‘Total panic’: the effect of no-fault evictions on renters in England – The Guardian
‘Section 21 evictions enable private landlords to oust tenants, even if they have done nothing wrong.’
The Guardian, 27th September 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
Kneecap rapper’s terror case thrown out – BBC News
‘The terrorism case against Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh has been thrown out following a technical error in the way the charge against him was brought.’
BBC News, 26th September 2025
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Public perceptions on self-defence in householder and domestic abuse victim-defendant contexts – Legal Studies
‘In the context of self-defence, successive governments have taken an inconsistent approach to using public opinion as a basis for reforming criminal law. In the case of householders acting in self-defence, reform was based on limited public opinion whereas in the case of the domestic abuse victim who uses force against their abuser reform proposals were rejected without considering public opinion. There is a limited evidence base of actual public perceptions in either situation and yet their value is substantial when considering the role of lay decision-makers in the criminal trial and the need to maintain public trust in the system. This paper explores theoretical justifications for the inclusion of public perceptions in the development of criminal defences. Using a social constructivist approach, the authors consider public perceptions, as found in a small-scale empirical study, towards self-defence claims in both a householder and domestic abuse context, concluding that the public can in some circumstances find that the latter is more deserving of a claim than the former.’
Legal Studies, 24th September 2025
Source: www.cambridge.org
Ministers plan to allow naming and shaming of offenders completing community sentences – The Guardian
‘Ministers are pushing through powers to photograph, name and shame offenders who have been ordered to complete unpaid community work in England and Wales.’
The Guardian, 26th September 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
The Lost Promise of Compulsory Employers’ Liability Insurance: A Tragedy in Three Acts – Industrial Law Journal
‘Compulsory insurance for workplace injuries has been in place in the United Kingdom for more than five decades. The political pressure to introduce mandatory cover, and to criminalise failures to do so, followed notorious workplace fires. But politicians and academic commentators at the time noted that the legislation introduced did not correct the very issue in those fires: the business that was insured but where the conduct of the employer meant that the insurer had a defence to liability. The compulsion was entirely one-way: employers had to insure, but insurers were not subject to enhanced regulation on the payment of claims. This issue has returned to the forefront in light of recent litigation testing the modern position. The changes to liability insurance law since the 1970s are most clearly shown by three areas of parliamentary action. The rights of third parties claiming under liability insurance policies was altered by the Third Party (Rights Against Insurers) Act 2010 (replacing the 1930 Act of the same name). The remedies available to the insurer for non-compliance with key obligations was reformed by the Insurance Act 2015. Alongside this, the regulation of insurance was significantly enhanced by measures under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (as amended). Each of these measures was the product of detailed consideration, often following extensive Law Commission analysis. Despite this, the issue that showed the weakness of compulsory insurance in the 1970s has re-emerged. None of the changes to substantive insurance contract law or the burgeoning regulatory state protect the injured worker where the conduct of the employer makes them uninsurable. In essence, what has been preserved is the freedom of contract and market choice of insurers, over any sense of regulation in the wider public good. This paper provides a range of regulatory and substantive corrections that would address this issue. In doing so, it builds on measures used elsewhere in English insurance law. The next step in the reform of insurance contract law is to deliver more fully on the promise of compulsory insurance, and that starts in the employment context.’
Industrial Law Journal, 18th September 2025
Source: academic.oup.com
Information watchdog hits council with enforcement notice over subject access requests backlog – Local Government Lawyer
‘The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued an enforcement notice to Bristol City Council for failing to comply with its legal obligations to respond to subject access requests (SARs).’
Local Government Lawyer, 25th September 2025
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Beneficial ownership in domestic tax legislation, some clarity, but far from ‘well established’: Hargreaves Property Holdings Ltd v HMRC [2024] EWCA Civ 365 – Legal Studies
‘The concept of beneficial ownership is extensively used in domestic tax legislation, but several decades of inconsistent case law have muddied the waters as to exactly what it means. With the leading cases stopping short of the apex court, it is difficult to reconcile the cases and come up with a clear definition of beneficial ownership. The recent Hargreaves decision by Falk LJ (with whom Nugee and Peter Jackson LJJ agreed) represents the most structured judicial attempt to rationalise the concept to date. This note suggests that, contrary to Falk LJ’s statement that the concept is “well established”, the law pre-Hargreaves was far from clear. This situation has since been greatly improved through the efforts of Falk LJ, though further questions remain for future judicial clarification.’
Legal Studies, 22nd September 2025
Source: www.cambridge.org
LPC pass rate slumps as course winds down – Legal Futures
Pass rates on the legal practice course (LPC) slumped from 57% to 42% in the year to 31 August 2024, newly released figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) have revealed.
Legal Futures, 26th September 2025
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
On Prohibiting Pupil Prayers: Conceptions of Religion and Secularism in Webber Academy (Canada) and Michaela School (UK) – Oxford Journal of Law and Religion
‘The Michaela Community School in London made headlines in spring 2023 when it forbade students from engaging in prayer rituals on school premises. The school’s prayer ban was recently upheld by the High Court in R v Michaela Community Schools Trust, [2024] EWHC 843 (Admin). Over 10 years earlier, two students at a private high school in Calgary, Canada, were also prohibited from praying at school. The extended litigation that followed culminated in the 2023 judgment of Webber Academy Foundation v Alberta (Human Rights Commission), 2023 ABCA 194, which—unlike its UK counterpart—was decided in favour of the students. This article considers the common ground between the two cases, including the schools’ efforts to present themselves as “secular” to the outside world, and goes on to examine the courts’ opposing responses to the claims. We maintain that despite their different administrative and institutional contexts, a more fundamental difference concerns how the courts conceptualise religion: either as an expression of a person’s identity—the dominant framing in Webber Academy—or as an expression of autonomy and personal choice, adopted by the court in Michaela.’
Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, 18th September 2025
Source: academic.oup.com
Why does software ownership matter? Six key legal takeaways for tech businesses – Kingsley Napley Corporate and Commercial Law Blog
‘For founders, investors and anyone involved in the tech sector, understanding who owns your software and how to prove it is critical. Whether you’re seeking investment, planning an exit or simply aiming to protect your IP, clarity on ownership can make or break a deal.’
Kingsley Napley Corporate and Commercial Law Blog, 25th September 2025
Source: www.kingsleynapley.co.uk
Taking Human Rights Seriously at Work: The Past, Present and Future of Employment Law – Industrial Law Journal
‘Human rights are increasingly adopted as a perspective on employment law and the regulation of work. Yet there remains a lack of clarity over key questions such as how the relationship between employment law and human rights should be understood, why human rights law has had limited impact in this context and whether/how it might more effectively advance workers’ interests. This article uses the academic writings and judicial decisions of Sir Patrick Elias as a lens through which to consider these issues. It makes three central contributions, relating, respectively, to the past, present and future of employment law and human rights. First, it is suggested that employment law be reimagined so that human rights are a central and foundational concern, with a core goal of employment law being to ensure that human rights are taken seriously at work. Second, by reference to Elias’ scholarship and leading decisions, the article identifies the systemic barriers that mainstream interpretations of human rights law create to the protection of workers’ human rights. Finally, the article outlines potential future applications of human rights law in the employment context which, together, would represent a significant step towards a more comprehensive framework for protecting workers, that takes human rights seriously at work.’
Industrial Relations Journal, 22nd September 2025
Source: doi.org
Crown court backlog in England and Wales hits new record of almost 80,000 cases – The Guardian
‘The crown court backlog in England and Wales has risen by 10% to a new record of almost 80,000 cases, while wait times for trial dates have reached up to four years.’
The Guardian, 25th September 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
Transparency in the Court of Protection – what is it good for and how long should restrictions last? – Transparency Project
‘By accident or design, Poole J appears to have found himself the Tier 3 transparency guru. In Re Gardner (Deceased)(Duration of Transparency Order) [2025] EWCOP 34 (T3) he made a range of important observations about (and in passing raised some questions about) the operation of the transparency framework within the Court of Protection.’
Transparency Project, 25th September 2025
A matter of life and breath for Ella – the formally acknowledged threat of air pollution as a breach of the right to life – Legal Studies
‘The death of Ella Kissi-Debrah in 2013 will be forever notable as the first instance in the United Kingdom of air pollution being recorded as contributing to the death of an individual. Whilst in itself a monumental shift in consideration of air pollution and the impact on human health, the recording by the coroner of Ella’s death as having been contributed to by air pollution has significant human rights implications. This piece considers the circumstances surrounding both Ella’s death and the report of the coroner and connects these to decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. It presents the argument that the failure to address a known risk to life presented by air pollution could constitute a breach of the right to life protected by Article 2 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR). Cases in which environmental conditions are found by the Court to have breached Article 2 are rare, but this paper contends that the formal acknowledgement of the threat of air pollution as a result of Ella’s death means that failure to address it meets this threshold.’
Legal Studies, 26th September 2025
Source: www.cambridge.org
BAILII: Recent Decisions
High Court (Administrative Court)
Williams, R (On the Application Of) v Cyngor Gwynedd [2025] EWHC 2395 (Admin) (24 September 2025)
High Court (Commercial Court)
High Court (Technology and Construction Court)
Andrews & Ors v Kronospan Ltd [2025] EWHC 2429 (TCC) (25 September 2025)
Source: www.bailii.org
Fire brigade worker sacked over Tesco queue-jumping row wins unfair dismissal claim – The Independent
‘A fire service worker accused of “shoulder-barging” a female shopper to the floor at a Tesco in London after he was alleged to have pushed to the front of the queue has won an unfair dismissal claim.’
The Independent, 24th September 2025
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Judge rejects council bid for planning statutory review of 49MW battery energy storage facility – Local Government Lawyer
‘Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council has failed in a High Court action in which it tried to overturn a planning inspector’s decision that a battery energy storage facility could be built on its green belt.’
Local Government Lawyer, 25th September 2025
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Love Islander’s vodka ad pulled for targeting under-18s – BBC News
‘A former Love Island contestant’s social media promotion for a vodka brand has been banned from TikTok for targeting under-18s.’
BBC News, 24th September 2025
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
New betting and vape shops could be blocked under new community powers – The Independent
‘Local communities are set to be given new powers to safeguard local pubs and libraries, as part of a government drive to revitalise neglected high streets.’
The Independent, 24th September 2025
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Maggots raining down’: survey lays bare dire state of courts in England and Wales – The Guardian
‘Asbestos, mould, rotten seagulls and cells flooding with excrement are among the problems experienced in crumbling courts in England and Wales, the Law Society has found.’
The Guardian, 25th September 2025
Source: www.theguardian.com
