Construing non-assignment – could a party be responsible for assignment arising as a matter of law? (Dassault Aviation v Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance) – Gatehouse Chambers

Posted March 15th, 2024 in appeals, assignment, chambers articles, contracts, insurance, interpretation, news by sally

‘The Court of Appeal applied ordinary black letter contractual interpretation in construing a non-assignment clause in a contract for sale.’

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Gatehouse Chambers, 14th February 2024

Source: gatehouselaw.co.uk

The Court of Appeal has held that if the Government’s interpretation of the Paris Agreement is “tenable” the courts will not interfere – Six Pump Court

‘The case concerned the UK Government’s approval of UK Export Finance’s (“UKEF”) $1.15 billion investment in a liquified natural gas project in Mozambique. UKEF is the Government’s export credit agency and its aim is to ensure that no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance from the private sector.’

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Six Pump Court, 16th January 2024

Source: 6pumpcourt.co.uk

The Sordid Controversies of Litigants? Why and When Facts Matter – Supreme Court

Posted February 27th, 2024 in contracts, interpretation, judiciary, news, Privy Council, Supreme Court by tracey

‘Lady Rose – The Sordid Controversies of Litigants? Why and When Facts Matter. The Neill Law Lecture 2024.’

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Supreme Court, 23rd February 2024

Source: www.supremecourt.uk

Lewis Graham: Paused Policies, Secret Policies and the Rule of Law: XY v Secretary of State for the Home Department – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘It is hard to think of a concept with a more contested definition in legal and political circles than “the rule of law”. The question of what content (if any) might be found within it (and indeed, what “it” even is – a political truth? A normative ideal? A mere slogan?) has been taken up, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, by first-year law students, wizened academics, campaigning groups and politicians. If it sometimes seems that a thicker, rights-laden understanding of the term has taken root, detractors are always quick to emerge, eager to remind us of what the rule of law is and what it is not. There is a real danger in piling too much upon the notion so as to distort the concept, which may cause us to lose sight of why the rule of law is uniquely important. At the very least, framing the rule of law narrowly helps ensure that an appropriate degree of opprobrium can be generated in those instances when it is, in fact, undermined.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 22nd February 2024

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

Avon calling! … with the latest word on severance – Pensions Barrister

Posted January 18th, 2024 in amendments, interpretation, news, pensions by sally

‘Paul Newman KC has written a casenote on the recent decision of HH Judge Davis-White KC in Avon Cosmetics Ltd v Dalriada Trustees Ltd & ors, which considered the requirements for the Court to be able to salvage parts of otherwise invalid deeds of amendment.’

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Pensions Barrister, January 2024

Source: www.pensionsbarrister.com

Local plan legal challenge shot down by High Court over “hypercritical scrutiny” of planning inspector report – Local Government Lawyer

Posted December 6th, 2023 in covenants, interpretation, local government, news, planning by sally

‘A High Court judge has dismissed a statutory review claim of the adoption of Waverly Borough Council’s Local Plan Part 2 over the claimants’ “hypercritical scrutiny” of a planning inspector’s report.’A High Court judge has dismissed a statutory review claim of the adoption of Waverly Borough Council’s Local Plan Part 2 over the claimants’ “hypercritical scrutiny” of a planning inspector’s report.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 5th December 2023

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Applicable law for construction and engineering contracts: constraints on freedom of choice – OUT-LAW.com

Posted November 24th, 2023 in construction industry, contracts, interpretation, news by tracey

‘Choosing which law should govern construction and engineering contracts – i.e., the “applicable”, “proper” or “governing” law – impacts how those contracts will be interpreted.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 23rd November 2023

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

UK appeal court dismisses £1.3m award over share purchase agreement wording – OUT-LAW.com

Posted November 15th, 2023 in appeals, damages, drafting, interpretation, news, shareholders by sally

‘A Court of Appeal ruling that overturned a £1.31 million damages award for breach of a share purchase agreement (SPA) demonstrates the importance of careful interpretation of SPA drafting in order to correctly notify and plead breach of warranty claims, according to one legal expert.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 14th November 2023

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

Interpreting planning permissions – Local Government Lawyer

Posted November 6th, 2023 in interpretation, judicial review, local government, news, planning by tracey

‘A recent High Court ruling exhorts officers to make a deeper dive into the detail of planning permissions, writes Roderick Morton.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 3rd November 2023

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Appeal court clarifies Electronic Communications Code interpretation – OUT-LAW.com

Posted July 24th, 2023 in appeals, codes of practice, interpretation, news, telecommunications by tracey

‘A recent unanimous ruling of the Court of Appeal has reiterated the willingness of the courts of England and Wales to consider and apply the purpose of the Electronic Communications Code (the Code) when seeking to interpret provisions of the Code that lack clarity – to the benefit of both operators and infrastructure providers alike, experts have said.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 21st July 2023

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

“Premises” – what can and cannot be closed using a closure order – Local Government Lawyer

Posted June 23rd, 2023 in anti-social behaviour, interpretation, local government, news by tracey

‘Kuljit Bhogal KC analyses an important recent High Court ruling on closure orders.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 23rd June 2023

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Received wisdom – Local Government Lawyer

Posted May 19th, 2023 in interpretation, leases, local government, London, news by tracey

‘Matt Hutchings KC, Ranjit Bhose KC and Shomik Datta report on a dispute between two public bodies about the interpretation of a commercial lease, implied terms and estoppel by convention worth over £200m.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 19th May 2023

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Does the Raab affair provide sufficient clarity on what is meant by “bullying”? – Kingsley Napley

‘Employers have been crying out for years for clarity as to what exactly is meant by “bullying” in the modern workplace. What counts as reasonable and constructive criticism on the one hand, and intimidating or insulting behaviour on the other? The Raab case has brought this to a head. Indeed, there seems to have been more debate about this important question since publication of the Tolley report, than almost anything else to do with the case. And there is, in fact, a solution.’

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Kingsley Napley, 25th April 2023

Source: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk

Anonymisation of a young adult applicant for judicial review about section 20 – Transparency Project

‘There are two matters of interest in this unusual judgment by Mr Justice Mostyn in respect of a claim for judicial review brought by a teenager against a local authority, originally published on The National Archives as TT v Essex County Council [2023] EWHC 721 (Fam) but replaced as [2023] EWHC 826 (Admin).’

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Transparency Project, 10th April 2023

Source: transparencyproject.org.uk

Owen v Black Horse Limited [2023] EWCA Civ 325 – No Strike Out Despite the Claimant’s Absence at Trial – Pump Court Chambers

‘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.’

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Pump Court Chambers, 29th March 2023

Source: www.pumpcourtchambers.com

Why thousands of people who thought they were British could lose their citizenship – EIN Blog

‘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.’

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EIN Blog, 28th February 2023

Source: www.ein.org.uk

Court of Appeal quashes planning permission for only having consideration of part of site – Local Government Lawyer

‘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.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 27th February 2023

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Maranello Rosso Ltd v Lohomij B.V. & others – Blackstone Chambers

Posted January 9th, 2023 in appeals, chambers articles, conspiracy, fraud, interpretation, news by sally

‘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.’

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Blackstone Chambers, 21st December 2022

Source: www.blackstonechambers.com

Mohamed Moussa: The ‘Absent Word’ Canon and Asymmetrical Sovereignty – UK Constitutional Law Association

‘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.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 20th December 2022

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

The planning definition of ‘Gypsies and Travellers’ – Local Government Lawyer

‘Aileen McColgan KC examines a Court of Appeal ruling that the Government’s planning definition of “gypsies and travellers” was unlawfully discriminatory.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 16th December 2022

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk