Supreme Court judgments, 2026

A minimum term judicially fixed for a person detained during His Majesty’s pleasure is not rendered arbitrary under article 5 of the European Convention on…

A contracting party generally recovers damages only for its own loss. Transferred loss is a limited exception, founded on the parties’ common intention and…

When determining an article 13(b) defence under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980, a court may consider the…

Under Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, failure to give every eligible qualifying tenant a notice of invitation to…

Under regulation 5(2)(a) of the Part-Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000, part-time status need not be the sole cause of…

A final and conclusive foreign judgment for a debt or definite sum creates an immediate common law obligation to pay. Recognition is not a condition of that…

Liability for allowing serious physical harm under section 5(1)(d) of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 requires separate proof of each…

A patent owner’s FRAND undertaking remains relevant when it voluntarily licenses its standard-essential patents through a pool or platform agent. At the…

A civil penalty notice under section 15(6)(a) of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 must, when read as a whole, identify the specific limb of…

Section 5 of the State Immunity Act 1978 removes state immunity where personal injury or tangible property damage is caused by a legally causative act or…

A judgment or order on a group-litigation issue binds claims already on the register unless the court orders otherwise under rule 19.23(1)(a) of the Civil…

An express compensation clause accompanying a contractual right to terminate may permit recovery of loss of bargain damages even though the breach was not…

Under section 193(7AA) of the Housing Act 1996, a compliant private rented sector offer ends the main housing duty as a matter of law when the applicant…

Section 172(1) of the Companies Act 2006 requires a director to act, and not merely to think, in good faith. A court must respect a genuine business judgment…

For the second limb of statutory public nuisance under section 78(1)(b)(ii) of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, a right exercisable or…

Issue estoppel arises only from an issue that was necessary and fundamental to the earlier decision. It attaches to the immediate legal foundation of that…

The salaried-members regime treats an LLP member as an employee for tax purposes only when all three statutory conditions are met. Condition B concerns…

For income tax purposes, a partner’s share of partnership profits is determined by contractual profit-sharing rights subsisting during the relevant accounting…

Whether a person is deprived of liberty under article 5 requires a fact-sensitive, multifactorial assessment of the person’s concrete situation. The court must…

Article 2(1) of the Windsor Framework can have direct effect only when read with a sufficiently clear and precise right within the relevant chapter of the…

Under a business interruption policy, a savings clause referring to charges or expenses which cease or reduce is concerned with the economic burden borne by…

A validly made adoption order cannot be revoked under the High Court’s inherent or parens patriae jurisdiction. Adoption is statutory. Its definitive and…

Capital expenditure is incurred “on the provision of” plant or machinery under section 11(4)(a) of the Capital Allowances Act 2001 only where there is a close…

Under section 39 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, an authorised person may accept responsibility for only part of a prescribed business carried…

A prohibition on providing funds “in connection with” an arrangement for making restricted goods available to a person connected with Russia requires a factual…

A state waives adjudicative immunity under a treaty where the treaty’s words, interpreted under public international law, clearly and unequivocally express…

An offence under section 12(1A) of the Terrorism Act 2000 requires the knowing expression of an opinion or belief objectively supportive of a proscribed…

A magistrates’ court’s power to vary or rescind a sentence in the interests of justice applies to the entire sentencing package. It includes adding a…

A petition alleging unfairly prejudicial conduct under sections 994 and 996 of the Companies Act 2006 is not subject to the limitation periods in sections 8 or…

A child whose life expectancy is shortened by personal injury may recover damages for pecuniary loss during the lost years. Recovery does not depend on the…

A statutory prohibition on using dairy designations for non-dairy agricultural products extends beyond using a dairy term as the product’s name. A designation…

A claim involving any technical means, including ordinary computer hardware, is an invention for the purposes of article 52 of the European Patent Convention.…

The illegality defence may bar a negligence claim arising from an intentional unlawful killing even where the claimant was found not guilty by reason of…

An industry-wide standard form contract is interpreted objectively and contextually, using the established principles of contractual interpretation. Its…