Court of Appeal rejects challenge over power to close parks for festivals – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Court of Appeal has rejected an attempt to stop London boroughs holding large music festivals in public parks, setting up a potential Supreme Court challenge.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 21st November 2017

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Treat Insolvency Rules as ‘a complete code’ for payment of statutory interest, rules Court of Appeal – OUT-LAW.com

‘The Court of Appeal has determined the extent of creditors’ entitlements to statutory interest on their debts and the correct approach for calculating their entitlement. It has ruled on the entitlement of representative creditors of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE) to the surplus funds and on the calculation of the statutory interest due to them.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 10th November 2017

Source: www.out-law.com

Financial claims for children following parental separation: child maintenance and Schedule 1 – Family Law

Posted November 6th, 2017 in child support, judges, legislation, news, statutory interpretation by tracey

‘In the recent case of Green v Adams [2017] EWFC 24 Mr Justice Mostyn discussed the constraints of child support and the perceived shortcomings in the latest child maintenance regime (introduced by the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008).’

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Family Law, 3rd Niovember 2017

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

Regulators can be taken to employment tribunals, Supreme Court rules – Law Society’s Gazette

‘Solicitors claiming wrongful dismissal can potentially hold the Solicitors Regulation Authority to account in the employment tribunal following a Supreme Court judgment which clarifies rules on bringing complaints against qualifications bodies. The long-running case Michalak v General Medical Council and others centred on a discrimination complaint brought against the medical regulator by Dr Ewa Michalak. The SRA intervened in support of the GMC.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 3rd November 2017

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Self-driving cars and “safety-critical” software updates – Technology Law Blog

‘As noted previously, the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill currently under consideration by Parliament includes draft rules concerning the insurance of “automated” vehicles – being vehicles “designed or adapted to be capable, in at least some circumstances or situations, of safely driving themselves”. Tesla, Volvo, and BMW amongst others have already developed vehicles with limited self-driving capabilities, although fully autonomous vehicles (i.e. those actually capable of driving themselves) are still in the testing phase.’

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Technology Law Blog, 30th October 2017

Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk

High Court: TV formats can be protected by copyright even if elements of the shows are spontaneous or changeable – OUT-LAW.com

Posted October 27th, 2017 in confidentiality, copyright, documents, media, news, statutory interpretation by sally

‘Media companies that create TV game or quiz shows can win copyright protection for the format of those programmes in certain circumstances, the High Court in London has ruled.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 26th October 2017

Source: www.out-law.com

Bridge is not a sport and can’t have tax break, says European Court of Justice – Daily Telegraph

Posted October 27th, 2017 in EC law, international courts, news, sport, statutory interpretation, VAT by sally

‘Bridge is not a sport, European Union judges ruled today, in a decision that dealt a blow to British clubs’ hopes of a VAT tax break.’

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Daily Telegraph, 26th October 2017

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Local authority wins tribunal case over student accommodation and council tax – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Valuation Tribunal has dismissed an appeal by a student accommodation provider over the application of council tax exemptions to student flats.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 25th October 2017

Source: localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Copyright in Photographs – Pablo Star Media Ltd v Bowen – NIPC Law

‘The infringement that was the subject of the appeal was the lifting of a fragment of a photo of the great man’s wedding photo in 1937 from the VisitWales.com website and its reuse on a website that advertises holiday cottages in Wales. Liability was not contested so the hearing before Deputy District Judge Vary was an assessment of damages only. According to paragraph [7] of Judge Hacon’s judgment, the learned deputy district judge awarded £250 on the user principle and declined to award additional damages under s.97 (2) of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (“the CDPA”). He ordered the copyright owner to pay the infringer’s travelling expenses on the ground that the claimant had failed in its obligation under CPR 1.3 to help the court further the overriding objective by bringing proceedings in the Irish Republic for infringement of the corresponding Irish copyright and threatening similar proceedings in the USA to maximize cost and pressure on the defendant to settle.’

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NIPC Law, 15th October 2017

Source: nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk

SRA guidance to stop many council legal trading activities “dead in their tracks” – Local Government Lawyer

‘The Solicitors Regulation Authority last month published long-awaited guidance on a key section of the Legal Services Act 2007 that it is claimed will stop many local authorities’ legal services trading activities “dead in their tracks”.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 6th October 2017

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Foster carer fights for workers’ rights – BBC News

‘A foster carer is launching a legal claim to argue for workers’ rights for people in her role.’

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BBC News, 9th October 2017

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Data law: don’t expect a soft start, lawyers warned – Law Society’s Gazette

‘Any hope that a tough new data protection regime will be enforced lightly at first were dashed this week by a senior figure at the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25 May next year, regardless of domestic legislation currently before parliament.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 29th September 2017

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Thomas Fairclough: What’s New About the Rule of Law? A Reply to Michal Hain – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘This blog recently published a detailed piece by Michal Hain. He made some very interesting claims that this note will examine. I start by explaining Hain’s arguments and ordering them roughly according to the way they come out in his piece. I then examine each in greater detail giving my own views. Finally, I will conclude with some general points about constitutionalism and individual cases.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 18th September 2017

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Landmark appeal judgment dents libel threshold hopes – Law Society’s Gazette

‘A Court of Appeal ruling has dealt a blow to hopes that the 2013 Defamation Act would raise the bar to libel actions in England and Wales courts. In Bruno Lachaux v Independent Print Limited and Evening Standard Limited, and Bruno Lachaux v AOL (UK) Limited, the court dismissed an appeal by publishers against a High Court finding that a French national living in Dubai had been caused “serious harm” by the publication of allegations by his former wife.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 12th September 2017

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Michal Hain: Guardians of the Constitution – the Constitutional Implications of a Substantive Rule of Law – UK Constitutional Law Association

Posted September 12th, 2017 in constitutional reform, news, rule of law, statutory interpretation by tracey

‘A constitutional storm is brewing. Whilst it is too early to perform the burial rites for parliamentary sovereignty, the Supreme Court’s decisions in R (UNISON) v Lord Chancellor [2017] UKSC 51 and R (Evans) v Attorney-General [2015] UKSC 21 are the beginning of the end of the principle’s unrivalled reign. Two especially thorny constitutional issues arose in both cases. One concerns the extent to which statutory interpretation can be used as a tool to resolve conflicts between cherished constitutional values (such as the rule of law) and the explicit wording of a statute. Just as importantly, a distinct question of constitutional interpretation arises with regard to deriving meaning from such values; in other words, how are courts to determine what the “rule of law” in fact demands? What is at stake in this second debate is exemplified by the controversy surrounding the doctrine of substantive due process in the constitutional law of the United States. Whilst it is clear that UNISON and Evans embody a forceful judicial response in the face of inroads on the rule of law, it is less clear what approach courts will take to interpreting constitutional principles in the future.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 12th September 2017

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Database rights can subsist in PDFs, rules High Court – OUT-LAW.com

‘A PDF version of a document can constitute a database and information contained in it can be protected by database rights, the High Court in London has ruled.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 8th September 2017

Source: www.out-law.com

R (Davey) v Oxfordshire CC in the Court of Appeal – Community Care Blog

‘Last Friday the Court of Appeal delivered judgment in R (Davey) v Oxfordshire CC [2017] EWCA Civ 1308. This is the first time the Court of Appeal has examined the provisions of the Care Act 2014.’

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Community Care Blog, 7th September 2017

Source: communitycare11kbw.com

Arbitration: ‘Non-existent’ respondents – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted September 4th, 2017 in arbitration, jurisdiction, news, ships, statutory interpretation, succession by sally

‘Where the claimant in an arbitration ceases to exist, it is usually the respondent who contends that the arbitration has been or should be brought to an end. There may then be an issue whether the claimant’s claim in arbitration can survive by, for example, a principle of universal succession (Eurosteel Ltd v Stinnes AG [2000] CLC 470).’

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Law Society's Gazette, 4th September 2017

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Database Rights and Copyright: Technomed v Bluecrest Health Screening – NIPC Law

‘This was an action for infringement of database right and copyright in an electrocardiogram (“ECG”) analysis and reporting system known as ECG Cloud.’

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NIPC Law, 2nd September 2017

Source: nipclaw.blogspot.co.uk

The Wages of Sin is: the Ability to Rely on Section 12 – Panopticon

‘What happens when your FOIA request to a public authority is met with the response that it would breach the cost limits set under section 12 to respond to the request because the authority’s record keeping systems are in a particular (i.e. poor) state? In a word: tough.’

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Panopticon, 24th August 2017

Source: panopticonblog.com