02/07/2009 – Current Awareness

“A wealthy German heiress worth £100 million today won a Court of Appeal case that will leave her former husband, now an impoverished student, with only maintenance money for his daughters.”

Full story

The Times, 2nd July 2009

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Innocents accused of net piracy – BBC News

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in copyright, internet, news by sally

“Some 20 net users have come forward claiming they have been wrongly accused of illegally sharing video games.”

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BBC News, 2nd July 2009

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Met slow to change after death of Jean Charles de Menezes, says report – The Guardian

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in firearms, news, police by sally

“Scotland Yard has failed to carry out a series of changes it was ordered to make after disastrous blunders led its officers to kill Jean Charles de Menezes, according to an official report.”

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The Guardian, 1st July 2009

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

House of Lords Judgments: What’s new?

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in law reports by sally

Birmingham City Council (Appellants) v Ali (FC) and others (FC) (Respondents) Moran (FC) (Appellant) v Manchester City Council (Respondents) [2009] UKHL 36 (1 July 2009)

SCA Packaging Limited (Appellants) v Boyle (Respondent) (Northern Ireland) [2009] UKHL 37 (1 July 2009)

Chartbrook Limited (Respondents) v Persimmon Homes Limited and others (Appellants) and another (Respondent) [2009] UKHL 38 (1 July 2009)

Source: www.parliament.uk

Jack Straw launches first mental health courts – Ministry of Justice

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in courts, mental health, news by sally

“Problem-solving courts for offenders with mental health problems or learning disabilities, the first of their kind in England and Wales, were today formally launched by Justice Secretary Jack Straw.”

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Ministry of Justice, 2nd July 2009

Source: www.justice.gov.uk

Draft guideline: Overarching principles – Sentencing youths – Sentencing Guidelines Council

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in news, sentencing, young offenders by sally

“On Tuesday 30 June 2009, the Sentencing Guidelines Council published a draft guideline on the principles which apply when courts sentence young offenders. The guideline is set in the context of new laws for sentencing young people which are expected to come into force later this year.”

Consultation guideline: Overarching principles – Sentencing youths (PDF)

Letter to consultees (PDF)

Advice: Sentencing principles – youths (PDF)

Press Notice (PDF)

Sentencing Guidelines Council, 30th June 2009

Source: www.sentencing-guidelines.gov.uk

Chartbrook Ltd and another v Persimmon Homes Ltd and another – WLR Daily

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in contracts, evidence, interpretation, law reports, rectification by sally

Chartbrook Ltd and another v Persimmon Homes Ltd and another [2009] UKHL 38; [2009] WLR (D) 223

“The admission of pre-contractual negotiations as an aid to the construction of a contract would create uncertainty of outcome in disputes over interpretation and would add to the cost of advice and litigation. The law of contract was designed to enforce promises with a high degree of predictability and if conventional meanings and syntax were to be displaced by inferences drawn from pre-contractual negotiations, the less predictable the outcome was likely to be. The availability of the remedies of rectification and estoppel by convention were safeguards which would in most cases prevent any injustice caused by the exclusion of that evidence.”

WLR Daily, 1st July 2009

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

Boyle v SCA Packaging Ltd (Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening) – WLR Daily

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in disability discrimination, law reports, statutory interpretation by sally

Boyle v SCA Packaging Ltd (Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening) [2009] UKHL 37; [2009] WLR (D) 222

“When determining whether a person was disabled within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 by reason of having an impairment which, though capable of being controlled by measures taken to treat or control it, would be likely to have substantial adverse effects but for those measures, the word “likely” did not mean probable but ‘could well happen’. It followed that a woman whose propensity to develop vocal nodules was controlled by a strict management regime based on avoiding raising her voice, but which “could well” return and cause substantial adverse effects if that regime was not followed, was disabled for the purposes of the Act and her former employer, who had decided to place her in a noisier work environment despite her claim that it would require her to speak louder and so jeopardise her voice management regime, had to answer her claim that they had failed to make reasonable adjustments for her disability.”

WLR Daily, 1st July 2009

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

Birmingham City Council v Ali and others; Moran v Manchester City Council (Women’s Aid Federation of England and another intervening) – WLR Daily

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in homelessness, housing, law reports by sally

Birmingham City Council v Ali and others; Moran v Manchester City Council (Women’s Aid Federation of England and another intervening) [2009] UKHL 36; [2009] WLR (D) 221

“Although it had not been reasonable for families to remain in their current accommodation indefinitely, the local housing authority had been entitled to leave them there in the short term, it being a question of fact whether the period was too long, but the authority had not been entitled to rely on its allocation policy to fulfil its duty. It had not been reasonable for a woman to continue to occupy a women’s refuge indefinitely, and she had accordingly remained “homeless” under the Housing Act 1996.”

WLR Daily, 1st July 2009

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform v Seager; Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform v Blatch – WLR Daily

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in company directors, confiscation, law reports, proceeds of crime by sally

Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform v Seager; Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform v Blatch [2009] EWCA Crim 1303; [2009] WLR (D) 220

“Where a confiscation order was made pursuant to s 71 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 or s 6(4) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 against a defendant in respect of his benefit from his criminal conduct in respect of an offence of acting in contravention of an order or undertaking disqualifying him from being a company director, that benefit was not simply to be assessed as the turnover of the relevant company, but as the value of the property obtained by the defendant himself, as determined in accordance with ordinary common law principles of entitlement and ownership.”

WLR Daily, 1st July 2009

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

R (Allen) v Inner North London Coroner – WLR Daily

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in detention, human rights, inquests, law reports, mental health by sally

R (Allen) v Inner North London Coroner [2009] EWCA Civ 623; [2009] WLR (D) 219

“An inquest into the death of a patient who was detained in a hospital under s 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983 had to satisfy the enhanced requirements of art 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms which guaranteed the right to life.”

WLR Daily, 1st July 2009

Source: www.lawreports.co.uk

Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.

Chartbrook Ltd and Another v Persimmon Homes Ltd and Another – Times Law Reports

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in contracts, evidence, interpretation, law reports, rectification by sally

Chartbrook Ltd and Another v Persimmon Homes Ltd and Another

House of Lords

“There were no grounds for the House of Lords to depart from the long standing rule that excluded evidence of what was said or done during the course of negotiating a contract for the purpose of drawing inferences about what the contract meant.”

The Times, 2nd July 2009

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Sarcastic, rude: is this the way to question child witnesses? – The Times

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in children, cross-examination, news, witnesses by sally

“The cross-examination of the four- year-old girl in the Baby Peter-related rape trial raised uncomfortable questions about how the justice system treats child witnesses.”

Full story

The Times, 2nd July 2009

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Ronnie Biggs to remain in jail – The Guardian

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in news, parole by sally

“Ronnie Biggs, the man at the centre of Britain’s great train robbery, will remain in prison after the justice secretary, Jack Straw, refused to grant him parole.”

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The Guardian, 1st July 2009

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Unsolicited credit card cheques to be banned – The Independent

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in consumer credit, consumer protection, news by sally

“The Government will today set out details of its plan to ban lenders from sending out unsolicited credit card cheques to consumers. The Government will today set out details of its plan to ban lenders from sending out unsolicited credit card cheques to consumers.”

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The Independent, 2nd July 2009

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Blow to politics clean-up bill as MPs defend parliamentary privilege – The Guardian

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in news, parliamentary privilege by sally

“The government’s efforts to rush through emergency legislation to clean up politics tonight took a second knock in as many days as it was defeated in its attempts to make it easier to secure prosecutions in alleged cases of ‘cash for questions’.”

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The Guardian, 1st July 2009

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Amending the law on the DNA database needs proper scrutiny – The Times

Posted July 2nd, 2009 in criminal records, DNA, human rights, news by sally

“Last December the European Court of Human Rights decided in S and Marper v The United Kingdom that the retention by the State of DNA profiles is a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. That is because information about people arrested for, or charged with, an offence but not subsequently convicted, is kept on the national DNA database for an unlimited period of time. The Government has accepted the judgment of the European court and announced that it will change the law to ensure compliance. But its proposed method of doing so is unsatisfactory and needs reconsideration.”

Full story

The Times, 2nd July 2009

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk