Supreme Court judgments, 2022

A solicitor’s equitable lien may be waived when new security is taken. Waiver depends on the parties’ objectively inferred intention, assessed from all the…

Compensatory damages for breach of contract or negligence are recoverable only for the claimant’s net pecuniary loss. Losses and benefits caused by the breach…

A planning authority cannot use a planning condition to require a landowner to dedicate land within a development as a public highway. General powers to impose…

A devolved legislative provision challenged before it takes effect is incompatible with Convention rights only if it is incapable of being applied compatibly…

A provision of devolved legislation relates to a reserved matter when, by reference to its purpose and its legal and practical effects in all the…

A planning permission for an integrated multi-unit scheme ordinarily cannot be severed into permissions for discrete parts of the site. It authorises each…

The Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978 is not an overriding mandatory statute. It applies only where ordinary choice of law rules identify English law as…

A taxable person claiming historic input VAT must prove, on the balance of probabilities, both that deductible tax was incurred and its amount. Invoices are…

The purpose of a proprietary estoppel remedy is to prevent or undo the unconscionability of repudiating a property promise after detrimental reliance. The…

For the time limit in section 73(6)(b) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994, the relevant assessment is the assessment actually made, not a hypothetical earlier…

A director does not owe a separate duty to creditors. The fiduciary duty remains owed to the company, but the company’s interests extend to the general body of…

In curriculum vitae fraud cases, confiscating all net earnings will normally be disproportionate where the offender lawfully performed the services and, viewed…

Section 41(4) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 does not prevent a restraint order from permitting reasonable legal expenses for independent civil causes of…

The “unduly harsh” exception to deportation requires a highly elevated degree of harshness, assessed by reference to the actual qualifying child or partner.…

A worker engaged throughout the year under a permanent contract, but required to work only during certain weeks, is entitled to the statutory 5.6 weeks’ annual…

A diplomat’s ordinary employment of a domestic worker is incidental to daily life and is not a commercial activity within article 31(1)(c) of the Vienna…

Under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, a product is defective when it fails to meet the objective level of safety which persons generally are entitled to…

An electronic communications operator seeking new code rights is not treated as the occupier under paragraph 9 of the Electronic Communications Code merely…

A court may make a care order removing a child from parental care only where the order is necessary and proportionate. It must evaluate every realistic option…

Before a civil order is sealed, the court retains power to reopen the judgment and order. The discretion is governed by the overriding objective, but the…

Internal relocation is assessed holistically by asking whether the individual can reasonably be expected to stay in the proposed safe area. Reasonableness is…

An unsuccessful public body has no general immunity from an adverse costs order merely because it acted reasonably in the public interest. Where the governing…

The statutory requirement to consider the stage of criminal proceedings at which an intention to plead guilty was indicated does not extend those proceedings…

Input VAT is neither “due” nor “paid” under article 168(a) of the Principal VAT Directive where supplier and customer mistakenly treated supplies as exempt…

The statutory power to pilot changes concerning how voting takes place at local government elections extends beyond the physical mechanics of casting a vote.…

A national tax measure restricts the free movement of capital under article 63 only if economic analysis shows that it is liable to create an additional…

Trading profits must be calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting practice, subject only to adjustments required or authorised by law. An…

A solicitor acting for a potential claimant has an equitable lien where services within the retainer relate to making a legal claim and significantly…

A fixed-term secure tenancy retains the contractual and proprietary security conferred by its terms. The Housing Act 1985 does not itself create a right for…

A public authority’s interference with rights protected by article 8 of the Convention must comply with domestic law before questions of legitimate aim and…

In misuse of private information, information that a person is under criminal investigation by a state body before charge carries a legitimate starting point…

Under section 26(5) of the Extradition Act 2003, a late application for leave to appeal may be entertained where the person ordered to be extradited personally…

Where subordinate legislation made under a later Act affects rights conferred by an earlier Act, its validity depends on the proper interpretation of the later…

An offence under section 13(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000 is one of strict liability. The defendant must deliberately wear, carry or display the relevant…

Under Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, an RTM company’s right to manage extends only to the relevant self-contained…