Category: news

‘Petitioners from a Grade II* listed church sought approval for the disposal of 35 deteriorating plastic chairs and the purchase 35 additional upholstered stacking chairs matching the 25 already in use. Applying the Duffield guidelines, in Re St. Leonard Grendon Underwood [2026] ECC Oxf 4, Hodge Ch. considered that while removing the plastic chairs was clearly beneficial and would cause no harm, the introduction of more upholstered chairs would result in low to moderate harm to the church’s character and would conflict with Church Buildings Council (CBC) guidance favouring unupholstered wooden seating.’

Full Story

Law & Religion UK, 14th April 2026

Source: lawandreligionuk.com

‘The Court of Appeal has delivered a landmark judgment clarifying what it means to “carry on the conduct of litigation” under the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA 2007). The decision resolves months of uncertainty following Sheldon J’s ruling in the High Court, which had caused widespread disruption across the profession, particularly for law centres, personal injury firms, and any practice relying on paralegals or unadmitted staff. Many family law firms did not escape the implications of Sheldon J’s judgment.’

Full Story

Financial Remedies Journal, 14th April 2026

Source: financialremediesjournal.com

‘An inquest found failures by the Metropolitan Police when investigating what happened to the eight-week-old baby boy, including a failure to look in bathroom cabinets for medication or seize feeding bottles, meaning “forensic opportunities were missed”.’

Full Story

The Independent, 15th April 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk

‘The owner of the AA and BSM driving schools must pay refunds to more than 80,000 learners after failing to disclose the total price for lessons upfront when booking online, following an investigation by the competition watchdog.’

Full Story

BBC News, 15th April 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘Joint enterprise cases in England and Wales have soared over the past four decades, according to a report calling for a change in the law so that individuals are held accountable only for their own actions.’

Full Story

The Guardian, 15th April 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘The Commons has approved a Lords amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that would also expunge the records of investigations, arrests and charges of women under abortion law, whether or not they were found guilty.’

Full Story

The Independent, 14th April 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk

‘On Wednesday the ASA said ads from the two supermarkets that appeared on Instagram and the Daily Mail website had broken the new rules, which prohibit items deemed high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) from being promoted as part of the government’s effort to tackle rising childhood obesity.’

Full Story

The Guardian, 15th April 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘The wide-ranging Crime and Policing Bill also introduces new respect orders designed to tackle antisocial behaviour and eliminates the £200 threshold for what is currently classified as “low level” theft.’

Full Story

The Independent, 14th April 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk

‘A lorry driver has been jailed for 13 months after he admitted causing the death of a woman who was struck on the head by loose crane equipment while pushing a pram through a village.’

Full Story

BBC News, 14th April 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘Updated draft guidance was submitted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on Monday, but election rules mean the government is “unable to make further announcements on the matter at this time”, [Bridget] Phillipson told MPs in a written statement.’

Full Story

BBC News, 14th April 2026

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘Williams had denied a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent but was convicted by a unanimous jury at Cardiff Crown Court in March, following 90 minutes of deliberations. On Tuesday, Recorder Angharad Price sentenced Williams to three years in prison for the offence.’

Full Story

The Independent, 14th April 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk

‘Rosalind English talks to Jacob Turner, barrister at Fountain Court Chambers, and Michael Workman, former lawyer at the Law Commission. Both are AI experts who have taken part in assembling the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce draft Legal Statement regarding liability for AI-related harm in England and Wales, pertaining to private law.’

Full Story

Law Pod UK, 13th April 2026

Source: audioboom.com

‘Sir Andrew McFarlane has outlined significant reforms and priorities for the family justice system in a final “View” issued shortly before his retirement on 13 April 2026, with the nationwide expansion of a child-focused approach to private law proceedings taking centre stage.’

Full Story

Family Law, 13th April 2026

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

‘The Government has announced a series of legislative measures aimed at strengthening protections against violence against women and girls, including new offences targeting harmful online pornography and public sexual harassment.’

Full Story

Family Law, 13th April 2026

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

‘To coincide with this week’s committee stage of the Courts and Tribunals Bill, which threatens to significantly restrict jury trials, the Bar Council is publishing a polemical attack on the proposal by Geoffrey Robertson KC, founding head of Doughty Street Chambers.’

Full Story

Bar Council, 13th April 2026

Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk

‘The British Indian Ocean Territory Constitution Order 2004 is legislation made by Royal Prerogative. Section 9 provides that there is no right of abode in the Chagos Islands. In R (Mandarin) v HM BIOT Commissioner (31 March 2026) the British Indian Ocean Territory Supreme Court ruled that section 9 was irrational and quashed it. I argue that the judgment is correct, that the 2004 Order is a colonial anachronism and that is antithetical to constitutional principles, democratic principles and the rule of law.’

Full Story

UK Constitutional Law Association, 13th April 2026

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

‘This paper explores the “criminalisation” of asylum in recent UK law and policy, most notably the 2022 Nationality and Borders Act (NABA) and 2023 Illegal Migration Act (IMA), and the ways in which this framework has fed through into recent legislative and policy measures. Whilst the development and expansion of criminal offences relating to irregular entry and arrival may be considered the most overt form of “criminalising” people on the move, in this paper it is argued that the criminalisation of asylum in the UK today should not only be understood through the prism of crimmigration measures which are expressly penal in nature, but also through an array of measures which, although framed as administrative and civil, are similarly punitive in character and serve the criminal punishment rationale of retribution and deterrence. The legislative framework of the NABA 2022 and IMA 2023 has paved the way for this progressive “criminalisation” by sanctioning those arriving irregularly to the UK to claim asylum. This trend has been continued in recent law and policy, and progressively expanded in a manner that increasingly sanctions refugees for the very fact of having claimed asylum in the UK.’

Full Story

EIN Blog, 13th April 2026

Source: www.ein.org.uk

‘The Artemis II mission has brought back into focus the extraction of space resources for commercial gain. But laws governing the exploitation of lunar materials remain an untenable fudge.’

Full Story

Law Society Gazette, 13th April 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘The use of AI to generate criminal court transcripts – long proposed by campaigners for more open justice – is to be tested, the Ministry of Justice announced today. In the research HM Courts & Tribunals Service will test the accuracy of its in-house developed system, Justice Transcribe, in recording Crown court proceedings.’

Full Story

Law Society Gazette, 14th April 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘Is the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office process fit for purpose? Women barristers’ experiences of bullying are not being reported or, if they are, they are not making it through the system, says Tana Adkin KC.’

Full Story

Counsel, 13th April 2026

Source: www.counselmagazine.co.uk