Category: Licensing

Regina v East Riding of Yorkshire Council and Kingston Upon Hull City ex parte Michael Bogdal: Admn 24 Jun 1997

The applicant challenged refusal to register his nursing home. He argued that a lease of the premises and business to another was in practice a contract of agency.
Held: The applicant having ceased himself to have any direct financial interest in the business, he had no standing to seek judicial review. The authority was free to cancel a registration of its own motion. Leave to apply for judicial review was refused.

Citations:

[1997] EWHC Admin 587

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Registered Homes Act 1984 3

Health, Licensing

Updated: 26 May 2022; Ref: scu.137532

Regina v Environment Agency ex parte Dockgrange Limited and Mayer Parry Limited: Admn 22 May 1997

The verb ‘discard’ in the Waste Framework Directive has a special and limited meaning which requires the materials to be subjected to a disposal or recovery operation.
Carnwath J said: ‘The general concept is now reasonably clear. The term discard is used in a broad sense equivalent to ‘get rid of’. The phrase get rid of’ is concerned with materials which have ceased to be required for their original purpose, normally because they are unsuitable, unwanted or surplus to requirements. That broad category is however limited by the context, which shows that the purpose is to control disposal and recovery of such material. Accordingly, materials which are to be reused (rather than finally disposed of) but which do not require any recovery operation before being put to their new use, are not treated as waste.’ and ‘Insofar as the discarded materials do not require any recovery operation, they are not treated as waste at all. Insofar as they do require recovery operations, they remain waste until those recovery operations are complete.’

Judges:

Carnwath J

Citations:

[1997] EWHC Admin 495, [1999] ENVLR 489

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Council Directive 75/442/EEC, Trans-frontier Shipment of Waste Regulations 1994

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Per incuriam – Attorney-General’s Reference (No 5 of 2000) CACD 6-Jun-2001
Waste products could become ‘controlled waste’ and subject to licensing procedures without there being a recovery or disposal operation being involved. A rendering process produced a condensate which the company wished to spread on farm land without . .
Limited – Castle Cement v Environment Agency Admn 22-Mar-2001
The court was asked ‘whether the burning of Cemfuel, as a fuel in the Ribblesdale and Ketton Cement Works operated by the Applicant (Castle), amounts to the burning of ‘hazardous waste’, as the Environment Agency has concluded, or to the burning of . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Environment, Licensing, European

Updated: 26 May 2022; Ref: scu.137440

Chief Constable of Norfolk v Edwards: Admn 19 Mar 1997

Appeal by way of case stated by the Chief Constable of Norfolk against the decision of the Crown Court in which it allowed an appeal against a decision by the Chief Constable to revoke his firearms and shotgun certificates.

Judges:

Brooke LJ,Blofield J

Citations:

[1997] EWHC Admin 294, [1997] CLY 4151

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Firearms Act 1968 30

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Police, Licensing

Updated: 25 May 2022; Ref: scu.137239

Regina v Southwark Crown Court ex parte Watts: CA 1991

A street market license was properly refused renewal, where the stall was not operated in person by the licensee for a period of four weeks. The Act required his personal supervision of the stall. Such a requirement was not in breach of the requirements of European Law and did not restrict his right of establishment. ‘In our judgment the scope of freedom of establishment is indicated by the provision of article [52] itself that it ‘shall include the right to take up and pursue activities as self employed persons . . under the conditions laid down for its own nationals by the law of the country where such establishment is effected . . ‘ There is nothing to suggest that nationals of other member States are not entitled to apply for and exercise licences on the same conditions as apply to the appellant. In so doing such nationals are not hindered by any prescribed conditions . . the provisions governing licence holders apply to all of them without distinction, and there is nothing to suggest they were adopted for discriminatory purposes . . On this topic [viz. discrimination by being disadvantaged] the judge was content to hold that `Provided a national of a member State can compete on equal terms for a stall’ there is no discrimination. We agree. The Act has no discriminatory effect, and is in our judgment not incompatible with Article 52.’

Judges:

Russell LJ

Citations:

Gazette 15-Jan-1992, (1991) 4 Admin LR 289

Statutes:

London County Council (General Powers) Act 1947 21, EC Treaty 30 34 52

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service HL 22-Nov-1984
Exercise of Prerogative Power is Reviewable
The House considered an executive decision made pursuant to powers conferred by a prerogative order. The Minister had ordered employees at GCHQ not to be members of trades unions.
Held: The exercise of a prerogative power of a public nature . .

Cited by:

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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, European

Updated: 25 May 2022; Ref: scu.88095

Bernard Charles Admanson v Waveney District Council: Admn 24 Jan 1997

The court considered the procedure for a licensing Local Authority and the justices to admit into its consideration any spent convictions of the licence applicant when considering his fitness to hold a Hackney Carriage Licence.

Citations:

Times 24-Feb-1997, [1997] EWHC Admin 62

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976

Licensing, Road Traffic, Local Government

Updated: 25 May 2022; Ref: scu.137007

Langridge, Canterbury City Council v Howletts and Port Lympne Estates: Admn 27 Nov 1996

The company appealed against a prohibition notice with regard to its operation of a zoo. A keeper had been attacked by tigers while they were being fed. He had died. The company appealed the terms of the notices, saying that the Act had to allow for the idiosyncracies of the particular business. The company sought particularly to establish social contact between keepers and their animals. The real issue was whether the company could properly allow an employee to enter the tigers’ enclosure. The code of practice required keepers not to enter the enclosure.
Held: The safety legislation cannot be used to specify what work can be done, only the manner in which it was to be done: ‘although in the ordinary way a dangerous piece of machinery must be securely fenced, there may be circumstances concerned with the particular task that the employer (or his employee) is doing (their work) which make it necessary that the activity, which would by any ordinary standards be regarded as dangerous, may nevertheless have a legitimacy which justifies it but which would otherwise have laid the employer open to proceedings for a breach of his statutory duty.’ and ‘The Act is not seeking to legislate as to what work could or could not be performed, but is properly concerned with the manner of its doing. ‘

Citations:

Times 13-Dec-1996, [1996] EWHC Admin 282

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 2

Citing:

Cited – Coltness Iron Co v Sharp HL 1938
The court considered the extent of the duty of care owed by an employer to its employees under the Act: (Atkin) ‘In the facts of this case where the dangerous machinery was exposed for only a few minutes as the only means of effecting necessary . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health and Safety, Animals, Licensing

Updated: 25 May 2022; Ref: scu.136830

Ribble Motor Services Ltd v Traffic Commission For The North Western Travel Area: CA 23 Feb 2001

When looking at whether the bus operator had delivered the bus timetable standards as required, the Commission need not consider every occasion of excuse, but could consider that the general margin of 12 minutes on timetables included everyday occurrences. If no expert evidence was put before it to say otherwise, the Commission could also consider that it was appropriate to look for 95% achievement of the targets.

Citations:

Times 08-Mar-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 267

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Transport Act 1985 6

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Transport, Licensing, Road Traffic

Updated: 23 May 2022; Ref: scu.135557

Regina v Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex parte Jaderow Ltd: ECJ 14 Dec 1989

ECJ Fishing – Common structural policy – Conservation of the resources of the sea – Fishing quota system – Regulation by a Member State of the use of its quotas – Grant of licences – Conditions for ensuring that a real economic link exists between vessels and the State concerned – Requirement for vessels to operate from national ports – Means of proof – Landing of a proportion of the vessel’ s catches and its periodic presence in national ports – Whether permissible – Conditions – Amendment of the national rules relating to the grant of licences – Principle of the protection of legitimate expectation – Breach – None (Council Regulation No 101/76, Art. 2(1), No 2057/82, Arts 6(1) and 9(1), No 170/83, Arts 4 and 5(2) and No 172/83)
Community law as it now stands does not preclude a Member State, in issuing to one of its vessels a licence authorizing it to fish against national quotas, from laying down conditions designed to ensure that the vessel has a real economic link with that State if that link concerns only the relations between the vessel’ s fishing operations and the populations dependent on fisheries and related industries or from laying down the condition, in order to ensure that there is such a link, that the vessel is to operate from national ports, if that condition does not involve an obligation for the vessel to depart from a national port on all its fishing trips. The Member State concerned is entitled to consider that proof of compliance with that condition may be provided by the landing of a proportion of catches or by the periodic presence of the vessel in national ports and may accept, as evidence that the vessel operates from national ports, only the landing of a specified proportion of the vessel’ s catches or a specified periodic presence of the vessel in national ports, provided that the frequency with which the vessel is required to be present in those ports does not impose, directly or indirectly, an obligation to land the vessel’ s catches in national ports or hinder normal fishing operations. The fact that in a Member State the conditions for granting fishing licences authorizing fishing against national quotas are made more restrictive while remaining compatible with Community law does not constitute a breach of the protection owed to the legitimate expectation of traders.

Citations:

C-216/87, R-216/87, [1989] EUECJ R-216/87

Links:

Bailii

European, Agriculture, Licensing

Updated: 23 May 2022; Ref: scu.134673

The British Beer and Pub Association and others v Canterbury City Council: Admn 24 Jun 2005

The council had required of applicants for liquor licenses more detailed information than was required by the statute. The Association challenged their policy.
Held: One aim of the legislation is to allow licensing authorities to provide a ‘light touch bureaucracy’ with greater freedom and flexibility for businesses and the avoidance of disproportionate standard conditions. If a policy misleads an applicant into believing that he must meet certain requirements in relation to his application and that he lacks the freedom accorded to him by the Act and Regulations, the policy is contrary to the legislative scheme and is unlawful under Padfield. The policy was over-prescriptive in a number of places, suggesting the existence of requirements that cannot lawfully be imposed on applicants. On the promise of the respondent council to incorporate a schedule which would bring the policy back within lawful grounds, no relief was ordered.
Richards J said: ‘I accept the claimant’s contention that a statement of licensing policy is unlawful if and in so far as it has those features. The scheme of the legislation is to leave it to applicants to determine what to include in their applications, subject to the requirements of section 17 and the Regulations as to the prescribed form and the inclusion of a statement of specified matters in the operating schedule. An applicant who makes the right judgment, so that the application gives rise to no relevant representations, is entitled to the grant of a licence without the imposition of conditions beyond those consistent with the content of the operating schedule and any mandatory conditions. The licensing authority has no power at all to lay down the contents of an application and has no power to assess an application, or to exercise substantive discretionary powers in relation to it, unless there are relevant representations and the decision-making function under section 18(3) is engaged. If a policy creates a different impression, and in particular if it misleads an applicant into believing that he must meet certain requirements in relation to his application and that he lacks the freedom accorded to him by the Act and Regulations, the policy is contrary to the legaslative scheme and is unlawful on Padfield grounds (Padfield v Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food [1968] AC 997).’

Judges:

Richards J

Citations:

[2005] EWHC 1318 (Admin), Times 11-Jul-2005

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Licensing Act 2003 5

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Padfield v Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food HL 14-Feb-1968
Exercise of Ministerial Discretion
The Minister had power to direct an investigation in respect of any complaint as to the operation of any marketing scheme for agricultural produce. Milk producers complained about the price paid by the milk marketing board for their milk when . .
Cited – Regina (on the Application of Chorion Plc) v Westminster City Council Admn 5-Oct-2001
A licensing policy had been challenged and then amended by the defendant council to meet the claimant’s concerns. Though the remaining issue was as to costs; the judge had to decide whether the challenge had been well founded.
Held: The policy . .
Cited – Quietlynn Ltd v Plymouth City Council QBD 1987
A company operated sex shops in Plymouth under transitional provisions which allowed them to do so until their application for a licence under the scheme introduced by the Act had been ‘determined.’ The local authority refused the application. The . .
Cited – Regina v Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council ex parte Andrew Tew; George Daniel Milne; and Steven Garner Admn 7-May-1999
An outline application for a shopping development, gave no details of the expected floor area, and nor was there an environmental assessment.
Held: The failure to give the floor area was not critical, but even at this stage the ommission of . .
Cited – Regina v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham And Others, ex parte Burkett and Another HL 23-May-2002
The applicant sought judicial review of the respondent’s grant of planning permission for a development which would affect her. The authority objected that the application was made after three months after their decision, and so leave should not be . .

Cited by:

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 – Albert Court Residents Association and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Corporation of The Hall of Arts and Sciences Admn 2-Mar-2010
Residents near the Albert Hall objected to the alteration of its licence so as to allow boxing and wrestling activities, and the extension of its opening hours. They said that the advertisements for the alterations failed to receive the prominence . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Administrative

Updated: 22 May 2022; Ref: scu.227936

Broads Authority v Fry: Admn 5 Nov 2015

The boat owner had charged tolls against the respondent boat owner. He failed to pay saying that his vessel being moored at a private mooring on ‘adjacent water’ he was not liable. His appeal against his conviction had succeeded at the Crown Court, and the Authority now appealed by case stated.
Held: The Authority’s appeal succeeded. The bye-law was not void for uncertainty, and the extension of the licensing requirement beyond the waters controlled by the Authority was well established and clear.

Judges:

Beatson LJ, Mitting J

Citations:

[2015] EWHC 4139 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Broads Authority Act 2009

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Forth Conservancy Board v IRC HL 1931
The House was asked whether the conservators of the Firth of Forth were liable to income tax on revenue raised from dues levied on vessels, which revenue had to be applied to preserve and improve the appropriate part of the Firth of Forth.
Cited – Kruse v Johnson QBD 16-May-1898
The validity of a by-law prohibiting the playing of music in a public place within fifty yards of any dwelling after being requested by a constable or resident of that dwelling to desist was upheld. A private citizen taxed with a criminal charge . .
Cited – Fawcett Properties Ltd v Buckingham County Council HL 1960
A grant of planning permission was subject to an agricultural occupancy condition: ‘The occupation of the houses shall be limited to persons whose employment or latest employment is or was employment in agriculture as defined by section 119(1) of . .
Cited – Staden v Tarjanyi 1980
The court considered the validity of a byelaw. Lord Lane CJ said: ‘to be valid, a byelaw, carrying as this one does penalties for infringement, must be certain and clear in the sense that anyone engaged upon the otherwise lawful pursuit . . must . .
Cited – Percy and Another v Hall and Others CA 10-May-1996
The claimants, demonstrators at Menwith Hill Station, asserted that repeated arrests for trespass were made under unlawful byelaws. Iparticular they said that the restrictions on trespass were unlawful, since the area was not clearly defined. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing

Updated: 22 May 2022; Ref: scu.569394

Victor Chandler International v Commissioners of Customs and Excise and another: CA 8 Mar 2000

A teletext page can be a document for gaming licensing purposes. A bookmaker sought to advertise his services via a teletext page. His services were not licensed in this country, but the advertisements were. It was held that despite the insubstantial nature of a teletext broadcast, the page constituted, sufficiently for the Act, ‘an advertisement or other document . . issued circulated or distributed’ in the UK. The page held recorded information. The page was within the mischief contemplated. Chadwick LJ: The error in his reasoning, as it seems to me, was to regard the transmission of electronic impulses from one electronic database to another as the transmission of ‘information’ as if that were something distinct from the transmission of a ‘document’. The true analysis is that the transmission of electronic impulses is simply that: it is nothing more nor less than the transmission of electronic impulses. It is the combination of those impulses within co-ordinates and groups that may convey information. If the impulses are transmitted to a system which is capable of receiving and storing them in the same, or some derivative, combination – so that they can be analysed or ‘read’ – then it may be said that a document is created in or on the recipient database. It is as apt to describe the process as the transmission of a document as it is to describe it as the transmission of information. Indeed, it is now a matter of common parlance to talk of ‘sending a document’ from one computer to another. But what is really happening is that, by the transmission of electronic impulses in a combination, or ‘language’, which the recipient system can read, the sender is creating a document on the recipient database.

Judges:

Sir Richard Scott, Lord Justice Chadwick, Lord Justice Buxton

Citations:

Times 08-Mar-2000, Gazette 16-Mar-2000, [2000] EWHC Admin 299, [2000] 1 WLR 1296

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981 9(1)(b)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Victor Chandler International v Commissioners of Customs and Excise and Another ChD 17-Aug-1999
A document is a material object. A form presented as a screen via Teletext did not constitute an ‘advertisement or document’ under the Act, and its circulation within the UK without a licence was not an offence. The prohibition was against . .
Cited – Derby and Co Ltd And Others v Weldon And Others (No 9) ChD 25-Jul-1990
The court considered the application of rules relating to the discovery of documents to material held on computer: ‘the database of a computer, so far as it contained information capable of being retrieved and converted into readable form, and . .
Cited – Rollo v HM Advocate 1997
The court discussed the nature of a document as applied to an electronic notebook seized under the 1971 Act: ‘It seems to us that the essential essence of a document is that it is something containing recorded information of some sort. It does not . .
Cited – Regina v Westminster City Council and others ex parte M, P, A and X CA 1997
Destitute asylum-seekers could derive benefit from section 21.
Held: ‘The destitute condition to which asylum-seekers can be reduced as a result of the 1996 Act coupled with the period of time which, despite the Secretary of State’s best . .
Cited – Regina v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council, ex parte M; Regina v Similar Ex Parte P etc QBD 8-Oct-1996
Destitute asylum seekers who were not entitled to welfare benefits could be in need of care and attention within the meaning of section 21 of the 1948 Act although they were no longer entitled to housing assistance or other social security benefits . .
Cited – Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association CA 23-Jul-1997
A homosexual partner of a deceased tenant was not a member of that tenant’s family so as to entitle him to inherit the Rent Act tenancy on the death of his partner. . .
Cited – Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd HL 28-Oct-1999
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 . .
Cited – Alliance and Leicester Building Society v Ghahremani and others 1992
The court rejected a submission that Mr Justice Vinelott’s view as to the scope of the word ‘document’ was restricted to questions of discovery under the rules of court. He applied the extended meaning of a document described to the question of . .

Cited by:

Cited – Oxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council and others HL 24-May-2006
Application had been made to register as a town or village green an area of land which was largely a boggy marsh. The local authority resisted the application wanting to use the land instead for housing. It then rejected advice it received from a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Licensing, Litigation Practice

Updated: 20 May 2022; Ref: scu.90161

Regina v West London Licensing Justices, ex parte Davis: QBD 16 Mar 1994

A pronouncement by Justices was of no legal effect, having been made ultra vires, and so no certiorari order was necessary or capable of being made to correct it.

Citations:

Gazette 08-Jun-1994, Gazette 30-Mar-1994, Times 16-Mar-1994

Statutes:

Licensing Act 1964 20

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Magistrates, Licensing

Updated: 19 May 2022; Ref: scu.88289

Regina (Jet Services Ltd) v Civil Aviation Authority: CA 1 May 2001

An operator who negotiated deals between bonded agents, but did not itself conclude a contract, did not require an Air Travel Operator’s Licence. It transmitted the purchase price through a separate account used only for this purpose. The regulations however only caught those who made accommodation available, and no extent of purposive construction could extend that phrase to catch the operator’s service. At its highest, the company could be described as assisting the principal, or facilitating the acquisition of flight accommodation. The fact that the company’s intervention led to a break in the chain of security protecting the consumer was not enough.

Judges:

Lord Phillips MR, Peter Gibson and Latham LJJ

Citations:

Times 15-May-2001, Gazette 14-Jun-2001, [2001] EWCA Civ 610, [2001] 2 All ER (Comm) 769, [2001] All ER (D) 08

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Civil Aviation (Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing) Regulations 1995 (1995 No 1054)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Transport, Licensing

Updated: 19 May 2022; Ref: scu.85980

Nottingham City Council v Farooq: QBD 21 Oct 1998

Where an applicant for a taxi licence had recklessly failed to mention a conviction for dishonesty, the magistrates were unable to set aside the Department of Transport Circular and disregard it. The decision was one no reasonable court could reach.

Citations:

Times 28-Oct-1998, Gazette 25-Nov-1998, [1998] EWHC Admin 991

Links:

Bailii

Licensing

Updated: 19 May 2022; Ref: scu.84373

Dittah and Another v Phillipps: QBD 1 Mar 1993

Limits on operation of taxis. A taxi license authorised a taxi to operate within the district to which it related and not beyond. To operate within another district would require a license from that district.

Citations:

Ind Summary 01-Mar-1993

Statutes:

Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 46(1)(d)

Road Traffic, Local Government, Licensing

Updated: 19 May 2022; Ref: scu.80067

Bradford City Metropolitan District Council v Booth: QBD 10 May 2000

The local authority had refused to renew a private hire vehicle licence. That refusal was successfully challenged, and the magistrates had awarded costs on the basis that they should follow the event. The authority appealed.
Held: The discretion given to magistrates to award such costs as it feels are just and reasonable does not mean that costs should always and normally follow the event. An authority with a duty to make decisions which suffered a successful challenge to that decision, but where the fault in the decision fell short of being unreasonable, dishonest, or improper, should not normally be ordered to pay the costs. The financial effect on the parties should be assessed, but such challenges are part of the expense of running a business. Section 64 was concerned with both liability for costs and their amount. The only statutory restriction on the power of the magistrates was that they could not make an order for costs against a successful party.
Bingham CJ said: ‘The issue in this appeal by case stated is whether justices erred in the exercise of their discretion by awarding costs against a local authority on a successful complaint against a vehicle licensing decision of the local authority when the local authority had not, in making the decision appealed against, acted unreasonably or in bad faith.’
Later he continued ‘It seems to me that the justices in this case misdirected themselves, first, in relying on a principle that costs should follow the event, that misdirection being compounded by their view that the reference in section 64 to the order being just and reasonable applied to quantum only. On the other hand, in my judgment the submissions made by Mr Blair-Gould on behalf of the local authority go too far the other way since to give effect to the principle for which he contends would deprive the justices of any discretion to view the case in the round which is in my judgment what section 64 intends.
I would accordingly hold that the proper approach to questions of this kind can for convenience be summarised is three propositions:
1. Section 64(1) confers a discretion upon a magistrates’ court to make such order as to costs as it thinks just and reasonable. That provision applies both to the quantum of the costs (if any) to be paid, but also as to the party (if any) which should pay them.
2. What the court will think just and reasonable will depend on all the relevant facts and circumstances of the case before the court. The court may think it just and reasonable that costs should follow the event, but need not think so in all cases covered by the subsection.
3. Where a complainant has successfully challenged before justices an administrative decision made by a police or regulatory authority acting honestly, reasonably, properly and on grounds that reasonably appeared to be sound, in exercise of its public duty, the court should consider, in addition to any other relevant fact or circumstances, both (i) the financial prejudice to the particular complainant in the particular circumstances if an order for costs is not made in his favour; and (ii) the need to encourage public authorities to make and stand by honest, reasonable and apparently sound administrative decisions made in the public interest without fear of exposure to undue financial prejudice if the decision is successfully challenged.’

Judges:

Silber J, Lord Bingham of Cornhill

Citations:

Times 31-May-2000, (2000) COD 338, (2000) 164 JP 485

Statutes:

Magistrates Courts Act 1980 64(1), Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 62(1)(b)

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, ex parte Chief Constable Dyfed Powys Police QBD 9-Nov-1998
The Chief Constable, on good grounds, objected to the transfer of a justices’ on-licence to a Mrs W. Mrs W appealed and the Chief Constable, having objected to the transfer, became a respondent. On the appeal Mrs W contended that, since the conduct . .
Cited – Regina v Totnes Licensing Justices, ex parte Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall QBD 28-May-1990
The court considered the award of costs in a licensing case. Roch J said: ‘There can be no doubt that in civil proceedings between litigants, be it in the High Court or county court, the principle is that costs follow the event. The winning party . .
Cited – Chief Constable of Derbyshire v Goodman and Newton Admn 2-Apr-1998
Firearms licences were granted to the two respondents, but then revoked by the Chief Constable. They appealed to the Crown Court and their appeal was allowed. The judge, however, ordered the Chief Constable to pay the costs of the two respondents, . .

Cited by:

Cited – Baxendale-Walker v The Law Society Admn 30-Mar-2006
The solicitor appealed being struck off. He had given a character reference in circumstances where he did not have justification for the assessment.
Held: ‘The appellant knew that Barclays Bank trusted him to provide a truthful reference. . .
Cited – Cambridge City Council v Alex Nestling Ltd QBD 17-May-2006
The council appealed an award of costs against it. The respondent had appealed against a refusal by the council to vary a premises licence for a public house with partial success, and the magistrates had awarded the respondent half its costs.
Cited – Mastercard UK Members Forum Ltd Mastercard International Inc CAT 28-Jul-2006
. .
Cited – Perinpanathan, Regina (on The Application of) v City of Westminster Magistrates Court and Another CA 4-Feb-2010
The appellant’s daughter had been stopped entering the country with andpound;150,000 in cash. The police sought an order for its forfeiture, suspecting a link with terrorism. The magistrates found no evidence of such, and declined to make the order, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Magistrates, Local Government, Costs, Licensing

Updated: 18 May 2022; Ref: scu.78542

Attorney-General’s Reference (No 5 of 2000): CACD 6 Jun 2001

Waste products could become ‘controlled waste’ and subject to licensing procedures without there being a recovery or disposal operation being involved. A rendering process produced a condensate which the company wished to spread on farm land without a licence. The company had argued that no recovery process was involved, and therefore it was not waste within the definition. The Agency appealed.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The judgement of Carnwath in Mayer Parry appeared to be incorrect. Whether material was required to be controlled could not depend upon the manner in which a particular holder of it intended to store it. It must depend upon the nature of the material itself. The court declined to attempt to define ‘waste’, but confirmed that ‘recovery or disposal operations are not required before a substance can be ‘controlled waste’.’

Judges:

Lord Woolf CJ, Douglas Brown, Astill JJ

Citations:

Times 06-Jun-2001, [2001] EWCA Crim 1077

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 1972 36, Environmental Protection Act 1990 33 34(1)(a), Waste Management Licensing Regulations 1994, Council Directive 75/442/EEC

Citing:

Per incuriam – Regina v Environment Agency ex parte Dockgrange Limited and Mayer Parry Limited Admn 22-May-1997
The verb ‘discard’ in the Waste Framework Directive has a special and limited meaning which requires the materials to be subjected to a disposal or recovery operation.
Carnwath J said: ‘The general concept is now reasonably clear. The term . .
Cited – Castle Cement v Environment Agency Admn 22-Mar-2001
The court was asked ‘whether the burning of Cemfuel, as a fuel in the Ribblesdale and Ketton Cement Works operated by the Applicant (Castle), amounts to the burning of ‘hazardous waste’, as the Environment Agency has concluded, or to the burning of . .
Cited – Euro Tombesi, Santella etc ECJ 25-Jun-1997
ECJ (Environment And Consumers) Waste – Definition – Council Directives 91/156/EEC and 91/689/EEC – Council Regulation (EEC) No 259/93 . .
Cited – Inter-Environnement Wallonie v Region Wallonne ECJ 18-Dec-1997
ECJ Member States are required to refrain from taking any measures liable seriously to compromise the results prescribed by a Directive, even though the date for its implementation has not yet expired.
The . .
Cited – Arco Chemie Nederland v Minister van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening in Milieubeheer ECJ 15-Jun-2000
ECJ Environment – Directives 75/442/EEC and 91/156/EEC – Concept of ‘waste’.
Advocate General Alber said: ‘The concept of waste underlying Community law on waste is defined in article 1(a) of Directive . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Environment, Licensing, Crime

Updated: 18 May 2022; Ref: scu.78014

Regina v Birmingham City Council ex parte Quietlynn Ltd: 1985

The court held that on the failure of an application for a licence for a sex establishment, that part of the licence fee paid which related to the management of the supervisory regime rather than the cost of administering the application alone should be repaid. The fee set by the council could reflect not only the processing of applications but ‘inspecting premises after the grant of licences and for what might be called vigilant policing . . in order to detect and prosecute those who operated sex establishments without licences’.

Judges:

Forbes J

Citations:

[1985] 83 LGR 461

Cited by:

Cited – Aylesbury Vale District Council, Regina (on The Application of) v Call A Cab Ltd Admn 12-Nov-2013
The council appealed against dismissal of its prosecution of the respondent, alleging the operation of a private hire vehicle without having a current licence, ‘in a controlled district’. The respondent had denied that the necessary resolution had . .
Cited – Hemming (T/A Simply Pleasure Ltd) and Others v Westminster City Council Admn 16-May-2012
The applicant had sought a license for a sex establishment. He paid the (substantial) fee, but complained that the Council had not as required, resolved to set the fee, and that in any event, the sum did not reflect the cost of administering the . .
Cited – Hemming (T/A Simply Pleasure Ltd) and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v The Lord Mayor and Citizens of Westminster CA 24-May-2013
The claimant had submitted an application for a licence to operate a sex shop. On its failure it sought repayment of that part of the fee which related to the costs of supervising the system, rather than the costs of dealing with the application. It . .
Cited – Hemming (T/A Simply Pleasure Ltd) and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Westminster City Council SC 29-Apr-2015
The parties disputed the returnability of the fees paid on application for a sex establishment licence where the licence was refused. The fee was in part one for the application, and a second and greater element related to the costs of monitoring . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Local Government

Updated: 18 May 2022; Ref: scu.519015

Rex v Graham-Campbell, Ex parte Herbert: 1935

Mr A P Herbert had laid two informations at Bow Street Police Station for summonses against fifteen named Members of Parliament, who were members of the Kitchen Committee of the House of Commons and the manager of the Refreshment Department of the House, alleging the unlawful sale of alcohol without a licence contrary to the 1910 Act. The Chief Metropolitan Magistrate declined to exercise jurisdiction, holding that the Members of Parliament were not susceptible to the jurisdiction of the court because they were protected by the privileges of the House. Mr Herbert sought an order of mandamus. The Attorney General argued in reply:- ‘The House sits for long periods and arrangements have to be made for heating the House when the weather is cold and the provision of refreshment for the mind in the library and refreshment for the body in suitable places. The regulation of those matters is clearly within the area of the internal affairs of the House and connected with the affairs of House.’
Held: The request was rejected. Lord Hewart CJ accepted the AG’s argument and upheld the magistrate’s decision and the reasoning of the magistrate. Only as an afterthought did he express the view that the majority of the provisions of the 1910 Act were inapplicable to the House of Commons. Avory and Swift JJ agreed, albeit that Avory J devoted most of his judgment to the question of whether the Act on its true construction applied to the House of Commons.
Lord Hewart said: ‘the magistrate was entitled to say, on the materials before him, that in the matters complained of the House of Commons was acting collectively in a matter which fell within the area of the internal affairs of the House, and, that being so, any tribunal might well feel, on the authorities, an invincible reluctance to interfere.’

Judges:

Lord Hewart CJ, Avory, Swift JJ

Citations:

[1935] 1 KB 594

Statutes:

Licensing (Consolidation) Act 1910

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Chaytor and Others, Regina v SC 1-Dec-2010
The defendants faced trial on charges of false accounting in connection in different ways with their expenses claims whilst serving as members of the House of Commons. They appealed against rejection of their assertion that the court had no . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Constitutional, Licensing

Updated: 18 May 2022; Ref: scu.427749

Ahmed v Leicester City Council: QBD 29 Mar 2000

A person carried on a food business even though he might be excluded from the premises, for example, by a partner. It was necessary to read the words of a provision carefully where criminal liability attached, but it was also intended to ensure that responsibility was not evaded by pretending that others ran the business. The proprietor was the person carrying on the business whether or not he was actually the owner.

Citations:

Times 29-Mar-2000

Statutes:

Food Safety Act 1990 1(3), Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995 (1995 No 1763)

Licensing, Crime

Updated: 17 May 2022; Ref: scu.77679

Hill v William Hill (Park Lane) Limited: HL 1949

The policy behind the 1845 Act was to discourage gambling.
Viscount Simon said: ‘it is to be observed that though a Parliamentary enactment (like Parliamentary eloquence) is capable of saying the same thing twice over without adding anything to what has already been said, the repetition in the case of an Act of Parliament is not to be assumed. When the legislature enacts a particular phrase in a statute the presumption is that it is saying something which has not been said immediately before. The rule that a meaning should, if possible, be given to every word in the statute implies that, unless there is good reason to the contrary, the words add something which would not be there if the words were left out’

Judges:

Viscount Simon

Citations:

[1949] 2 All ER 452, [1949] AC 530

Statutes:

Gaming Act 1845 18

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Calvert v William Hill Credit Ltd ChD 12-Mar-2008
The claimant said that the defendant bookmakers had been negligent in allowing him to continue betting when they should have known that he was acting under an addiction. The defendant company had a policy for achieving responsible gambling, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Negligence, Licensing

Updated: 17 May 2022; Ref: scu.266992

Cambridge City Council v Alex Nestling Ltd: QBD 17 May 2006

The council appealed an award of costs against it. The respondent had appealed against a refusal by the council to vary a premises licence for a public house with partial success, and the magistrates had awarded the respondent half its costs.
Held: The appellant had not acted unlawfully, but had acted conscientously and properly. The magistrates had merely reached a different conclusion. The otherwise normal rule that costs follow the event did not apply in such cases.

Judges:

Richards LJ, Toulson J

Citations:

Times 11-Jul-2006

Statutes:

Licensing Act 2003 181

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Bradford City Metropolitan District Council v Booth QBD 10-May-2000
The local authority had refused to renew a private hire vehicle licence. That refusal was successfully challenged, and the magistrates had awarded costs on the basis that they should follow the event. The authority appealed.
Held: The . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Magistrates, Costs, Licensing

Updated: 17 May 2022; Ref: scu.244195

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust v Mr and Mrs A, YA, ZA, Mr and Mrs B T Authority: QBD 4 Nov 2002

At a fertility clinic, eggs were fertilised with the sperm from the wrong father. It was noticed only because after the birth of the twins, the colour of their skin was different from the mother and putative father.
Held: Difficult issues of medical confidentiality had arisen. The HFEA had conducted a preliminary investigation and imposed certain conditions upon the unit’s licence. Having given a statement of the factual background, the court reserved its’ fuller opinion to a later hearing.

Judges:

Dame Butler-Sloss E, President

Citations:

[2003] 1 FLR 412

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See also – AHE Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust v A and Others (By Their Litigation Friend, the Official Solicitor), The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority B, B QBD 26-Feb-2003
An IVF treatment centre used sperm from one couple to fertilise eggs from another. This was discovered, and the unwilling donors sought a paternity declaration.
Held: Section 28 did not confer paternity. The mistake vitiated whatever consents . .

Cited by:

See also – AHE Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust v A and Others (By Their Litigation Friend, the Official Solicitor), The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority B, B QBD 26-Feb-2003
An IVF treatment centre used sperm from one couple to fertilise eggs from another. This was discovered, and the unwilling donors sought a paternity declaration.
Held: Section 28 did not confer paternity. The mistake vitiated whatever consents . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health, Licensing

Updated: 16 May 2022; Ref: scu.190124

Hawkins v Edwards: 1901

Citations:

[1901] 2 KB 169

Statutes:

Town Police Clauses Act 1847 38

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Newcastle City Council, Regina (on the Application of) v Berwick-Upon-Tweed Borough Council and others Admn 5-Nov-2008
The applicant council complained that the respondent council was issuing a disproportionately high number of taxi licences, believing that it should only refuse a licence where the driver appeared to be unfit.
Held: The purpose of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Road Traffic

Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.277888

Hussain v Bradford City Council: QBD 15 Feb 1993

If a complaint was made that a private hire vehicle was acting in contravention of the regulation, requiring it to display the licence plate issued by the local authority, indicating the maximum number of passengers, it was necessary for the prosecution to prove that the vehicle was plying for hire at the time of the alleged offence.

Citations:

Ind Summary 15-Feb-1993

Statutes:

Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 48 (6)(b)

Local Government, Licensing, Transport, Crime

Updated: 15 May 2022; Ref: scu.81565

London County Council v Bermondsey Bioscope Co: 1911

Citations:

[1911] 1 KB 445

Cited by:

Cited – Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation CA 10-Nov-1947
Administrative Discretion to be Used Reasonably
The applicant challenged the manner of decision making as to the conditions which had been attached to its licence to open the cinema on Sundays. It had not been allowed to admit children under 15 years of age. The statute provided no appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.224433

Rex v London County Counci, ex parte London and Provincial Electric Theatres LD: 1915

Citations:

[1915] 2 KB 466

Cited by:

Cited – Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation CA 10-Nov-1947
Administrative Discretion to be Used Reasonably
The applicant challenged the manner of decision making as to the conditions which had been attached to its licence to open the cinema on Sundays. It had not been allowed to admit children under 15 years of age. The statute provided no appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.224434

Sales v Lake: 1922

A hackney carriage may be plying for hire siomply by waiting in the street available to take passengers.

Citations:

[1922] 1KB 553

Cited by:

Cited – Oddy, Regina (on the Application of) v Bugbugs Ltd Admn 12-Nov-2003
A private prosecutor appealed dismissal of his complaint that the respondent had operated an unlicensed man-powered rickshaw service. The district judge had held that it was not a taxi service. It was, under the 1869 Act a stage carriage and . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Road Traffic, Licensing

Updated: 13 May 2022; Ref: scu.193389

Regina v Tower Hamlets London Borough Council, ex parte Kayne-Levenson: CA 1975

There is a clear public interest in the regulation of street markets.

Judges:

Lawton LJ

Citations:

[1975] QB 431

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

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 . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Local Government

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.190067

Muir v Keay: 1875

The defendant ran premises under the name ‘The Cafe. It was discovered to be open through the night, and at the time seventeen women and twenty men were there. They had been sold with cigars, coffee, and ginger beer, and were consuming them.
Held: The house was kept open for public refreshment, resort, and entertainment, and required a licence.

Citations:

(1875) LR 10 QB 594

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Licensing

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.190036

Regina (Vetterlein) v Hampshire County Council: Admn 2001

The claimants challenged a planning permission granted to a waste disposal site, saying that it violated their article 8 rights.
Held: The court asked whether there was reasonable and convincing evidence that the claimants quality of life would be so directly effected by the incinerator proposal as to engage article 8, ‘The answer to that question has to be no, even if one strictly applies the WHO guideline, ignoring the fact that it is only a guideline and not a mandatory requirement, and that a breach of the guideline does not automatically mean that there is serious pollution, much less that there is any significant danger to health.
The claimant’s is no more than a generalised concern as to the effects of the incinerator in terms of increased nitrogen dioxide emissions. Such generalised environmental concerns do not engage article 8, which is concerned with an individual’s right to enjoy life in his own home.’
Sulivan J considered the power of a court hearing an application for leave to bring judicial review proceedings to determine the issue immediately having heard the applications: ‘I am satisfied that all the arguments open to the claimants on matters of fact and law have been placed before the Court. In the circumstances it would be wholly artificial to consider the by now academic question: is the claimant’s case arguable? Having heard the arguments I am in a position to determine the substantive application for judicial review on its merits.’

Judges:

Sullivan J

Citations:

[2001] EWHC Admin 560

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Asselbourg v Luxembourg ECHR 1995
The applicants complained that the grant of licences for a steelworks would result in pollution, release of toxic gases and noise, and that the grant of the licences would infringe their article 8 rights. The court rejected the application ‘From the . .

Cited by:

Cited – Bushell and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Newcastle Licensing Justices and others Admn 31-Jul-2003
The claimants objected to a forced transfer of an unused justices on-line for the benefit of the licencee applicants. The licensees had first been refused a licence for certain premises, but then requested and were given transfer of an obsolete . .
Cited – Low and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 21-Jan-2009
In each case the applicant, a company based in Ireland had employed in its restaurants, Chinese nationals who were unlawfully present here. The company sought judicial review of the arrest of its employees.
Held: ‘None of the claimants had any . .
Cited – Savva, Regina (on The Application of) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Admn 11-Mar-2010
The claimant challenged the defendant’s policies on caring for elderly people within the community saying that it provided insufficient funds, and the procedures for review were inadequate and infringed her human rights. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Licensing, Judicial Review

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.186027

Regina v Monopolies and Mergers Commission, ex parte South Yorkshire Transport Ltd: HL 1993

One bus company took over another, giving it an effective monopoly within the region. The Commission considered that the area involved was sufficiently substantial to cause concern that it may operate against the public interest. At first instance the judge held the area was not sufficiently large to justify a concern. On appeal the case was reversed.
Held: The appeal was allowed. On the true construction of the phrase ‘a substantial part’ it meant not necessarily a large part, but rather a part of considerable importance and character.
Lord Mustill said: ‘The courts have repeatedly warned against the dangers of taking an inherently imprecise word, and by redefining it thrusting on it a spurious degree of precision.’ and
‘The respondents say that the two stages of the Commission’s inquiry involved wholly different tasks. Once the Commission reached the stage of deciding on public interest and remedies it was exercising a broad judgment whose outcome could be overturned only on the ground of irrationality. The question of jurisdiction, by contrast, is a hard-edged question. There is no room for legitimate disagreement. Either the Commission had jurisdiction or it had not. The fact that it is quite hard to discover the meaning of section 64(3) makes no difference. It does have a correct meaning, and one meaning alone; and once this is ascertained a correct application of it to the facts of the case will always yield the same answer. If the Commission has reached a different answer it is wrong, and the court can and must intervene.
I agree with this argument in part, but only in part. Once the criterion for a judgment has been properly understood, the fact that it was formerly part of a range of possible criteria from which it was difficult to choose and on which opinions might legitimately differ becomes a matter of history. The judgment now proceeds unequivocally on the basis of the criterion as ascertained. So far, no room for controversy. But this clear-cut approach cannot be applied to every case, for the criterion so established may itself be so imprecise that different decision-makers, each acting rationally, might reach differing conclusions when applying it to the facts of a given case. In such a case the court is entitled to substitute its own opinion for that of the person to whom the decision has been entrusted only if the decision is so aberrant that it cannot be classed as rational: Edwards v Bairstow [1956] A.C. 14. The present is such a case. Even after eliminating inappropriate senses of ‘substantial’ one is still left with a meaning broad enough to call for the exercise of judgment rather than an exact quantitative measurement. Approaching the matter in this light I am quite satisfied that there is no ground for interference by the court, since the conclusion at which the commission arrived was well within the permissible field of judgment.’

Judges:

Lord Mustill

Citations:

[1993] 1 WLR 23, [1993] 1 All ER 289

Statutes:

Fair Trading Act 1973

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Edwards (Inspector of Taxes) v Bairstow HL 25-Jul-1955
The House was asked whether a particular transaction was ‘an adventure in the nature of trade’.
Held: Although the House accepted that this was ‘an inference of fact’, on the primary facts as found by the Commissioners ‘the true and only . .

Cited by:

Cited – Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, Regina (on the Application of) v Financial Ombudsman Service Ltd Admn 14-Nov-2002
The Ombudsman had found that the applicant had unfairly failed to notify its customers of the availability of better accounts, once it discontinued accounts of one type. The Society appealed saying that the finding of unfairness arose from matters . .
Cited – Regina on the Application of T-Mobile (Uk) Ltd, Vodafone Ltd, Orange Personal Communication Services Ltd v The Competition Commission, the Director-General of Telecommunications Admn 27-Jun-2003
The applicants sought to challenge a proposed scheme regulating the prices of telephone calls.
Held: The principle objection was to termination charges, charges on calls between networks. The present charges were greater than the actual cost, . .
Cited – Office of Fair Trading and others v IBA Health Limited CA 19-Feb-2004
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 . .
Cited – British Broadcasting Corporation v Sugar and Another Admn 27-Apr-2007
The applicant sought publication of a report prepared for the respondent as to the even handedness of its reporting of matters in the middle east. The BBC had refused saying that the release of the report would have direct impact on its ability to . .
Cited – Al-Sweady and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Defence Admn 2-Oct-2009
The claimant’s son had died whilst in the custody of the British Armed Forces in Iraq. His uncle now claimed that his human rights had been infringed. The case ‘raised a fundamental issue of jurisdiction under Article 1 of the ECHR because if the . .
Cited – Sugar v British Broadcasting Corporation and Another (2) SC 15-Feb-2012
The claimant sought release of a report prepared by the respondent as to its coverage of the Arab/Israel conflict partly for journalistic purposes, and partly for compliance.
Held: The appeal failed. Where the report was prepared even if only . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Commercial, Licensing, Judicial Review

Updated: 12 May 2022; Ref: scu.183446

South Kesteven District Council v Mackie and Others: CA 20 Oct 1999

Where animals, which would be counted as dangerous wild animals, were used as performing animals through the summer months, but were kept in settled winter quarters, there was still no need for the keeper to obtain a licence for that keeping.

Citations:

Times 20-Oct-1999

Statutes:

Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 1

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Animals, Licensing

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.89412

Regina v Liverpool Crown Court and Another, Ex Parte Luxury Leisure Ltd: CA 26 Oct 1998

When deciding on the grant of licences for gaming machines with prizes in an amusement centre, the Local Authority had the right to look at the social circumstances in the surrounding area, and take the view that the grant of the licence would be inappropriate.

Citations:

Times 26-Oct-1998

Statutes:

Gaming Act 1968 34, Lotteries and Amusements Act 1976 16

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Licensing

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.87197

Regina v Warrington Crown Court, Ex Parte Rbnb (A Company): CA 8 Sep 2000

Licensing justices were not able to insist on the disclosure of the identities of the shareholders of an unlimited company applying for a liquor licence. The Act required the person having day to day control and management of the premises to be known and of satisfactory character. If that was achieved then there was no additional requirement to disclose shareholdings. There was nothing necessarily disreputable about a company exercising rights given to it in law. Before any adverse inference could be drawn from the silence, there must be something additional basis.

Citations:

Times 08-Sep-2000

Statutes:

Licensing Act 1964

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Licensing, Company

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.85604

Regina v Chelmsford Crown Court, Ex Parte Farrer: QBD 27 Oct 1999

The licensed shotgun owner kept his guns locked in his mother’s house, and she knew the whereabouts of the key, but was not herself licensed. The police objected to the renewal saying she had access to them and they were not therefore kept securely.
Held: The proper issue was for the potential licence holder to establish that the condition requiring security was satisfied. Case remitted.

Citations:

Gazette 27-Oct-1999, Times 05-Nov-1999

Statutes:

Firearms Rules 1989 (1989 No 854) 4(4)(iv)(a) 3(4)(iv)(a)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Regina v Chelmsford Crown Court, Ex Parte Farrer CA 29-Mar-2000
A shotgun owner kept his guns locked in his mother’s house, and she had access to the key. She was not licensed. The police objected to the renewal saying she had access to them, and they were not therefore kept securely.
Held: The proper . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Police

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.85173

Regina v Chelmsford Crown Court, Ex Parte Farrer: CA 29 Mar 2000

A shotgun owner kept his guns locked in his mother’s house, and she had access to the key. She was not licensed. The police objected to the renewal saying she had access to them, and they were not therefore kept securely.
Held: The proper issue was for the potential licence holder to establish that the condition requiring security was satisfied. There was a clear breach of the section requiring the guns at all times to be under the control of the licensed holder. They were not stored securely.

Citations:

Times 29-Mar-2000, Gazette 06-Apr-2000

Statutes:

Firearms Rules 1989 (1989 No 854) 4(4)(iv)(a) 3(4)(iv)(a)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Regina v Chelmsford Crown Court, Ex Parte Farrer QBD 27-Oct-1999
The licensed shotgun owner kept his guns locked in his mother’s house, and she knew the whereabouts of the key, but was not herself licensed. The police objected to the renewal saying she had access to them and they were not therefore kept securely. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Crime

Updated: 11 May 2022; Ref: scu.85175

Jenkins v Essex County Council: FD 25 Nov 1998

An option to take a tenancy of a property was not sufficient to constitute ‘premises’ for the Act. The section presupposed existence of premises which could be inspected and approved, and on which a registration could be based

Citations:

Gazette 25-Nov-1998

Statutes:

Children Act 1989 71(1)(b)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Licensing

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.82510

Yates v Gates: 1970

Citations:

[1970] RTR 135

Statutes:

Town Police Clauses Act 1847 38

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Newcastle City Council, Regina (on the Application of) v Berwick-Upon-Tweed Borough Council and others Admn 5-Nov-2008
The applicant council complained that the respondent council was issuing a disproportionately high number of taxi licences, believing that it should only refuse a licence where the driver appeared to be unfit.
Held: The purpose of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Road Traffic, Licensing

Updated: 10 May 2022; Ref: scu.277889

Ellis v Dubowski: 1921

A complaint was made that the local authority had added an unlawful condition to a licence it had granted.
Held: The illegal element which the authority had imported into the conditions imposed consisted of a delegation of their powers to the police. It was not that the delegation was a thing which no reasonable person could have thought was a sensible thing to do. It was outside their powers altogether to pass on this discretion which the legislature had confided to them to some outside body.

Citations:

[1921] 3 KB 621

Cited by:

Cited – Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation CA 10-Nov-1947
Administrative Discretion to be Used Reasonably
The applicant challenged the manner of decision making as to the conditions which had been attached to its licence to open the cinema on Sundays. It had not been allowed to admit children under 15 years of age. The statute provided no appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.224435

Regina v Totnes Licensing Justices, ex parte Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall: QBD 28 May 1990

The court considered the award of costs in a licensing case. Roch J said: ‘There can be no doubt that in civil proceedings between litigants, be it in the High Court or county court, the principle is that costs follow the event. The winning party obtains an order for costs against the losing party unless there are exceptional circumstances or reasons why this should not be so.
Mr Barrie has pointed out that the basis of that principle is this: the losing litigant should not have contested the matter before the court. In my judgment it was wrong for the justices to treat this matter as civil proceedings between two private litigants and to ignore the factor urged upon them by the solicitor appearing for the police authority, namely, that the police have a function which they are required to perform. They are required to supervise the proper conduct of the licensed premises and to object in those cases where there are good grounds for objecting to the renewal of the licence. That that is the police’s function is clearly demonstrated by the provisions in the Licensing Act which give the police power to enter licensed premises whether at the invitation of the licensee or not.
In addition, in my view, the police authority must also bring to the attention of the licensing justices matters of which the police know and which can fairly and properly be said to amount to misconduct by the licensee or those for whom he is responsible.
Such factors emphasise the importance of the police being able to discharge their functions with regard to the licensing laws fairly and properly. Of course, if the evidence indicated that an objection by a police authority to the renewal of the justices’ on-licence was misconceived, that it was without [proper] foundation or born of malice or some improper motive, then it would be just and reasonable for the police to be ordered to pay the costs of the successful licensee . . One of the roles the police must fulfil is to enable justices, who have to consider the renewal of licenses, to make informed decisions.’

Judges:

Roch J

Citations:

Times 28-May-1990, (1990) 156 JP 587

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Regina v Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, ex parte Chief Constable Dyfed Powys Police QBD 9-Nov-1998
The Chief Constable, on good grounds, objected to the transfer of a justices’ on-licence to a Mrs W. Mrs W appealed and the Chief Constable, having objected to the transfer, became a respondent. On the appeal Mrs W contended that, since the conduct . .
Cited – Bradford City Metropolitan District Council v Booth QBD 10-May-2000
The local authority had refused to renew a private hire vehicle licence. That refusal was successfully challenged, and the magistrates had awarded costs on the basis that they should follow the event. The authority appealed.
Held: The . .
Cited – Perinpanathan, Regina (on The Application of) v City of Westminster Magistrates Court and Another CA 4-Feb-2010
The appellant’s daughter had been stopped entering the country with andpound;150,000 in cash. The police sought an order for its forfeiture, suspecting a link with terrorism. The magistrates found no evidence of such, and declined to make the order, . .
Cited – Regina v Methyr Tydfil Crown Court ex parte Chief Constable Dyfed Powys Police Admn 9-Nov-1998
Where the police had exercised their statutory duty in opposing a transfer of justices licence without being unreasonable or acting in bad faith, they should not be ordered to pay the applicant’s costs after a successful appeal to the Crown . .
Cited – Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, Regina (On the Application of) v Coventry Crown Court Admn 6-Jun-2000
The Chief Constable sought judicial review of the award against him of costs after a successful appeal against the revocation of a justices’ on-licence for premises in Coventry. The initial revocation had followed the cautioning of members of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Costs, Magistrates, Licensing

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.196680

Regina v Herrod, ex parte Leeds City District Council: CA 1976

Lord Denning MR described the game bingo: ‘I expect that everybody knows ordinary bingo. It is played at bazaars, sales of work [sic: in [1976] 1 All ER 273, at 279c, the phrase is ‘places of work’], and so forth, for small prizes and is perfectly lawful. Now prize bingo is like ordinary bingo, but played with sophisticated apparatus. Instead of cards with numbers on them, there are dials facing the players. A player puts in a coin (5p for two cards). Thereupon two dials light up showing numbers corresponding to two cards. When the game starts, instead of someone drawing a number out of a hat, a machine throws a ball into the air. A gaily dressed lady plucks one of them and calls out the number. If it is one of the numbers on the dial, the player crosses it out by pulling a cover over it. If he gets all his numbers crossed out correctly before the other players, he gets a prize. This is obviously a lottery or a game of chance, but it is not a ‘gaming machine’ because the element of chance is not ‘provided by means of the machine’ but means of the gay lady: see section 26(2) of the Gaming Act 1968.
In some of these premises there are also some ‘one-armed bandits.’ These are gaming machines. The player puts in a coin. This enables him to pull a handle to forecast a result. Cylinders revolve and give an answer. If he succeeds, he gets the winnings. If he fails, he loses his money. This is undoubtedly a ‘gaming machine’ because the element of chance is provided by means of a machine: see section 26(1) of the Act of 1968 and Capper v. Baldwin [1965] 2 QB 53.’
Lord Denning MR said: ‘If a person comes to the High Court seeking certiorari to quash the decision of the Crown Court – or any other tribunal for that matter-he should act promptly and before the other party has taken any step on the faith of the decision. Else he may find that the High Court will refuse him a remedy. If he has been guilty of any delay at all, it is for him to get over it and not for the other side’.’

Judges:

Lord Denning MR

Citations:

[1976] QB 540

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – HM Revenue and Customs v The Rank Group Plc CA 30-Oct-2013
The tax payer had sought repayment of sums of VAT charged to a particular form of gaming, saying that the rules infringed the principles of fiscal neutrality under European law. HMRC now appealed against a finding that the machines were exempt from . .
Cited – Revenue and Customs v The Rank Group Plc SC 8-Jul-2015
The question raised by this appeal is whether, during the period 1 October 2002 to 5 December 2005, the takings on a particular category of gaming machines operated by the appellants were subject to VAT. The answer depends on whether the takings . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Judicial Review

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.589259

Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation: CA 10 Nov 1947

Administrative Discretion to be Used Reasonably

The applicant challenged the manner of decision making as to the conditions which had been attached to its licence to open the cinema on Sundays. It had not been allowed to admit children under 15 years of age. The statute provided no appeal procedure, and the applicant sought a declaration that the conditions were ineffective.
Held: Parliament had given to the local authority a discretion as to the conditions for the licence. That discretion might be exercised in different ways according to honestly and reasonably held opinion. It was not the court’s job to substitute its own opinion for that of the local authority.
Greene MR said: ‘the discretion must be exercised reasonably. Now what does that mean? Lawyers familiar with the phraseology commonly used in relation to exercise of statutory discretions often use the word ‘unreasonable’ in a rather comprehensive sense. It has frequently been used and is frequently used as a general description of the things that must not be done. For instance, a person entrusted with a discretion must, so to speak, direct himself properly in law. He must call his own attention to the matters which he is bound to consider. He must exclude from his consideration matters which are irrelevant to what he has to consider. If he does not obey those rules, he may truly be said, and often is said, to be acting ‘unreasonably.’ Similarly, there may be something so absurd that no sensible person could ever dream that it lay within the powers of the authority.’ and ‘The court is entitled to investigate the action of the local authority with a view to seeing whether they have taken into account matters which they ought not to take into account, or, conversely, have refused to take into account or neglected to take into account matters which they ought to take into account. Once that question is answered in favour of the local authority, it may be still possible to say that, although the local authority have kept within the four corners of the matters which they ought to consider, they have nevertheless come to a conclusion so unreasonable that no reasonable authority could ever have come to it. In such a case, again, I think the court can interfere. The power of the court to interfere in each case is not as an appellate authority to override a decision of the local authority, but as a judicial authority which is concerned, and concerned only, to see whether the local authority have contravened the law by acting in excess of the powers which Parliament has confided in them.’

Judges:

Greene MR, Somervell LJ and Singleton J

Citations:

[1947] 2 All ER 680, [1948] 1 KB 223, 1947 WL 10584, (1948) 92 SJ 26, [1948] LJR 190, [1948] 45 LGR 635, (1948) 112 JP 55, 63 TLR 623, [1947] EWCA Civ 1

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Sunday Entertainments Act 1932, Cinematograph Act 1909

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Theatre de Luxe (Halifax) LD v Gledhill KBD 1915
The company appealed a condition which had been attached to its licence to open the cinema. The condition was that ‘Children under fourteen years of age shall not be allowed to enter into or be in the licensed premises after the hour of 9 p.m. . .
Cited – London County Council v Bermondsey Bioscope Co 1911
. .
Cited – Harman v Butt 1944
A condition imposed on a cinema license not allowing children under a certain age was intra vires the Act. The licence to open on Sundays originated in a representation by the commanding officer of forces stationed in the neighbourhood.
Held: . .
Cited – Rex v Burnley Justices ex parte Longmore 1916
Where unreasonable conditions have been imposed on a licence, the party claiming to be aggrieved has the right to take the issue to the court. . .
Cited – Rex v London County Counci, ex parte London and Provincial Electric Theatres LD 1915
. .
Cited – Ellis v Dubowski 1921
A complaint was made that the local authority had added an unlawful condition to a licence it had granted.
Held: The illegal element which the authority had imported into the conditions imposed consisted of a delegation of their powers to the . .
Cited – Roberts v Hopwood HL 1925
The district auditor for Poplar Council had surcharged council members for making payments of a minimum wage of andpound;4 a week to their lowest grade of workers. This was notwithstanding that the cost of living had fallen during the year from 176% . .

Cited by:

Cited – Peregrine Fixed Income Ltd v Robinson Department Store Public Co Ltd ComC 18-May-2000
The claimant sought the determination of the court as to the interpretation of parts of a currency swap and derivatives agreement. Upon termination of the contract, it provided means to calculate the balances due between the parties, and the . .
Cited – Regina v Ullah CACD 3-Nov-1999
Counsel, in a trial alleging an indecent assault, had failed to raise with the jury the contents of an illegally taped conversation between the complainant and one of her witnesses encouraging perjury.
Held: The defect in counsel’s conduct of . .
Applied – Regina v Governor of Pentonville Prison, Ex Parte Osman QBD 30-Mar-1988
The applicant had been committed to prison pending extradition proceedings brought by Hong Kong alleging substantial fraud. He challenged the committal on the grounds that since the allegations involved transmission of funds over international . .
Cited – Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority and Department of Health and Social Security HL 17-Oct-1985
Lawfulness of Contraceptive advice for Girls
The claimant had young daughters. She challenged advice given to doctors by the second respondent allowing them to give contraceptive advice to girls under 16, and the right of the first defendant to act upon that advice. She objected that the . .
Cited – Regina (Goodman and Another) v Lewisham London Borough Council CA 14-Feb-2003
Claimants challenged the grant of planning consent for the construction of a storage and distribution facility without first undertaking an environmental impact assessment.
Held: The local authority had concluded that the project could not be . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Bugdaycay HL 19-Feb-1986
Three applicants had lied on entry to secure admission, stayed for a considerable time, and had been treated as illegal immigrants under section 33(1). The fourth’s claim that upon being returned he would been killed, had been rejected without . .
Explained – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Brind HL 7-Feb-1991
The Home Secretary had issued directives to the BBC and IBA prohibiting the broadcasting of speech by representatives of proscribed terrorist organisations. The applicant journalists challenged the legality of the directives on the ground that they . .
Cited – Regina v British Broadcasting Corporation ex parte Pro-life Alliance HL 15-May-2003
The Alliance was a political party seeking to air its party election broadcast. The appellant broadcasters declined to broadcast the film on the grounds that it was offensive, being a graphical discussion of the processes of abortion.
Held: . .
Cited – Regina v Ministry of Defence Ex Parte Smith and Others QBD 7-Jun-1995
An MOD ban on employing homosexuals was not Wednesbury unreasonable, even though it might be out of date. Pannick (counsel for the applicant, approved): ‘The court may not interfere with the exercise of an administrative discretion on substantive . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Defence Ex Parte Smith; Regina v Same Ex Parte Grady Etc CA 6-Nov-1995
A ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces was not irrational, and the challenge to the ban failed. The greater the policy content of a decision, and the more remote the subject matter of a decision from ordinary judicial experience, the more . .
Cited – Wandsworth London Borough Council v Winder HL 1985
Rent demands were made by a local authority landlord on one of its tenants. The local authority, using its powers under the Act, resolved to increase rents generally. The tenant refused to pay the increased element of the rent. He argued that the . .
Cited – Joseph v Director of Public Prosecutions QBD 24-Nov-2003
The defendant had given a specimen of breath over the minimum, but below 5omg, and accordingly he was to be allowed to give a specimen of blood or urine. The choice was the officers using a wide discretion. That discretion was still to be exercised . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Bugdaycay HL 19-Feb-1986
Three applicants had lied on entry to secure admission, stayed for a considerable time, and had been treated as illegal immigrants under section 33(1). The fourth’s claim that upon being returned he would been killed, had been rejected without . .
Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of Sussex, ex Parte International Trader’s Ferry Limited HL 2-Apr-1998
Chief Constable has a Wide Discretion on Resources
Protesters sought to prevent the appellant’s lawful trade exporting live animals. The police provided assistance, but then restricted it, pleading lack of resources. The appellants complained that this infringed their freedom of exports under . .
Cited – Regina (Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary) v Police Appeals Tribunal QBD 2-Feb-2004
The constable was disciplined. The Police Appeals Tribunal ordered his re-instatement. The Chief constable complained that the tribunal had acted beyond its powers in not limiting itself to a review.
Held: The task of the tribunal was to . .
Applied – Regina v Norfolk County Council, ex parte M QBD 1989
The plaintiff worked as a plumber. His work took him to a private children’s home. An allegation of sexual abuse was made against him by a 13 year old child. She had made other claims against other men which had proved to be false. He was released . .
Cited – Office of Fair Trading and others v IBA Health Limited CA 19-Feb-2004
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 . .
Cited – London Borough of Newham v Khatun, Zeb and Iqbal CA 24-Feb-2004
The council made offers of accommodation which were rejected as inappropriate by the proposed tenants.
Held: The council was given a responsibility to act reasonably. It was for them, not the court to make that assessment subject only to . .
Applied – Regina v Secretary of State for Trade, Ex parte Anderson Strathclyde Plc QBD 1983
A proposed takeover had been referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission under the 1973 Act. A majority of the Commission recommended against the takeover. The Deputy (acting instead of the Secretary who had an interest) overruled the . .
Cited – Hall v London Borough of Wandsworth CA 17-Dec-2004
The applicants appealed refusal of their applications for housing having priority housing need being vulnerable because of their mental illness. They said that the original decisions had been reviewed, and that on review deficiencies had been . .
Cited – Calgin, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough of Enfield Admn 29-Jul-2005
The claimant complained that having applied for housing in the borough they had in fact housed him outside the borough.
Held: The authority had a duty to house the applicant so far it was reasonably practicable within its borders. The policy . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State ex parte Khan CA 4-Apr-1984
The Secretary of State had refused an entry clearance for a child to be allowed into the United Kingdom for the purpose of adoption by the applicant, but had done so upon grounds nowhere mentioned in a Home Office circular letter apparently setting . .
Explained – Regina v Her Majesty’s Coroner for Exeter and East Devon ex parte Palmer CA 10-Dec-1997
The deceased died in Dartmoor prison. He had been held in seclusion. When visited he was said to have attacked the guards. He was restrained until a body belt could be brought. The period of restraint exceeded the maximum recommended, and the . .
Cited – Lymington Marina Ltd v MacNamara and others ChD 4-Apr-2006
The claimant marina had been constructed with financial assistance from debenture holders who in return were given low cost licences. The claimant sought to refuse to the defendant debenture holders the right to sub-licence their rights to berth . .
Cited – Bancoult, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2) Admn 11-May-2006
The claimant on behalf of himself and other islanders sought a declaration that the 2004 Order was unlawful. The islands had been emptied of people in 1973 and before in order to allow use of the islands as military bases. He had enjoyed a right to . .
Cited – Dr D, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health CA 19-Jul-2006
The doctor complained of the use of Alert letters where he was suspected of sexual abuse of patients, but the allegations were unsubstantiated. He complained particularly that he had been acquitted in a criminal court and then also by the . .
Cited – Bradley and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Admn 21-Feb-2007
The claimant had lost his company pension and complained that the respondent had refused to follow the recommendation of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration that compensation should be paid.
Held: The court should not rely on . .
Cited – O’Brien and others v Independent Assessor HL 14-Mar-2007
The claimants had been wrongly imprisoned for a murder they did not commit. The assessor had deducted from their compensation a sum to represent the living costs they would have incurred if living freely. They also appealed differences from a . .
Cited – Huang v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 21-Mar-2007
Appellate Roles – Human Rights – Families Split
The House considered the decision making role of immigration appellate authorities when deciding appeals on Human Rights grounds, against refusal of leave to enter or remain, under section 65. In each case the asylum applicant had had his own . .
Cited – Somerville v Scottish Ministers HL 24-Oct-2007
The claimants complained of their segregation while in prison. Several preliminary questions were to be decided: whether damages might be payable for breach of a Convention Right; wheher the act of a prison governor was the act of the executive; . .
Cited – London Borough of Wandsworth v Allison CA 15-Apr-2008
The claimant had applied for emergency housing, saying that he had suffered a deep vein thrombosis, and was vulnerable under the 1996 Act. The authority said that its finding that the VT would not put him at additional risk if homeless, was one of . .
Cited – Padfield v Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food HL 14-Feb-1968
Exercise of Ministerial Discretion
The Minister had power to direct an investigation in respect of any complaint as to the operation of any marketing scheme for agricultural produce. Milk producers complained about the price paid by the milk marketing board for their milk when . .
Cited – Castorina v Chief Constable of Surrey CA 10-Jun-1988
Whether an officer had reasonable cause to arrest somebody without a warrant depended upon an objective assessment of the information available to him, and not upon his subjective beliefs. The court had three questions to ask (per Woolf LJ): ‘(a) . .
Cited – Tesco Stores Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment and Others HL 11-May-1995
Three companies had applied for permission to build retail food superstores in Witney. The Inspector had recommended Tesco’s proposal, but the respondent rejected it. Tesco’s had offered to provide by way of a section 106 agreement full funding for . .
Cited – Wheeler v Leicester City Council; In re Wheeler and others HL 25-Jul-1985
The Council opposed sporting links with South Africa. The local rugby club failed to denounce apartheid and did not seek to dissuade three of its players touring with the national side. The Court of Appeal had refused judicial review of the . .
Cited – Central Bedfordshire Council v Housing Action Zone Ltd, Taylor and Others; Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government intervening CA 23-Jun-2009
The authority had granted a lease to a housing society who had in turn granted the occupants’ leases. A successor then revoked the head lease. The occupiers appealed against possession orders, saying that they had come to acquire article 8 rights in . .
Cited – Lumba (WL) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 23-Mar-2011
The claimants had been detained under the 1971 Act, after completing sentences of imprisonment pending their return to their home countries under deportations recommended by the judges at trial, or chosen by the respondent. They challenged as . .
Cited – Regina (Holding and Barnes plc) v Secretary of State for Environment Transport and the Regions; Regina (Alconbury Developments Ltd and Others) v Same and Others HL 9-May-2001
Power to call in is administrative in nature
The powers of the Secretary of State to call in a planning application for his decision, and certain other planning powers, were essentially an administrative power, and not a judicial one, and therefore it was not a breach of the applicants’ rights . .
Cited – Fitzpatrick and Others v The Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis QBD 11-Jan-2012
The claimants, two solicitors and their employer firm sought damages alleging trespass and malicious procurement by police officers in obtaining and executing search warrants against the firm in 2007 when they were investigating suspected offences . .
Cited – Padda v Regina CACD 12-Dec-2013
The defendant had been convicted of supplying drugs, had had a confiscation made and had paid out under it. The prosecution sought a restraint order pending re-assessment. A further confiscation order was made. The defendant appealed, saying that . .
Cited – Regina v Johal CACD 19-Apr-2013
The defendant appealed against a confiscation order made on his conviction for possession of a Class B controlled drug. There had been considerable delays in the completion of the process, and it had exceeded the two year limit. The appellant argued . .
Applied – CVG Siderurgicia del Orinoco SA v London Steamship Owners’ Mutual Insurance Association Limited ‘The Vainqueur Jose’ 1979
The plaintiff sought to claim under the rules of the P and I club of which it was a member. After defining the risks in respect of which members were to be indemnified, the rules made the following proviso in Rule 8(k): ‘A member shall at the . .
Cited – Youssef v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs SC 27-Jan-2016
An Egyptian national, had lived here since 1994. He challenged a decision by the Secretary of State,as a member of the committee of the United Nations Security Council, known as the Resolution 1267 Committee or Sanctions Committee. The committee . .
Cited – Aberdeen City and Shire Strategic Development Planning Authority v Elsick Development Company Limited SC 25-Oct-2017
The court was asked whether, anticipating substantial growth, a local authority had power to attach to permissions for development conditions intended to recover sums for pooled fund for infrastructure development.
Held: The appeal failed. . .
Cited – Finucane, Re Application for Judicial Review SC 27-Feb-2019
(Northern Ireland) The deceased solicitor was murdered in his home in 1989, allegedly by loyalists. They had never been identified, though collusion between security forces and a loyalist paramilitary was established. The ECHR and a judge led . .
Cited – Regina v Hillingdon London Borough Council, Ex parte Royco Homes Ltd 1974
A planning condition imposed solely for some other purpose or purposes, such as furtherance of the housing policy of the local authority, will not be valid as a planning condition.
As to the availability of judicial review or certiorari, Lord . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Administrative, Judicial Review, Licensing, Local Government

Leading Case

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.179730

Mixnams Properties Ltd v Chertsey Urban District Council: HL 1965

The local authority was not entitled under the 1960 Act to lay down conditions relating to the licensee’s powers of letting or licensing caravan spaces to its customers. The freedom to contract is a fundamental right, and that if Parliament intends to empower a third party to make conditions which regulate the terms of contracts to be made between others then, even where there is an appeal to a court of law against such conditions, it must do so in clear terms. Viscount Dilhorne: ‘In the present case there appears to me to be a fundamental difference between prescribing what must or must not be done on a site and restricting the site owner’s ordinary freedom to contract with his licensees on matters which do not relate to the manner of use of the site. Conditions can make the site owner responsible for the proper use of the site and it is then for him to make such contracts with his licensees as the general law permits. I can find nothing in the Act of 1960 suggesting any intention to authorise local authorities to go beyond laying down conditions relating to the use of sites, and in my opinion the general words in section 5 cannot be read as entitling them to do so.’

Judges:

Lord Upjohn, Viscount Dilhorne

Citations:

[1965] AC 735

Statutes:

Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Stewart v Perth and Kinross Council HL 1-Apr-2004
The claimant challenged refusal of a licence to sell second hand cars, saying that the licensing requirements imposed were outwith the Act under which they had been made. The licensing scheme imposed additional requirements.
Held: Though a . .
Cited – Aberdeen City and Shire Strategic Development Planning Authority v Elsick Development Company Limited SC 25-Oct-2017
The court was asked whether, anticipating substantial growth, a local authority had power to attach to permissions for development conditions intended to recover sums for pooled fund for infrastructure development.
Held: The appeal failed. . .
Cited – Wright, Regina (on The Application of Wright) v Resilient Energy Severndale Ltd and Another SC 20-Nov-2019
W challenged the grant of planning permission for the change of use of agricultural land to allow erection of a wind turbine, saying that the authority had taken into account a promise by the land owner to run the scheme as a community development . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Local Government, Licensing

Updated: 09 May 2022; Ref: scu.195471

Westminster City Council v Mendoza: CA 22 Mar 2001

When a local authority served notice on the operator of a licensed sex establishment, of its intention to apply for a closure notice, but there were other occupiers of the premises, it was not necessary to serve notice on each of them, provided that the application came to their attention in such a way as to allow them to attend the hearing at the magistrates court. The two stage notice had implications for the licensed operator which were not required for the other occupiers.

Citations:

Times 22-Mar-2001

Statutes:

City of Westminster Act 1996 4(5)(a)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Licensing, Magistrates

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.90427

Regina v Westminster City Council, ex parte Hutton: 1985

H challenged the fee set for applying for a livence to operate a sex shop. The administrative costs on which the fee was based in the year in question included a sum representing the supposed shortfall in fee income against administrative costs in the previous year.
Held: In setting the application fee for a sex shop licence, the fee could reflect not only the processing of applications but ‘inspecting premises after the grant of licences and for what might be called vigilant policing . . in order to detect and prosecute those who operated sex establishments without licences’.
The Council was free to fix fees reflecting all the three necessary elements on a rolling basis without adjusting surpluses and deficits in each year.
Forbes J said: ‘I accept entirely that to carry forward a deficit from one year to another may result in anomalies when considering the effect of that process on applicants for grants or renewal of what are annual licences. The persons who, in the year in which the deficit is brought in, seek the grant or renewal of licences may well not be the same people who sought the grant or renewal in the previous year. Those in the previous year may have been fortunate to be undercharged. There is no certainty that, by bringing the deficit into the next year’s accounts and therefore recouping from the next year’s applicants, the authority will be exacting the money from those who morally ought to pay. But to my mind such a comparison is itself irrelevant in the context of local authority finance. The statutory accounts of local authorities are structured on the basis that shortfalls in one year must be carried into the next year’s accounts. The identity of the ratepayers who contribute to the General Rate Fund is changing all the time. If an authority, as a matter of policy, which is itself not challenged on the ground of immateriality, decides that the cost of a service from year to year shall not fall on the ratepayers, that decision would benefit ratepayers of different identities and may disadvantage or advantage from year to year different persons who benefit from the service. I accept [Westminster’s counsel’s] contention that when a charge is based on an annual budget, which must be concerned with situations which themselves will not be verifiable until after the end of the year in question, the only sensible way to fix the level of the charge is to take one year with another.’

Judges:

Forbes J

Citations:

(1985) 83 LGR 516

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Hemming (T/A Simply Pleasure Ltd) and Others v Westminster City Council Admn 16-May-2012
The applicant had sought a license for a sex establishment. He paid the (substantial) fee, but complained that the Council had not as required, resolved to set the fee, and that in any event, the sum did not reflect the cost of administering the . .
Cited – Hemming (T/A Simply Pleasure Ltd) and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v The Lord Mayor and Citizens of Westminster CA 24-May-2013
The claimant had submitted an application for a licence to operate a sex shop. On its failure it sought repayment of that part of the fee which related to the costs of supervising the system, rather than the costs of dealing with the application. It . .
Cited – Hemming (T/A Simply Pleasure Ltd) and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Westminster City Council SC 29-Apr-2015
The parties disputed the returnability of the fees paid on application for a sex establishment licence where the licence was refused. The fee was in part one for the application, and a second and greater element related to the costs of monitoring . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Licensing

Updated: 08 May 2022; Ref: scu.565400

Regina v Rothschild and RH Tomlinson Ltd: CACD 2004

It would be a contravention of a waste management licence requiring controlled waste not to be stored at a height greater that specified, to have a mound greater that that height containing an admixture of controlled and uncontrolled waste.

Citations:

[2004] EWCA 3320

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Skipaway Ltd v The Environment Agency Admn 5-May-2006
The defendant appealed convictions for breaches of its waste management licence, in that waste had been stored outside the edges of the storage bays. The defendant said that the material had not yet been stored, and that it had been deposited by . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Environment

Updated: 07 May 2022; Ref: scu.241510

Regina v Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court, ex parte Chief Constable Dyfed Powys Police: QBD 9 Nov 1998

The Chief Constable, on good grounds, objected to the transfer of a justices’ on-licence to a Mrs W. Mrs W appealed and the Chief Constable, having objected to the transfer, became a respondent. On the appeal Mrs W contended that, since the conduct of which the police complained, she had undergone training and addressed the deficiencies in her performance as a licensee. She furthermore was able to adduce the support of a major brewer. The Crown Court allowed Mrs W’s appeal and granted the transfer of the justices’ licence to her. The court had accepted that the objections placed before it by the police were well-founded and related to serious breaches of the licensing laws. The question of costs then arose. The Crown Court ordered that the police should pay Mrs W’s costs of the appeal. The police appealed the costs order.
Held: Following the Totnes Justices case, ‘In my view, the position is quite clear: the same principle applies before the Crown Court as before the licensing justices. The language of the relevant rules is for all practical purposes identical. This is reinforced by the consideration that the proceedings before the Crown Court take place by way of rehearing. In the same way as the justices need the assistance of the police in respect of the provision of any information which may assist them in deciding whether or not the Applicant is a fit person to hold a licence, the Crown Court requires that assistance. It seems to me that no order can properly be made against the police simply on the basis that costs follow the event. The Crown Court can only make such an order if it can be shown that the police’s position has been totally unreasonable or prompted by some improper motive.’ The Crown Court had misdirected itself.

Judges:

Lightman J

Citations:

COT, 9 November 1998

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Totnes Licensing Justices, ex parte Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall QBD 28-May-1990
The court considered the award of costs in a licensing case. Roch J said: ‘There can be no doubt that in civil proceedings between litigants, be it in the High Court or county court, the principle is that costs follow the event. The winning party . .

Cited by:

Cited – Bradford City Metropolitan District Council v Booth QBD 10-May-2000
The local authority had refused to renew a private hire vehicle licence. That refusal was successfully challenged, and the magistrates had awarded costs on the basis that they should follow the event. The authority appealed.
Held: The . .
Cited – Corner House Research, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry CA 1-Mar-2005
The applicant sought to bring an action to challenge new rules on approval of export credit guarantees. The company was non-profit and founded to support investigation of bribery. It had applied for a protected costs order to support the . .
Cited – Perinpanathan, Regina (on The Application of) v City of Westminster Magistrates Court and Another CA 4-Feb-2010
The appellant’s daughter had been stopped entering the country with andpound;150,000 in cash. The police sought an order for its forfeiture, suspecting a link with terrorism. The magistrates found no evidence of such, and declined to make the order, . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Magistrates, Costs, Licensing

Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.196679

Mellor v Lydiate: 1914

The appellant brewers owned a public house, whose licencee was their manager. He supplied beer to the respondent, and the appellants were then convicted under the section which, provided that a person ‘shall not sell . . any intoxicating liquor unless he holds a justices licence’
Held: The appeal was allowed, but with differing reasons.
Lord Reading CJ: ‘On behalf of the appellants it was contended that there had been no sale by them within the meaning of the words in section 65, and that in any event their servant, for whose act it was sought to make them responsible under the statute, was the holder of a justices licence, and, therefore, that the requirements of the statute had been met.’ and ‘If it were right to construe the section as if we were determining the rights and obligations of the parties to a contract of sale it could not be doubted, as a general principle of law, that a sale by a servant authorised in that behalf is a sale by the principal, at least to the extent of imposing upon the latter the burdens and advantages of the contract. But I cannot think that when the Legislature enacted that a justices licence should be required as a condition precedent to the right of selling intoxicating liquor by retail on the licensed premises it intended that every person who might be made liable as a contracting party to a contract of sale must hold a justices licence for such sale notwithstanding that he took no part in the actual conduct of the sale on the premises.’

Judges:

Lord Reading CJ

Citations:

(1914) 3 KB 1141

Statutes:

Licensing (Consolidation) Act 1910 65(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Holt Brewery Co Ltd v Thompson 1920
The appellants owned a public house from where their licensed manager sold spirits at an excess price. They contended that as they were not the licensees there was not sale by them, but, Lord Reading CJ said: ‘The language of the Order contains . .
Cited – Nottingham City Council v Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries QBD 27-Nov-2003
A pub was found to have been selling beer below the advertised strength. Both licensee and the owner of the pub were prosecuted. The owner now appealed.
Held: The owner was liable. The words of the Act must be given their ordinary and natural . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Consumer

Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.188664

Westminster City Council v O’Reilly and others: CA 1 Jul 2003

The defendant sought to appeal against a decision of the High Court on a case stated by the Magistrates.
Held: A decision by the High Court on an appeal by way of case stated from the Magistrates was final, and no further appeal lay to the Court of Appeal. The Order did not avoid the clear ouster of jurisdiction contained in the 1981 Act.
Auld LJ said: ‘the words of Section 28A and of Section 18 of the 1981 Act mean what they say. When a decision is declared final by statute, then this court [the Court of Appeal] has no jurisdiction to hear it by virtue of that provision and by Section 18 of the 1981 Act’

Judges:

Auld LJ

Citations:

Times 21-Aug-2003, Gazette 11-Sep-2003, [2004] 1 WLR 195

Statutes:

Supreme Court Act 1981 18 28A, Magistrates Courts Act 1980 111, Access to Justice Act 1999 (Destination of Appeals) Order 2000 (2000 No 1071) 5

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Westminster City Council v O’Reilly and others QBD 28-Feb-2003
The premises consisted of a ground floor and basement. A music and dancing licence was in effect for part of the premises, but the appellant challenged the grant of a special hours certificate, based upon that licence, for the entire premises.
Applied – In re Racal Communications Ltd; In Re a Company HL 3-Jul-1980
Court of Appeal’s powers limited to those Given
The jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal is wholly statutory; it is appellate only. The court has no original jurisdiction. It has no jurisdiction itself to entertain any original application for judicial review; it has appellate jurisdiction over . .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina (G) v Immigration Appeal Tribunal; Regina (M) v Immigration Appeal Tribunal Admn 25-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 . .
Applied – Farley v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (No 2) CA 22-Jun-2005
The Court of Apeal had previously considered an appeal from the grant of a liability order made by magistrates. It had become clear that the order had been made without jurisdiction.
Held: The order must be set aside. The court had no . .
Cited – Kenya Aid Programme v Sheffield City Council Admn 22-Jan-2013
The claimant challenged a decision that it was liable for non domestic rates in respect of some commercial units, on the basis that the use by the charity was not itself charitable.
Held: ‘there is no reason for limiting the ambit of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Litigation Practice

Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.186037

United Cabbies Group (London) Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v Westminster Magistrates’ Court: Admn 26 Feb 2019

Challenge to grant of licence to Uber taxis alleging apparent bias in the judge, whose husband had investments in companies associated with Uber taxis.
Held: The connection was tenuous and was dismissed.

Judges:

The Lord Chief Justice and Mr Justice Supperstone

Citations:

[2019] EWHC 409 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Licensing, Road Traffic

Updated: 06 May 2022; Ref: scu.634216

Brown v Nelson: 1658

Whether a judgement given against one of two defendants were good.
An action of debt upon the Statute 7 Ed. 6. for selling of wine without licence, was brought against 2 defendants, they both plead nil debet, whereupon issue being joyned, a special verdict was found, viz. that as to one nil debet, and that as to the other he had drawn a pint of wine without licence, and upon this, judgement was given against him that was found culpable; it was questioned whether this were a good judgement. But Roll Chief Justice concluded it was a good judgement, and cited many cases adjudged in point to prove it, and one in particular in an action upon the statute for dying with logwood, and he took a difference between an action grounded upon a joynt contract, or a joint trespasse, and an action brought joyntly upon a statute against two, or for a tort done by two, as this is upon the statute. In the first case judgement cannot be given against one of the contractors, in the other it may.

Citations:

[1658] EngR 107, (1658) Sty 317, (1658) 82 ER 741 (A)

Links:

Commonlii

Litigation Practice, Licensing

Updated: 02 May 2022; Ref: scu.410898

Britain v ABC Cabs (Camberley) Ltd: QBD 1981

A hackney carriage had been booked, in the district where it was licensed, to pick up a fare in another district. The prosecutor said that when and where the fare was picked up the hackney carriage had no relevant private hire licence and no operator’s licence in force since it was not licensed in the area where the pick up occurred. The defendant argued that the licence for the hackney carriage which was in force, albeit in another district, was all that was required and therefore no offence was made out. The prosecutors referred to the definition of ‘licence’ in section 80, saying the taxi did not have a licence issued by the district where the fare was picked up.
Held: The Court relied on the definition of ‘private hire vehicle’ in section 80(1) which expressly excludes a hackney carriage and decided the case in favour of the defendant.
Webster J said: ‘I conclude without hesitation that being a hackney carriage licensed to ply for hire in that district, and not being in breach of that licence at that time and place, it was, for the purpose of section 46(1)(a), to be treated as a hackney carriage in respect of which a vehicle licence was in force, so that no offence under that section would have been made out.’

Judges:

Webster J

Citations:

[1981] RTR 395

Statutes:

Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 46(1)(e) 80

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Newcastle City Council, Regina (on the Application of) v Berwick-Upon-Tweed Borough Council and others Admn 5-Nov-2008
The applicant council complained that the respondent council was issuing a disproportionately high number of taxi licences, believing that it should only refuse a licence where the driver appeared to be unfit.
Held: The purpose of the . .
Applied – Kingston Upon Hull City Council v Wilson QBD 29-Jun-1995
The grant to an individual of a hackney licence in one local authority, does not stop the grant of a similar licence elsewhere. Though the court applied the ABC case, Buxton J rejected an argument that a vehicle was not a private hire vehicle for . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Transport

Updated: 02 May 2022; Ref: scu.277887

Regina (Jones) v Chief Constable of Cheshire Constabulary: 31 Oct 2005

The claimant challenged the revocation by the respondent of his pedlar’s licence. He had been arrested on a charge involving dishonesty, and his certificate was taken from him and held.
Held: The powers available were to the police to refuse to renew a certificate or to a magistrates court to revoke licence. The police did not have the power to do as they had. The declaration was granted.

Citations:

Times 04-Nov-2005

Statutes:

Pedlar’s Act 1871 5(1)

Police, Licensing

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.234454

Rex v Burnley Justices ex parte Longmore: 1916

Where unreasonable conditions have been imposed on a licence, the party claiming to be aggrieved has the right to take the issue to the court.

Citations:

(1916) 85 LJ (KB) 1565

Cited by:

Cited – Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corporation CA 10-Nov-1947
Administrative Discretion to be Used Reasonably
The applicant challenged the manner of decision making as to the conditions which had been attached to its licence to open the cinema on Sundays. It had not been allowed to admit children under 15 years of age. The statute provided no appeal . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Magistrates

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.224432

Regina v Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council ex parte Heath: 16 Oct 2000

It was submitted that the schemes relating to hackney carriages and private hire vehicles were two distinct schemes, and that the issues in that case had arisen because the Council had fallen into the trap of seeking to apply private hire statutory provisions to a hackney carriage situation.
Held: The court agreed and added that the Council might be able to require persons in the position of the applicant in that case, who was licensed under the 1847 Act, to provide information in advance about who would act as a substitute driver in a case of need, and further requiring him or anyone else driving the vehicle to keep a contemporaneous record of who drove which vehicle on what day.

Judges:

Maurice Kay J

Citations:

Unreported, 16 October 2000

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Brentwood Borough Council v Gladen Admn 28-Oct-2004
The defendant taxi operator was telephoned, and cabs were booked, and those bookings were fulfilled by providing licensed hackney carriages with licensed hackney carriage drivers. He was accused of knowingly operating the vehicles as private hire . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Road Traffic

Updated: 30 April 2022; Ref: scu.219864

Rossi v Magistrates of Edinburgh: HL 1904

Conditions in an ice-cream vendors’ licence which restricted their right to open their shops when they liked and sell what they pleased were held to be ultra vires of the licensing authority. The court applied the rule that while the legislature may make whatever changes to the law that it likes, subordinate legislative authorities can make only such changes in the law as Parliament has empowered them to make.
It is a general rule of construction that, while the legislature may make whatever changes to the law that it likes, subordinate legislative authorities can make only such changes in the law as Parliament has empowered them to make.

Citations:

(1904) 7 F (HL) 85

Jurisdiction:

Scotland

Cited by:

Cited – Stewart v Perth and Kinross Council HL 1-Apr-2004
The claimant challenged refusal of a licence to sell second hand cars, saying that the licensing requirements imposed were outwith the Act under which they had been made. The licensing scheme imposed additional requirements.
Held: Though a . .
Cited – AXA General Insurance Ltd and Others v Lord Advocate and Others SC 12-Oct-2011
Standing to Claim under A1P1 ECHR
The appellants had written employers’ liability insurance policies. They appealed against rejection of their challenge to the 2009 Act which provided that asymptomatic pleural plaques, pleural thickening and asbestosis should constitute actionable . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Constitutional

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.195469

British Amusement Catering Trades Association v Westminster City Council: HL 1988

The defendant operated an amusement arcade which provided video amusement games. The authority required a licence saying that it was an ‘exhibition of a moving image’. The Association appealed.
Held: A video amusement game was not within the Act. On its true construction, the Act referred to a show and not an amusement game.
Lord Griffiths construed the term ‘cinematograph exhibition’ as excluding video games because the use of the term immediately brought to mind a film show.

Judges:

Lord Griffiths

Citations:

[1988] 1 All ER 740

Statutes:

Cinematograph Act 1909 1(3)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Oxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council and others HL 24-May-2006
Application had been made to register as a town or village green an area of land which was largely a boggy marsh. The local authority resisted the application wanting to use the land instead for housing. It then rejected advice it received from a . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188797

Oddy, Regina (on the Application of) v Bugbugs Ltd: Admn 12 Nov 2003

A private prosecutor appealed dismissal of his complaint that the respondent had operated an unlicensed man-powered rickshaw service. The district judge had held that it was not a taxi service. It was, under the 1869 Act a stage carriage and therefore not requiring a licence under section 7.
Held: It was not possible to argue that the statute made a disrtinction between stage carriages and private hire vehicles according to whether they took up and set down passengers on a route. Regulations which might have made such a distinction had never been made. The defendant could only properly be said to have solicited fares required some form of invitation to a prospective hirer. That evidence was absent, and the appeal failed.

Citations:

[2003] EWHC 2865 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 164, Metropolitan Public Carriage Act 1869 7

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Cambridge City Council, Ex Parte Lane CA 3-Sep-1998
A trishaw was properly a form of hackney carriage, not a ‘stage coach,’ and the Local Authority was able to impose conditions upon the licensing of a service, including limiting the number of passengers and so as to ensure safety. A trishaw was a . .
Cited – Behrendt v Burridge QBD 1975
The defendant, a prostitute wearing revealing clothing sat silent and motionless behind a bay window, illuminated by a red light, to advertise her services as a prostitute.
Held: She was soliciting, in the sense of tempting or alluring . .
Cited – Burge v Director of Public Prosecutions 1962
. .
Cited – Weitz and Another v Monaghan 2-Feb-1962
It was the prostitute who was guilty of soliciting by his or her physical presence. It was not enough for a written advertisement to be placed by him or her, or on their behalf, in a public place . A prostitute who displays an advertisement in a . .
Cited – Sales v Lake 1922
A hackney carriage may be plying for hire siomply by waiting in the street available to take passengers. . .
Cited – Cogley v Sherwood 1959
It is the exhibition of the vehicle for hire through the agency of the driver which is the essence of the offence of plying for hire, unlicensed. . .
Cited – Darroch v The Director of Public Prosecution CACD 1990
The appellant was charged with persistently soliciting a woman for the purposes of prostitution under section 2(1). He had been seen on several occasions driving his car slowly around a red light district. On one occasion he beckoned a woman towards . .
Cited – Nottingham City Council v Wooding 1994
. .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Denham and Another 1991
‘Improper’ within the regulation does not mean morally reprehensible but improper in the sense of an act or omission which would not have occurred if the party concerned had conducted his case properly. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, Licensing, Road Traffic

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.189133

Hotchin v Hindmarsh: QBD 1891

The appellant was the local foreman of a dairy company, and the milk which he supplied had added water. He was prosecuted and convicted under section 6 of the 1875 Act. The 1875 Act had limited defences in section 6 and a warranty defence in section 25, which the appellant was unable to establish, but it was contended on his behalf that his employers and not he should have been prosecuted.
Held: The earlier sections of the Act were directed to physical acts, but in relation to two of those sections, Lord Coleridge CJ said: ‘If the magistrates find the existence of the intent and the commission of the act . . the person doing the act must be dealt with as a principal, even though he is a servant. It cannot be his duty to break the law and if he knowingly commits the act he is guilty.’
As to section 6: ‘In my opinion a person who takes the article in his hand, and performs the physical act of transferring the adulterated thing to the purchaser, is a person who sells within this section.’ and ‘If, therefore, any person transgresses against the provisions of section 6, be he principal or agent, he falls within that section.’
Mathew J said: ‘It would be an extraordinary interpretation of the Act to hold that even when it was shown that the person who did the act was guilty, his employer alone could be liable to be convicted.’

Judges:

Lord Coleridge CJ, Mathew J

Citations:

(1891) 2 KB 181

Statutes:

Sale of Food and Drugs Act 1875 6

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Goodfellow v Johnson 1966
The defendant was the manager and licensee of a public house owned by a brewery. When the premises were visited by a sampling officer the gin supplied by the barmaid was adulterated. She was the servant of the brewery, and the magistrates dismissed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Consumer

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188661

Holt Brewery Co Ltd v Thompson: 1920

The appellants owned a public house from where their licensed manager sold spirits at an excess price. They contended that as they were not the licensees there was not sale by them, but, Lord Reading CJ said: ‘The language of the Order contains nothing which excludes the real principal, i.e. the owner of the public house, from being made liable notwithstanding that he was not the licensee. It is said that the licensee alone is liable. Nothing in the language of the Order indicates that.’ Mellor v Lydiate was decided upon particular words in the 1910 Act. Avory J rejected the contention that the offence against the Order could only be committed by the holder of the licence: ‘It seems to me to be clear that although the offence may be committed by the person who holds the licence it was in the present instance committed also by the persons who were employing the servant who in fact carried out the transaction of sale.’

Judges:

Lord Reading CJ, Avory J

Citations:

(1920) 84 JP 127

Citing:

Cited – Mellor v Lydiate 1914
The appellant brewers owned a public house, whose licencee was their manager. He supplied beer to the respondent, and the appellants were then convicted under the section which, provided that a person ‘shall not sell . . any intoxicating liquor . .

Cited by:

Cited – Nottingham City Council v Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries QBD 27-Nov-2003
A pub was found to have been selling beer below the advertised strength. Both licensee and the owner of the pub were prosecuted. The owner now appealed.
Held: The owner was liable. The words of the Act must be given their ordinary and natural . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188665

Goodfellow v Johnson: 1966

The defendant was the manager and licensee of a public house owned by a brewery. When the premises were visited by a sampling officer the gin supplied by the barmaid was adulterated. She was the servant of the brewery, and the magistrates dismissed the allegation that the defendant had contravened the section which provided ‘If a person sells to the prejudice of the purchaser any food . . which is not . . of the substance . . demanded by the purchaser he shall . . be guilty of an offence.’
Lord Parker CJ said that the statutory provision created an absolute offence which was not correct ‘The forbidden act is the selling to the prejudice of the purchaser, and it has long been held that a person who has done the forbidden thing through somebody else like a servant or agent is himself liable. Further, as long ago as 1891 it was held in Hotchin v Hindmarsh that the forbidden act in a provision such as this is not the parting with the title by the owner but is the physical handling and handing over of the goods by way of sale: in other words the shop assistant, or in this case the barmaid, is liable, and accordingly in view of the general principle to which I have already referred any person on whose behalf that act of handling and handing over is done is also liable.’ Widgery J ‘Rather it is a fact that licensed houses are, by the necessity of the licensing legislation, organised on that footing, and here the act of selling complained of was an act . . which could only have been done in that house by the defendant licensee. In those circumstances it seems to me inevitable to conclude that Mrs Wright’s act of selling was in law the act of the licensee and he should be responsible for it.’

Judges:

Lord Parker CJ, Widgery J

Citations:

[1966] 1 QB 83

Statutes:

Food and Drugs Act 1955 2, Licensing Act 1953 120(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Hotchin v Hindmarsh QBD 1891
The appellant was the local foreman of a dairy company, and the milk which he supplied had added water. He was prosecuted and convicted under section 6 of the 1875 Act. The 1875 Act had limited defences in section 6 and a warranty defence in section . .

Cited by:

Distinguished – Nottingham City Council v Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries QBD 27-Nov-2003
A pub was found to have been selling beer below the advertised strength. Both licensee and the owner of the pub were prosecuted. The owner now appealed.
Held: The owner was liable. The words of the Act must be given their ordinary and natural . .
Cited – Bellerby v Carle HL 1983
Beer measuring instruments dispensed smaller quantities than permitted by law. The joint licensees were not permitted to interfere with the measuring instruments, so it was held that they did not have such possession of them as would give rise to . .
Explained – Allied Domecq Leisure Limited v Cooper (West Yorkshire Trading Standard Service) Admn 9-Oct-1998
Short measures of beer had been sold. One aspect of the case was the responsibility of the company, which was not the licensee, for the shortcomings of an inadequately trained bar person.
Held: The question did not really arise because of the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Crime, Consumer

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188660

Williamson v Norris: CA 1899

A barman sold beer at a bar in House of Commons run by the Kitchen Committee. There was no licence. He was convicted of an offence under section 3 of the which provided ‘No person shall sell . . any intoxicating liquor without being duly licensed to sell the same, or at any place where he is not authorised by his licence to sell the same. ‘On reading that section I think it is impossible not to see that, in order to bring the innocent act of a waiter or a barman within the penal clause, it is necessary to put a strong gloss on the words of the section. I am of opinion that the true meaning of the section is that the sale which is prohibited must be a sale by the person who ought to be licensed. Everyone knows that a barman or a waiter is not a person licensed. The sales struck at is a sale by the master or the principal. It is contended for the appellant that section 3 ought to be read as if the words ‘without being duly licensed’ were ‘ without being protected by a licence’; but that would be putting a violent gloss upon the words, and to do so is not necessary for the purpose of giving effect to the Act.’
Wills J said:’The construction contended for by the appellant requires that ‘authorised by his licence’ should be read as equivalent to ‘acting under the authority of someone else having a licence’. It is a great straining of language.’

Judges:

Lord Russell CJ, Wills J

Citations:

(1899) 1 QB

Statutes:

Licensing Act 1872 3

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Nottingham City Council v Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries QBD 27-Nov-2003
A pub was found to have been selling beer below the advertised strength. Both licensee and the owner of the pub were prosecuted. The owner now appealed.
Held: The owner was liable. The words of the Act must be given their ordinary and natural . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188663

Sopp v Long: 1970

A short measure was sold by the local manageress and the non-resident licensee was prosecuted for contravening section 24(1).
Held: It was agreed that only the licensee could sell through his servant the barmaid. On his behalf it was contended, unsuccessfully, that he could not have caused a short measure to be delivered unless he knew of or had authorised that act.

Citations:

[1970] 1 QB 525

Statutes:

Weights and Measures Act 1963 24(1)

Cited by:

Cited – Bellerby v Carle HL 1983
Beer measuring instruments dispensed smaller quantities than permitted by law. The joint licensees were not permitted to interfere with the measuring instruments, so it was held that they did not have such possession of them as would give rise to . .
Cited – Nottingham City Council v Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries QBD 27-Nov-2003
A pub was found to have been selling beer below the advertised strength. Both licensee and the owner of the pub were prosecuted. The owner now appealed.
Held: The owner was liable. The words of the Act must be given their ordinary and natural . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Crime

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188666

Bellerby v Carle: HL 1983

Beer measuring instruments dispensed smaller quantities than permitted by law. The joint licensees were not permitted to interfere with the measuring instruments, so it was held that they did not have such possession of them as would give rise to liability under section 16(1) of the Act. Referring to Sopp and Goodfellow, ‘I do not, as at present advised, see any reason to doubt the correctness of these two decisions. They establish the proposition that, where a licensee of licensed premises, who is alone permitted under the Licensing Acts to handle and hand over intoxicating liquor to a customer at such premises, chooses to perform those acts through the agency of another person, such as a barmaid employed by the same company or other organisation as he is employed by, he is under the same criminal liability for such other person’s acts as he would be if he had performed them himself.’

Judges:

Lord Brandon

Citations:

[1983] 2 AC 101

Statutes:

Weights and Measures Act 1963 16(1)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Goodfellow v Johnson 1966
The defendant was the manager and licensee of a public house owned by a brewery. When the premises were visited by a sampling officer the gin supplied by the barmaid was adulterated. She was the servant of the brewery, and the magistrates dismissed . .
Cited – Sopp v Long 1970
A short measure was sold by the local manageress and the non-resident licensee was prosecuted for contravening section 24(1).
Held: It was agreed that only the licensee could sell through his servant the barmaid. On his behalf it was . .

Cited by:

Cited – Nottingham City Council v Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries QBD 27-Nov-2003
A pub was found to have been selling beer below the advertised strength. Both licensee and the owner of the pub were prosecuted. The owner now appealed.
Held: The owner was liable. The words of the Act must be given their ordinary and natural . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing, Consumer

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.188667

Regina v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, Ex parte Maynard: 1982

The licensee sought a special hours certificate for a boxing match being held in the US.
Held: The word ‘special’ was to be used in its ordinary sense, and refer to some local or national event with some connection with those attending the function.

Citations:

(1982) 146 JP May 27, Times 09-Jun-1982

Cited by:

Cited – Gough v Bristol Licensing Justices QBD 12-Apr-2002
The applicant sought a special order of exemption to allow him to open his public house for customers to watch the world cup football matches. Previous case law suggested that such events were not ‘special events’ within the Act so as to allow such . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing

Updated: 29 April 2022; Ref: scu.183129

Westminster City Council v O’Reilly and others: QBD 28 Feb 2003

The premises consisted of a ground floor and basement. A music and dancing licence was in effect for part of the premises, but the appellant challenged the grant of a special hours certificate, based upon that licence, for the entire premises.
Held: The special hours certificate should have been only for the part for which there existed the licence. The certificate was granted for premises ‘for which a music and dancing licence is in force’ The certificate was there only to support the licence. It was true that other means existed of supervising such premises, but that did not affect this issue. The concluding words of the section required the certificate to be restricted in this way.

Judges:

Mackay J

Citations:

Times 02-Apr-2003, [2003] 1 WLR 1411

Statutes:

Licensing Act 1964 77A(1)(a)(ii)

Cited by:

Appeal from – Westminster City Council v O’Reilly and others CA 1-Jul-2003
The defendant sought to appeal against a decision of the High Court on a case stated by the Magistrates.
Held: A decision by the High Court on an appeal by way of case stated from the Magistrates was final, and no further appeal lay to the . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Licensing

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.180406

Regina (Maud) v Castle Point Borough Council: CA 2 Oct 2002

The council decided after consultation and advice to issue licences for hackney carriages, removing the limit on the number of such licences, and allowing Hackney Carriages vehicles to pick up passengers from cab ranks. The taxi owners sought to challenge the decision by way of judicial review.
Held: The section allowed the council to restrict the number of licences, only if satisfied that there was no unmet need. The council had not taken into account any irrelevant or improper matter, and the review was refused. The imposition of restrictions on some licences would create a second class system, and the council was correct not to do this.

Judges:

Lords Justice Kennedy, Buxton and Keene

Citations:

Gazette 13-Mar-2003

Statutes:

Transport Act 1985 16, Town Police Clauses Act 1847

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Licensing, Road Traffic, Local Government

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.177491

Regina v Aylesbury Justices ex parte Kitching and GBS Estates Limited: Admn 9 May 1997

The defendant had been convicted of felling trees without a licence. He claimed to have received assurances from the Forestry Commission that he would not be prosecuted. He said the prosecution was an abuse of process. The magistrates held that their jurisdiction on abuse was limited to the fairness of the procedures within the court.

Citations:

[1997] EWHC Admin 452

Statutes:

Forestry Act 1967

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Brentford Justices Ex parte Wong QBD 1981
The defendant had been involved in a traffic accident. Very shortly before the expiry of the six month time limit, the prosecutor issued a careless driving summons apparently in order to preserve the possibility of a prosecution without yet having . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, Licensing, Magistrates

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.137397

Regina v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council, Ex Parte Earls Court Ltd: QBD 15 Jul 1993

Conditions imposed on a licence under the Act need to be sufficiently precise for applicants to know the obligations imposed upon them. An entertainment licence was unreasonable because its conditions were so obscure in meaning.

Citations:

Times 15-Jul-1993, Independent 07-Sep-1993

Statutes:

London Government Act 1963 P1(2) Sch 12

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Licensing

Updated: 28 April 2022; Ref: scu.86804