The General Officer Commanding during the war of 1939 to 1945 ordered the appellants oil installations near Rangoon to be destroyed. The Japanese were advancing and the Government wished to deny them the resources. It was done on the day before the Japanese occupied Rangoon. The question was, whether compensation was payable for this destruction. … Continue reading Burmah Oil Company (Burma Trading) Limited v Lord Advocate: HL 21 Apr 1964
The defendant asked the court to decline jurisdiction. Held: Gloster J stated: ‘In the present case the relevant requirement is to be found in CPR 7.5. That provides that a claim form which is to be served within the jurisdiction must be served within four months of the date of issue; and one which is … Continue reading UBS Ag, London Branch and Another v Kommunale Wasserwerke Leipzig Gmbh: ComC 15 Oct 2010
(Newfoundland) A treaty, which does not terminate a state of war, has no legal effect upon the rights and duties of the subjects of the Crown and speaking generally no power resides in the Crown to compel them to obey the provisions of a treaty, or to expel them without supporting legislative authority. Judges: Watson, … Continue reading Walker v Baird and Another: PC 4 Aug 1892
The court was asked: ‘whether the Secretary of State was precluded under the British Nationality Act 1981 from making an order depriving the appellant of British citizenship because to do so would render him stateless. This turns on whether (within the meaning of article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless … Continue reading Pham v Secretary of State for The Home Department: SC 25 Mar 2015
Proposed changes to the Legal Aid regulations were challenged as being invalid, for being discriminatory. If regulations are not authorised under statute, they will be invalid, even if they have been approved by resolutions of both Houses under the provisions of the relevant enabling Act. Held: The appeal succeeded as to the ultra vires issue.Lord … Continue reading The Public Law Project, Regina (on The Application of) v Lord Chancellor: SC 13 Jul 2016
Parliament’s Approval if statute rights affected In a referendum, the people had voted to leave the European Union. That would require a notice to the Union under Article 50 TEU. The Secretary of State appealed against an order requiring Parliamentary approval before issuing the notice, he saying that the notice could be given under the … Continue reading Miller and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Exiting The European Union: SC 24 Jan 2017
The appellant sought to enforce a international arbitration award against the respondent. The award was made under an arrangement which later became unlawful on Romania’s accession to the EU, and Romania obtained s stay pending resolution by the CJEU. Held: The stay was lifted. Judges: Lady Hale, Lord Reed, Lord Hodge, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Sales … Continue reading Micula and Others v Romania: SC 19 Feb 2020
UK free to disenfranchise citizens resident abroad The claimants appealed against rejection of their challenges to the 2015 Act. As British citizens who had lived abroad for more than fifteen years, they were not to be allowed to vote. Held: The claim failed. The Act was not in breach of European law supporting freedom of … Continue reading Shindler and Another v Chancellor of The Duchy of Lancaster and Another: CA 20 May 2016
Various shopkeepers appealed convictions for breach of regulations requiring food sold by weight to be described in metric amounts. They claimed that the Regulations made under the 1985 Act, to the extent that they were inconsistent with it impliedly repealed the 1972 Act to that extent (2(2)). Held: The EC Treaty was unlike others in … Continue reading Thoburn v Sunderland City Council etc: Admn 18 Feb 2002
Standing to Claim under A1P1 ECHR The appellants had written employers’ liability insurance policies. They appealed against rejection of their challenge to the 2009 Act which provided that asymptomatic pleural plaques, pleural thickening and asbestosis should constitute actionable harm for the purposes of an action of damages for personal injury. Held: The insurers’ appeals failed. … Continue reading AXA General Insurance Ltd and Others v Lord Advocate and Others: SC 12 Oct 2011
The claimant made application for judicial review of the stated intention of the Government of the UK to issue an article 50 notice to leave the EU, by means of the use of the royal Prerogative. They said that any use of the royal prerogative had been displaced by the 1998 Act. Held: There was … Continue reading McCord, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 28 Oct 2016
The asylum applicant challenged a certificate given by the respondent that the claim for asylum was manifestly ill-founded. The respondent had made a mistake in applying the appropriate policy, but had sought to correct the error. The claimants asserted that a legitimate expectation had been created. Held: The abiding principle which underpins the legitimate expectation … Continue reading Regina (Nadarajah) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Abdi v Secretary of State for the Home Department: CA 22 Nov 2005
ECHR Grand Chamber – Article 1 Jurisdiction of states Jurisdiction of Armenia as regards Nagorno-Karabakh and the adjacent occupied territories Article 8 Article 8-1 Respect for family life Respect for home Respect for private life Denial of access to homes to Azerbaijani citizens displaced in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: violation Article 13 Effective … Continue reading Chiragov And Others v Armenia: ECHR 16 Jun 2015
ECHR Article 1 Jurisdiction of states Jurisdiction of Azerbaijan as regards a disputed area near Nagorno-Karabakh on the territory of Azerbaijan Article 8 Article 8-1 Respect for family life Respect for home Respect for private life Impossibility for an Armenian citizen displaced in the context of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to gain access to his home … Continue reading Sargsyan v Azerbaijan: ECHR 16 Jun 2015
The applicant sought to challenge the 2004 Hunting Act, saying that it had been passed under the provisions of the 1949 Parliament Act which was itself an unlawful extension of the powers given by the 1911 Parliament Act to allow the House of Commons to bring into law an Act which had not been approved … Continue reading Jackson and others v Attorney General: HL 13 Oct 2005
Article 50 Notice Requires Parliament’s Authority The applicant challenged a decision by the respondent that he could use Crown prerogative powers to issue a notice under section 50 TUE to initiate the United Kingdom leaving the EU following the referendum under the 2015 Act. Held: Once the notice had been given, it was irrevocable. Consultation … Continue reading Miller and Dos Santos v The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union and Others: QBD 13 Nov 2016
The inspector issued a notice requiring production of certain documents. The respondents refused to produce them, saying that they were protected by legal professional privilege. Held: Legal professional privilege is a fundamental part of ensuring human rights as a right of privacy, and is recognised in European law (A M and S Europe Ltd). A … Continue reading Regina v Special Commissioner And Another, ex parte Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd: HL 16 May 2002
The Home Secretary may not later extend the tariff for a lifer, after it had been set by an earlier Home Secretary, merely to satisfy needs of retribution and deterrence: ‘A power conferred by Parliament in general terms is not to be taken to authorise the doing of acts by the donee of the power … Continue reading Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Ex Parte Pierson: HL 24 Jul 1997
The bank challenged measures taken by HM Treasury to restrict access to the United Kingdom’s financial markets by a major Iranian commercial bank, Bank Mellat, on the account of its alleged connection with Iran’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes. The bank sought to have the direction given under section 7 of the 2008 Act. … Continue reading Bank Mellat v Her Majesty’s Treasury (No 2): SC 19 Jun 2013
[2015] EWCA Civ 203 Bailii England and Wales Cited by: Cited – Miller and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Exiting The European Union SC 24-Jan-2017 Parliament’s Approval if statute rights affected In a referendum, the people had voted to leave the European Union. That would require a notice to … Continue reading HS2 Action Alliance and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Transport and Another: CA 11 Mar 2015
Exercise of Prerogative Power is Reviewable The House considered an executive decision made pursuant to powers conferred by a prerogative order. The Minister had ordered employees at GCHQ not to be members of trades unions. Held: The exercise of a prerogative power of a public nature may be, subject to constraints of national security and … Continue reading Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service: HL 22 Nov 1984
(First Division, Inner House) The reclaimer challenged dismissal of her claim for review of the recent decision for the prorogation of the Parliament at Westminster. Held: Reclaim was granted. The absence of reasons allowed the court to infer that the reason for the prorogation was unlawful.‘It was the role of the courts to protect Parliament. … Continue reading Cherry, Reclaiming Motion By Joanna Cherry QC MP and Others v The Advocate General: SCS 11 Sep 2019
A hotel had been requisitioned during the war for defence purposes. The owner claimed compensation. The AG argued that the liability to pay compensation had been displaced by statute giving the Crown the necessary powers. Held: There is an established general principle, of high constitutional importance, that there is no common law power to take … Continue reading Attorney General v De Keyser’s Royal Hotel Ltd: HL 10 May 1920
Parliament had passed the 1988 Act which provided for a new Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. Instead of implementing the Act, the Home Secretary drew up a non-statutory scheme for a tarriff based system by using prerogative powers. The claimants, whose members would have recourse to the scheme, sought an order that the Act should be … Continue reading Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Fire Brigades Union: HL 5 Apr 1995
The claimants challenged the franchise for the forthcoming European Referendum which excluded them rom voting on the basis that they were not resident within the UK and had neot been registered to vote here for more than five years. Held: ‘1) In principle, section 2 of the 2015 Act is capable of engaging EU law(2) … Continue reading Shindler and Another v Chancellor of The Duchy of Lancaster and Another: Admn 28 Apr 2016
The petitioners, convicted serving prisoners, had sought judicial review of the refusal to allow them to vote in the Scottish Referendum on Independence. The request had been refused in the Outer and Inner Houses. Held: (Kerr, Wilson JJSC dissenting) The ban did not infringe the prisoners’ human rights. The referendum was not an election to … Continue reading Moohan and Another v The Lord Advocate: SC 17 Dec 2014
The validity of certain United Kingdom legislation was challenged on the basis that it contravened provisions of the EEC Treaty by depriving the applicants of their Community rights to fish in European waters, and an interlocutory injunction was sought against the Secretary of State to restrain enforcement of that law pending a reference. The House … Continue reading Regina v Secretary of State for Transport, ex parte Factortame (No 2): HL 11 Oct 1990
The government planned to promote a large scale rail development (HS2), announcing this in a command paper. The main issues, in summary, were, first, whether it should have been preceded by strategic environmental assessment, under the relevant . .
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‘The transactions of independent states between each other are governed by other laws than those which municipal courts administer: such courts have neither the means of deciding what is right, nor the power of enforcing any decision which they may make.’Lord Kingsdown said: ‘The transactions of independent states between each other are governed by other … Continue reading Secretary of State in Council of India v Kamachee Boye Sahab: PC 9 Jul 1859
Municipal courts have not and cannot have the competence to adjudicate upon or to enforce the rights arising out of transactions entered into by independent sovereign states between themselves on the plane of international law.(Cape of Good Hope) Judges: Lord Halsbury LC Citations: [1899] AC 572, [1899] UKPC 61 Links: Bailii Jurisdiction: England and Wales … Continue reading Thomas Cook and James Charles Cook v Sir James Gordon Sprigg: PC 1 Aug 1899
Lord Parker said: ‘The idea that the King in Council, or indeed any branch of the Executive, has power to prescribe or alter the law to be administered by the Courts of law in this country is out of harmony with the principles of our Constitution. It is true that, under a number of modern … Continue reading The Zamora: PC 1916
A Labour government introduced a contributory superannuation scheme. Statute made contribution by employer and employee compulsory. The leader of the National opposition, Muldoon, promised to abolish the scheme immediately on becoming government. National won a landslide victory in November 1975. But the Prime Minister, Muldoon, had no desire to reconvene Parliament until June. Two weeks … Continue reading Fitzgerald v Muldoon: 1976
The King, as the executive government, sought to govern by making proclamations. In particular the court rejected the proposition that ‘the King by his proclamation may prohibit new buildings in and about London’ Held: The monarch had no power to legislate domestically in his own right. Sir Edward Coke CJ said: ‘The King by his … Continue reading Proclamations, Case of: KBD 1 Nov 1610
Ban on Prisoners talking to Journalists unlawful The two prisoners, serving life sentences for murder, had had their appeals rejected. They continued to protest innocence, and sought to bring their campaigns to public attention through the press, having oral interviews with journalists without undertakings from the journalists not to publish any element of the interview. … Continue reading Regina v Secretary of State for The Home Department Ex Parte Simms: HL 8 Jul 1999
There are no degrees of nullity The plaintiffs had owned mining property in Egypt. Their interests were damaged and or sequestrated and they sought compensation from the Respondent Commission. The plaintiffs brought an action for the declaration rejecting their claims was a nullity. The Commission replied that the courts were precluded from considering the question … Continue reading Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission: HL 17 Dec 1968
The applicant, a former editor of the Times, sought judicial review of the decision by the respondent to ratify the EU Treaty (Maastricht), saying that it would increase the powers of the European Parliament without it having been approved by Parliament, and would transfer the Royal Prerogative power to enter into treaties without parliamentary approval. … Continue reading Regina v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs ex parte Rees-Mogg: Admn 30 Jul 1993
Policy guidance issued by the respondent was unlawful because it was contrary to the statutory objectives laid down for the Civil Aviation Authority by section 3 of the 1971 Act. The court discussed the status of guidance issued by the respondent: ‘guidance is assistance in reaching a decision proffered to him who has to make … Continue reading Laker Airways v Department of Trade: CA 15 Dec 1976
Sympathetic construction of national legislation LMA OVIEDO sought a declaration that the contracts setting up Commercial International were void (a nullity) since they had been drawn up in order to defraud creditors. Commercial International relied on an EC Directive designed to protect companies and third parties from the adverse effects of the doctrine of nullity. … Continue reading Marleasing SA v La Comercial Internacional de Alimentacion SA: ECJ 13 Nov 1990
An undisclosed principal will not be permitted to claim to be party to a contract if this is contrary to the terms of the contract itself. Thus the provision in the standard form B contract of the London Metal Exchange ‘this contract is made between ourselves and yourselves as principals, we alone being liable to … Continue reading JH Rayner (Mincing Lane) Ltd v Department of Trade and Industry: HL 1989
The two prisoners, serving life sentences for murder, had had their appeals rejected. They continued to protest innocence, and sought to bring their campaigns to public attention through the press, having oral interviews with journalists without . .
