Category: news

‘How should the state be held to account when it funds and organises essential services—but then denies responsibility for their failure? This post examines that question through the lens of disability-related home adaptations in the UK. It explores how the legal and administrative structures surrounding the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) scheme allow local authorities to exert control while evading public law responsibility. Drawing on a real-life case, the analysis raises wider constitutional concerns about the limits of state accountability, the legal fictions that shield public bodies, and the consequences of governance frameworks that prioritise autonomy and cost-efficiency over care and justice.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 9th July 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

‘The facts of Adriatic Land 5 Limited v Long Leaseholders at Hippersley Point [2025] EWCA Civ 856 are straightforward enough. The applicant landlord owned a large building. That building needed significant works to restore and update its cladding and other materials to meet relevant safety standards. These works were carried out in 2020. In 2022 the Building Safety Act (BSA) was passed by Parliament. That Act contained a section (paragraph 9 to Schedule 8 of the Act) which states that “no service charge is payable” in respect to the services undertaken by the applicant.’

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Administrative Court Blog, 9th July 2025

Source: administrativecourtblog.wordpress.com

‘The head of the infected blood inquiry yesterday called on the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to tell solicitors that they should not be charging clients making a claim for compensation.’

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Legal Futures, 10th July 2025

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘A wanted man who was on the run for two years has been found guilty of murdering a woman who was walking her dog last summer.’

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BBC News, 9th July 2025

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘This study investigates intersectional inequalities in trust in the police in England using multilevel analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy (MAIHDA) for the first time. We find that those who are non-White, from lower social classes, and reside in London show lower predicted trust levels than other people. While older people show higher predicted trust levels, younger people, especially those from marginalised backgrounds, have the lowest predicted levels of trust in the police. We also find intersectional effects. While middle-aged White males from lower social classes and living outside of London have lower than-expected trust in the police, older White females from lower social classes and living outside of London have higher than-expected trust in the police. We argue that ground-level, community engagement, coupled with extensive officer training on engaging with individuals from diverse backgrounds, are key to developing higher levels of trust in the police.’

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Policing and Society, 7th July 2025

Source: www.tandfonline.com

‘David Gauke’s Independent Sentencing Review was published on 22 May 2025 in response to what was described as a “crisis in prison capacity”. The aim of the report’s recommendations is to reduce the prison population. In broad terms it does so by transferring the burden from the prison service to the probation service.’

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2 Hare Court, 11th June 2025

Source: www.2harecourt.com

‘Last year’s general election prevented the Justice Committee from publishing its long-awaited report into the coroner service for England and Wales.’

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Exchange Chambers, 17th June 2025

Source: www.exchangechambers.co.uk

‘The Planning Inspectorate has announced that it will roll out its new digital appeals service nationally following a successful pilot with five London boroughs.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 8th July 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘The government has given its “wholehearted support” to a private member’s bill that gives judges the power to hold remote hearing for breaches of some injunctions.’

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Legal Futures, 9th July 2025

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘More than 13 people may have killed themselves as a result of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal and it drove at least 59 more to contemplate suicide, according to the first findings from the public inquiry into what has been labelled the worst miscarriage of justice in UK history.’

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The Guardian, 8th July 2025

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘The Tribunal’s recent judgment in the interchange proceedings gives important guidance on the use of counterfactuals in competition infringement claims.

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Competition Bulletin, 8th July 2025

Source: competitionbulletin.com

‘In the 1999 case of Reynolds v Times Newspapers, a qualified privilege defence was developed to libel action. However, section 4 of the Defamation Act 2013 abolished the defence and replaced it with a new defence of ‘publication on a matter of public interest’. This paper combines n-gram and qualitative approaches to analysing discourses about journalism in 228 journalism-related judgments since Reynolds. Findings suggest a fluctuating increase in cases, particularly in those involving defamation and libel, and a rise in non-news organisations as sole or primary defendants. The acknowledgement of journalism’s right to freedom of expression in judicial discourses of journalism weakened over time, placing an increasing emphasis on journalism’s responsibilities, ethics, and its watchdog role, particularly after 2013. These changes suggest courts’ evolving interpretations of journalism and related issues, reflecting legal values that could significantly impact journalistic practices, with alarming implications for media freedom in the United Kingdom.’

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Journal of Media Law, 18th June 2025

Source: www.tandfonline.com

‘An Instagram post by TV personality Gemma Collins which advertised a weight-loss drug and app has been banned.’

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BBC News, 9th July 2025

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘Thousands of defendants in England and Wales could lose the right to a jury trial under plans designed to save the criminal justice system from collapse.’

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The Guardian, 9th July 2025

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘The Court of Appeal has upheld as enforceable litigation funding agreements (LFAs) which calculate funders’ return as a multiple of their investment, rather than a percentage of the damages.’

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Legal Futures, 7th July 2025

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a dispute over whether a local authority’s duty to house homeless applicants under section 193 of the Housing Act 1996 ends by operation of law or whether the local authority is required to make a decision that the duty has ended.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 7th July 2025

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘On 23 June 2025 the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced in Parliament that she had “decided to proscribe Palestine Action under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000.”’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 8th July 2025

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

‘Removing the right to a jury trial for more offences would disadvantage people of colour and other minorities and lead to more miscarriages of justice, reformers have warned.’

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The Guardian, 8th July 2025

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘We are all human and some perhaps are more human than others. But while judges should always be unbiased and above the fray, as Roman Poet Horace acknowledged in his Ars Poetica, even Homer can sometimes nod. A recent example appeared in the judgment of Turner J on 15 May 2025 in R (Ladybill Ltd) v Sheffield Magistrates’ Court [2025] EWHC 1169 (Admin). This concerned a judicial challenge to a decision of District Judge Spruce (the judge) when he refused to recuse himself from hearing proceedings between the claimant, Ladybill Ltd, and the interested party, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 7th July 2025

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘Where medical treatment has been paid for on a credit card, a dissatisfied patient[1] may have recourse against the credit card provider under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 (“CCA”).[2] This provision gives consumers who have been the victim of a misrepresentation or breach of contract by the supplier of goods or services paid for on a credit card the option of seeking redress against the supplier, the credit card company or both.’

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1 QMLR, 4th July 2025

Source: 1corqmlr.com