The respondent’s child lived with the estranged father for most of each week. She was obliged to contribute child support. She now lived with a woman, and complained that because her relationship was homosexual, she had been asked to pay more than someone in a heterosexual relationship. Held: The claim failed. The regulations had now … Continue reading Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v M: HL 8 Mar 2006
The claimant had been a passenger in a car driven by his now partner. They had an accident in New South Wales. The car was insured in Australia. He sought leave to sue in England and Wales because Australian law would limit the damages.
Held: . .
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Judges: Davis LJ, Jeremy Baker, Holgate JJ Citations: [2020] EWCA Crim 1297, [2020] WLR(D) 557, [2020] 4 WLR 144 Links: Bailii, WLRD Statutes: Armed Forces Act 2006 42 Jurisdiction: England and Wales Criminal Sentencing, Armed Forces Updated: 19 August 2022; Ref: scu.654612
The appellants sought asylum. They were Kurdish pacifists, and claimed that they would be forced into the armed forces on pain of imprisonment if they were returned to Turkey. Held: The concept of ‘persecution’ was central. It is necessary to investigate whether the treatment which the applicants reasonably fear would infringe a recognised human right. … Continue reading Sepet and Bulbil v Secretary of State for the Home Department: HL 20 Mar 2003
The applicants sought judicial review of a decision of the respondent not to name the wreck of the merchant ship SS STORAA as a protected site under the 1986 Act. It had been a merchant ship forming part of a convoy, and was sunk by enemy action in the Second World War. Held: The review … Continue reading Fogg and Ledgard v The Secretary of State for Defence, Short: Admn 13 Dec 2005
EAT JURISDICTIONAL POINTS – Working outside the jurisdiction The Claimants were wives of service personnel working at NATO headquarters in Belgium and in the Netherlands – Because of that status they were eligible for, and they obtained, employment in schools attached to those headquarters – They were dismissed when their husbands’ service came to an … Continue reading Ministry of Defence v Wallis and Another: EAT 30 Jul 2010
Al Jedda, who had both Iraqi and British nationality, sought damages for unlawful imprisonment by reason of his detention by British forces in a military detention centre in Iraq. Judges: Arden LJ, Sir John Dyson, Elias LJ Citations: [2010] EWCA Civ 758, [2011] 2 WLR 225, [2011] QB 773 Links: Bailii Jurisdiction: England and Wales … Continue reading Al-Jedda v Secretary of State for Defence: CA 8 Jul 2010
Mr Zabrovsky’s son, Arie Ben Eliezer, a Palestinian citizen, was detained under emergency powers regulations. He was issued with an order requiring him to leave Palestine. He was then transported to a military detention camp in Eritrea. At the time, Eritrea was ‘held’ by the British under the control of a Chief Administrator. Proclamation No … Continue reading Zabrovsky v The General Officer Commanding Palestine: PC 4 Dec 1946
The defendant was convicted of fraud charges. He sought to have excluded statements made in interview on the basis that they had been obtained by oppressive behaviour by the police. His wife was very seriously ill in hospital and he had made the statement so that he could get out to see her. The police … Continue reading Regina v Mushtaq: HL 21 Apr 2005
It was alleged that evidence had been obtained by police oppression. She had at first refused to answer questions, but an officer talked to her during a break between interviews, telling her that her lover had been having an affair. The circumstances caused the appellant severe distress, and she made admissions in the following interview. … Continue reading Regina v Fulling: CACD 1987
The patient refused consent to treatment in the form of injection of drugs, which her psychiatrists considered to be necessary. Held: Treatment of this nature infringed the patients rights, and was not to be ordered without clear reason. The doctors had to show that it was a medical necessity, and this had to be shown … Continue reading Regina (N) v Dr M and Others: CA 6 Dec 2002
The House considered the relationship between a merchant vessel in convoy and a convoying naval vessel. Held: The appeal succeeded. Lord Atkinson: ‘With all respect, I am quite unable to concur in the learned judge’s view that the merchant ships convoyed, whose task was simply to sail peacefully on the course they might be directed … Continue reading Britain Steamship Company Limited v The King and Others (“The Matiana”): HL 1921
Constitutional Status of Chanel Islands considered The Court was asked as to the role, if any, of the courts of England and Wales (including the Supreme Court) in the legislative process of one of the Channel Islands. It raised fundamental questions about the constitutional relationship between the United Kingdom and the Bailiwicks of Guernsey and … Continue reading Barclay and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and Others: SC 22 Oct 2014
The court was asked whether it was lawful for the Secretary of State to make subordinate legislation imposing a cap on the amount of welfare benefits which can be received by claimants in non-working households, equivalent to the net median earnings of working households. The challenge was under the 1998 Act on the basis that … Continue reading SG and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: SC 18 Mar 2015
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Preliminary objection rejected (estoppel) ; Violation of Art. 2 with regard to deaths ; Violation of Art. 2 with regard to lack of effective investigation ; Not necessary to examine Art. 2 with regard to the general obligation to protect life ; No separate issue under Art. 13 ; … Continue reading Nachova and Others v Bulgaria: ECHR 6 Jul 2005
The deceased had committed suicide in prison. His family felt that the risk should have been known to the prison authorities, and that they had failed to guard against that risk. The coroner had requested an explanatory note from the jury. Held: The jury should indeed have been given opportunity to explain their verdict: ‘By … Continue reading Middleton, Regina (on the Application of) v Coroner for the Western District of Somerset: HL 11 Mar 2004
The claimant had been imprisoned, but his conviction was later overturned. He had been a victim of a gross abuse of executive power. The British authorities had acted in breach of international law and had been guilty of ‘a blatant and extremely serious failure to adhere to the rule of law with regard to the … Continue reading Mullen, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: HL 29 Apr 2004
ECHR Article 2-1 Life Effective investigation Failure to effectively investigate civilian disappearances in Ingushetia: violation Facts – The applicants were close relatives of three men who disappeared in Ingushetia in 2002 and 2004 after being apprehended by armed men they identified as Russian security forces. In each case a criminal investigation was opened by the … Continue reading Yandiyev And Others v Russia (LS): ECHR 10 Oct 2013
Second Hand Knowledge Supports Resaobnable Belief The plaintiff had been arrested on the basis of the 1984 Act. The officer had no particular knowledge of the plaintiff’s involvement, relying on a briefing which led to the arrest. Held: A reasonable suspicion upon which an arrest was founded need not be based on the arresting officer’s … Continue reading O’Hara v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary: HL 21 Nov 1996
The claimant complained that the UK Armed forces had taken part in his unlawful rendition from Iraq by the US government. He had been detaiined in Iraq and transferred to US Forces. The government became aware that he was to be removed to Afghanistan, but were not notified. He remained detained by US Forces. An … Continue reading Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs v Rahmatullah: SC 31 Oct 2012
The applicant contended that the 1991 Act infringed her human rights in denying her access to court to obtain maintenance for her children. Held: The applicant had no substantive right to take part in the enforcement process in domestic law which is capable in Convention law of engaging the guarantees in it. ‘Sympathetic though one … Continue reading Kehoe, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: HL 14 Jul 2005
The claimant sought release of a report prepared by the respondent as to its coverage of the Arab/Israel conflict partly for journalistic purposes, and partly for compliance. Held: The appeal failed. Where the report was prepared even if only in part for jurnalistic purposes, it was exempt from disclosure under the 2000 Act. Lord Wilson … Continue reading Sugar v British Broadcasting Corporation and Another (2): SC 15 Feb 2012
The deceased army officer serving in Germany died while cycling when hit by a driver insured under German law. His widow, the claimant, being domiciled in England brought her action here, claiming for bereavement and loss of dependency. The Court was asked whether German or UK law applied to the assessment of the damages. Held: … Continue reading Cox v Ergo Versicherung Ag: SC 2 Apr 2014
Complaints were made as to the deaths of six Iraqi civilians which were the result of actions by a member or members of the British armed forces in Basra. One of them, Mr Baha Mousa, had died as a result of severe maltreatment in a prison occupied and run by British military personnel. It was … Continue reading Secretary of State for Defence v Al-Skeini and others (The Redress Trust Intervening): HL 13 Jun 2007
The deceased soldier died of heat exhaustion whilst on active service in Iraq. It was said that he was owed a duty under human rights laws, and that any coroner’s inquest should be a fuller one to satisfy the state’s duty under Article 2. Held: The SSD’s appeal succeeded. ‘jurisdiction’ within the meaning of Article … Continue reading Smith, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence and Oxfordshire Assistant Deputy Coroner (Equality and Human Rights Commission intervening): SC 30 Jun 2010
The claimants sought to prevent their removal and return to their countries of origin saying that as practising homosexuals they would face discrimination and persecution. They appealed against a judgment saying that they could avoid persecution by adapting their behaviour on return. In both countries practising homosexuality would risk imprisonment and in Iran, execution. Held: … Continue reading HJ (Iran) v Secretary of State for The Home Department; HT (Cameroon) v Same: SC 7 Jul 2010
Statements made to the police to support a complaint against the police, were not part of the class of statements which could attract public interest immunity, and were therefore liable to disclosure.Lord Woolf said: ‘The recognition of a new class-based public interest immunity requires clear and compelling evidence that it is necessary’.Lord Templeman said: ‘the … Continue reading Regina v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police Ex Parte Wiley; Other Similar: HL 14 Jul 1994