‘The Bar Council is highlighting new official court backlog figures which show the backlog of cases in the Crown Court has reduced slightly while the open caseload in the magistrates’ court has increased to an unprecedented high. The new data casts serious doubts over the government’s plans to move cases from the Crown Court to the magistrates’ court under its proposals to restrict jury trials.’

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Bar Council, 25th June 2026

Source: www.barcouncil.org.uk

‘“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes”. This line is credited to Mark Twain, but the thought is older. Jonathan Swift complained three centuries ago that falsehood flies while truth comes limping after. What has changed since Swift is not human credulity but infrastructure. The most comprehensive study of online diffusion yet conducted found that false news travels significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth, and it does so through ordinary human sharing rather than automated accounts. The question here is as to what extent the state owes its citizens a duty against misinformation; cannot be resolved at the level of content alone. This post will argue that the state holds a duty that is real but narrow. It is a positive obligation to protect the conditions of safe and autonomous citizenship by regulating the architecture of virality, in the confined circumstances where amplified falsehood foreseeably threatens serious, rights-harming consequences, above all, violence.’

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UK Constitutional Law Association, 2nd July 2026

Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org

‘Paul Newman KC considers a very recent High Court decision on a rectification application in which particular reliance was placed on the explanatory guides prepared for the trustees and employer on the adoption of a new deed and rules.’

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Pensions Barrister, 2nd July 2026

Source: www.pensionsbarrister.com

‘In our appositely-titled post Burial of unknown ashes without documentation (26 June 2026), we reviewed Re St. Mary the Virgin Greenham [2026] ECC Oxf 11. The dilemma faced by the PCC was that a cremation urn had been left at Newbury Racecourse following a race meeting and despite extensive efforts by the racecourse, police and crematoria to trace relatives or the owner, no next of kin could be identified. Although the police thought they knew the family, they were said to have denied any link to the urn.

The Daily Telegraph has now reported that the urn wasn’t filled with human ashes and that it was taken to the races last year as part of an elaborate joke, The burger van, the fake ashes and the burial no one could stop (1 July 2026).’

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Law & Religion UK, 2nd July 2026

Source: lawandreligionuk.com

‘In February 2022, we issued a post on a Bishop’s Disciplinary Tribunal in the Diocese of Southwark which addressed issues arising from a priest’s use of the “Like” function on his Twitter account. In this case the Complainant was the Archdeacon of Reigate, Diocese of Southwark, and after serving a “Respondent’s answer to a Complaint” in the appropriate format, the Respondent did not engage any further with the process.’

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Law & Religion UK, 2nd July 2026

Source: lawandreligionuk.com

‘A High Court judge, employment judges and a district judge sitting in the magistrates’ court have all been sanctioned over delays in their judicial work.’

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Law Society Gazette, 2nd July 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘Claimant lawyers have hailed what they call a landmark victory after appeal judges allowed mis-sold car finance cases to be grouped together as one class action. The Court of Appeal today upheld the High Court’s decision that thousands of claims can be conveniently dealt with under eight ‘omnibus’ claim forms.’

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Law Society Gazette, 1st July 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘Unrepresented parties using generative AI to craft claims threaten to inundate courts with a tide of slop. Solicitors as well as judges need to learn quickly how to respond.’

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Law Society Gazette, 30th June 2026

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘If the Thwaite jurisdiction exists, the doctrine should only need to be invoked in exceptionally rare cases. Ordinarily, careful drafting of a non-variable property adjustment order should provide for future contingencies, however remote or unlikely.’

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Financial Remedies Journal, 1st July 2026

Source: financialremediesjournal.com

‘The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) must urgently improve its investigations to avoid a repeat of failings such as those in the Andrew Malkinson scandal, a watchdog has found.’

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The Guardian, 2nd July 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘Britain’s biggest housebuilders, including Barratt Redrow and Taylor Wimpey, face a multibillion-pound class action lawsuit over claims that they colluded over higher prices for homebuyers.’

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The Guardian, 30th June 2026

Source: www.theguardian.com

‘Summaries to the ten consistory court judgments reviewed during June are listed below, with links to the L&RUK review.’

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Law & Religion UK, 1st July 2026

Source: lawandreligionuk.com

In her paper Post-Cremation Ashes: What’s The (Updated) Legal Position? Professor Heather Conway states: “…in England and Wales…the first thing is to distinguish between is who is authorised to collect the remains from the crematorium, and who has the legal right to the ashes once this has occurred”. However, matters became more uncertain subsequent to the these considerations in Re St. Mary the Virgin Greenham [2026] ECC Oxf 11.’

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Law & Religion UK, 26th June 2026

Source: lawandreligionuk.com

‘The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has finalised new rules and guidance that will apply to businesses seeking to facilitate the buying, trading or storage of cryptoassets in the UK from 25 October 2027.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 1st July 2026

Source: www.pinsentmasons.com

‘Are private FDRs working? And does the answer depend upon who is answering? Those were the core questions discussed at a gathering of family lawyers – both neutral evaluators and advisers – in central London on 9 June 2026.’

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Financial Remedies Journal, 29th June 2026

Source: financialremediesjournal.com

‘The Government has published its long-awaited package of statutory guidance for the Local Government Pension Scheme in England and Wales, accompanying the investment and governance reforms in the Pension Schemes Act 2026. The guidance covers three linked areas: asset pooling, preparing and maintaining Investment Strategy Statements, and fund governance.’

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Pensions Barrister, 30th June 2026

Source: www.pensionsbarrister.com

‘A 90-year-old tiles tycoon who bought his “favourite” grandson a house and funded his five-star wedding has lost an £850,000 court fight after suing him to take the money back.’

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The Independent, 1st July 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk

‘The professional body for licensing practitioners said the new guidance sets out what licensing teams need to know, what they need to do, and how they can “position licensing as a core public protection and regulatory service” within the new authorities.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 1st July 2026

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

‘More than 5,000 people with motor finance claims can use “multi-claimant” or omnibus claim forms and do not have to file them separately, the Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.’

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Legal Futures, 1st July 2026

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

‘Two police officers involved in the arrest of Henry Nowak before he died from a stab wound are being investigated for potential gross misconduct.’

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The Independent, 1st July 2026

Source: www.independent.co.uk