‘Today, the Law Commission has published a scoping paper looking into how Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) can be characterised and how the law of England and Wales might accommodate them now and in the future. The paper seeks to identify current issues around DAOs to inform any future law reform or innovations.’
Law Commission, 11th July 2024
Source: lawcom.gov.uk
‘Largely thanks to the prime-time ITV dramatization, the Post Office Horizon scandal has brought to light the serious shortcomings in the way the Post Office handled the private prosecution of sub-postmasters. Whilst this has shocked the nation, unfortunately the actions of the Post Office in its role as prosecutor comes as no surprise for those with experience of public prosecutors.’
Mills & Reeve, 26th June 2024
Source: www.mills-reeve.com
‘More than 200,000 people have wrongly faced investigation for housing benefit fraud and error after the performance of a government algorithm fell far short of expectations, the Guardian can reveal.’
The Guardian, 23rd June 2024
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘For the first time, by way of the Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act (“the Act”), Parliament has legislated to quash criminal convictions. In this post I will argue that, no matter how understandable, indeed laudable, the intention behind this legislation, in its haste to offer a speedy and comprehensive correction to mass injustice, Parliament has crossed a constitutional line and ventured into territory that is properly the preserve of the courts.’
UK Constitutional Law Association , 3rd June 2024
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Police are planning to deploy 80 detectives for their criminal inquiry into the Post Office scandal, the Guardian has learned, but victims will face a long wait to discover if charges will follow.’
The Guardian, 27th May 2024
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The Future of Courts: Expert Panel and Discussion.’
Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, 15th May 2024
Source: www.judiciary.uk
‘Uber is facing a multi-million pound legal case being brought on behalf of almost 11,000 London black cab drivers, in the latest challenge to the firm in the UK capital.’
BBC News, 2nd May 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Manufacturers will have to follow stricter rules if they want to sell “smart” gadgets in the UK after a new law came into effect.’
BBC News, 29th April 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘An estimated 736 people were prosecuted by the Post Office between 2000 and 2014, Horizon software having been first introduced in 1999, and responsibility for prosecutions, in all but exceptional cases, being handed over to the Crown Prosecution Service in 2014. Many of those prosecuted were imprisoned, 4 committed suicide and all faced the stigma and stress of criminal prosecution. The Court of Appeal in Hamilton v Post Office Limited [2021] EWCA Crim 577 quashed 39 convictions (of the 42 appellants) on the basis that there had been an abuse of process on two grounds: that a fair trial was impossible and that it was an affront to public conscience for the appellants to have faced prosecution. This judgment followed the Post Office Group Litigation in the High Court before Fraser J known as Bates and Others v The Post Office Limited [2019] EWHC 3408.’
Guildhall Chambers, 11th March 2024
Source: www.guildhallchambers.co.uk
‘In December 2023, the Court of Appeal decided THJ Systems v Sheridan [2023] EWCA Civ 1354 and in doing so, illustrated my point nicely. That case involved a software which generated visual ‘risk and pie charts’. A representative example appears below. Both Mr Mitchell (the software developer) and Mr Sheridan (the software user) claimed to own the resulting visual images under section 9(3). This argument appeared in both the re-re-re- amended particulars of the claim (para 38.2) and the re-re-amended defence (para 49). The approved list of issues for trial (question 25) also explicitly directed the courts to determine who the author of the works was under section 9(3). With that in mind, one might expect the judgments of the High Court and Court of Appeal to interpret and apply s9(3).’
City Law Forum, 17th April 2024
Source: blogs.city.ac.uk
‘A post office operator who was wrongly prosecuted while pregnant has rejected a Post Office executive’s apology for having sent an email celebrating her conviction as “brilliant news”.’
The Guardian, 11th April 2024
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Technology’s exponential growth often outpaces that of the law. The persistence of outdated legal concepts that were not drafted with new technology in mind leads to legal uncertainty. This article focuses on one example of such a friction between old law and new technology, namely the eligibility of blockchain as a “database” for protection under the EU Database Directive, as implemented into UK copyright law. The most problematic requirement for blockchain as a candidate is that the material inside the database be “independent”. This can pose a significant hurdle for blockchain to succeed as the immutability of blockchain is ensured by the “linked-list” structure in between the blocks and the combinational hashing of data within the individual block. This article examines this issue and proposes a solution to this quandary: to divide the data recorded on a blockchain into “content” and “structure”, and confine the criterion of “independence” to the former. In reaching this solution, the author examines previous literature on the different types of data that can be found in databases, as well as how the concept of “independence” is understood by judges and academics. This article will be of practical significance for developers of non-open source blockchain applications who wish to protect their products as a database.’
Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice, 22nd March 2024
Source: academic.oup.com
‘A black Uber Eats driver has received a payout after “racially discriminatory” facial-recognition checks prevented him accessing the app to secure work.’
BBC News, 26th March 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A new law will be introduced on Wednesday to clear the names of the hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted in the Post Office scandal.’
BBC News, 13th March 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Former sub-postmaster Jo Hamilton says she feels “survivor’s guilt” after settling with the Post Office over the Horizon IT scandal for an undisclosed sum.’
BBC News, 5th March 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Law Commission of England and Wales has opened a new project to examine how questions on the application of private international law should be answered in the context of disputes over digital assets or electronic trade documents.’
OUT-LAW.com, 29th February 2024
Source: www.pinsentmasons.com
‘Ministers have vowed to press ahead with legislation to automatically overturn convictions related to the Post Office Horizon scandal by the end of July.’
The Guardian, 22nd February 2024
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘A judge has given the go-ahead to a mass legal action against Facebook owner Meta, potentially worth £3bn.’
BBC News, 15th February 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘A small group of former sub-postmasters whose convictions were overturned have finally been told they will receive full compensation.’
BBC News, 12th February 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
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