“New civil legal aid fees may have to be scrapped in light of the appeal court’s ruling last week that the Legal Services Commission’s (LSC) unified contract is unlawful.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 6th December 2007
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“The Queen has instructed her lawyers to take action over the way a BBC programme trailer misrepresented her by suggesting she had stormed out of a photo shoot.”
Daily Telegraph, 12th August 2007
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“On 17 July 2007 the Law Commission published jointly with the Scottish Law Commission a consultation paper on insurance contract law. We invite comments on provisional proposals to modernise the law relating to misrepresentation, non-disclosure and breach of warranty by the insured.”
Insurance Contract Law: Misrepresentation, Non-Disclosure and Breach of Warranty by the Insured (PDF)
Law Commission, 17th July 2007
Source: www.lawcom.gov.uk
“An oral contract over the phone is binding, the High Court has ruled in a multi-million pound case which threatened to undermine the way the world of high finance operates. The verbal agreement did not have to be in writing, the court found.”
OUT-LAW.com, 10th July 2007
Source: www.out-law.com
“The City of London breathed a collective sigh of relief this afternoon as the High Court confirmed that despite major technological advancements and cultural changes, the principle of ‘my word is my bond’ was still relevant in the modern world. In the first case of its kind, a judge ruled that an investment fund could not pull out of a financial transaction after circumstances made the deal substantially less attractive. ”
The Times, 6th July 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Contract valid despite nonconformity
Datec Electronics Holdings Ltd. and Another v. United Parcels Services Ltd.
House of Lords
“When a carrier accepted packages for transportation by road to another country, and the undertaking was performed to an extent, then there was a contract of carriage even if the carrier had unknowingly accepted packages which did not conform to its terms and conditions of carriage. Therefore the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road applied.”
The Times, 18th May 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
Counter-restitution not required
Halpern and Another v. Halpern and Others (No. 2)
Court of Appeal
“It was not necessarily the case that a party wishing to obtain rescission of a contract on the ground of duress had to be able to provide counter-restitution. The Court of Appeal so stated, inter alia, when: (i) allowing an appeal by the defendants, Nochum Halpern, David Halpern, Bezalel Halpern, Akiva Halpern and Eshter Vaisfische, against a decision of Mr Justice Christopher Clarke in the commercial court ([2006] 2 All ER (Comm) 251) and (ii) allowing their appeal against a decision of Mr Nigel Teare, QC, sitting as a deputy Queen’s Bench Division judge ( The Times July 18, 2006; [2006] 3 WLR 946) on a preliminary issue whether rescission was available as a remedy for duress if substantial restitution could not be given.”
The Times, 14th May 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
“Someone cannot be sued for inducing another person to breach a contract unless it can be shown that the inducement was deliberate, the House of Lords has ruled in a decision which could have a significant impact on employment law.”
OUT-LAW.com, 9th May 2007
Source: www.out-law.com
Receivership prevents notice of intention from being given
Melville Dundas Ltd. and Others v. George Wimpey UK Ltd. and Others
House of Lords
“A provision that a party to a construction contract could not, unless he had given notice of intention to do so, withhold payment after the final date for payment of a sum due under the contract, did not apply to a lawful ground for withholding payment, such as the contractor going into receivership, when it was not possible for notice to have been given within the statutory time frame.”
The Times, 8th May 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
Color Drack GmbH v. Lexx International Vertriebs GmbH (Case C-386/05)
“Where under a contract goods were delivered to several places in the same EC member state, it was the place of principal delivery in that state, determined on the basis of economic criteria, that had jurisdiction in disputes on the contract.”
WLR Daily, 3rd May 2007
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.
Duty of confidentiality to celebrities is enforceable
Douglas and Another v. Hello! Ltd. and Others
House of Lords
“Photographic images of the wedding of two celebrities had a commercial value over which the celebrities had sufficient control to enable them to impose an obligation of confidence. A magazine publisher who had bought the exclusive right to publish the photographs and had the benefit of the duty of confidentiality imposed by the celebrities, had the right to enforce that duty against a rival magazine which published unauthorised photographs of the wedding.”
The Times, 3rd May 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
“The House of Lords’ ruling, by a 3 – 2 majority in favour of OK! magazine’s £1 million claim against Hello!, will further strengthen the grip that celebrities have over the exploitation of their fame. The use of “spoilers”, in which one publication beats another to an “exclusive” story, will now carry a much greater risk of large compensation claims.”
The Times, 2nd May 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“OK! magazine won it’s [sic] appeal today against glossy rival Hello! in the dispute over the Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas wedding photographs.”
The Times, 2nd May 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“A printing firm has successfully won compensation for the wasted time of a company executive in a construction dispute. Bridge Communications was awarded £4,800 for the time which a senior executive spent dealing with the dispute.”
OUT-LAW.com, 1st May 2007
Source: www.out-law.com
“To the outside world it must seem extraordinary that lawyers (of all people) signed a contract so apparently weighted in favour of the paymaster that the profession’s own contract lawyer advised them not to put pen to paper.”
The Times, 17th April 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“A trio of barristers from 20 Essex Street has secured a House of Lords ruling that could alter significantly the principles governing the way damages are measured for breach of contract.”
The Lawyer, 16th April 2007
Source: www.thelawyer.com
© Inner Temple Library 2025