Author: sally

‘An increasing number of jurisdictions are introducing coercive control offences. It is therefore vital that the experiences of jurisdictions which have already enacted such legislation are examined in order to ascertain what lessons can be learnt. This paper seeks to analyse the coercive control provisions which have been enacted or drafted to date, and also to examine experiences of the implementation of such provisions. The article focuses in particular on the coercive control offence introduced in Northern Ireland under section 1 of the Domestic Abuse and Civil Proceedings Act (Northern Ireland) 2021. Being the final jurisdiction within the UK and Ireland to criminalize coercive control allowed Northern Ireland to ‘cherry pick’ aspects of the relevant provisions in the other jurisdictions, and Northern Ireland therefore exemplifies a jurisdiction which effectively took learnings from experiences elsewhere. In April 2024, a review of the implementation of Northern Ireland’s coercive control offence was published. The article examines the lessons which can be learnt from this review for other jurisdictions implementing coercive control offences.’

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Statute Law Review, 31st March 2025

Source: academic.oup.com

‘On 4 March 2025, Dr Oliver Lewis held the third seminar in Doughty Street Chambers’ series about the Mental Health Bill 2024 (‘the Bill’), as amended. His seminar was about how the Mental Health Act 1983 (‘MHA 1983’) affects people with autism and learning disabilities, and whether the Bill changes that.’

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Doughty Street Chambers, 27th March 2025

Source: insights.doughtystreet.co.uk

‘The Housing Ombudsman has recently published a report entitled “Learning from: Severe Maladministration – Taking the key lessons from our severe maladministration decisions.” It is sobering and informative.’

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Pump Court Chambers, 27th March 2025

Source: www.pumpcourtchambers.com

‘A recent High Court of England and Wales ruling once again demonstrates the English courts’ willingness to accept jurisdiction in the face of arguments that a party would be unable to access appropriate legal assistance in their own countries, an expert has said.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 3rd April 2025

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

‘The High Court has dismissed a judicial review application brought on behalf of a young person with complex needs over the lawfulness of an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan issued by the London Borough of Islington, after finding that the First-tier Tribunal is a “suitable alternative remedy”.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 3rd April 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘Niels Bohr, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist, reportedly said: “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future”. With that warning firmly in mind, this article comprises a (very cautious) look at what the future may hold for professionals in the context of commission payments, after the Supreme Court hears the linked appeals in Johnson v FirstRand in April of this year.’

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Gatehouse Chambers, 25th March 2025

Source: gatehouselaw.co.uk

‘The council issued its application for an injunction last month pursuant to section 22 of the Local Government Act 1972 and sections 1 and 2 of the Anti-social Behaviour Crime and Policing Act 2014.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 3rd April 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘Two children, their father and his partner were unlawfully killed when they crashed head-on with a car being driven the wrong way on a motorway by a suicidal man, a coroner has ruled.’

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BBC News, 3rd April 2025

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘In this post, Luke Kelly and Michael Bowsher KC discuss the Court of Appeal’s judgment in R (British Gas Trading and E.ON) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero [2025] EWCA Civ 209.’

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UK-EU Relations, 3rd April 2025

Source: eurelationslaw.com

‘The senior judiciary has warned the government not to extend the whiplash tariff to larger or different types of claims, it emerged yesterday.’

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Legal Futures, 3rd April 2025

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘The provisions of the Planning & Infrastructure Bill (“the Bill”) relating to nature recovery represent some of the Government’s most ambitious planning reforms in the Bill.’

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Francis Taylor Building, 27th March 2025

Source: www.ftbchambers.co.uk

‘This is an interesting Court of Protection case where the English Courts ruled that it retains jurisdiction even when an individual moves abroad.’

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Park Square Barristers, 18th March 2025

Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk

‘The Supreme Court has recently handed down judgment in The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia (Cultural Bureau) (Appellant) v Costantine (Respondent) [2025] UKSC 9, providing authoritative guidance on:
1. The duty on courts and tribunals to determine the issue of State immunity of their own motion;
2. The test for determining State immunity in employment claims brought by a foreign State’s administrative and technical employees; and
3. The effect of the State Immunity Act 1978 (Remedial) Order (SI 2023/112).’

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Littleton Chambers, 25th March 2025

Source: littletonchambers.com

‘In this article, Anna Wright discusses the recent debate on racial bias as a result of the updated guideline for the imposition of community and custodial sentences.’

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Mountford Chambers, 13th March 2025

Source: www.mountfordchambers.com

‘A grounding in the queer history of the legal system in the United Kingdom reveals striking parallels between the moral panic leading to the enactment of Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, and the current moment’s discourse surrounding the inclusion of transgender people in social spaces and their potential right to self-identification of gender in law. Through use of moral panic theory, this article examines and contextualizes the historical forces at play in the formation of laws around queer and trans lives in the UK, and in particular the instrumentalization of fears over the safety of children and cisgender women. The article also provides a practical example of the influence of the trans moral panic on law reform, by evaluating the debate surrounding the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill 2022. It concludes that there is no ‘gender crisis’ in the UK, but there are powerful social forces at work to stoke a moral panic and, in doing so, stigmatize and alienate trans people in a similar manner to the stigmatization of homosexuality as an illegitimate way of life under Section 28.’

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Gender and Justice, 4 March 2025

Source: doi.org

‘Fatima Jama provides a synopsis of the Financial Conduct Authority’s decision to step back from proposed changes to its investigation disclosure policy.’

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Mountford Chambers, 18th March 2025

Source: www.mountfordchambers.com

‘Given the consultation on reforming the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, it seems appropriate to consider a recent case in which the landlord of a business tenancy successfully obtained possession on the basis that it intended to occupy the premises for the purposes of carrying out a business therein.’

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Gatehouse Chambers, 28th March 2025

Source: gatehouselaw.co.uk

‘Decisions from the Tribunals have shown that when there are entities which manage buildings without owning any legal estate in them, some parties do not fit neatly into the relevant definitions in the Building Safety Act 2022.’

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Falcon Chambers, 27th March 2025

Source: www.falcon-chambers.com

‘This article looks at the lessons about law, justice and morality conveyed by jurisprudence textbooks published and sold in the UK. Through a detailed statistical analysis of which legal theories appear and the depth in which they are covered, it shows that these textbooks by and large have a standard content. Based on this analysis, the article argues that this canonical content fails to fulfil the full potential legal theory offers in enabling students to gain a comprehensive and critical understanding of the law they study, and to prepare them for the value choices they might need to make in practice. In particular, it argues that the focus of the theories and jurisprudential issues discussed fails to sufficiently challenge the view of law as a valuable protector of individual freedom and as applying more or less in the way portrayed in the book. In fact, a detailed analysis of the way jurisprudential content is structured and presented through various rhetorical techniques suggests that in some cases textbook content stems from subconscious or even conscious political choices about what law students should learn. But whether this is the case or not, it can be concluded that there is a need for jurisprudence textbooks to diversify and rethink their focus and emphasis in the theories and issues they cover if they are going to fulfil their potential as an essential form of legal education.’

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The Law Teacher, 19th March 2025

Source: www.tandfonline.com

‘Where a solicitor represents a protected party, the Court, subject to certain exceptions (CPR 46.4(3) and Practice Direction 46 at paragraph 2.1 – inapplicable on the facts of this case) must assess the costs payable by that protected party to that party’s own solicitor out of their damages: CPR 46.4(2)(a). The costs will be assessed in accordance with the indemnity principle as is usual for a client-solicitor assessment: see CPR 46.9.’

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Gatehouse Chambers, 27th March 2025

Source: gatehouselaw.co.uk