Category: interpretation

Registered Community Designs: Magmatic Ltd v PMS International Ltd – NIPC Law

Posted March 5th, 2014 in appeals, intellectual property, interpretation, news, trade marks by sally

‘In Magmatic Ltd v PMS International Ltd [2013] EWHC 1925 (Pat) (11 July 2013) Mr Justice Arnold held that PMS International Ltd (“PMS”) had infringed registered Community design number 43427-0001 (“the RCD”), some of Magmatic Ltd (“Magmatic”)’s design rights and Magmatic’s literary copyright in its safety notice. Magmatic appealed to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that the judge fell into error in finding infringement of the RCD in that he had wrongly interpreted the RCD and improperly excluded from his consideration various aspects of the design of Magimax’s product. In Magmatic Ltd v PMS International Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 181 (28 Feb 2014) the Court of Appeal (Lords Justices Moses and Kitchin and Lady Justice Black) allowed the appeal.’

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NIPC Law, 4th March 2014

Source: www.nicplaw.blogspot.co.uk

The Commissioners for H.M Revenue & Customs (Respondents) v Forde and McHugh Limited (Appellants) – Supreme Court

Posted March 3rd, 2014 in appeals, interpretation, law reports, national insurance, pensions, retirement, Supreme Court by sally

The Commissioners for H.M Revenue & Customs (Respondents) v Forde and McHugh Limited (Appellants) [2014] UKSC 14 (YouTube)

Supreme Court, 26th February 2014

Source: www.youtube.com/user/UKSupremeCourt

Wind farms: ‘Inspector Blight’ criticised by senior judges – Daily Telegraph

Posted March 3rd, 2014 in appeals, complaints, energy, environmental protection, interpretation, local government, news, planning by sally

‘Paul Griffiths, a planning inspector nicknamed “Inspector Blight” because of the number of wind farms he has approved, is criticised in a Court of Appeal judgement over his interpretation of guidelines’

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Daily Telegraph, 28th February 2014

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

J P Morgan Chase Bank, National Association v Northern Rock (Asset Management) plc – WLR Daily

Posted February 24th, 2014 in agreements, consumer credit, interpretation, law reports by sally

J P Morgan Chase Bank, National Association v Northern Rock (Asset Management) plc [2014] EWHC 291 (Ch); [2014] WLR (D) 83

‘As a matter of construction of section 77A of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, where a creditor had provided the debtor with a statement which failed to set out the information required by the Consumer Credit (Information Requirements and Duration of Licences and Charges) Regulations 2007, the period of non-compliance commenced on a date to be calculated as if no statement had been served at all, and the period of non-compliance began on the day following the last day on which a compliant statement could have been given.’

WLR Daily, 19th February 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Loss of capacity does not automatically terminate solicitor’s retainer – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted February 19th, 2014 in appeals, contracts, costs, interpretation, legal aid, legal representation, mental health, news, solicitors by sally

‘Upholding the rights of individuals who lack the mental capacity to conduct proceedings can be a minefield for the unwary or even, as shown by this case, the wary. The point at issue before the court was whether, where a party loses mental capacity in the course of proceedings, such loss of capacity has the automatic and immediate effect of terminating their solicitor’s retainer.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 18th February 2014

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Regina v Avanzi – WLR Daily

Posted February 12th, 2014 in appeals, consent, Court of Protection, interpretation, law reports, learning difficulties, sexual offences, standard of proof by sally

Regina v Avanzi [2014] extempore; [2014] WLR (D) 55

‘When at issue, the burden of proving incapacity under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 fell on the party asserting it, namely the Crown, who had to discharge the burden to the criminal standard of proof and make the jury sure the complainant did not have the capacity to consent.’

WLR Daily, 6th February 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

In re Robson, decd; White v Matthys and others – WLR Daily

Posted February 12th, 2014 in executors, gifts, interpretation, law reports, political parties, wills by sally

In re Robson, decd; White v Matthys and others [2014] WLR (D) 54

‘A residuary legatee’s chose in action was “property” for the purposes of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. Therefore, where a person who was not a permissible donor left the residue of his estate to a registered political party, and that party received and accepted the gift, the prohibition on foreign donations in section 54 of the 2000 Act was breached.’

WLR Daily, 31st January 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

What’s in a name? – Court of Appeal gives judgment in Edem – Panopticon

Posted February 10th, 2014 in appeals, data protection, interpretation, names, news, privacy by tracey

‘Deciding whether information which arguably relates to an individual amounts to their “personal data” for the purposes of s. 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 is one of the more challenging aspects of the DPA regime. In making the judgment call in any particular case, data controllers have routinely looked to the guidance set out Auld LJ’s judgment in the well known case of Durant v Financial Services Act [2003] EWCA Civ 1746, [2011] 1 Info LR 1. In his judgment, Auld LJ indicated that there were two “notions” likely to be of assistance when it came to determining whether particular data was sufficiently “personal” that if tell within the scope of the DPA.’

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Panopticon, 7th February 2014

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

HSE guidance on working at height simplified, but underlying regulations remain unchanged, says expert – OUT-LAW.com

Posted February 3rd, 2014 in codes of practice, EC law, employment, health & safety, interpretation, news, standards by tracey

‘The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published new guidance on what the law requires of both employers and employees when people are working at height.’

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OUT-LAW.com. 31st January 2014

Source: www.out-law.com

Diakité v Commissaire général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides – WLR Daily

Posted January 31st, 2014 in asylum, EC law, international law, interpretation, law reports, war by sally

Diakité v Commissaire général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides (Case C-285/12); [2014] WLR (D) 37

‘An internal “armed conflict” existed, for the purposes of article 15(c) of Council Directive 2004/83/EC, if a state’s armed forces confronted one or more armed groups or if two or more armed groups confronted each other. It was not necessary for that conflict to be categorised as “armed conflict” not of an international character under international humanitarian law; nor was it necessary to carry out, in addition to an appraisal of the level of violence present in the territory concerned, a separate assessment of the intensity of the armed confrontations, the level of organisation of the armed forces involved or the duration of the conflict.’

WLR Daily, 30th January 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Freedom of Information: But What is Information? The Upper Tribunal Opines – Panopticon

Posted January 29th, 2014 in appeals, disclosure, documents, freedom of information, interpretation, news, tribunals by sally

‘We all know that section 1 gives us a right to request information from listed public authorities, but what does “information” mean? Information is defined by section 84 of FOIA (“‘information’ (subject to sections 51(8) and 75(2)) means information recorded in any form”). This somewhat opaque definition has generally been treated as meaning that a request is for information. It is not for copies of documents. If the public authority wants to type out the document in a different format, they can, so long as the information contained within that document is provided.’

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Panopticon, 28th January 2014

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Upper Tribunal on bedrooms – NearlyLegal

Posted January 27th, 2014 in appeals, benefits, carers, housing, interpretation, local government, news, tribunals by sally

‘There has been some excited talk about an Upper Tribunal decision on a Local Housing Allowance appeal which apparently offered a definition of ‘bedroom’. Obviously, as an Upper Tribunal decision, this would be binding on First Tier Tribunals, even though addressing LHA rather than the bedroom tax.’

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NearlyLegal, 26th January 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Secretary of State for the Home Department v MG – WLR Daily

Posted January 20th, 2014 in child cruelty, EC law, freedom of movement, immigration, imprisonment, interpretation, law reports by sally

Secretary of State for the Home Department v MG (Case C-400/12); [2014] WLR (D) 4

‘The ten-year period of residence in article 28(3)(a) of Parliament and Council Directive 2004/38/EC of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the member states (OJ 2004 L158, p 77) had to be continuous and calculated by counting back from the date of the decision ordering the expulsion of the person concerned. A period of imprisonment was, in principle, capable both of interrupting the continuity of the period of residence for the purposes of that provision and of affecting the decision regarding the grant of the enhanced protection provided for thereunder, even where the person concerned resided in the host member state for the ten years prior to imprisonment. However, the fact that that person resided in the host member state for the ten years prior to imprisonment could be taken into consideration as part of the overall assessment required in order to determine whether the integrating links previously forged with the host member state had been broken.’

WLR Daily, 16th January 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Onuekwere v Secretary of State for the Home Department – WLR Daily

Posted January 20th, 2014 in appeals, citizenship, EC law, freedom of movement, immigration, imprisonment, interpretation, law reports, married persons by sally

Onuekwere v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Case C-378/12); [2014] WLR (D) 7

‘Under article 16(2) of Parliament and Council Directive 2004/38/EC of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the member states, periods of imprisonment in the host member state of a third-country national, who was a family member of a Union citizen who had acquired the right of permanent residence in that member state during those periods, could not be taken into consideration in the context of the acquisition by that national of the right of permanent residence for the purposes of that provision. The continuity of residence was interrupted by periods of imprisonment in the host member state of a third country national who was a family member of a Union citizen who had acquired the right of permanent residence in that member state during those periods for the purposes of article 16(2) and (3).’

WLR Daily, 16th January 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Interpreting legal language: can “he” truly be gender neutral? – Halsbury’s Law Exchange

Posted January 15th, 2014 in gender, interpretation, news by tracey

‘Until the discovery of telepathy (or perhaps some sort of machine equivalent), we must rely on language as our way of conveying unambiguous meaning to each other. That need is particularly pressing when it comes to the law. So, it was refreshing to see a discussion on language in the House of Lords recently, when Lord Scott invited a debate on personal pronouns and their semantic infelicities in Acts and statutory instruments. Or, in plain English, when is a “he” also a “she” as a matter of law? This may not sound particularly confusing, but, because judges have always had to interpret the law as written (unless there is a compelling reason not to), it is important to remove as much ambiguity from the finished Act as possible.’

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Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 14th January 2014

Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk

AA (Somalia) (Appellant) v Entry Clearance Officer (Addis Ababa) (Respondent) – Supreme Court

Posted January 6th, 2014 in adoption, appeals, families, guardianship, human rights, immigration, interpretation, law reports, Supreme Court by sally

AA (Somalia) (Appellant) v Entry Clearance Officer (Addis Ababa) (Respondent) [2013] UKSC 81 | UKSC 2012/0181 (YouTube)

Supreme Court, 18th December 2013

Source: www.youtube.com/user/UKSupremeCourt

Cormac Mac Amhlaigh: Once More Unto the (Public/Private) Breach …: s. 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Severability Thesis – UK Constitutional Law Group

Posted December 16th, 2013 in demonstrations, human rights, injunctions, interpretation, news, public private partnerships by sally

‘Two interesting recent blog posts dealt with the meaning of public and private under s. 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998. They were motivated by injunction proceedings in the High court whereby the Olympic Delivery Authority, (ODA) the body charged with the logistics and infrastructure of the London Olympic Games, had sought injunctions to restrain protestors from entering and occupying land which was to be developed as part of the Olympic site. The main issues emerging from this case discussed in the two posts was whether the ODA constituted a ‘core’ or ‘hybrid’ public authority under s. 6 HRA; whether it could itself enjoy human rights to defeat or counter any human rights obligations it may hold in its capacity as a ‘hybrid’ body exercising public functions; and where the ‘centre of gravity’ for determining the human rights obligations of hybrid bodies lay under the Act; under the s. 6(3)(b) ‘public function’ test or the definition of ‘private act’ under s. 6(5).’

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UK Constitutional Law Group, 13th December 2013

Source: www.ukconstituionallaw.org

Pokhriyal v Secretary of State for the Home Department Hussain v Same – WLR Daily

Posted December 9th, 2013 in education, immigration, interpretation, law reports, sponsored immigrants, tribunals by sally

Pokhriyal v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Hussain v Same [2013] EWCA Civ 1568; [2013] WLR (D) 471

‘Paragraph 120B of Appendix A to the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules did not require that an academic institution accepting students from abroad for continuing studies under the points based system should expressly state that a proposed course constituted academic progress. The mere issue of a certificate of acceptance for studies constituted an assertion to that effect.’

WLR Daily, 5th December 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

The Permissive Notice – NearlyLegal

Posted December 9th, 2013 in appeals, interpretation, landlord & tenant, news, repossession by sally

‘Spencer v Taylor [2013] EWCA Civ 1600. This case was flagged recently on the Arden Chambers eflash service. This flash gave some bare bones details and led to much debate on the internal NL email discussion list. However, we now have the vital transcript and so we can give a proper report.’

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NearlyLegal, 8th December 2013

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Senior judge: European court of human rights undermining democratic process – The Guardian

Posted December 4th, 2013 in detention, elections, human rights, interpretation, judges, judiciary, jurisdiction, news, Northern Ireland, prisons, Supreme Court by sally

‘The European court of human rights exceeds its legitimate powers, usurps the role of politicians and “undermines the democratic process”, one of the UK’s most senior judges has warned.’

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The Guardian, 28th November 2013

Source: www.guardian.co.uk