BAILII: Recent Decisions
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
Category: law reports
Benkharbouche v Embassy of the Republic of Sudan (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and others intervening); Janah v Libya (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and others intervening) – WLR Daily
‘Domestic workers employed as members of the service staff of foreign diplomatic missions in the United Kingdom were entitled to bring proceedings asserting their employment rights against the employer state, in claims including unfair dismissal and breach of working time provisions, and such claims were not barred by the doctrine of state immunity pursuant to provisions in the State Immunity Act 1978.’
WLR Daily, 5th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Regina v McDowell; Regina v Singh – WLR Daily
Regina v McDowell; Regina v Singh [2015] EWCA Crim 173; [2015] WLR (D) 84
‘Where trading receipts were obtained as a result of lawful trading activity rather than a failure to register particulars with the local authority under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 before carrying on business as a scrap metal dealer, the trading activity was not criminal conduct from which benefit accrued, and the trading receipts were excluded from the criminal lifestyle provisions under section 75(2) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.’
WLR Daily, 19th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
JSC Bank of Moscow v Kekhman and others – WLR Daily
JSC Bank of Moscow v Kekhman and others [2015] EWHC 396 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 82
‘When considering whether to exercise its discretion to make a bankruptcy order on a debtor’s petition, the court was to have regard to whether the petitioner could show (1) that he had a sufficiently close connection with England and Wales; (2) that there was a reasonable possibility of benefit resulting from the making of a bankruptcy order; and (3) that one or more persons interested in the distribution of assets were persons over whom the English court could exercise jurisdiction.’
WLR Daily, 20th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Regina v Gurpinar; Regina v Kojo-Smith and another – WLR Daily
Regina v Gurpinar; Regina v Kojo-Smith and another [2015] EWCA Crim 178; [2015] WLR (D) 80
Where a defendant was charged with murder and the issue arose as to whether the partial defence of loss of self-control should be left to the jury the trial judge had to undertake a much more rigorous evaluation of the evidence before that defence could be left to the jury than had been required under the former law of provocation.
WLR Daily, 20th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Regina (London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association and others) v Lord Chancellor; Regina (Law Society) v Lord Chancellor – WLR Daily
‘The conventional Wednesbury standard of judicial supervision applied to a decision, taken by the Lord Chancellor in the exercise of his discretion under section 2(1) of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, which involved changes to the provision of criminal legal aid services by solicitors.’
WLR Daily, 18th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Al-Malki and another v Reyes and another (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and others intervening) – WLR Daily
‘A contract of employment between a serving diplomatic agent and a domestic worker in his official diplomatic residence was not to be characterised as “commercial activity” which the diplomatic agent exercised in the jurisdiction outside of his “official functions”, so that in a claim under the contract the agent was not deprived of his immunity from civil suit by the employee since such a dispute did not come within the exception to diplomatic immunity under article 31.1(c) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961), scheduled to the Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964.’
WLR Daily, 5th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
JX MX v Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust (Personal Injury Bar Association and another intervening) – WLR Daily
‘The Court of Appeal issued guidelines as to the principles which should apply, on an application for approval of a compromise of a claim of damages for personal injury brought by a child, where the court in the exercise of its power was deciding whether as a matter of necessity to withhold from the public the names of the parties to the litigation.
WLR Daily, 17th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
In re Z (Children) (DNA Profiles: Disclosure) – WLR Daily
In re Z (Children) (DNA Profiles: Disclosure) [2015] EWCA Civ 34; [2015] WLR (D) 76
‘On a purposive construction of sections 19 and 22 in Part II of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, biometric material seized and retained by the police could not be used or disclosed for any purpose other than criminal law enforcement, nor could a court order its disclosure for an unconnected purpose. Such a construction was compatible with the right to respect for a person’s private and family life under article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.’
WLR Daily, 5th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Jackson (Appellant) v Murray and another (Respondents) (Scotland) – Supreme Court
Jackson (Appellant) v Murray and another (Respondents) (Scotland) [2015] UKSC 5 (YouTube)
Supreme Court, 18th February 2015
Eclipse Film Partners No 35 LPP v Revenue and Customs Commissioners – WLR Daily
‘On the proper meaning and application of “trade” in sections 5 and 863(1) of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005 and section 362 (1)(b) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 the taxpayer carried on the business of exploiting films not amounting to a trade. Accordingly, the taxpayer’s members were not entitled to tax relief in respect of interest on their borrowings.’
WLR Daily, 17th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Sanneh v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions; Scott and others v Croydon London Borough Council; Merali and others v Birmingham City Council; Regina (HC) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and others – WLR Daily
‘European Union law gave a Zambrano carer, being a non-European Union citizen responsible for the care of an EU citizen child, the right to reside in the United Kingdom from the time when it became apparent that she qualified as a Zambrano carer. However, it did not give her an entitlement to social assistance on the same basis as an EU citizen lawfully resident in the UK. It was for national law to determine the level of benefits to which she was entitled.’
WLR Daily, 10th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Zenati v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and another – WLR Daily
Zenati v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and another [2015] EWCA Civ 80; [2015] WLR (D) 74
‘The detention of a person, which was initiated and continued for the purpose of bringing that person, reasonably suspected of having committed an offence, before a court from time to time as might be necessary, was lawful, under article 5.1(c) of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, since by article 5.3 a person so detained was required not only to be brought before a court, but also to be tried within a reasonable time. That meant that he might be detained until trial provided that the trial took place within a reasonable time, and he was detained in accordance with article 5.1(c) until the date of trial. The persistence of reasonable suspicion was a condition for the lawfulness of continuing detention. It had to be implicit in article 5.1(c) and 5.3 that the investigating/prosecuting authorities were required to bring the relevant facts to the court’s attention as soon as possible, so that it might review the situation and order the person’s release if it were satisfied that there were no longer any grounds for the continuing detention. The article provided a right to compensation in the event of its breach in article 5.5, so that there was no compelling need to establish that such breach resulted in liability for the tort of false imprisonment.’
WLR Daily, 11th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
BAILII: Recent Decisions
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
- Eclipse Film Partners No 35 LLP v HM Revenue and Customs [2015] EWCA Civ 95 (17 February 2015)
- MX v Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust & Ors [2015] EWCA Civ 96 (17 February 2015)
- AP (India) v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 89 (13 February 2015)
- Newbigin (Valuation Officer) v S J & J Monk (a firm) [2015] EWCA Civ 78 (13 February 2015)
- Rynda (UK) Ltd v Rhijnsburger [2015] EWCA Civ 75 (13 February 2015)
Clavis Liberty Fund LPI v Revenue and Customs Commissioners and others – WLR Daily
Clavis Liberty Fund LPI v Revenue and Customs Commissioners and others [2015] WLR (D) 69
‘The First-tier Tribunal Tax Chamber had no jurisdiction to issue witness summonses addressed to prospective witnesses who had no presence in the jurisdiction.’
WLR Daily, 12th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
R (James) v HM Prison Birmingham and others – WLR Daily
R (James) v HM Prison Birmingham and others [2015] EWCA Civ 58; [2015] WLR (D) 59
‘There was no obligation on a judge to deduct from a term of imprisonment the time spent on remand by a person arrested under section 43 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 for breach of a final gang injunction order under sections 34 to 36 of the 2009 Act, and subsequently imprisoned for contempt of court pursuant to section 14 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981 and section 120 of the County Courts Act 1984.’
WLR Daily, 9th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
In re Law Society – WLR Daily
In re Law Society [2015] EWHC 166 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 60
‘The Law Society had power under paragraph 16 of Part II of Schedule 1 to the Solicitors Act 1974 to destroy old and redundant documents seized in connection with interventions.’
WLR Daily, 9th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills v PLT Anti-Marketing Ltd – WLR Daily
‘Where a court was considering whether a commercial practice amounted to a misleading omission by the omission of material information for the purposes of regulation 6 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, the court had to consider, particularly where the information omitted concerned alternative products, whether the average consumer could be said to have needed to obtain that information from the trader rather than from elsewhere.’
WLR Daily, 10th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
In re AJ (Deprivation Of Liberty: Safeguards) – WLR Daily
In re AJ (Deprivation Of Liberty: Safeguards) [2015] EWCOP 5 ; [2015] WLR (D) 64
‘In situations involving a deprivation of liberty local authorities and professionals needed to be alert to cases where vulnerable people were admitted to residential care, ostensibly for respite care, when the underlying plan was for a permanent placement without proper consideration of their rights under article 5 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.’
WLR Daily, 10th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Regina (Wingrove) v Stratford-on-Avon District Council – WLR Daily
Regina (Wingrove) v Stratford-on-Avon District Council [2015] EWHC 287 (Admin); [2015] WLR (D) 65
‘The wide discretionary power to refuse to determine a retrospective planning application for development subject to an enforcement notice under section 70C of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 was intended to provide local planning authorities with a tool to prevent such applications being used to delay enforcement action being taken against development. An applicant’s motive to use a retrospective application to cause such delay would clearly be a consideration in favour of a decision to invoke that discretion.’
WLR Daily, 12th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
