Category: defences

Breaking bad – Hardwicke Chambers

Posted November 19th, 2013 in defences, landlord & tenant, leases, news by sally

“The serving of a bad or defective notice has produced a wealth of litigation over the years. The fact that no-one has been misled, confused or in any way disadvantaged has never deterred those who want to take the point, particularly where the stakes are high. And, they are usually not higher where commercial leases are concerned and the tenant wants to break the lease. Where there may be grotesquely disproportionate and serious consequences for the party (or its adviser) who gets it wrong, a range of different responses has evolved in order for the courts to produce a more just outcome.”

Full story

Hardwicke Chambers, 4th November 2013

Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk

Reform out of date laws on fitness to plead, ministers urged – The Independent

Posted August 15th, 2013 in defences, fitness to plead, insanity, Law Commission, mental health, news, reports by sally

“Mentally ill people are routinely forced to stand trial because the rules on fitness to appear in court are out of date, legal reformers have told the Government.”

Full story

The Independent, 14th August 2013

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Insanity and Automatism – Law Commission

Posted July 23rd, 2013 in automatism, defences, insanity, Law Commission, reports by tracey

“We have published a discussion paper examining the rules governing the defences of insanity and automatism.”

Full paper

Law Commission, 23rd July 2013

Source: www.justice.gov.uk/lawcommission

Lady Hale gives the Alison Weatherfield Memorial Lecture at the Employment Lawyers Association – Supreme Court

Posted July 16th, 2013 in belief discrimination, defences, disability discrimination, human rights, judges, news, race discrimination, religious discrimination, sex discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, speeches by sally

Lady Hale gives the Alison Weatherfield Memorial Lecture at the Employment Lawyers Association (PDF)

Supreme Court, 10th July 2013

Source: www.supremecourt.gov.uk

Assisted suicide should be regulated by courts, senior judges told – The Guardian

Posted May 14th, 2013 in assisted suicide, bills, defences, news by sally

“Courts should be able to regulate individual requests for assisted suicide without reference to parliament, senior judges have been told.”

Full story

The Guardian, 13th May 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Defamation Act becomes law, establishes new statutory defences against libel – OUT-LAW.com

Posted April 30th, 2013 in bills, defamation, defences, legislation, news, public interest by sally

“Changes to libel laws in England and Wales have been implemented after the Defamation Bill received Royal Assent late last week.”

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 29th April 2013

Source: www.out-law.com

Regina v Asmeron – WLR

Posted April 16th, 2013 in appeals, defences, documents, immigration, law reports, refugees by sally

Regina v Asmeron [2013] EWCA Crim 435; [2013] WLR (D) 135

“Where a defendant was charged with an offence of entering the United Kingdom without a passport, contrary to section 2 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Act 2004, the court could only rule that the defendant’s explanation for so doing was incapable in law of amounting to a good reason or a reasonable excuse if it could properly be said, on the true construction of the Act, that it would be inconsistent with the essential nature and purpose of the offence for the defendant’s explanation to be capable of amounting to a defence. The fact that a defence might be considered hopeless on the merits was not a good reason for a judge to withdraw it from the jury.”

WLR Daily, 11th April 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina v Dawes; Regina v Hatter; Regina v Bowyer – WLR Daily

Posted April 5th, 2013 in appeals, defences, homicide, law reports by sally

Regina v Dawes; Regina v Hatter; Regina v Bowyer [2013] EWCA Crim 322; [2013] WLR (D) 130

“For the purposes of the defence of loss of self-control, on a charge of murder, the questions whether the circumstances were extremely grave and whether the defendant’s sense of being seriously wronged by them was justifiable required objective assessment by the judge at the end of the evidence and, if the defence was left, by the jury considering their verdict. They were not to be decided by the defendant on the basis of any assertions he might make in evidence or any account he might give in the investigative process.”

WLR Daily, 26th March 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Marital coercion defence could be scrapped – The Guardian

Posted April 2nd, 2013 in defences, harassment, married persons, news, repeals by sally

“Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, is considering abolishing the legal defence of ‘marital coercion’ that was unsuccessfully used by Vicky Pryce in her trial for taking speeding points on behalf of her husband.”

Full story

The Guardian, 31st March 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Hayes v Willoughby – WLR Daily

Posted March 22nd, 2013 in crime, defences, harassment, law reports, Supreme Court by sally

Hayes v Willoughby [2013] UKSC 17; [2013] WLR (D) 110

Where a person whose conduct would amount to harrassment of another within section 1(1) of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 sought to rely on the defence under section 1(3)(a) of the Act of having acted for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime, he had to show that he had thought rationally about the material suggesting the possibility of criminality and had formed the view that the conduct said to constitute harassment was appropriate for the purpose of preventing or detecting it.

WLR Daily, 20th March 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Hayes (FC) (Respondent) v Willoughby (Appellant) – Supreme Court

Posted March 21st, 2013 in crime, defences, harassment, law reports, Supreme Court by sally

Hayes (FC) (Respondent) v Willoughby (Appellant) [2013] UKSC 17 | UKSC 2012/0010 (YouTube)

Supreme Court, 20th March 2013

Source: www.youtube.com/user/UKSupremeCourt

The Supreme Court on harassment: purpose and rationality – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted March 21st, 2013 in crime, defences, harassment, news, Supreme Court by sally

“Harassment is both a civil wrong and a crime. It is a statutory defence to both that the conduct #was pursued for the purpose of preventing or detecting crime’ s.1(3) Protection of Harassment Act 1997. This decision grappled with the problem of the apparently honest but irrational harasser. Was he guilty or did this defence help him? In answering this, the Supreme Court looked at some basic concepts running through great swathes of the law, ‘purpose’, ‘subjective’, ‘objective’, ‘reasonableness’ and, critically, ‘rationality’ – so the case is one not simply for harassment lawyers to look at.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 20th March 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

The Vicky Pryce case highlights why ‘marital coercion’ should be thrown out – The Guardian

Posted March 7th, 2013 in bullying, defences, duress, harassment, married persons, news by sally

“The defence used by Chris Huhne’s ex-wife after she took his speeding points is not available to men or unmarried women.”

Full story

The Guardian, 7th March 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Regina v Asmelash – WLR Daily

Posted February 26th, 2013 in alcohol abuse, appeals, crime, defences, homicide, law reports, murder by sally

Regina v Asmelash [2013] EWCA Crim 157; [2013] WLR (D) 79

“There was nothing in the new statutory provisions relating to the partial defence to murder of loss of self control to suggest that Parliament intended that the normal rules which applied to voluntary intoxication should not apply. That did not mean that a defendant who had been drinking was deprived of the loss of control defence, it just meant that the defence had to be approached without reference to the defendant’s voluntary intoxication.”

WLR Daily, 22nd February 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina v Sadighpour – WLR Daily

Posted January 8th, 2013 in appeals, burden of proof, crime, defences, immigration, law reports by sally

Regina v Sadighpour [2012] EWCA Crim 2669; [2013] WLR (D) 4

“Section 31(7) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 did not reiterate a requirement to satisfy an evidential burden, initially imposed by section 31(1) on a defendant in relation to refugee status, even when the Secretary of State had refused an asylum claim, and was apt to cover a situation where there had already been due consideration of the defendant’s claim to refugee status on the merits.”

WLR Daily, 11th December 2012

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Lord McAlpine case shows need for a public interest defence in libel – The Guardian

Posted November 16th, 2012 in damages, defamation, defences, media, news, public interest by tracey

“The Newsnight scandal shows that the status quo does very little for defamation victims.”

Full story

The Guardian, 16th November 2012

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Ignorance is no defence on Twitter and Facebook, warn legal experts – Daily Telegraph

Posted November 6th, 2012 in defamation, defences, internet, malicious communications, news, publishing by sally

“Media lawyers Niri Shan and Lorna Caddy explain why commenting on Twitter and Facebook is no longer the same as a chat down the pub.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 5th November 2012

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Beginner’s Guide to the Ban on Age Discrimination in Goods and Services – Cloisters

Posted October 9th, 2012 in age discrimination, defences, EC law, legislation, news by sally

“From 1 October, the government will bring into force the provisions within the Equality Act 2010 (EA 2010) which prohibit age discrimination in the field of goods and services by virtue of the Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No 9) Order 2012. This means that commercial, charitable and public sector organisations will be required to eliminate unequal treatment on the grounds of age in respect of the provision of goods and services.”

Full story (PDF)

Cloisters, 11th September 2012

Source: www.cloisters.com

“No precedent? Then set one!” – Nicklinson right to die case – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted August 21st, 2012 in assisted suicide, defences, euthanasia, human rights, murder, news, precedent by sally

“This is Richard Dawkin’s battle cry in response to the recent High Court rejection of the challenge by locked-in sufferers to the murder and manslaughter laws in this country that have condemned them to an unknowable future of suffering.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 20th August 2012

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Insanity and Automatism – Law Commission

Posted July 18th, 2012 in automatism, consultations, defences, insanity, mental health, press releases by tracey

“The Defences of Insanity and Automatism – Law Commissioner Professor David Ormerod says, ‘To produce meaningful reform proposals and be confident they will work in practice we need evidence of their current use and any problems they pose.  Our scoping paper asks questions to provide that information.’ ”

Full press release

Law Commission, 18th July 2012

Source: www.lawcommission.justice.gov.uk