without reasonable justification, Parliament’s ability to legislate…

The exclusive jurisdiction conferred by article 24(2) of the Brussels I Recast Regulation must be interpreted narrowly and applied separately to each distinct…

A taxable person may deduct input VAT incurred in a fund-raising transaction outside the scope of VAT where objective evidence shows a direct and immediate…

The court records accessible under Civil Procedure Rules rule 5.4C comprise documents which the court keeps for its own purposes. They do not include every…

Where the improper performance of a package holiday contract results from the conduct of an employee of a hotel supplying services under that contract, the…

Where an official veterinarian refuses a health mark because meat is considered unfit for human consumption, judicial review can test the lawfulness of that…

Enhanced protection against expulsion under article 28(3)(a) of Directive 2004/38/EC is available only to a Union citizen who has first acquired a right of…

For descriptor 9c of Activity 9 in the Social Security (Personal Independence Payment) Regulations 2013, a claimant needs “social support” where effective…

A planning permission is interpreted objectively. The starting point, and usually the end point, is the natural and ordinary meaning of its words, read in…

A restraint within a post-employment non-competition covenant remains subject to the restraint of trade doctrine even where it prohibits only the holding of…

National measures adopted under a transitional derogation from EU free-movement rights remain subject to the EU principle of proportionality. The measure must…

Approval to wholesale duty-paid alcohol under section 88C of the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 depends upon HMRC being satisfied that the applicant is fit…

For a constructive total loss under section 60(2)(ii) of the Marine Insurance Act 1906, the cost of repairing a damaged ship includes reasonable expenditure…

When deciding whether accommodation was affordable for the purpose of intentional homelessness, a housing authority must take account of all the applicant’s…

Under section 1(1) of the Defamation Act 2013, a statement is not defamatory merely because its words have an inherent tendency to injure reputation. The…

The Director of Public Prosecutions may direct a non-jury trial under section 1 of the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 where the alleged…

Public authorities are generally governed by the ordinary law of negligence. A statutory power or duty does not itself create a common law duty of care…

Where qualifying corporate bonds and non-qualifying corporate bonds are converted together into qualifying corporate bonds, each class of security is treated…

For non-domestic rating, the statutory hypothesis assumes a willing landlord and a willing tenant who will agree a yearly letting. The absence of an identified…

A statutory provision excludes judicial review of an inferior court or tribunal for error of law only if it uses the clearest and most explicit language. An…

In challenges to general rules governing entitlement to welfare benefits under article 14 of the Convention, the sole test of justification is whether the…

Article 4 of the Recast Brussels Regulation confers mandatory jurisdiction over a domiciled defendant. Any implied abuse exception must be construed narrowly.…

A taxpayer eligible for share loss relief may claim the loss against income for the year of the loss, the previous tax year, or both. Sections 23 and 131–133…

Under point 1.14 of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004, meat recovered mechanically from flesh-bearing bones after boning, or from poultry carcases after…

The natural and ordinary meaning of an allegedly defamatory statement is the impression it would convey to the ordinary reasonable reader, assessed in its…

Compulsory motor insurance under section 145(3)(a) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 covers liability for damage caused by, or arising out of, use of a vehicle on a…

Obviousness under section 3 of the Patents Act 1977 requires a fact-specific assessment of all relevant circumstances. Uninventive work which the skilled…

Education supplied by a private, profit-making body may qualify for VAT exemption as education provided by a college of a university. The body need not be a…

A party seeking to set aside a civil judgment for fraud must rely on evidence not before the court in the original proceedings. Where fraud was not raised at…

Interest paid from a surplus in a distributing administration under rule 14.23(7) of the Insolvency Rules 2016 is yearly interest for section 874 of the Income…

Where a protection or human rights claim has been refused and no appeal remains pending, further submissions do not automatically generate another statutory…

A person may bring proceedings under section 7(1)(a) of the Human Rights Act 1998 as soon as investigative delay reaches the threshold required by article 2 of…

Medical experts assessing alleged torture may give an opinion on whether clinical findings are consistent with the claimant’s account of the wider…

A European Arrest Warrant based on a conviction which is binding and enforceable under the issuing state’s law is a conviction warrant. The conviction need not…

A clear and unqualified government promise may create a legitimate expectation. The government may nevertheless depart from it following a bona fide decision…

An unnamed defendant may be sued by description where the defendant is identifiable and the claim form can be served. A person cannot ordinarily be sued where…

In a professional negligence claim, the claimant must prove on the balance of probabilities what they would have done if competently advised. This includes…

An estate-agent contract is not necessarily incomplete because the parties omitted expressly to identify the event triggering commission. The agreement must be…

For article 8 purposes, a measure is in accordance with the law when it has a domestic legal basis and is accessible and foreseeable. Safeguards must constrain…

A statutory scheme may restrict compensation for a quashed conviction to cases where a new or newly discovered fact shows beyond reasonable doubt that the…

A reference under paragraph 34 of Schedule 10 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 should ordinarily be determined within a clear factual matrix rather than as a…