This appeal raises two closely related questions of law: whether purported execution of a foreign judgment registered in the High Court pursuant to the terms of the Lugano Convention can be execution issued in respect of the judgment debt, for the purposes of section 268(1)(b) of the Insolvency Act 1986, if the execution occurred before … Continue reading Islandsbanki Hf and Others v Stanford: CA 2 Apr 2020
A notice refusing leave to a visitor to enter which simply gave as the reasons:- ‘I am not satisfied that you are genuinely seeking entry only for this limited period.’ was sufficient compliance with the duty to give reasons for the decision imposed by the relevant Regulations: ‘The answer [to the question why did the … Continue reading Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Deaprtment ex parte Swati: CA 1986
The agricultural landlord sold part of his land subject to the respondent’s tenancy to the appellant. Before the transfer was registered, notices to quit were served by both the landlord and his buyer. The tenant challenged both notices in the County court, against whose finding and order that the notices were invalid, both defendants now … Continue reading Stodday Land Ltd and Another v Pye: ChD 7 Oct 2016
The court considered whether the lease of part of Doncaster Common (not registered as such) fell within section 123(2A) of the 1972 Act. Held: For over a century the public had, as of right, used Doncaster Common for what could be conveniently termed recreation. Even if the public’s use depended upon a bare licence, the … Continue reading Regina v Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council ex parte Braim: 1986
Wife in Occupation had Overriding Interest The wife had made a substantial financial contribution to the purchase price of the house which was registered only in her husband’s name, and charged to the bank. The bank sought possession. The wife resisted saying that she had an overriding interest. Held: Her equitable interest was not only … Continue reading Williams and Glyn’s Bank Ltd v Boland: HL 19 Jun 1980
The claimant had erected a building on land at the rear of his own property in 1986. He sought to register his title. He complained now that he had been granted only possessory and not absolute title. The land had been unregistered, but had belonged to Railtrack, who would not give consent. Held: The claim … Continue reading Diep v Land Registry: Admn 3 Dec 2010
PENALTY – No appearance by or on behalf of Appellant – Appeal heard under rule 26(2) of VAT Tribunal Rules 1986 – Appellant deregistered for VAT when trading above registration limit – Appellant’s main client VAT exempt not valid reason for . .
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The defendant had registered a caution against the claimant’s land at the Land Registry. The claimant sought its removal and now appealed an order for rectification of the register against him. The parties had reached oral agreements as to the boundaries. Though nothing was formalised, they were acted upon. The mutual benefit and burden issue … Continue reading Bhullar and Another v McArdle: CA 10 Apr 2001
Austlii (High Court of Australia) Constitutional Law (Cth) – Inconsistency between Commonwealth and State laws – Compensation of seamen – Laws expressly contemplating coexistence of laws – Whether Commonwealth law covers field – The Constitution (63 and 64 Vict c. 12), s.109 – Seamen’s Compensation Act 1911 (Cth), ss.5(2)(e), 10A – Australia Act 1986 (Cth), … Continue reading Union Steamship Company of Australia Pty Ltd v King: 26 Oct 1988
Fair Coment on Political Activities The defendant newspaper had published articles wrongly accusing the claimant, the former Prime Minister of Ireland of duplicity. The paper now appealed, saying that it should have had available to it a defence of qualified privilege because of the claimant’s status as a politician. Held: The appeal failed (Lords Hope … Continue reading Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd and others: HL 28 Oct 1999
The OFT had considered whether it was necessary to refer a merger between two companies to the Competition Commission, and decided against. The Competition Appeal Tribunal held that the proposed merger should have been referred. The OFT and parties appealed. Held: The Tribunal had misdirected itself as to one test. The statutory test required the … Continue reading Office of Fair Trading and others v IBA Health Limited: CA 19 Feb 2004
The court was asked whether for the purposes of English divorce and connected proceedings a Talaq pronounced by the respondent husband in Saudi Arabia and placed by Deed of Confirmation before the Sharia Court is entitled to be afforded recognition in this jurisdiction. The parties had married in England. Held: It was to be recognised: … Continue reading H v S: FD 18 Nov 2011
The claimants had made several Star Wars films for which the defendants had designed various props items. The parties disputed ownership of the rights in the designs, and in articular of a stormtrooper helmet. The issues came down to whether the defendant had rights to reproduce images under sections 51 and 52. The claimants appealed … Continue reading Lucasfilm Ltd and Others v Ainsworth and Another: CA 16 Dec 2009
FTTTx Procedure – costs – application for costs out of time – whether discretion to entertain an application should be exercised – Rule 5 (3) (a) Tribunal Rules 2009 – whether direction should be made to apply Rule 29 of the VAT Tribunal Rules 1986 – Atlantic Electronics considered – alternatively whether order for costs … Continue reading Eastenders Cash and Carry Plc v Revenue and Customs: FTTTx 27 Mar 2012
The parties had gone through a form of marriage, but the purported husband was many years later revealed to be a female to male transsexual. The marriage had been annulled. There was now an application for ancillary relief. Held: Ancillary relief might be available to a trans-sexual whose marriage is annulled. The principle of public … Continue reading S v S-T (Formerly J): CA 25 Nov 1996
(Plenary Court) The applicant was held in prison in the UK, pending extradition to the US to face allegations of murder, for which he faced the risk of the death sentence, which would be unlawful in the UK. If extradited, a representation would be made to the judge at the time of sentencing that the … Continue reading Soering v The United Kingdom: ECHR 7 Jul 1989
The Court was asked as to an assignment to a creditor of all rights to and choses in action relating to or in any way arising out of or in connection with an action against a secured creditor. The rights purportedly assigned included the right to assert that certain dispositions of the company’s property after … Continue reading In re Ayala Holdings Ltd (No 2): ChD 1996
The claimant, an Australian, presently held by the US as a suspected terrorist in Guantanamo Bay sought to be registered as a British Citizen, saying he was entitled to registration as of right. Held: The past behaviour of an applicant was not to be allowed to put a citizenship claim at risk. The Secretary of … Continue reading Hicks, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: Admn 13 Dec 2005
Representative claims were made against the respondents, hospitals, pathologists etc with regard to the removal of organs from deceased children without the informed consent of the parents. They claimed under the tort of wrongful interference. Held: Organ removal when a post mortem had been ordered by the coroner was not tortious. In English law there … Continue reading AB and others v Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust, Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust: QBD 26 Mar 2004
The applicants sought judicial review of the Immigration Appeal Tribunal’s refusal of leave to appeal. The court had to decide whether such a right survived section 101 of the 2001 Act. Held: The right to have a judicial review could only be removed by the clearest of words. A right remained, but it was severely … Continue reading Regina (G) v Immigration Appeal Tribunal; Regina (M) v Immigration Appeal Tribunal: Admn 25 Mar 2004
A contractual lien for the unpaid price of goods was not a charge on the company’s assets and so did not become void for non-registration. It was a valid lien. Citations: Times 13-Mar-1998 Statutes: Insolvency Act 1986 11(3)(a) Jurisdiction: England and Wales Company Updated: 19 July 2022; Ref: scu.81929
EAT The Claimant was employed on a fixed term contract. During the terms of the contract he was dismissed for misconduct and made an application to the Employment Tribunal (ET) claiming unfair dismissal. He appealed but the appeal was heard after the date when the contract would have expired by effluxion of time. The appeal … Continue reading Prakash v Wolverhampton City Council: EAT 1 Sep 2006
The bankrupt had been entitled to a valuable vehicle registration mark ‘AMR 1T’. He sold it to a creditor, the claimant to clear that debt. The trustee now said that the purported assignment was ineffective. Held: ‘VRMs are assigned to vehicles, not to registered owners or other individuals. The Secretary of State has power to … Continue reading Goel v Pick: ChD 12 Apr 2006
The defendant raised as a preliminary point the question of whether the claimant, an Iraqi, was an enemy alien, and therefore debarred from bringing proceedings to recover. Held: Under modern law it could not be a requirement that a state of war had been formally declared. The force used against Iraq was used according to … Continue reading Amin v Brown: ChD 27 Jul 2005
Mrs D had gone into business with the respondents to operate a residential care home. It was to be run from premises owned by the respondents. The respondents inter alia had failed to disclose previous convictions, the registration was cancelled, and the company was insolvent. Heads of agreement with an attached draft lease had been … Continue reading Dyment v Boyden and others: CA 26 Nov 2004
A couple bought a property and registered it in their own names with substantial financial assistance from the parents of one of them. The parents occupied the house with them. Without telling the parents, the owners borrowed again, executing further charges. Held: The fact of occupation did not add to the parents’ rights as equitable … Continue reading City of London Building Society v Flegg And Another: HL 14 May 1987
(Hong Kong) The claimants complained of the sale by the defendants of refilled cartridges for use with their printers. Held: The spare cartridge manufacturer’s appeal failed: ‘repair is by definition something which does not amount to the manufacture of the patented article, it is not an infringement of the monopoly conferred by the patent. It … Continue reading Kaisha v Green Cartridge Company (Hong Kong) Limited: PC 30 Apr 1997
The applicant claimed and was paid benefits. There was later determined to have been an overpayment. A sum was recovered by deductions, but then he was granted only supplementary allowance. No deductions could be made from that, but the respondent relied upon the transitional provisions in the regulations to continue to make deductions. The claimant … Continue reading Regina v Secretary of State for Social Security, Ex parte Britnell (Alan): HL 1991
The court considered the validity of a consensual form of divorce kyogi rikon in Japanese law, the most common form of divorce in Japan. The consent is by written form not judicial act but the signing must be followed by formal registration before a government official in prescribed form. Held: The involvement of the state … Continue reading H v H (The Queen’s Proctor Intervening) (Validity of Japanese Divorce): FD 2006
The defendants were arrested after distributing leaflets outside a furriers, and appealed against convictions for obstructing the highway. Held: The appeals succeeded. In deciding whether there was a lawful excuse for a technical obstruction of the highway, the Court rejected the test that a use of the highway which was not incidental to passing along … Continue reading Hirst and Agu v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire: QBD 1987
The court was asked: ‘whether East Sussex County Council . . was wrong in law to decide to register an area . . known as West Beach at Newhaven . . as a village green pursuant to the provisions of the Commons Act 2006. The points of principle raised by the appeal are, potentially at … Continue reading Newhaven Port and Properties Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v East Sussex County Council and Another: SC 25 Feb 2015
The court was asked as to the recognition of a Sharia compliant divorce between Lebanese Muslims. Under the relevant Lebanese 1962 legislation a Talaq was to be pronounced before 2 witnesses, a requirement of most systems of traditional Islamic Local Authority. The 1962 Act then imposed registration before a Sharia Court. Next, follows compulsory registration … Continue reading El Fadl v El Fadl: FD 2000
Claim by a wife that she has a beneficial interest in a house registered in the sole name of her husband and that her interest has priority over the rights of a bank under a legal charge executed without her knowledge. The case raises a point of importance in the law of registered conveyancing. Shortly … Continue reading Lloyds Bank plc v Rosset: CA 13 May 1988
Transgender Male to Female not to marry as Female The parties had gone through a form of marriage, but Mrs B had previously undergone gender re-assignment surgery. Section 11(c) of the 1973 Act required a marriage to be between a male and a female. It was argued that the section was incompatible with the claimant’s … Continue reading Bellinger v Bellinger: HL 10 Apr 2003
There had been a purported marriage in 1963 between a man and a male to female trans-sexual. Held: Because marriage is essentially a union between a man and a woman, the relationship depended on sex, and not on gender. The law should adopt the chromosomal, gonadal and genital tests. If all three are congruent, that … Continue reading Corbett v Corbett (otherwise Ashley): FD 1 Feb 1970
Land had been registered in part as a common. The council appealed. Held: The rights pre-existing the Act had not been lost. The presumption against retrospectively disapplying vested rights applied, and the application had properly been made. The claimant was entitled to register part only of the area of land original included. An application was … Continue reading Oxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council, Catherine Mary Robinson: ChD 22 Jan 2004
The court reviewed the conflicting authorities with regard to the creation of trusts and held that the overwhelming preponderance of authority was that, in the absence of any claim for rectification or rescission, provisions in a conveyance declaring that the plaintiff and the defendant were to hold the proceeds of sale of the property ‘upon … Continue reading Goodman v Gallant: CA 30 Oct 1985
Same Sex Paartner to Inherit as Family Member The claimant had lived with the original tenant in a stable and long standing homosexual relationship at the deceased’s flat. After the tenant’s death he sought a statutory tenancy as a spouse of the deceased. The Act had been extended to include as a spouse someone living … Continue reading Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd: HL 28 Oct 1999
The claimants’ nursing home business had been effectively destroyed by the actions of the Authority which had applied to revoke their licence without them being given notice and opportunity to reply. They succeeded on appeal, but the business was by then ruined. The authority was criticised scathingly. The Authority replied that no allegation of bad … Continue reading Trent Strategic Health Authority v Jain and Another: HL 21 Jan 2009
The fundamental principle that equity is concerned to prevent unconscionable conduct permeates all the elements of the doctrine of estoppel. In the light of the more recent cases, the principle ‘requires a very much broader approach which is directed rather at ascertaining whether, in particular individual circumstances, it would be unconscionable for a party to … Continue reading Taylors Fashions Ltd v Liverpool Victoria Trustees Co Ltd: ChD 1981
Same Sex Partner Entitled to tenancy Succession The protected tenant had died. His same-sex partner sought a statutory inheritance of the tenancy. Held: His appeal succeeded. The Fitzpatrick case referred to the position before the 1998 Act: ‘Discriminatory law undermines the rule of law because it is the antithesis of fairness. It brings the law … Continue reading Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza: HL 21 Jun 2004
The parties had a joint venture agreement which provided that any dispute was to be referred to an arbitrator from the Ismaili community. The claimant said that this method of appointment became void as a discriminatory provision under the 2003 Regulations. The High Court found the appointment to be outwith the provisions, but this was … Continue reading Jivraj v Hashwani: SC 27 Jul 2011
A husband and wife disputed ownership of the matrimonial home in the context of the presumption of advancement.Lord Reid said: ‘These considerations have largely lost their force under present conditions, and, unless the law has lost its flexibility so that the courts can no longer adapt it to changing conditions the strength of the presumption … Continue reading Pettitt v Pettitt: HL 23 Apr 1969
The house had been bought during the marriage but in the husband’s sole name. The plaintiff’s charge secured the husband’s overdraft. The bank issued possession proceedings. Mr Rosset had left, but Mrs Rosset claimed, as against the bank an interest in it as the matrimonial home. She said there had been a common understanding or … Continue reading Lloyds Bank plc v Rosset: HL 29 Mar 1990
Account taken of circumstances wihout ambiguity The respondent gave advice on home income plans. The individual claimants had assigned their initial claims to the scheme, but later sought also to have their mortgages in favour of the respondent set aside. Held: Investors having once assigned their causes of action to the ICS, could not later … Continue reading Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society: HL 19 Jun 1997
The Court was asked ‘whether, and if so, in what circumstances, an order or judgment of a foreign court . . in proceedings to adjust or set aside prior transactions, eg preferences or transactions at an undervalue, will be recognised and enforced in England. The appeals also raise the question whether enforcement may be effected … Continue reading Rubin and Another v Eurofinance Sa and Others: SC 24 Oct 2012
The claimant appealed against refusal of his challenge to the new constitutional law for Sark, and sought a declaration of incompatibility under the 1998 Act. He said that by restricting the people who could stand for election, a free democracy had been denied to them, and that the constitution did not achieve a sufficient separation … Continue reading Barclay and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice and others: CA 2 Dec 2008
The defendants appealed against their convictions which had been based upon evidence of visual identification. Held: Identification evidence can be unreliable, and courts must take steps to reduce injustice. The judge should warn the jury of the special need for caution before convicting the accused in reliance upon the correctness of identification. No special form … Continue reading Regina v Turnbull and Another etc: CCA 9 Jun 1976
The claimant asserted as against the liquidator, a floating and registered charge over the company’s assets. The liquidator said that it had been granted within the twelve months prior to the onset of the insolvency, was caught by section 245(3)(b), and requested rectification of the register. The claimants relied on an opinion from senior counsel. … Continue reading Rehman v Chamberlain and Another: ChD 6 Sep 2011
The claimant was trustee in bankruptcy but the court failed to register the bankruptcy petition at the Land Registry as a pending action. The bankrupt was therefore able to sell her land, and the trustee did not recover the proceeds. The trustee sought to recover from the defendant who was responsible for the court service. … Continue reading Poulton v Ministry of Justice: CA 22 Apr 2010
The respondent had issued bonds but in 2001 had declared a moratorium on paying them. The appellant hedge fund later bought the bonds, heavily discounted. Judgment was obtained in New York, which the appellants now sought to enforce against assets in the UK. They argued that the terms of issue waived state immunity. Held: The … Continue reading NML Capital Ltd v Argentina: SC 6 Jul 2011
How much new material for new copyright (Hong Kong) Toy building bricks were manufactured by Lego in accordance with engineering drawings made for that purpose. One issue was whether new drawings made since 1972, altering the original drawings in various minor respects but added new information addressed to the purchaser in the form of written … Continue reading Interlego AG v Tyco Industries Inc: PC 5 May 1988
The appellant challenged a sale and rent back transaction. He said that the proposed purchaser had misrepresented the transaction to them. The Court was asked s whether the home owners had interests whose priority was protected by virtue of section 29(2)(a)(ii) of, and Schedule 3, paragraph 2, to the Land Registration Act 2002. Held: The … Continue reading Scott v Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd and Others: SC 22 Oct 2014
Costs of Wrongly Appointed Receiver ‘The contest in this case is about who should bear the costs and expenses of a receiver appointed under an order which ought not to have been made. The appellant, who is a former partner in a well known firm of accountants, was appointed to act as management receiver of … Continue reading Barnes (As Former Court Appointed Receiver) v The Eastenders Group and Another: SC 8 May 2014
The claimant was a solicitor partner with the appellant limited liability partnership at their offices in Tanzania. She disclosed what she believed to be money laundering by a local partner. She was dismissed. She had just disclosed her pregnancy and claimed also in sex discrimination. The company appealed findings as to jurisdiction saying that she … Continue reading Clyde and Co Llp and Another v Bates van Winkelhof: CA 26 Sep 2012
LRA Costs : Parties Without Representation – Litigants in person – entitlement to costs and expenses; Litigants in Person (Costs and Expenses) Act 1975, s 1(1), (2); Civil Procedure Rules: CPR 2.3(3), 48.6(1) – . .
The tenant of two rooms, which he took unfurnished at a weekly rent, had the exclusive use of such rooms and a key of the outer door of the house. His landlord had also a key of the outer door, and resided in all the rest of the house, but supplied . .
The appellants had overpaid under a mistake of law very substantial sums in VAT over several years. The excess had been repaid, but with simple interest and not compound interest, which the now claimed (together with other taxpayers amounting to 17 . .
The claimants had been the registered proprietors of land, they lost it through the adverse possession of former tenants holding over. They claimed that the law had dispossessed them of their lawful rights.
Held: The cumulative effect of the . .