‘The ability of lay clients to understand the Law Society’s model conditional fee agreement was questioned by three of the most senior judges in England and Wales yesterday in a much-awaited Court of Appeal hearing.’
Law Society's Gazette, 5th October 2022
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A project seeks to make family law easier to understand and less hostile – between both parties and lawyers – has been launched by a London solicitor.’
Legal Future, 9th December 2021
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘In Primus International Holding Company & Ors v Triumph Controls – UK Ltd & Anor [2020] EWCA Civ 1228, the Court of Appeal grappled with the proper interpretation of “goodwill” in a commercial contract, considering the natural meaning of “goodwill” in the commercial context and the definition prevalent in accounting practice. The case provides a useful reminder of the approach taken by the courts when construing contracts, highlighting the need for parties to spell out clearly their intended meaning of a term in their contractual agreement if they wish to depart from its ordinary and natural meaning.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 4th November 2020
Source: hardwicke.co.uk
‘I have previously written on this blog and elsewhere about statutory interpretation and the rule of law. In the previous blog post I stated that the idea “that the courts will not allow the executive to escape their jurisdiction is well established as part of the rule of law” and referenced, inter alia, Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission [1969] 2 AC 147 (HL) to support this view.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 4th December 2017
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Some clients worry being “bamboozled by legal jargon” if they complain to their lawyers, a fear that can be borne out by responses that are “seeming calculated to ‘overwhelm’ or ‘intimidate’ the customer”, according to new research.’
Legal Futures, 6th November 2017
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘Lay readers understand the special meaning of words used by lawyers, the Court of Appeal has said, dismissing a libel claim over a Crown Prosecution Service press release.’
Law Society's Gazette, 18th October 2017
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘Last week, the Home Office lost a case over its controversial definition of “torture,” which the High Court ruled was unlawful.’
RightsInfo, 16th October 2017
Source: rightsinfo.org
‘Earlier this year in the US, a legal case revolved around the use of an Oxford comma. Not to be outdone, last month the Court of Appeal in England & Wales had to determine the meaning of the word ‘or’; in doing so, they embarked upon a semantic analysis of one of the most common words in the English language, flavoured by the Supreme Court’s most recent case on construction of contracts.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 15th June 2017
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘Practical completion is a key concept in any construction project. It has a significant impact on a party’s rights and obligations, and represents a major milestone in the overall project timetable. Under the majority of construction projects, it marks the point at which the clock starts running for the overall transfer of risk from the contractor to the owner.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 30th June 2017
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Regina (Williams) v Powys County Council [2017] EWCA Civ 427
‘The defendant local planning authority granted planning permission for the erection of a wind turbine on the farm of the interested party. The wind turbine was erected on the side of a hill the other side of which, about 1·5 km from the wind turbine, was a Grade II* listed building. Several scheduled monuments were also in the surrounding area, two of which were within two km of the site. The claimant, a local resident, applied for judicial review of the council’s decision to grant planning permission. The judge dismissed the claim, determining that (i) the planning authority was not required to consult the Welsh ministers under article 14 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Wales) Order 2012 as the requirement to consult on development “likely to affect the site of a scheduled monument” in paragraph k of Schedule 4 to the Order applied only to development likely to have some direct physical effect on the monument, not also to development likely to have visual effects on the setting of the monument, and (ii) the planning authority had not erred in failing to perform the duty in section 66(1) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, which required it to have special regard to the desirability of preserving the setting of a listed building when deciding whether to grant planning permission for development which affected a listed building or its setting.’
WLR Daily, 9th June 2017
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Paul Hart, barrister of 15 Winckley Square, discusses a term (and its appropriateness) which has become ubiquitous in social work statements in recent years.’
Family Law Week, 10th April 2017
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
‘Divided by a common language: American and British perspectives on constitutional law.’
Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, 27th February 2017
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
“Peers have called on the government to look at options for making UK legislation easier to understand, including the use of digital technology to present laws in a clearer format.”
BBC News, 7th November 2011
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The visual vocabulary of courts – rooted in Babylonian, Egyptian, Classical, and Renaissance iconography – provides a transnational symbol of government, and courts have become obligatory facets of good governance. Consider the image of two women: one with scales, sword and blindfold; the other, Prudence, regarding herself in a mirror. Justice was once regularly shown with Prudence as well as Fortitude and Temperance, the four cardinal virtues. We know this imagery of justice because we have been taught it. Rulers regularly link themselves to the virtue Justice as they seek legitimacy for the laws that they make and enforce.”
The Guardian, 24th March 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Related link: Representing justice
“The legal profession is addicted to impenetrable language, but the fact is that phrases like ‘added value’ rarely … add any value.”
The Guardian, 26th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The US and the UK – so the saying goes – are ‘two countries divided by a common language’. The same could be said for lawyers and non-lawyers. Lawyers talk in a language which must seem like gobbledygook to everyone else. Take the word ‘tort’. Any law student knows that it means ‘civil wrong’. But ask a non-lawyer to give you a sentence with the word ‘tort’ in it and they might as well say: ‘I tort I tore a puddy cat!’ for all the sense it will mean to them.”
The Times, 26th July 2007
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
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