‘A woman who alleged she was discriminated against for not being given the opportunity for promotion while on maternity leave has settled the case for £215,000.’
The Independent, 26th March 2025
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The use of lethal force by SAS soldiers who shot dead four members of the IRA in 1992 in an ambush in County Tyrone was not justified or reasonable, a judge at an inquest has ruled.’
The Guardian, 6th February 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The Supreme Court will hear the appeal in R (Jwanczuk) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (UKSC/2023/0152) on 11 and 12 March 2025. One of the issues is the circumstances in which courts in England and Wales may depart from decisions of appellate courts in Northern Ireland and Scotland regarding laws of inter-jurisdictional operation (that is, laws passed by the Westminster Parliament that apply throughout the UK, or where identical or materially similar laws have been enacted in multiple jurisdictions). On one hand, the classical exposition of stare decisis is that it operates vertically, such that decisions by extra-hierarchical courts are never binding. But if stare decisis is concerned with predictability and enabling the public to legitimately rely on past decisions in carrying out their affairs, those aspirations would not be met if the same provisions were given two different meanings depending on whether one is north or south of the Tweed (or if one is to the east or west of the Irish Sea in Great Britain or Northern Ireland).’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 22nd January 2025
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is to give evidence in his own defence in a civil action being brought against him in London by three IRA bomb victims. The case has been set for trial in early 2026.
Mr Adams is being sued for symbolic damages of £1 for “vindicatory purposes”.’
BBC News, 16th December 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘One night 50 years ago, on 21 November 1974, five men boarded a train from Birmingham New Street station heading for the Lancashire port of Heysham to catch a ferry to Belfast. They were going to the funeral of an IRA bomber who had blown himself up in Coventry the week before. The train left shortly before 8pm. Around 20 minutes later, a bomb exploded at a pub in Birmingham city centre called The Mulberry Bush. It was followed by a second explosion at The Tavern in the Town, another pub nearby. Twenty-one people were killed and 220 injured. The five men who had left the city by train – and a friend who waved them off at the station – were detained hours later on suspicion of being behind the bombings. They would become known as the Birmingham Six.’
BBC News, 4th November 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The UK Supreme Court has made it clear that judicial review is generally available to hold regulators to account and ensure they fulfil their functions.’
OUT-LAW.com, 21st October 2024
Source: www.pinsentmasons.com
‘Statistical analysis of judicial review is notoriously difficult, in part due to the inconsistency in what is published by official sources which results in a ‘partial account of [judicial] activity’.’
Judicial Review, 16th September 2024
Source: www.tandfonline.com
‘The Labour Government comes into office seeking to indicate, as a priority, that it is making a break from its predecessors. That much is central to a manifesto simply entitled Change. Prominent within this agenda is an effort to reset relations with the Irish Government and attempt to restore a partnership around Northern Ireland affairs. This relationship, already strained by years of fraught Brexit negotiations, was upended when the Conservative Government pushed through the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023 (‘the Legacy Act’) in an effort to draw a line under legal actions relating to the conflict in Northern Ireland.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 29th July 2024
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘The Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Labour manifestos offer markedly different visions for the future of devolution in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after the 2024 UK General Election . At one extreme, the Liberal Democrats offer fundamental constitutional reform. If elected, they have promised to “transfer greater powers away from Westminster and Whitehall” by “[strengthening] the voices of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland” as part of a “written constitution for a federal United Kingdom”. They would, inter alia, “complete” the further devolution of powers set out in the Smith and Silk Commissions, strengthen mechanisms for intergovernmental working and dispute resolution, and remove the ability of the UK Parliament unilaterally to amend devolved competence or legislate in devolved areas. At the other extreme, the Conservative Party manifesto marks the end of the road for the further devolution of powers or the deeper entrenchment of devolved institutions. The devolved governments, they say, “now have the right balance of powers to deliver for the people [of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland]”. The Conservative Party’s focus therefore falls on holding the devolved governments responsible for their performance, making devolved governments more accountable within the devolved legislatures, encouraging the decentralisation of power away from Holyrood, Cardiff Bay and Stormont, and strengthening the role, powers and visibility of the UK Government, including in devolved areas.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 20th June 2024
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Clark v Adams [2024] EWHC 62 (KB) is an unusual personal injury claim: three joined claims brought for injuries suffered as a result of bombings attributed to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (‘provisional IRA’) at the Old Bailey in March 1973, the London Docklands in February 1996 and the Arndale Centre in Manchester in June 1996. The claims were brought against the provisional IRA and against Gerry Adams, both in a representative capacity (as a representative of the provisional IRA) and in his personal capacity.’
12KBW Personal Injury Law Blog, 23rd April 202
Source: pilawblog.com
‘A man jailed for life for the murder of four British soldiers nearly 50 years ago has had his convictions quashed by Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal.’
BBC News, 22nd April 2024
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘In Lord Tennyson’s Arthurian ballad ‘The Lady of Shalott’, the eponymous heroine is stranded in her island castle. Continually weaving a web in her loom of the reflections of the outside world she sees in her mirror, she knows she will be cursed if she stops and looks out to nearby Camelot. But one day, Sir Lancelot rides by her castle and she abandons her loom and looks outside. Her mirror cracks “from side to side” and she is cursed. She leaves her castle and floats down to Camelot in a boat, dying before she reaches it.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 5th January 2024
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘The Irish government is to begin a legal challenge against the UK government over its decision to offer immunity for Troubles-era crimes.’
BBC News, 20th December 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘October 2023’s Supreme Court decision in the case of Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and another v Agnew and others (‘Agnew’) represents a seismic shift in the law on holiday pay. The decision makes it much easier for Claimants to make historic underpayment of holiday pay claims in circumstances where they seek to demonstrate a chain of unlawful deductions. The case concerns Northern Irish workers and Northern Irish laws however the decision has wider implications for workers and employers in England and Wales.’
Exchange Chambers, 31st October 2023
Source: www.exchangechambers.co.uk
‘This was the broad question which confronted the Court of Appeal in RSA v. Tughans [2023] EWCA Civ 999, and the unanimous answer was Yes. The case is of interest both because of the result and because of the importance accorded by the Court to the policy underlying compulsion on professionals to have at least a specified minimum level of professional indemnity insurance.’
Hailsham Chambers, 4th September 2023
Source: www.hailshamchambers.com
‘The UK’s Supreme Court has backed a Northern Ireland court’s earlier ruling that makes it easier for workers to raise claims for unpaid holiday pay that stretch back over a period of time.’
OUT-LAW.com, 11th October 2023
Source: www.pinsentmasons.com
‘Many UK workers could be entitled to thousands of pounds “unfairly” deducted from their pay after a supreme court decision, according to unions.’
The Guardian, 4th October 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘The government’s controversial Troubles legacy bill has received Royal Assent and entered into law.’
BBC News, 19th September 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The government’s controversial Legacy Bill has passed after a vote in Westminster, despite widespread opposition in Northern Ireland.’
BBC News, 6th September 2023
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2025