‘The Court of Appeal has interpreted the rules for non-attendance on the small claims track in a manner consistent with rule 39.3 in finding that an absent Claimant nevertheless “appeared” at his trial, through his legal representative.’
Pump Court Chambers, 29th March 2023
Source: www.pumpcourtchambers.com
‘Confusion has arisen around the British government’s own understanding of its citizenship laws, following a judgment by the UK’s high court. In a ruling handed down on January 20 2023, in the case of Roehrig v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Mr Justice Eyre determined that the restrictive approach applied by the Home Office since 2000 to how the children of EU nationals automatically acquire citizenship is the correct interpretation of the law.’
EIN Blog, 28th February 2023
Source: www.ein.org.uk
‘Maidstone Borough Council will have to reconsider a planning application after the Court of Appeal found the local authority misinterpreted its own planning policy on brownfield developments.’
Local Government Lawyer, 27th February 2023
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has handed down a significant judgment on the interpretation of settlement agreements; and specifically, whether a settlement agreement was intended to, and has the effect of, precluding or releasing claims arising from fraud, conspiracy or other intentional wrongdoing despite not expressly referring to such claims.’
Blackstone Chambers, 21st December 2022
Source: www.blackstonechambers.com
‘The UK Supreme Court (UKSC) recently issued its unanimous judgment which found the draft Scottish Independence Referendum Bill to be outside the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament. While the facts of this case are distinctively different from previous Scottish cases, a common theme remains in the Court’s insistence on ‘ordinary meaning of words’ as its ‘general approach to the interpretation of the Scotland Act’. According to such an approach, the Court prioritises ‘the language carefully chosen by the Parliamentary drafter and enacted by Parliament’ as ‘[t]he best way of ensuring a coherent, stable and workable outcome’. The purpose of this blog post is not to explore the facts of this particular case. Rather, it focuses on the UKSC’s repeated stress of textualism. A similarity is found in the Court’s textual interpretation of Section 28(7), which was understood to affirm the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty and served as the crux of its previous cases on devolution. The aim of the post is to show the questionable nature of the Court’s textual fidelity and highlight that it runs counter to foundational canons of interpretation. For space constraints, my argument focuses mainly on Section 21 from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill Reference (UNCRC Incorporation Bill case) after briefly discussing section 17 of the Scottish Legal Continuity Bill.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 20th December 2022
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Aileen McColgan KC examines a Court of Appeal ruling that the Government’s planning definition of “gypsies and travellers” was unlawfully discriminatory.’
Local Government Lawyer, 16th December 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘When the courts are faced with questions of contractual construction there remains a tension in the approach they should take.’
Practical Law: Construction Blog, 2nd December 2022
‘What constitutes an “assault” in the FA Disciplinary Regulations? Where is the line to be drawn within the FA Disciplinary Regulations between an “assault” and the lesser offence of “physical contact”? A recent decision of an FA Appeal Board has provided some much-needed clarity addressing these questions insofar as they relate to offences against match officials as outlined in paragraph 96 of the FA Disciplinary Regulations, Part D – On-Field Regulations, Section 3 (“OFR, Section 3”).’
Football Law, November 2022
Source: www.footballlaw.co.uk
‘In this first Judgment, the Court analysed powers granted by the Immigration Acts 1971 and 2016 and rejected the Defendant’s erroneous interpretation of the relevant statutory provisions. It then made consequential orders (also reported) including steps to publicise its ruling, given that over 400 phones, still held, could not be linked to any individual migrant.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 21st November 2022
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Laurence Fox has lost the latest round of his High Court libel case with three people he referred to as “paedophiles” on Twitter.’
The Independent, 1st November 2022
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Last week Liz Truss’s cabinet decided to shelve the proposed British Bill of Rights. Quite a lot has been said about the Bill since it was announced and many have welcomed the quiet demise of what was perceived by some to be a dangerous inroad into our human rights protection. Others have suggested that the Bill would never have been able to make good on the hopes of those who wish to see the U.K. unshackled from the jurisdiction of the Strasbourg Court. Rajiv Shah, a former special advisor in the Ministry of Justice and the No 10 Policy Unit, argues that the Bill was presented as containing a lot of red meat – to encourage ECHR sceptics and dismay ECHR advocates – while in reality being little more than a vegan steak. On reflection this is a fairly accurate description. One area of concern, however, was the potential repeal of s. 3 of the Human Rights Act.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 12th September 2022
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘On 11 August 2022 Mr Justice Leech handed down judgment in CMG Pension Trustees Ltd v CGI IT UK Ltd [2022] EWHC 2130 (Ch), a claim primarily concerning the construction of a rule in the CMG UK Pension Scheme which the defendant sponsoring employer contended provided for forfeiture of members’ benefits in specified circumstances.’
Radcliffe Chambers, 11th August 2022
Source: radcliffechambers.com
‘The ‘Bill of Rights Bill’, repealing and replacing the Human Rights Act, has already attracted significant criticism. This post focuses on clause 5, with which the government seeks to give effect to its previously expressed scepticism regarding ‘positive obligations’. These are duties on the authorities to take positive measures to protect individuals from human rights breaches, rather than merely refraining from breaching those rights with their own actions. The obligation to protect those suffering domestic violence is such an obligation.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 27th July 2022
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The problem of what happens when parties do not act in accordance with contractual formalities is a hardy perennial in commercial disputes. Certain instances of the problem are peculiar to the construction industry, notably absent or inadequate notices of events giving rise to time and money, or absent or inadequate payment or pay less notices. Each of these has given rise to complex caselaw. Other instances are common to all commercial contexts. One is the practice of including a “no oral modification” clause in a contract, but then informally agreeing an amendment. This situation has proved sufficiently difficult to require a thorough review and restatement of the law by the Supreme Court in MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd v Rock Advertising Ltd.’
Practical Law: Construction Blog, 13th July 2022
‘Milton Laines Roman (R OAO) v London Borough of Southwark (2022) EWHC 1232 (Admin). This was a judicial review of LB Southwark’s refusal to place the claimant in Band 1 of its Allocation Scheme, on the basis that the claimant’s current overcrowding in a private tenancy was a ‘deliberate act’. It is something of a sequel to Flores in 2020 (our note here), raising further issues with LB Southwark’s policy on overcrowding priority and ‘deliberate acts’.’
Nearly Legal, 5th June 2022
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Actor and political activist Laurence Fox has failed in his bid for the first libel trial by jury in a decade over a social media spat between him and three public figures he called “paedophiles” on Twitter.’
Law Society's Gazette, 18th May 2022
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A recent decision of the CJEU has addressed the definition of habitual residence for divorce jurisdiction under Art 3 of BIIA. It confirms the interpretation hitherto held in England that a party can have only one habitual residence at one time. But it has also given a strong indication that habitual residence has to be continuous for the requisite period before the date of issuing of proceedings and not just on the date of issue. This has been a controversy in English case law over many years, with the majority of professional opinion allegedly being that habitual residence was only necessary on the date of issue and merely residence for the requisite preceding period. The Ministry of Justice relied on this interpretation in drafting England’s new post Brexit divorce jurisdictional law, on the basis of following EU law. Now, seemingly, that is not so. What will now be the position in England dealing with cases involving EU Member States? In any event what is the position with transitional cases?’
Family Law, 12th May 2022
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
‘Actor Laurence Fox is seeking the first jury trial in a libel case for a decade over a social media spat between him and three public figures he called “paedophiles” on Twitter.’
Law Society's Gazette, 28th April 2022
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘What does it mean to be “in accordance with” an approved plan? Daniel Kolinsky QC and Ben Fullbrook examine a recent High Court ruling.’
Local Government Lawyer, 25th March 2022
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘Songwriters such as Ed Sheeran face a future of drawn out legal battles because the way in which people consume music has changed so much in the past half a century, a leading legal expert has warned, as she urged courts to reconsider how they interpret copyright law.’
The Guardian, 13th March 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
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