The claimant appealed from rejection of its request for judicial review of a decision to boycott Israeli products.
Held: Rejected.
[2018] EWCA Civ 1551
England and Wales
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.618934
The claimant sought damages after a road accident. The driver came over the crest of a hill and hit a bus. The road was not marked with any warning as to the need to slow down.
Held: The claim failed. The duty could not be extended to include one which went beyond the original common law duty to maintain the surface of the road. The statutory duty to maintain the road did not create additional duties in negligence. Lord Scott said: ‘[A]n overriding imperative is that those who drive on public highways do so in a manner and at a speed that is safe having regard to such matters as the nature of the road, the weather conditions and the traffic conditions. Drivers are first and foremost themselves responsible for their own safety.’
Lord Steyn said: ‘the courts must not contribute to the creation of a society bent on litigation, which is premised on the illusion that for every misfortune there is a remedy’
Lord Hoffmann said: ‘Speaking for myself, I find it difficult to imagine a case in which a common law duty can be founded simply upon the failure (however irrational) to provide some benefit which a public authority has power (or a public law duty) to provide.’
Steyn, Hoffmann, Scott, Rodger LL
[2004] UKHL 15, Times 02-Apr-2004, [2004] 1 WLR 1057, [2004] RTR 27, [2004] 2 All ER 326
England and Wales
Cited – X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council; M (A Minor) and Another v Newham London Borough Council; Etc HL 29-Jun-1995
Liability in Damages on Statute Breach to be Clear
Damages were to be awarded against a Local Authority for breach of statutory duty in a care case only if the statute was clear that damages were capable of being awarded. in the ordinary case a breach of statutory duty does not, by itself, give rise . .
Cited – Barrett v London Borough of Enfield HL 17-Jun-1999
The claimant had spent his childhood in foster care, and now claimed damages against a local authority for decisions made and not made during that period. The judge’s decision to strike out the claim had been upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Cited – Stovin v Wise, Norfolk County Council (Third Party) HL 24-Jul-1996
Statutory Duty Does Not Create Common Law Duty
The mere existence of statutory power to remedy a defect cannot of itself create a duty of care to do so. A highway authority need not have a duty of care to highway users because of its duty to maintain the highway. The two stage test ‘involves . .
Cited – Rowling v Takaro Properties Ltd PC 30-Nov-1987
(New Zealand) The minister had been called upon to consent to the issue of shares to a foreign investor. The plaintiff said that the minister’s negligent refusal of consent had led to the collapse of the project and financial losses.
Held: On . .
Appeal from – Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council CA 2-May-2002
The claimant sought damages, alleging that an accident occurred as a result of the defendant highway authority’s negligence in failing to mark the road properly. A ‘Slow’ sign had become faded and had not been maintained.
Held: The judge had . .
Cited – Phelps v Hillingdon London Borough Council; Anderton v Clwyd County Council; Gower v Bromley London Borough Council; Jarvis v Hampshire County Council HL 28-Jul-2000
The plaintiffs each complained of negligent decisions in his or her education made by the defendant local authorities. In three of them the Court of Appeal had struck out the plaintiff’s claim and in only one had it been allowed to proceed.
Cited – Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council and others HL 31-Jul-2003
The claimant dived into a lake, severely injuring himself. The council appealed liability, arguing that it owed him no duty of care under the Act since he was a trespasser. It had placed warning signs to deter swimmers.
Held: The council’s . .
Cited – Burnside and Another v Emerson and Others CA 1968
The plaintiffs were injured in a road accident caused by flooding. They sued the executors of the deceased driver whose car spun out of control into the path of their own car, and also the highway authority, who had installed a proper system of . .
Cited – Goodes v East Sussex County Council HL 16-Jun-2000
The claimant was driving along a road. He skidded on ice, crashed and was severely injured. He claimed damages saying that the Highway authority had failed to ‘maintain’ the road.
Held: The statutory duty on a highway authority to keep a road . .
Cited – Haydon v Kent County Council CA 1978
Impacted snow and ice had built up on a steep, narrow, made-up footpath from Monday to Thursday during a short wintry spell. The plaintiff slipped and broke her ankle. The highway authority operated a system of priorities. Their resources were fully . .
Cited – Goldman v Hargrave PC 13-Jun-1966
(Australia) In Western Australia, a red gum tree was struck by lightning and set on fire. The appellant had the tree cut down, but took no reasonable steps by spraying the fire with water to prevent the fire from spreading, believing that it would . .
Cited – Lavis v Kent County Council QBD 18-Feb-1992
The plaintiff had received serious injuries whilst riding his motor cycle at a road junction for which the defendants were responsible. He alleged that they were liable to him for failing to ensure that proper warning signs were placed at the . .
Cited – Larner v Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council CA 20-Dec-2000
The duty on a local authority to promote road safety did not remove from them the discretion as to how that duty was to be implemented. A claim that the authority had failed to place certain signage, and that an accident had occurred which might not . .
Cited – O’Rourke v Mayor etc of the London Borough of Camden HL 12-Jun-1997
The claimant had been released from prison and sought to be housed as a homeless person. He said that his imprisonment brought him within the category of having special need. He also claimed damages for the breach.
Held: The Act was intended . .
Cited – Capital and Counties Plc and Another v Hampshire County Council; Etc CA 20-Mar-1997
Three cases were brought against fire services after what were said to be negligent responses to call outs. On one, the fire brigade was called to a fire at office premises in Hampshire. The fire triggered the operation of a heat-activated sprinkler . .
Cited – Geddis v Proprietors of Bann Reservoir HL 18-Feb-1878
The owner of land injured by operations authorised by statute ‘suffers a private loss for the public benefit’, and in the absence of clear statutory authority is unable to claim: ‘It is now thoroughly well established that no action will lie for . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis v Reeves (Joint Administratix of The Estate of Martin Lynch, Deceased) HL 15-Jul-1999
The deceased was a prisoner known to be at risk of committing suicide. Whilst in police custody he hanged himself in his prison cell. The Commissioner accepted that he was in breach of his duty of care to the deceased, but not that that breach was . .
Cited – Skilton v Epsom and Ewell Urban District Council CA 1937
A line of traffic studs had been placed in the centre of the highway. One of them had become loose. As a car passed over the loose stud it shot out and struck the plaintiff on her bicycle. She fell off and was injured. She sued the highway . .
Cited – Sedleigh-Denfield v O’Callaghan HL 24-Jun-1940
Occupier Responsible for Nuisance in adopting it
A trespasser laid a drain along a ditch on the defendant’s land. Later the defendants came to use the drain themselves. A grate was misplaced by them so that in a heavy rainstorm, it became clogged with leaves, and water flowed over into the . .
Cited – East Suffolk Rivers Catchment Board v Kent HL 1941
An exceptionally high spring tide caused many breaches of the banks of the River Deben, and extensive flooding, including the respondent’s farm. By section 6 of the 1930 Act, the appellants had a statutory power to maintain the flood defences, but . .
Cited – Dorset Yacht Co Ltd v Home Office HL 6-May-1970
A yacht was damaged by boys who had escaped from the supervision of prison officers in a nearby Borstal institution. The boat owners sued the Home Office alleging negligence by the prison officers.
Held: Any duty of a borstal officer to use . .
Cited – Leta Almeda v Her Majesty’s Attorney General for Gibraltar PC 24-Nov-2003
PC (Gibraltar) . .
Cited – Anns and Others v Merton London Borough Council HL 12-May-1977
The plaintiff bought her apartment, but discovered later that the foundations were defective. The local authority had supervised the compliance with Building Regulations whilst it was being built, but had failed to spot the fault. The authority . .
Cited – Sutherland Shire Council v Heyman 4-Jul-1985
(High Court of Australia) The court considered a possible extension of the law of negligence.
Brennan J said: ‘the law should develop novel categories of negligence incrementally and by analogy with established categories. ‘
Dean J said: . .
Cited – Murray v Nicholls 1983
A car was driven without stopping out of a side street colliding with another car. One driver was killed and his passengers were injured. They sued the driver’s widow and Strathclyde Regional Council as roads authority. It was averred that, some . .
Cited – Fiona Thompson v Hampshire County Council CA 27-Jul-2004
The claimant fell into a ditch by a path on the highway in the dark. She appealed a finding of no liability on the highway authority.
Held: The authority’s responsibility was as to the surface structures of the road way and not as to the . .
Cited – Jane Marianne Sandhar, John Stuart Murray v Department of Transport, Environment and the Regions CA 5-Nov-2004
The claimant’s husband died when his car skidded on hoar frost. She claimed the respondent was liable under the Act and at common law for failing to keep it safe.
Held: The respondent had not assumed a general responsibility to all road users . .
Cited – Carty v London Borough of Croydon CA 27-Jan-2005
The claimant sought damages in negligence from education officers employed by the respondent. He appealed refusal of his claim. A statement of special education needs had been made which he said did not address his learning difficulties. The . .
Cited – Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd CA 31-Mar-2006
The deceased had suffered a head injury whilst working for the defendant. In addition to severe physical consequences he suffered post-traumatic stress, became more and more depressed, and then committed suicide six years later. The claimant . .
Cited – HM Customs and Excise v Barclays Bank Plc HL 21-Jun-2006
The claimant had served an asset freezing order on the bank in respect of one of its customers. The bank paid out on a cheque inadvertently as to the order. The Commissioners claimed against the bank in negligence. The bank denied any duty of care. . .
Cited – Department for Transport, Environment and the Regions v Mott Macdonald Ltd and others CA 27-Jul-2006
Claims arose from accidents caused by standing water on roadway surfaces after drains had not been cleared by the defendants over a long period of time. The Department appealed a decision giving it responsibility under a breach of statutory duty . .
Cited – Neil Martin Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners 28-Sep-2006
The claimant sought damages from the revenue for their failure properly to process his claim for a sub-contractor’s certificate which had led to losses.
Held: The revenue owed no common law duty of care to the claimant and nor were damages . .
Cited – Rowley and others v Secretary of State for Department of Work and Pensions CA 19-Jun-2007
The claimants sought damages for alleged negligence of the defendant in the administration of the Child Support system.
Held: The defendant in administering the statutory system owed no direct duty of care to those affected: ‘a common law duty . .
Cited – Shine v Tower Hamlets CA 9-Jun-2006
The claimant a nine year old boy had attempted to leap frog a bollard. He was badly injured when it fell. The authority had identified that it was insecure some months earlier. The authority appealed a finding of negligence and breach of statutory . .
Cited – K v Central and North West London Mental Health NHS Trust and Another QBD 30-May-2008
The claimant appealed against an order striking out his claim in negligence. He had leaped from a window in a suicide attempt. The accommodation was provided by the defendant whilst caring for him under the 1983 Act.
Held: The case should be . .
Cited – Mitchell and Another v Glasgow City Council HL 18-Feb-2009
(Scotland) The pursuers were the widow and daughter of a tenant of the respondent who had been violently killed by his neighbour. They said that the respondent, knowing of the neighbour’s violent behaviours had a duty of care to the deceased and . .
Cited – Connor v Surrey County Council CA 18-Mar-2010
The claimant teacher said that she suffered personal injury from stress after the board of governors improperly failed to protect her from from false complaints. The Council now appealed against an award of substantial damages.
Held: The . .
Cited – Poulton v Ministry of Justice CA 22-Apr-2010
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 . .
Cited – Ali v The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council CA 17-Nov-2010
The claimant appealed against rejection of her claim for damages after slipping on a footpath maintainable by the defendant after an accumulation of mud and debris. The claim appeared to be the first under section 130, and the highway authority . .
Cited – Home Office v Mohammed and Others CA 29-Mar-2011
The claimants sought damages saying that after a decision had been made that they should receive indefinite leave to remain in 2001 (latest), the leave was not issued until 2007 (earliest) thus causing them severe losses. The defendant now appealed . .
Cited – Michael and Others v The Chief Constable of South Wales Police and Another SC 28-Jan-2015
The claimants asserted negligence in the defendant in failing to provide an adequate response to an emergency call, leading, they said to the death of their daughter at the hands of her violent partner. They claimed also under the 1998 Act. The . .
Cited – Dodson v Environment Agency QBD 28-Feb-2013
The claimant asserted that the steps taken by the defendant to encourage wildlife in the estuary had led to otters predating his fish farm stocks, and that the claimant had not been informed of this, in particular as to the construction of otter . .
Cited – Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police SC 8-Feb-2018
Limits to Police Exemption from Liability
The claimant, an elderly lady was bowled over and injured when police were chasing a suspect through the streets. As they arrested him they fell over on top of her. She appealed against refusal of her claim in negligence.
Held: Her appeal . .
Cited – Poole Borough Council v GN and Another SC 6-Jun-2019
This appeal is concerned with the liability of a local authority for what is alleged to have been a negligent failure to exercise its social services functions so as to protect children from harm caused by third parties. The principal question of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 April 2022; Ref: scu.195054
The claimant local councillor sought judicial review of a decision to restrict her conduct at the Council. She had been accused of bullying in her dealing with officials and other councillors.
Held: The claim succeeded. The Council had failed to conduct the investigation in the manner required. The court identified several elements of the necessary procedures.
Cockerill J
[2018] EWHC 1151 (Admin)
Local Government Act 1972 111, Localism Act 2011 27(1)
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.618106
Three public authorities disputed who was to be responsible for the payment of the costs of care and treatment of a patient with substantial care needs.
Garnham J
[2018] EWHC 1136 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 23 April 2022; Ref: scu.618100
The claimant was a superintendent registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages. His union instructed him not to conduct weddings on Saturdays. He had been told that if he failed to perform his full range of duties on a Saturday (including marriages), he would not be required to attend for work and would not be paid. The refusal to conduct marriages on the Saturday was met with deduction of 3/37ths of his weekly salary. He sued for payment of the sums withheld sum compliance with that instruction.
Held: His position was akin to an employee even if he was not strictly such but rather an office holder. His right to be paid depended upon his doing the work he was employed to do.
The deductions were proper. The salary payable under a contract of employment is part of the mutual obligations it contains as between the parties. An employee could expect payment if he or she worked in accord with the contract. Failure to work normally was fatal to an employee’s claim to enforce a right to his/her salary.
Boston -v- Ansell was authority for saying: ‘An employee, for instance, who is rightly dismissed from his employment can recover salary which has become due and payable at the date of his dismissal but cannot recover sums becoming due and payable at some later date and on the condition that he has performed his contractual duties down to that date.’
Lord Templeman said: ‘It is unusual for the holder of an office to take industrial action and the consequences will depend on the rights and obligations conferred and imposed on the office-holder by the terms of his appointment. But if an ambassador and the embassy porter were both on strike then I would expect both to be liable to lose or both to be entitled to claim their apportioned remuneration attributable to the period of the strike. A judge and an usher on strike should arguably be treated in the same manner. The ambassador might be required to decode a declaration of war on Sunday, and a judge might devote his Christmas holidays to the elucidation of legal problems arising from industrial action, so that it would be necessary to divide their annual salaries by 365 to define a daily rate applicable to the period of strike, whereas the weekly, daily or hourly wages of the porter and the usher provide a different basis for apportionment, . . ‘
Lord Oliver of Aylmerton, Lord Templeman
[1987] ICR 368, [1987] 2 WLR 795, [1987] 1 AC 539, [1987] UKHL 15, [1987] IRLR 193, [1987] 1 All ER 1089, [1987] 1 FTLR 533
England and Wales
Cited – Boston Deep Sea Fishing and Ice Co v Ansell CA 1888
An employer having dismissed an employee (its managing director) later learnt of the employee’s fraud.
Held: The employer was allowed to rely upon that fraud to justify the dismissal. Where an agent is in wrongful repudiation of his contract . .
Cited – Leonard Batty v BSB Holdings (Cudworth) Ltd CA 24-May-2002
The employee was former managing director employed as consultant on a fixed term contract. After differences with the new management, he was off work with stress. The company sought to suspend him. He claimed that the company had repudiated the . .
Cited – Fassihim, Liddiardrams, International Ltd, Isograph Ltd v Item Software (UK) Ltd CA 30-Sep-2004
The first defendant (F) had been employed by a company involved in a distribution agreement. He had sought to set up a competing arrangement whilst a director of the claimant, and diverted a contract to his new company.
Held: A company . .
Cited – Percy v Church of Scotland Board of National Mission HL 15-Dec-2005
The claimant appealed after her claim for sex discrimination had failed. She had been dismissed from her position an associate minister of the church. The court had found that it had no jurisdiction, saying that her appointment was not an . .
Cited – SG and R Valuation Service Co v Boudrais and others QBD 12-May-2008
The claimant sought to require the defendants not to work during their notice period to achieve the equivalent of garden leave despite there being no provision for garden leave in the contracts. It was said that the defendants had conspired together . .
Cited – Buckland v Bournemouth University Higher Education Corporation CA 24-Feb-2010
The claimant had been dismissed from his post as chair of archeology after criticism of his marking practices. Though a report vindicated him, the respondent continued with disciplinary procedures. He claimed unfair dismissal. The EAT had allowed . .
Cited – Societe Generale, London Branch v Geys SC 19-Dec-2012
The claimant’s employment by the bank had been terminated. The parties disputed the sums due, and the date of the termination of the contract. The court was asked ‘Does a repudiation of a contract of employment by the employer which takes the form . .
Cited – Spackman v London Metropolitan University Misc 13-Jul-2007
Shoreditch County Court – claim brought by an employee against her employer arising from non-payment of part of her salary. Normally such a claim would be made under the statutory jurisdiction of an Employment Tribunal. But it is agreed that access . .
Cited – Hartley and Others v King Edward VI College SC 24-May-2017
The teacher appellants challenged the quantification of deductions from their salaries after engaging in lawful strike days.
Held: The appeal as allowed. The correct approach under section 2 to a case like this, where the contract is an annual . .
Cited – Gilham v Ministry of Justice SC 16-Oct-2019
The Court was asked whether a district judge qualifies as a ‘worker’ for the purpose of the protection given to whistle-blowers under Part IVA of the 1996 Act, and if not then was the absence of protection an infringement of her human rights.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 21 April 2022; Ref: scu.182993
Whether the authority had vires to grant a particular lease.
[2018] EWCA Civ 1035
England and Wales
Updated: 20 April 2022; Ref: scu.614923
The authority had received confidential information from the police about mistreatment of a child by a father. The allegation was unknown to the mother. It sought directions from the court as to the extent to which it could breach that confidentiality in order to protect the child.
Held: The authority was under a duty to investigate so far as it could. Non-disclosure in care proceedings should only be ordered when the case for it was compelling. The mother’s solicitor should be made aware of the activities in the background subject to an undertaking as to the details. The mother should be made aware since she herself had child protection responsibility, and would be obliged to keep matters disclosed to her confidential under the 1960 Act.
Wall J
Times 21-Jul-2003, Gazette 18-Sep-2003
Administration of Justice Act 1960 12
England and Wales
Cited – Official Solicitor to the Supreme Court v K HL 1965
Legal representatives of a party were entitled to have disclosed to them of ‘behind the scenes’ investigation in a care matter in which their client was involved, but should be requested to undertake not to pass on details to their client. . .
Cited – Re M (Disclosure) FD 20-May-1998
Children proceedings must not become overburdened by expert evidence which vastly increase expense. Closer case management was urged by courts as urged. Disclosure of background reports to a legal adviser under conditions of confidentiality was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 20 April 2022; Ref: scu.184727
A report had been prepared by the local authority into the way in which it had handled the proceedings. The guardian sought to inspect the report and the authority resisted, claiming public interest immunity.
Held: The report had been prepared in connection with the matters underlying the proceedings. By virtue of the Act, the child’s guardian had the right to inspect all such documents irrespective of any rule of law or enactment otherwise preventing disclosure. The child had been removed from the home and medically examined, but the mother had not been given the true reasons for the action. Later, before the guardian was appointed, the authority also misled the court. An order for disclosure had been made by the magistrates court, but resisted by the authority. Questions of Public Interest Immunity simply did not arise. Confidentiality would not be lost by disclosure to the guardian.
Wall J
Times 16-May-2003, Gazette 14-Aug-2003
England and Wales
Applied – In Re R (A Child) (Care Proceedings: Disclosure) CA 18-Jul-2000
A guardian ad litem, representing one child, was entitled to see a report, prepared by the child protection committee of the local authority, which related to the death of the child’s sibling. Such a report constituted a report prepared by the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 20 April 2022; Ref: scu.182217
Hickinbottom J
[2010] EWHC 3514 (Admin)
National Assistance Act 1948 21
England and Wales
Updated: 18 April 2022; Ref: scu.431942
The claimant, a local authority councillor, challenged a finding that he had contravened the Code of Conduct, by failing to withdraw from a meeting in which he had a personal interest, namely a critical report by the Local Government Ombudsman.
Held: His ‘well-being’ was directly at stake. He had received direct advice that he should withdraw but had not done so. The finding was justified, but it was noted that he had not been given opportunity to speak before withdrawing, and the suspension for a year was removed.
Keith J
[2004] EWHC 2377 (Admin)
England and Wales
Cited – Richardson and Orme v North Yorkshire County Council CA 19-Dec-2003
The claimants appealed against an order dismissing their application for a judicial review of the respondent’s grant of planning permission. They contended that a councillor with an interest in the matter had wrongfully not been excluded from the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 15 April 2022; Ref: scu.218874
application for statutory review of a Public Spaces Protection Order
[2018] EWHC 782 (Admin), [2018] WLR(D) 217
Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.608950
Karen Walden-Smith HHJ
[2018] EWHC 587 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.608932
Michael Kent QC
[2018] EWHC 648 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.608937
Challenge to removal of approval to act as foster carer.
[2018] EWHC 319 (Admin)
Fostering Services (England) Regulations 2011
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.608916
Kerr J
[2018] EWHC 757 (Admin)
Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.608915
The claimants challenged the proposed sale of a former roller skating rink by the defendant authority.
Dove J
[2017] EWHC 254 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 13 April 2022; Ref: scu.575302
The applicant Z awaited a decision on his asylum claim. He was blind, and needed help with dressing and laundry, with finding his way around his accommodation, and with shopping; he could not go out safely on his own. The judge upheld his claim to judicial review of the refusal to provide assistance under the 1948 Act. The Council appealed.
Held: The appeal failed. Laws LJ said: the real question here is whether the council’s own findings . . compel a conclusion that the claimant was in need of care and attention within the meaning of section 21(1)(a) or, to put it in conventional public law terms, whether that conclusion was one which, on the facts, no reasonable council could reach.’ Laws went on to apply the approach of Lady Hale in the Slough case, agreeing that the applicant needed of ‘care and attention’, and that it was at least in part ‘accommodation-specific’. However, he added: ‘It is . . important to note that it has been accepted . . that the need of care and attention spoken of in section 21 was not such as necessarily to call for the provision of residential accommodation notwithstanding the fact that such provision is made by the statute the principal medium for meeting the need, and notwithstanding the further fact that, as other parts of Part III of the 1948 show, section 21 typically entails a move into local authority accommodation.’
Laws LJ
[2009] EWCA Civ 1529
National Assistance Act 1948 21(1)(a)
England and Wales
Cited – SL v Westminster City Council SC 9-May-2013
The applicant for assistance from the respondent Council under the 1948 Act was a destitute, homeless failed asylum seeker. He had been admitted to hospital for psychiatric care, but the Council had maintained that his condition was part of and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.516355
The claimant, aged 69 suffered from cerebral palsy. The council had provided his care but he said they had represented to him that care would be provided in a new facility, and claimed a legitimate expectation. The defendant said that its changed assessment of his needs meant that no representation could be expected to continue.
Held: At the time of the first letter the authority were not aware of the specific client’s needs. At one point the applicant had not wanted the move, and at another he accepted that the move would be inappropriate for his needs, and ‘it is hard to see how the claimant has been relying on the assurances in such a way as to be a detriment. The facts suggest that such commitment as was made by the defendants in the letters concerned has not, for the bulk of the period since they were written, been relied upon by the claimant. ‘ No legitimate expectation had been created.
Hodge J
[2006] EWHC 2296 (Admin)
National Assistance Act 1948 21, National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 47, Care Standards Act 2000 3
England and Wales
Cited – Regina v North and East Devon Health Authority ex parte Coughlan and Secretary of State for Health Intervenor and Royal College of Nursing Intervenor CA 16-Jul-1999
Consultation to be Early and Real Listening
The claimant was severely disabled as a result of a road traffic accident. She and others were placed in an NHS home for long term disabled people and assured that this would be their home for life. Then the health authority decided that they were . .
Cited – Regina v Department of Education and Employment ex parte Begbie CA 20-Aug-1999
A statement made by a politician as to his intentions on a particular matter if elected could not create a legitimate expectation as regards the delivery of the promise after elected, even where the promise would directly affect individuals, and the . .
Cited – Regina v London Borough of Newham and Bibi and Al-Nashed CA 26-Apr-2001
The housing authority had mistakenly thought that it was obliged to re-house the applicants under the Act with secure accommodation, and promised them accordingly.
Held: That promise had created a legitimate expectation: ‘In all legitimate . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.245059
The claimant sought disclosure by the respondent of their accounts, intending to use the material in a television program.
Held: As ratepayers, they were entitled to the information. The respondent was not free to refuse it because it disapproved of the intended use.
Elias J
Times 09-Jun-2004, [2004] EWHC 1219 (Admin), [2004] 1 WLR 2717
England and Wales
Cited – Marginson v Tildsley 1903
. .
Cited – The King v Bedwellty Urban District Council, ex parte Price 1934
. .
Cited – Veolia Es Nottinghamshire Ltd v Nottinghamshire County Council and Others CA 29-Oct-2010
An elector sought disclosure under the 1988 Act concerning a contract with certain contractors. The authority refused saying that they were commercially sensitive, and the company said that doisclosure would affect its own human rights.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.198147
The claimant sought to oblige the local authoritry to support his exceptionally bright child by recognising her needs and paying for her education at a private high school.
Held: The authority had no power to make such an award under s18, but did have a discretion to make an award under the Regulations. It could not be said that the respondent authority applied a policy too rigidly, since there had not been enough shown to establish that any policy was in place.
Andrew Nicol QC
Times 03-Mar-2004
Education Act 1996 18, Scholarship and Other Benefits Regulations 1977 (1977 No 1443) 4
England and Wales
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.194273
The defendants had been trading on Sundays in breach of s.47 of the Shops Act 1950, which, by s.71(1) imposed on every local authority the duty to enforce within their district the provisions of that Act. Parliament has given local authorities a special status to bring proceedings in their own name, thereby overcoming the difficulties which existed at common law in bringing civil proceedings in aid of public law. However the court should be slow to grant powers which risked the infringer in sanctions more onerous than the penalty imposed for the offence. S.222(1) confers on a local authority power to institute and maintain proceedings to enforce obedience to the criminal law within their district, being a power additional to the power at common law enabling the Attorney-General to proceed in such matters either ex officio or by relator action.
Lord Templeman
[1984] 1 AC 754
Local Government Act 1972 222(1), Shops Act 1950 47 71(1)
England and Wales
Cited – Gouriet v Union of Post Office Workers HL 26-Jul-1977
The claimant sought an injunction to prevent the respondent Trades Union calling on its members to boycott mail to South Africa. The respondents challenged the ability of the court to make such an order.
Held: The wide wording of the statute . .
Cited – Worcestershire County Council v Tongue and others ChD 6-Aug-2003
The defendants had been convicted of offences involving mistreatment of animals, and debarred from having custody of animals. They were now in breach of that order, and the council sought a civil order allowing it access to their land to remove any . .
Cited – Worcestershire County Council v Tongue, Tongue, and Tongue CA 17-Feb-2004
The defendants had been convicted of animal welfare offences, and banned from keeping animals. The claimant sought to enter the premises to remove animals, but were denied entry.
Held: The court had no power to make an order to allow access . .
Cited – Guildford Borough Council v Hein CA 27-Jul-2005
The council sought an injunction under the section against the defendant to restrain her from keeping dogs on her premises for animal welfare purposes.
Held: The defendant’s appeal was allowed in part. There had to be shown something more than . .
Cited – Birmingham City Council v Shafi and Another CA 30-Oct-2008
The Council appealed a finding that the court did not have jurisdiction to obtain without notice injunctions to control the behaviour of youths said to be creating a disturbance, including restricting their rights to enter certain parts of the city . .
Cited – Hall and Others v Mayor of London (on Behalf of The Greater London Authority) CA 16-Jul-2010
The appellants sought leave to appeal against an order for possession of Parliament Square on which the claimants had been conducting a demonstration (‘the Democracy Village’).
Held: Leave was refused save for two appellants whose cases were . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.186523
A statute in 1950 granted to the port authority powers, inter alia, to grant licences for moorings on the foreshore. These powers overrode the ancient Royal Charter which vested the foreshore in the local authority. Accordingly licences issued by the port authority were effective and binding as against the local authority.
The court considered whether the Council, as owner of the foreshore was able to control licensing for the deep water moorings adjacent.
Lord Justice Peter Gibson, Lord Justice Chadwick and Lord Justice Kay
Times 25-Oct-2001, [2001] EWCA (Civ) 1273, [2001] EWCA Civ 1273
Ipswich Docks Act 1950 12, Charter of Henry VIII of 1518/19
England and Wales
Appeal from – Ipswich Borough Council v Moore and Another ChD 4-Jul-2000
Historically, powers had been granted to the authority, as riparian owners of the port, but powers had also been given to what had since become the Port Authority. The Authority had been given power to regulate traffic in the river, and to charge . .
Cited – Regina on the Application of Dart Harbour and Navigation Authority v the Secretary of State for Transport Local Government and the Regions QBD 26-Jun-2003
Captain Wyatt owned land near the harbour and wanted to moor his boat by it. The Harbour authority said he needed a licence. The Harbour authority requested him to move the boat as a danger to navigation. The Captain sought a judicial review of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.166709
A Local Authority was entitled to look to its financial resources before setting the standards and levels of care it could provide.
Times 27-Mar-1997, [1997] EWHC Admin 338
National Assistance Act 1948 2(1)(a)
England and Wales
Appeal from – Regina v Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council ex parte Help the Aged ex parte Blanchard CA 31-Jul-1997
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 12 April 2022; Ref: scu.137283
When assessing capital for purposes of providing long term care in residential or Nursing home, a local authority may include notional capital of home given away more than six months previously, in this case in return for a life interest.
Times 18-May-1998
National Assistance (Assessment of Resources) Regulations 1992 (1992 No 2977) 25
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.90651
A cabbie was not operating outside the district of the local authority in which he was licensed to operate, just by advertising outside that district.
Times 07-May-1993
Local Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 55
England and Wales
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.90565
Guidance in circular on compulsory competitive tendering to be construed by reading purpose of underlying legislation.
Times 21-Jul-1997
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.89414
The requirement to provide accommodation did not necessarily include a requirement for provision of board. Any such requirement must be justified by some other section of the Act.
Times 26-Dec-1997
National Assistance Act 1948 Part III
England and Wales
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.88569
If a decision by a local council to sell land was not automatically a public law decision susceptible to judicial review, then neither was a decision not to sell land. Such a decision by a local authority was by nature one of private law unless there existed some circumstance which brought in a specific public law element. In making the decision, the council was not performing a public function.
Times 15-Nov-2000
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.88388
A Health Authority may ration the resources it had allocated to special education support.
Times 15-Oct-1996
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.88390
The applicants had contended that Wandsworth was under a duty to maintain some accommodation for the elderly in premises under its own management.
Held: The applicants claim failed. Local Authorities may provide all care for elderly by outside agencies, not needing to provide their own homes and services. Courts determine what is the law, whether based on statute or common law and Parliament may change the law if that is desired.
Lord Hoffman: ‘the draftsman is therefore not saying that homes in the private sector may be included in the collective of homes which the council has to provide. He is saying that the concept of ‘arrangements’ which has been used to define the council’s duty in Section 21 is to include arrangements within the private sector. This produces an altogether different result: it extends the meaning of the concept by which the council’s duty is defined. Any arrangements which fall within the extended definition will satisfy the council’s duty.’ As to a local authority circular which said: ‘It is the view of the Department that the amendments introduced into the Act of 1948 by section 1 of the Community Care (Residential Accommodation) Act 1992 will require authorities to make some provision for residential care under Part 111 of the Act of 1948.’, Lord Hoffmann said: ‘The opinion of the Department is entitled to respect, particularly since I assume that the Act was drafted on its instructions. But in my view this statement is simply wrong.’
Lord Hoffman
Gazette 17-Jan-1996, Independent 21-Dec-1995, Times 15-Dec-1995, [1996] 1 WLR 60
National Health Service Act 1948 21 26
Appeal from – Regina v Wandsworth London Borough Council Ex Parte Beckwith CA 29-Jun-1995
Local Authority may cease to provide any care of a particular class if alternative voluntary arrangements can be made available. . .
At first instance – Regina v Wandsworth London Borough Council Ex Parte Beckwith QBD 21-Apr-1995
A Local Authority must maintain some facilities to provide each type of social care it was required to supply. . .
Cited – M, Regina (on the Application of) v Slough Borough Council HL 30-Jul-2008
The House was asked ‘whether a local social services authority is obliged, under section 21(1)(a) of the 1948 Act, to arrange (and pay for) residential accommodation for a person subject to immigration control who is HIV positive but whose only . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.88245
A Local Authority must maintain some facilities to provide each type of social care it was required to supply.
Independent 21-Apr-1995, Times 05-Jun-1995
National Assistance Act 1948 21
England and Wales
Appeal from – Regina v Wandsworth London Borough Council Ex Parte Beckwith CA 29-Jun-1995
Local Authority may cease to provide any care of a particular class if alternative voluntary arrangements can be made available. . .
At first instance – Regina v Wandsworth London Borough Council Ex Parte Beckwith HL 15-Dec-1995
The applicants had contended that Wandsworth was under a duty to maintain some accommodation for the elderly in premises under its own management.
Held: The applicants claim failed. Local Authorities may provide all care for elderly by outside . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.88248
Maintenance grant deduction to be included in local authority budget.
Times 04-Mar-1994
Local Government Finance Act 1988 82-1
Updated: 10 April 2022; Ref: scu.87979
When considering the need to provide a footpath by side of a new road, the Highway Authority may take into account its own financial constraints.
Times 09-Feb-1998
England and Wales
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.87440
Council may impose additional clauses with economic requirements, on Registered Nursing Homes in contracts for care provision.
Times 26-Oct-1993, Independent 21-Oct-1993
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.87423
A local Authority must make proper welfare enquiries before seeking to remove unlawful campers. The new draconic legislation must be seen in its context. The commons of England provided lawful stopping places for people whose way of life was or had become nomadic. Enough common land survived enclosure to make this way of life still sustainable, but by the 1960 Act, local authorities were given power to close the commons to travellers. This they did with great energy, but made no use of the concomitant power given to them by s24 to open caravan sites to compensate for the closure of the commons. By the 1968 Act, Parliament legislated to make the s24 power a duty, resting in rural areas upon county councils rather than district councils (although the latter continued to possess the power to open sites). For the next quarter of a century there followed a history of non-compliance with the duties imposed by the Act of 1968, marked by a series of decisions of this court holding local authorities to be in breach of their statutory duty, to apparently little practical effect. The default powers vested in central government, to which the court was required to defer, were rarely if ever used. Sedley J: ‘Those considerations in the material paragraphs (of the Circular [on Gypsy Site Policy]) which are not statutory are considerations of common humanity, none of which can be properly ignored when dealing with one of the most fundamental human needs, the need for shelter with at least a modicum of security.’
Sedley J
Independent 03-Oct-1995, (1995) 8 Admin LR 529, [1997] JPL 65
Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 77 78 79, Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 23, Caravan Sites Act 1968
Cited – Wrexham County Borough Council v Berry; South Buckinghamshire District Council v Porter and another; Chichester District Council v Searle and others HL 22-May-2003
The appellants challenged the refusal to grant them injunctions to prevent Roma parking caravans on land they had purchased.
Held: Parliament had given to local authorities exclusive jurisdiction on matters of planning policy, but when an . .
Cited – Coates and others v South Buckinghamshire District Council CA 22-Oct-2004
The local authority had required the applicants to remove their mobile homes from land. They complained that the judge had failed properly to explain how he had reached his decision as to the proportionality of the pressing social need, and the . .
Cited – Kay and Another v London Borough of Lambeth and others; Leeds City Council v Price and others and others HL 8-Mar-2006
In each case the local authority sought to recover possession of its own land. In the Lambeth case, they asserted this right as against an overstaying former tenant, and in the Leeds case as against gypsies. In each case the occupiers said that the . .
Cited – Regina v Kerrier District Council, ex parte Uzell Blythe and Sons 1996
The court referred to the decision of Sedley J in Atkinson adding: ‘As consideration of common humanity, they had to be equally applicable to decisions in relation to enforcement actions.’ . .
Cited – JD Wetherspoon Plc, Regina (on the Application Of) v Guildford Borough Council Admn 11-Apr-2006
The company sought judicial review of the decision of the respondent to apply its cumulative impact policy to their application for extended licensing hours.
Held: The company’s application amounted to a material variation of the license, and . .
Cited – Broxbourne Borough Council v Robb and Others QBD 27-Jun-2011
The Council applied for the committal of the defendant for an alleged breach of a without notice injunction. Notice of the injunction had been placed at the site, requiring nobody to move caravans onto the land.
Held: The application . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.87186
The Boundary Commission may amend a re-organisation plan after its approval by the Secretary of State.
Where boundaries had been approved by the Secretary of State there can still be later amendments.
Ind Summary 08-Aug-1994, Times 04-Jul-1994
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.87206
Individual local government officers can be made subject to wasted costs orders in appropriate circumstances.
Times 21-Mar-1996
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.87099
Voluntary work can be a sufficient local connection to warrant a claim for a homeless person for re-housing in the authority’s area.
Gazette 18-Mar-1998, Times 09-Mar-1998
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86606
A Local Authority may not take its own financial constraints into account when assessing what was an appropriate education for a child in special needs case. It was wrong to try to turn a statutory duty into a power or a discretion. Ordinarily cost, where relevant, will be a matter to be taken into account by a local authority when considering its response to an assessed need rather than at the stage of assessment. It is desirable to keep these two stages separate. Neither the cost of providing accommodation nor the availability of resources have any bearing on what is or is not reasonably practicable as to permit this would downgrade the duty into a discretionary power.
Lord Browne-Wilkinson
Times 21-May-1998, Gazette 01-Jul-1998, Gazette 17-Jun-1998, [1998] AC 714
Appeal from – Regina v East Sussex County Council ex parte Tandy CA 31-Jul-1997
A local education authority may properly take into account the financial resources available to it when setting the norm of standards of service and then apply that norm. . .
Cited – Regina v London Borough of Barnet ex parte G; Regina v London Borough of Lambeth ex parte W; Regina v London Borough of Lambeth ex parte A HL 23-Oct-2003
The applicants sought to oblige the local authority, in compliance with its duties under the 1989 Act, to provide a home for children, and where necessary an accompanying adult.
Held: There were four hurdles for the applicants to cross. They . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86613
A Local Authority considering closing a residential home did not have a duty to notify and consult with each resident who might be affected, but did have a duty to act fairly, and to give sufficiently prominent notice and sufficient time to allow residents to make representations and give their objections, and for these to be considered. Considering legitimate expectations: ‘Sometimes the phrase is used to denote a substantive right: an entitlement that the claimant asserts cannot be denied him . . various authorities show that the claimants right will only be found established when there is a clear and unambiguous representation upon which it was reasonable for him to rely. Then the administrator or other public body will be held bound in fairness by the representation made unless only its promise or undertaking as to how its power would be exercised is inconsistent with the statutory duties imposed upon it. The doctrine employed in this sense is akin to an estoppel. In so far as the public body’s representation is communicated by way of a stated policy, this type of legitimate expectation falls into two distinct sub categories: cases in which the authority are held entitled to change their policy even so as to effect the claimant, and those in which they are not.’
Simon Brown LJ
Ind Summary 22-Feb-1993, [1995] 1 All ER 73
England and Wales
Approved – Cowl and others v Plymouth City Council Admn 14-Sep-2001
The applicants were residents of a nursing home run by the respondents, and sought judicial review of the decision to close it. Before making the decision, the council consulted the residents and concluded that none had been offered a ‘home for . .
Cited – Regina v Department of Education and Employment ex parte Begbie CA 20-Aug-1999
A statement made by a politician as to his intentions on a particular matter if elected could not create a legitimate expectation as regards the delivery of the promise after elected, even where the promise would directly affect individuals, and the . .
Cited – Regina on Application of Dinev and Others v Westminster City Council Admn 24-Oct-2000
Street artists had operated in Leicester Square for many years without either licenses or being prosecuted. The respondent introduced a scheme to regulate them, and the applicants sought to challenge it by way of judicial review, alleging a failure . .
Applied – Regina v London Borough of Islington ex parte East Admn 1996
The court considered the obligation on an authority to consult: ‘.. the precise demands of consultation .. there according to the circumstances .. The extent and method of consultation must depend on the circumstances. Underlying what is required . .
Cited – Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Britain v Charity Commission Admn 12-Dec-2014
The respondent had instigated a statutory inquiry under the 2011 Act into the claimant’s child safeguarding practices, and policies after compaints made to it. The Society now sought judicial review of that decision, and to production orders made to . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86536
A Local Authority may properly consider any apparent demand for such services when considering an application for a licence for an amusement centre.
Times 09-Mar-1995
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86348
The Commissioner need not carry out a balancing exercise where the breach was clearly covered in the code.
Ind Summary 14-Mar-1994
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86412
A Local Authority may use traditional school catchment areas as a basis for admissions policies for initial allocation of schools, without this being racially discriminatory. They are a valid basis of choice, despite supervening population shifts.
Ind Summary 22-Nov-1993, Gazette 03-Nov-1993, Times 21-Oct-1993
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86183
Sub-committee hearing appeal against refusal of grant need not give reasons.
Times 23-Nov-1994
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86202
Local Authority to consider discretionary grant if building more than ten years old – or on conversion.
Times 09-May-1994
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86208
A council has no duty to consider the interests of waste disposal contractors.
Times 07-Jul-1993
Environmental Protection Act 1990 51(1)
Appeal from – Regina v Avon County Council Ex Parte Terry Adams Ltd CA 20-Jan-1994
Tendering procedures adopted by a Local Authority must not be framed to prefer their own company. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86069
A Local Authority has to balance its duties to provide nurseries against financial constraints. The section sets out duties of a general character which are intended to be for the benefit of children in need in the local social services authority’s area in general. The other duties and the specific duties which then follow must be performed in each individual case by reference to the general duties which the section sets out. The subsection sets out the duties owed to a section of the public in general by which the authority must be guided in the performance of those other duties. The guidance issued under section 7 of the Local Authority Services Act 1970 entitled The Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations, vol 2: Family Support, Day Care and Educational Provision for Young Children indicated that the duties under Part III of the 1989 Act fell into two groups, those which are general and those which are particular, and that the general duties are concerned with the provision of services overall and not to be governed by individual circumstances.
Auld J
Independent 17-Nov-1993, [1994] ELR 357
Cited – Regina v London Borough of Barnet ex parte G; Regina v London Borough of Lambeth ex parte W; Regina v London Borough of Lambeth ex parte A HL 23-Oct-2003
The applicants sought to oblige the local authority, in compliance with its duties under the 1989 Act, to provide a home for children, and where necessary an accompanying adult.
Held: There were four hurdles for the applicants to cross. They . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.86095
The local authority had granted planning permission for a development, but failed to secure either an advance payment for the making up of the estate roads, to secure a bond and agreement, or to make an order exempting the estate form this requirement. The developer failed without the road being made up, and the residents complained of maladministration. The Commissioner found that there had been no maladministration. On the appeal, the Commissioner accepted the report was defective.
Held: If the matter was to be referred back to the Commissioner, it was wrong to fetter the Commissioners discretion by giving particular directions as to the findings to be made.
Gazette 17-May-2001
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85991
The duty imposed by section 17 of the Act on local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children is a general duty only, and is not capable of being enforced for the benefit of a particular child by way of judicial review. As a so called target duty decisions made by the local authority pursuant to it were not open to challenge by review. Other sections may give rise to specific duties which might be so challenged, but not the general obligation.
courtcommentary.com Duty placed on social services authority under Children Act 1989 s17 is a target duty owed to children in general and not justiciable by judicial review – no duty in law to meet assessed needs by providing alternative accommodation for the whole family
Baker
Times 03-Jul-2001, CO/3698/2000, (2001) LGR 513
Appealed to – Regina (A) v Lambeth London Borough Council CA 5-Nov-2001
The provisions requiring local authorities to look to the welfare of children within their area was a general one, and was not enforceable to secure the interests of individual children. It was not the case that a ‘target’ duty crystallised into an . .
Cited – Regina (on the Application of J) v London Borough of Enfield and Another Admn 4-Mar-2002
The mother and child were destitute, and sought to oblige the local authority to provide accommodation and support.
Held: The duty to a child under the section could not be extended to include a duty to accommodate and support the child and . .
Appeal from – Regina (A) v Lambeth London Borough Council CA 5-Nov-2001
The provisions requiring local authorities to look to the welfare of children within their area was a general one, and was not enforceable to secure the interests of individual children. It was not the case that a ‘target’ duty crystallised into an . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85947
A hackney council vehicle licence holder had sufficient locus standi as a person aggrieved to appeal against a condition sought to be imposed by the local authority on the licensing of private hire vehicle licenses. Accordingly the Magistrates should hear his complaint and objection. The statute was not narrowly drafted so as to exclude the applicant, although it was not limitless.
Times 07-Jul-2000
Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 48
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85579
It was not an abuse of power by a local authority who had been asked to pay the costs of its officers and members successfully defending themselves against an action by the district auditor for malpractice, first to verify that it had any legal duty or power to provide such an indemnity. However such an indemnity would be good administrative policy. As a policy the authority retained the discretion as to the terms of its implementation.
Times 13-Jun-2000
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85607
A tenant sought to buy a flat under the right to buy scheme but the flat was in the green belt. The local authority objected, and an inquiry was held. The inspector held that the green belt policy itself would not be affected, but a sale would impinge on the management of the park where the flat was situated. The refusal was correct, since it could not have been intended that the inspector should limit himself to consideration only of the green belt issues.
Gazette 08-Jun-2000
Housing Act 1985 118, Green Belt (London and Home Counties) Act 1938
See Also – Regina v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, ex parte O’Byrne Admn 20-Aug-1999
It could be proper, when ordering for a third party to be joined in an action for judicial review, to order that the original party should not be responsible for the new party’s costs in any event. Such a power could be derived from the overriding . .
Appeal from – O’Byrne v Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and Regions and Another CA 17-Apr-2001
A tenant sought to buy a flat under the right to buy scheme but the flat was in the green belt. The land was held under provisions in the 1938 Act making the sale of any part conditional on the consent of the respondent. The local authority . .
At first instance – Regina v Secretary of State for Environment Transport and the Regions ex parte O’Byrne HL 14-Nov-2002
The applicant sought to exercise her right to buy a property she had occupied of her local authority. It was in the green belt, and the authority declined to sell it until they had obtained authorisation for the sale. The authority appealed an order . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85506
A local authority, having once decided that a child was in need of welfare assistance, could not withdraw that, after the mother refused assistance to return to her own country, where the child’s long terms interests could properly be served by such assistance.
Times 31-Dec-1998, Gazette 13-Jan-1999
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85291
A local authority did not have the right to exclude solicitor representatives from child protection case conferences, and must provide minutes of any part of a meeting from which the parent is excluded. To do so would be to fail to follow the guidelines set out by the Secretary of State, which the authority was bound to follow.
Times 25-Nov-1999, Gazette 25-Nov-1999, Gazette 17-Dec-1999
Children Act 1989 37, Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 7(1)
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85201
The presumption of corruption which arose by virtue of the statute under the 1916 Act did not apply on a charge of conspiracy to corrupt under the earlier Act. The charge of conspiracy was a charge on its own under the Criminal Law Act and was not affected by the presumption, and was not accordingly there was no risk of any breach of the Convention on Human Rights.
Times 19-Jul-1999
Prevention of Corruption Act 1916 2, Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, Criminal Law Act 1977 1(1)
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.85119
It is a question of fact and degree as to whether a street trader is an occupier.
Times 20-May-1993
Landlord and Tenant Act 1990 21(2)
England and Wales
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84433
An unpowered floating home was chargeable to council tax even though a chattel.
Ind Summary 24-Jul-1995
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.84295
Swap contracts are commercial or financial contracts, and are ultra vires for local authorities, and are unenforceable against them.
Times 01-Jun-1993
England and Wales
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.83830
A guarantee of loan to a non-registered housing association was ultra vires.
Times 23-Mar-1995
England and Wales
Appeal from – London Borough of Sutton v Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd v Mayor and Burgesses of London Borough of Sutton London Borough of Sutton v Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd Wellesley Housing Association Ltd CA 24-Oct-1996
The Housing Associations Act 1985 empowered a local authority to give guarantees in relation to registered housing associations. A local authority guaranteed a bank loan for an unregistered housing association.
Held: A Local Authority had no . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.83829
The plaintiff had received serious injuries whilst riding his motor cycle at a road junction for which the defendants were responsible. He alleged that they were liable to him for failing to ensure that proper warning signs were placed at the approach to the junction. The defendants were empowered to place such signs, but not under a duty to do so. They applied to strike out the plaintiff’s claim as disclosing no cause of action.
Held: A Local Authority had a discretion not to erect a particular road sign, but the decision was to be made according to the standards of a competent road engineer. ‘In my judgment it is perfectly clear that the duty imposed is not capable of covering the erection of traffic signs, and nothing more need be said about that particular provision’.
Times 24-Nov-1994, (1992) 90 LGR 416, [1993] CLY 2949
Applied – Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council CA 2-May-2002
The claimant sought damages, alleging that an accident occurred as a result of the defendant highway authority’s negligence in failing to mark the road properly. A ‘Slow’ sign had become faded and had not been maintained.
Held: The judge had . .
Cited – Walker v Northumberland County Council QBD 16-Nov-1994
The plaintiff was a manager within the social services department. He suffered a mental breakdown in 1986, and had four months off work. His employers had refused to provide the increased support he requested. He had returned to work, but again, did . .
Cited – Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council HL 1-Apr-2004
Statutory Duty Not Extended by Common Law
The claimant sought damages after a road accident. The driver came over the crest of a hill and hit a bus. The road was not marked with any warning as to the need to slow down.
Held: The claim failed. The duty could not be extended to include . .
Cited – Hertfordshire Police v Van Colle; Smith v Chief Constable of Sussex Police HL 30-Jul-2008
Police Obligations to Witnesses is Limited
A prosecution witness was murdered by the accused shortly before his trial. The parents of the deceased alleged that the failure of the police to protect their son was a breach of article 2.
Held: The House was asked ‘If the police are alerted . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.82958
An ice cream salesman driving around an area was not a roundsman so as to be exempted from the need to obtain a street trader’s licence, however regular his route. Though not defined in the Act, ’roundsman’ meant activities delivering pre-ordered goods within a locality. This interpretation was required in order to give effect to the purpose of the Act.
Times 13-Mar-2001, Gazette 29-Mar-2001
Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982
Updated: 09 April 2022; Ref: scu.82725
Historically, powers had been granted to the authority, as riparian owners of the port, but powers had also been given to what had since become the Port Authority. The Authority had been given power to regulate traffic in the river, and to charge for moorings. The local authority could not control the grant of such mooring rights by the Port authority, nor levy its own charges. The rights given by statute to the Port Authority over-rode the land owner’s rights.
Times 04-Jul-2000, Gazette 06-Jul-2000
England and Wales
Appeal from – Ipswich Borough Council v Moore and Another CA 25-Jul-2001
A statute in 1950 granted to the port authority powers, inter alia, to grant licences for moorings on the foreshore. These powers overrode the ancient Royal Charter which vested the foreshore in the local authority. Accordingly licences issued by . .
Appeal from – Ipswich Borough Council v Moore and Another CA 29-Jun-2001
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.82422
The powers given to local authorities over children in care and the arrangements for contact are compliant with the human rights act. The balancing act between the child’s best interests and those of the mother had been correctly applied.
Times 22-Jun-2000
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.81879
Local ombudsman can investigate adoptions and to get confidential papers. His task was not that of a party to litigation, and he may well require more papers than a party to litigation might be entitled to. Even so, and though the sup poena ad duces tecum was confirmed, the Commissioner was invited to reconsider and reduce the scope of the papers requested.
Justice Carnwath
Times 04-Apr-1996
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.81683
The magistrates had no power to remit Community charge after an imprisonment term had been fixed.
Times 02-Jun-1995
Community Charge (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1989 438
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.81266
A decision of an adjudicator given under the section was not final. It was not in the nature of an arbitration and therefore an appeal against the adjudication did lie to the County Court. A court would not normally allow the same issue to be determined both by the arbitrator and a court, but an adjudication could typically be challenged itself by an arbitration, or by a court, or otherwise as by agreement.
Times 10-May-2000
Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, Scheme for Construction Contracts (England and Wales) Regulations 1998 (1988 No 649)
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.81345
When serving notice of statutory nuisance upon a local authority, the tenant, having been told to notify the housing department could serve the notice there. The power to specify an alternative means of service is not limited to the Council Secretary.
Times 09-Feb-1999
Environmental Protection Act 1990 79(1)
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.81163
Where a local authority directly paid accommodation and subsistence expenses incurred by councillors in attending conferences in the course of their duties, the expenses were not limited by the Act in the way they would be if the councillors had had to claim them back themselves. There was on overriding provision limiting all such payments.
Times 17-Oct-2000
Local Government Act 1974 111(1)
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.81067
Compliance with Health and Safety Regulations was relevant consideration of technical ability.
Times 09-Mar-1993
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.80784
For a local authority to be liable for damage to the property of a person applying as a homeless person, the authority had to be properly fixed with notice of the threat to the property. A general or fanciful risk was insufficient. An applicant having left her home and applying to be re-housed complained of the threat to her property, but was advised to ensure the property was secured and visited. The authority was not liable for loss or damage arising from a burglary.
Times 31-Aug-2000, Gazette 19-Oct-2000
England and Wales
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.79856
The Sunday trading law banning trading on Sunday’s does not create any situation of sex discrimination.
Times 27-May-1993, Independent 27-May-1993
Shops Act 1950 47, Sex Discrimination Act 1975
England and Wales
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.79102
The authority entered into interest rate swap deals to protect itself against adverse money market movements. They began to lose substantial amounts when interest rates rose, and the district auditor sought a declaration that the contracts were void, there being no express power in the relevant legislation.
Held: The arrangements formed no proper part of a local authority’s statutory functions, and were therefore ultra vires, and not binding on the authority. They were not ancillary to any statutory obligation, nor were they entered into in order to support any borrowing. Section 111(1) embodies the principles relating to the powers of a company as set out in Great Eastern Railway.
The word ‘functions’ in this context ’embraces all the duties and powers of a local authority; the sum total of the activities Parliament has entrusted to it. Those activities are its functions.’
Lord Templeman said: ‘The authorities deal with widely different statutory functions but establish the general proposition that when a power is claimed to be incidental, the provisions of the statute which confer and limit functions must be considered and construed . . .The authorities also show that a power is not incidental merely because it is convenient or desirable or profitable . . ‘
Lord Templeman
[1992] 2 AC 1, [1991] 2 WLR 372, [1991] 1 All ER 545
Local Government Act 1963 1, Local Government Act 1972 111, Local Government Finance Act 1982 19
England and Wales
Applied – Attorney-General v Mersey Railway Co HL 1906
The power to make by-laws encompasses not only a company’s principle activity, but also all incidental and ancillary activities. The incidental power cannot be used to expand the company’s activities, in this case by extending its business by . .
Overruled – Bilbie v Lumley and Others 28-Jun-1802
Contract Not Set Aside for Mistake as to Law
An underwriter paid a claim under a policy which he was entitled in law to repudiate for non-disclosure. Although he knew the relevant facts, he was not aware of their legal significance. He claimed back the money he had paid.
Held: A contract . .
Appeal from – Approved – Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council CA 2-Jan-1990
The authority entered into interest rate swap agreements, whose validity was challenged. The court considered what were the functions of a local authority within the Act. ‘We agree with the Divisional Court that in [section 111(1)] the word . .
Cited – University of Wollongong v Merwally 22-Nov-1984
(High Court of Australia) Deane J said: ‘A parliament may legislate that, for the purposes of the law which it controls, past facts or past laws are to be deemed and treated as having been different to what they were. It cannot however objectively . .
At first instance – Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council QBD 1990
The issue before the courts was whether, in the absence of any express power authorising the Council to do so, the Council was within its power under s 111(1) of the Local Government Act 1972 to enter into certain swap transactions;
‘The fact . .
Cited – Trustees of the Harbour of Dundee v D and J Nicol HL 10-Dec-1914
The pursuers challenged an initiative by the defenders which allegedly harmed their local steamer excursion business. The House was asked whether steamers acquired by a statutory body of harbour trustees who maintained a service of steamers for . .
Cited – Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Plc v The Commissioners of Inland Revenue, HM Attorney General ChD 18-Jul-2003
The taxpayer sought to bring an action for restitution by the revenue of sums paid under a mistake of law. Under the Metallgesellschaft decision, rights of election for recovery of overpaid tax applied only between UK resident companies.
Held: . .
Applied – Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council HL 22-May-1996
Simple interest only on rate swap damages
The bank had paid money to the local authority under a contract which turned out to be ultra vires and void. The question was whether, in addition to ordering the repayment of the money to the bank on unjust enrichment principles, the court could . .
Cited – Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Lincoln City Council etc HL 29-Jul-1998
Right of Recovery of Money Paid under Mistake
Kleinwort Benson had made payments to a local authority under swap agreements which were thought to be legally enforceable when made. Subsequently, a decision of the House of Lords, (Hazell v. Hammersmith and Fulham) established that such swap . .
Cited – Brennan v Bolt Burdon and Others, London Borough of Islington, Leigh Day and Co CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimant sought damages for injury alleged to have been suffered as tenant of a house after being subjected to carbon monoxide poisoning, and also from her former solicitors for their delay in her claim. The effective question was whether the . .
Cited – Akumah v London Borough of Hackney HL 3-Mar-2005
The authority set up a parking scheme for an estate of house of which it was the landlord. Those not displaying parking permits were to be clamped. The appellant complained that the regulations had been imposed by council resolution, not be the . .
Cited – Attorney General v British Museum ChD 27-May-2005
The trustees brought a claim against the Attorney-General seeking clarification of their duties and powers to return objects which were part of the collection in law, but where a moral duty might exist to return it to a former owner. Here drawings . .
Cited – Roberts v Parole Board HL 7-Jul-2005
Balancing Rights of Prisoner and Society
The appellant had been convicted of the murder of three police officers in 1966. His tariff of thirty years had now long expired. He complained that material put before the Parole Board reviewing has case had not been disclosed to him.
Held: . .
Cited – Looe Fuels Ltd., Regina (on the Application of) v Looe Harbour Commissioners Admn 27-Apr-2007
The claimants sought judicial review of a decision of the defendant harbour masters themselves to install and sell from the harbour all fule for use by boats using it, saying that they had no power to operate such an enterprise.
Held: Whilst . .
Cited – Heald and Others v London Borough of Brent CA 20-Aug-2009
The court considered whether it was lawful for a local authority to outsource the decision making on homelessness reviews. The appellants said that it could not be contracted out, and that the agent employed lacked the necessary independence and was . .
Cited – Haugesund Kommune and Another v Depfa Acs Bank CA 27-May-2010
. .
Cited – National Secular Society and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Bideford Town Council Admn 10-Feb-2012
The claimant challenged the placing of a prayer on the agenda of the respondent’s meetings.
Held: The claim succeeded. The placing of such elements on the Agenda was outside the powers given to the Council, and the action was ultra vires: . .
Cited – National Aids Trust v National Health Service Commissioning Board (NHS England) Admn 2-Aug-2016
NHS to make drug available
The claimant charity said that drugs (PrEP) prophylactic for AIDS / HIV should be made available by the defendant and through the NHS. The respndent said that the responsibility for preventative medicine for sexual health lay with local authorities. . .
Cited – JJ Management Consulting Llp and Others v Revenue and Customs CA 22-Jun-2020
HMRC has power to conduct informal investigation
The taxpayer, resident here, but with substantial oversea business interests, challenged the conduct of an informal investigation of his businesses under the 2005 Act, saying that HMRC, as a creature of statute, are only permitted to do that which . .
Cited – Austin, Regina (on The Application of) v Parole Board for England and Wales Admn 17-Jan-2022
Parole Board Publication Scheme Unduly Complicated
This claim for judicial review raises important issues about the lawfulness of the Parole Board’s policy and practice in relation to the provision of a summary of a Parole Board decision to victims and victims’ families and the media. The protocol . .
Cited – OWD Ltd (T/A Birmingham Cash and Carry) and Another v Revenue and Customs SC 19-Jun-2019
The wholesalers sought approval from the respondent for the wholesale supply of duty-paid alcohol. Approval was refused, but the parties sought a means of allowing a temporary approval pending determination by the FTT. The two questions considered . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 08 April 2022; Ref: scu.185823
A Local Authority could include ethical considerations in making a decision to ban hunting over land which it owned if the power which it sought to use was in the Act.
Times 10-Feb-1994, Independent 16-Feb-1994
Local Government Act 1972 120(1)(b)
England and Wales
Appeal from – Regina v Somerset County Council Ex Parte Fewings and Others CA 22-Mar-1995
The local authority had accepted the argument that stag hunting was cruel and had banned it from the land it owned in the Quantocks. The ban was challenged.
Held: The ban was unlawful. The decision had been reached on moral, and not on . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 April 2022; Ref: scu.88071
The Secretary of State may appoint an arbitrator to decide between local authorities on a land transfer dispute on a re-organisation of local government.
Times 14-Dec-1995
England and Wales
Appeal from – Regina v Secretary of State for the Environment Ex Parte Sutton London Borough Council CA 25-Feb-1997
A Local Authority involved in a boundary change has power to make a deal with a neighbouring authority over land. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 April 2022; Ref: scu.87808
Munby J
[2004] EWHC 3402 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 06 April 2022; Ref: scu.239279
This Order was promoted to provide for the acquisition by the Corporation of the undertakings of the Glasgow Subway Railway Company and of the Paisley District Tramways Company for tramway extensions and for other purposes.
The Minister of Transport objected to the Corporation’s proposal to include the Subway in their general tramway undertaking on the ground that the Subway was a railway and not a tramway. The Minister also proposed that the existing provisions in regard to tramway fares be altered. The Corporation had complete freedom in regard to tramway fares subject to statutory maxima, but the Minister now proposed that all intended alterations in fares be submitted to him for approval. In regard to both points the Committee approved of the proposals of the Corporation.
The Royal Burgh of Renfrew, through which part of the existing tramway lines of the Corporation and of the Paisley Company ran, appeared as objectors to the part of the Order relating to the Paisley Tramways in order to secure an undertaking that the Corporation would make a contribution to the expense of widening the High Street of Renfrew, through which the existing Glasgow Tramway lines ran. This assurance was given.
The preamble was proved and clauses were adjusted.
[1923] UKHL 648, 60 SLR 648
England and Wales
Updated: 06 April 2022; Ref: scu.633257
Challenge to the defendant authority’s repeated refusal to consider its offers to purchase land from it.
Stephen Davies HHJ
[2018] EWHC 464 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.605885
Mosty J
[2018] EWHC 267 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.605606
The Council appealed from a decision setting aside its own decision as to the fees it would pay to local care homes, represented by the respondent association.
Sir Ian Burnett LCJ, Beatson, King LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 1605
England and Wales
Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.597407
[1860] EngR 848, (1860) 3 El and El 89, (1860) 121 ER 377
England and Wales
Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.285687
The court discussed the way in which local authorities should conduct their activities under the section: ‘[T]he budgetary exercise required of a local authority under section 32 is a part of its larger duty to administer its funds so as to protect the interests of what is now the body of council tax payers. The broad object of section 32 is to enable the council to break even over time on its market trading account so that no special burden is transferred to the general fund . . [T]he council remains under an obligation to balance the market trading books’ and ‘the purpose of the legislation . . is to ensure that the cost of running street markets falls, but falls fairly, upon the traders’.
When considering any penalty to be imposed for a breach, the court should look to the the gravity of the breach in relation to the statutory purpose.
Sedley J
Unreported, 19 July 1993, [1994] COD 325
London Local Authorities Act 1990 32
England and Wales
Cited – West End Street Traders’ Association and Another, Regina (on the Application of) v City of Westminster Admn 21-May-2004
The respondent regulated street trading within its area by licenses issued under the Act. The claimants challenged substantial increases in the licence fees saying there had been insufficient consultation. The system was running at a net cost.
Cited – Haringey London Borough Council v Awaritefe, Secretary of State for Social Security Intervening CA 3-Jun-1999
A Local Authority could reclaim overpaid Housing Benefits even though it had failed to follow precisely the required procedures for such a recovery, provided that it could demonstrate that the failing was immaterial, and that the failure caused the . .
Cited – Regina v Horseferry Road Magistrates’ Court and Westminster City Council ex parte Rezouali; Westminster City Council v Mendoza Admn 31-Mar-2000
A local authority served notices on a property owner alleging that they were unlicensed sex establishments. The magistrate confirmed closure. The owner appealed.
Held: The statute gave two grounds for appeal, and an appeal on other grounds was . .
Cited – Paddy Tomkins, Chief Constable, Lothian and Borders Police Lothian and Borders Police Board Alistair Gemmell v Alistair Gemmell OHCS 1-Mar-2005
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 05 April 2022; Ref: scu.197718
Graham Wood QC HHJ
[2018] EWHC 220 (Admin)
Care Act 2014, Children and Families Act 2014
England and Wales
Updated: 04 April 2022; Ref: scu.604755
Challenge to LA’s attempt to create a partnership between the Defendant and the private sector, to bring private sector finance, experience and expertise to the task of developing the Council’s land for its better use, and so achieving the Council’s strategic aims in housing, affordable housing and employment.
Ouseley J
[2018] WLR(D) 74, [2018] EWHC 192 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 04 April 2022; Ref: scu.604762
Lord Justice Bean
[2020] EWCA Civ 1488
England and Wales
Updated: 03 April 2022; Ref: scu.655574
Claim for judicial review in which the Claimant challenged the lawfulness of a policy adopted by the Defendant Council, entitled ‘Rules and Regulations in respect of Cemeteries and Crematoria’, specifically those provisions which precluded individuals from erecting raised edging around the grave of a deceased person.
[2019] EWHC 70 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 03 April 2022; Ref: scu.633153
Bean LJ, Carr J
[2017] EWHC 3234 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.601435
Claim for judicial review of the decision of Guildford Borough Council to fix for 2016-2017 the maximum fares that may be charged for the hire of hackney carriages within the Borough.
John Howell QC
[2017] EWHC 3141 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.601443
Lavender J
[2017] EWHC 3035 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 02 April 2022; Ref: scu.601432
The applicant, a local councillor appealed against a finding of the local government tribunal leaidng to his suspension.
Held: The tribunal had an obligation to consider and start from the guidance issued under the Act, and have given an explanation of how the guidance had been applied. The finding in this case was manifestly disproportionate and excessive.
Times 14-Nov-2005
England and Wales
See Also – Saunders v Kingston QBD 7-Jun-2005
The applicant a local councillor challenged a decision of the respondent, the ethical standards officer to disqualify him. He had made remarks about the deaths of british soldiers in Northern Ireland, which had been found to be disrespectful and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.235148
Conditions for permission of music festival in Finsbury Park
Treacy, Hickinbottom, Singh LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 1831
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.599424
Hickinbottom LJ, Gilbart J
[2017] EWHC 2794 (Admin), [2017] WLR(D) 751
Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.599413
Council’s appeal against age assessment of child asylum seeker.
Sir Ernest Ryder, Senior Presidentl, Underhill, Thirlwall LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 1521
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.598472
The Court was asked whether a person who has been compulsorily detained in a hospital for mental disorder under section 3 of the 1983 Act and has then been released from detention but still requires ‘after-care services’ is entitled to require his local authority to provide such services at any time before he has exhausted sums reflecting the costs of care awarded to him in a judgment in his favour against a negligent tortfeasor.
Held: The LA’s appeal failed.
Sir Terence Etherton MR, Longmore, Irwin LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 1704
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.598476
Renewed oral application for permission to apply for judicial review, of award of costs on issue of summons for non-payment of council tax.
Held: Rejected. The claimant had misunderstood the workalready done.
[2017] EWHC 2506 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.598373
The local authority challenges a decision by the Defendant, the Secretary of State for Health, that the second interested party, HR, was ordinarily resident in its area from at least June or July 2013, if not earlier, for the purposes of the provision of care services to him.
[2017] EWHC 2449 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.598382
The claimant challenged the refusal to continue financial support for the claimant to visit her son in a distant hospital on his attaining 17.
[2017] EWHC 2311 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 31 March 2022; Ref: scu.597446
The claimant investment bank sought recovery of its loans. The defendant German municipal water company alleged corruption by its financial advisers who were under financial incentives to sell the claimant’s loans.
Gloster LJ, Briggs of Westbourne L, Hamblen LJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 1567
England and Wales
Updated: 31 March 2022; Ref: scu.597393
Application on behalf of an incapacitous man under Section 21(A) of the 2005 Act. It is nominally by way of a challenge to a Standard Authorisation authorising the deprivation of DM’s liberty at a care home [‘the Home’] for six months expiring on 2nd August 2017. The underlying issue, however, is: (a) whether DM, who is currently an abstinent alcoholic, should continue to reside and be cared for at the Home, a care home which forbids alcohol, or (b) whether he should be moved, as he wishes to be, to a home which does allow the consumption of alcohol.
[2017] EWCOP 13
Mental Capacity Act 2005and 21(A)
England and Wales
Updated: 30 March 2022; Ref: scu.595868
[1851] EngR 159, (1851) 16 QB 299, (1851) 117 ER 893
England and Wales
Updated: 30 March 2022; Ref: scu.296475
Appeal by case stated against the imposition of an Antisocial Behaviour Order
Lloyd Jones LJ, Supperstone J
[2016] EWHC 3726 (Admin)
England and Wales
Updated: 30 March 2022; Ref: scu.594613