The claimant suffered a condition which would lead to the development of vocal nodules unless she followed a program which would allow her to avoid raising her voice. She said that employer should not have placed her within a noisy environment. The employer appealed against a decision that she suffered a disability saying that she had no continuing disability, only a propensity for one.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. In this context asking as to the possibility of adverse effects, the word ‘likely’ did not mean ‘probable’, but rather ‘could well happen.’ The claimant was following a course of treatment, and an employer should assume that if that treatment was interrupted, the condition would be likely to recur within the statute. The application of the term within the general jurisdiction must change accordingly. The House urged caution in the use of the procedure for determining preliminary points of law.

Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood and Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
[2009] UKHL 37, Times 06-Jul-2009
Bailii
Disability Discrimination Act 1995, Rules of the Supreme Court (Northern Ireland) 19
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – National Union of Teachers and Others v St Mary’s Church Of England Junior School and Others EAT 2-Nov-1994
EAT Whether the Acquired Rights Directive EC77/187 (‘the Directive’) is enforceable against the governing body of a voluntary aided school, as an emanation of the State within the meaning ascribed to that . .
Appeal from – SCA Packaging Ltd v Boyle CANI 9-Oct-2008
. .
Cited – O’Shea Construction Ltd v Bassi EAT 21-May-1998
. .
Overruled – Latchman v Reed Business Information Ltd EAT 7-Dec-2001
EAT The EAT considered the expression ‘likely to last’ in paragraph 2(1)(b) of the Act, and stated: ‘It is always tempting to accord, and is often appropriate, when it is charged with finding out what at some . .
Cited – Ryder v Northern Ireland Policing Board CANI 23-Nov-2007
Kerr LCJ said: ‘A number of recent appeals from decisions of the Fair Employment/Industrial tribunals have involved challenges to conclusions reached on preliminary points – see, for instance, Bombadier Aerospace v McConnell and Cunningham v . .
Cited – Tilling v Whiteman HL 1980
Lord Scarman said: ‘Preliminary points of law are too often treacherous short cuts. Their price can be, as here, delay, anxiety and expense.’
Lord Wilberforce said: ‘The judge took what has turned out to be an unfortunate course. Instead of . .
Cited – O’Shea Construction Ltd v Bassi EAT 21-May-1998
. .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, Discrimination

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.368931

Brown, Regina v (Northern Ireland): SC 26 Jun 2013

The complainaint, a 13 year old girl had first said that the defendant had had intercourse with her againt her consent. After his arrest, she accepted that this was untrue. On being recharged with unlawful intercourse, he admitted guilt believing he had no defence. The Court was now asked whether there was a requirement for the prosecution to prove a defendant had an absence of belief that the person they were having sexual intercourse with was over the age of 13, before they can be convicted of an offence of unlawful carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of 14.
Held: The appeal failed: ‘ there can really be no doubt that section 4 in its original form was intended to impose criminal liability for carnal knowledge of a female under the age of 13 without proof that the perpetrator knew or had reason to believe that she was below that age.’ That had not changed on the subsequent amendment of the Act.
Lord Kerr endorsed the proposition that an amended statute is to be construed as a whole in its amended form, although in so doing he did not suggest that the legislative history is to be ignored and he examined the purpose of the relevant amendment in its context.

Lord Neuberger, President, Lady Hale, Lord Kerr, Lord Wilson, Lord Reed
[2013] UKSC 43, UKSC 2011/0233, [2013] 4 All ER 860
Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC Summary, SC
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Appeal from – Brown, Regina v CANI 8-Sep-2011
The defendant appealed against his conviction for having had unlawful sex with an underage girl. He had pleaded guilty but now said this had been n a misunderstanding of the law. He had believed the girl to be 15, but his belief that that belief was . .
Cited – Regina v Prince 1875
The defendant was convicted of unlawfully taking an unmarried girl under the age of 16 out the possession of her father. The defendant bona fide and on reasonable grounds believed that the girl was over 16.
Held: This provided no defence. ‘It . .
Cited – North Wales Police v Anglesey Justices and Another Admn 5-Feb-2008
Maurice Kay LJ said: ‘Mr Wells submits, and I accept, that the form and content of the summons are not strictly relevant to the question whether the proceedings were initiated by complaint rather than by the laying of an information. The essential . .
Cited – Gammon (Hong Kong) Ltd v A-G of Hong Kong PC 1984
Lord Scarman expressed the purpose of imposing strict liability within criminal law: ‘In their Lordships’ opinion, the law relevant to this appeal may be stated in the following propositions . . : (1) there is a presumption of law that mens rea is . .
Cited – Regina v K HL 25-Jul-2001
In a prosecution for an offence of indecent assault on a girl under 16 under the section, it was necessary for the prosecution to prove the absence of a positive belief in the defendant’s mind that the victim was 16 or over. The legislation history . .
Cited – Sweet v Parsley HL 23-Jan-1969
Mens Rea essential element of statutory Offence
The appellant had been convicted under the Act 1965 of having been concerned in the management of premises used for smoking cannabis. This was a farmhouse which she visited infrequently. The prosecutor had conceded that she was unaware that the . .
Cited – B (A Minor) v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 23-Feb-2000
Prosecution to prove absence of genuine belief
To convict a defendant under the 1960 Act, the prosecution had the burden of proving the absence of a genuine belief in the defendant’s mind that the victim was 14 or over. The Act itself said nothing about any mental element, so the assumption must . .
Cited – Regina v J HL 14-Oct-2004
The defendant was to have been accused of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 16. Proceedings could not be brought, because the allegation was more than a year old, and he was instead accused of indecent assault, but on the same . .
Cited – Regina v Kumar CACD 16-Dec-2004
The defendant appealed a conviction for buggery of a complainant under the age of 16, saying that he had a genuine belief that the boy had been of age.
Held: Buggery was not an absolute offence. The amendments to the 1956 Act did not signify . .
Cited – Regina v G (Secretary of State for the Home Department intervening) HL 18-Jun-2008
The defendant was fifteen. He was convicted of statutory rape of a 13 year old girl, believing her to be 15. He appealed saying that as an offence of strict liability he had been denied a right to a fair trial, and also that the offence charged was . .

Cited by:
Cited – Brown (Jamaica), Regina (on The Applications of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 4-Mar-2015
B, an homosexual immigrant for Jamaica, resisted his return, saying that he would be prosecuted. The Secretary of State now appealed against a finding that his inclusion of Jamaica within the statutory list of safe countries for return was not . .
Cited – Lane and Another, Regina v SC 11-Jul-2018
The defendants were to be tried for allegedly sending funds abroad to support terrorism. The court now considered the meaning of the phrase ‘reasonable cause to suspect’ in the context of the anticipated use of the funds: ‘Does it mean that the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime

Leading Case

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.511084

Kerr v Department for Social Development (Northern Ireland): HL 6 May 2004

Wrongful Refusal of Benefits

The claimant was estranged from his family, but claimed re-imbursement of the expenses for his brother’s funeral. The respondent required him to establish that none of his siblings was in a better position than he to pay for the funeral, but he had no means of contacting them.
Held: Deciding a claim required several decisions as to facts. The Department had acted unreasonably. In practice it had access to the information which they required from the claimant, and should not have denied the benefit where the claimant was unable to supply information they could themselves provide. The Department should bear the burden of the collective ignorance and pay the claim.
Baroness Hale said: ‘What emerges from all this is a co-operative process of investigation in which both the claimant and the department play their part. The department is the one which knows what questions it needs to ask and what information it needs to have in order to determine whether the conditions of entitlement have been met. The claimant is the one who generally speaking can and must supply that information. But where the information is available to the department rather than the claimant, then the department must take the necessary steps to enable it to be traced.’

Lord Steyn, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Baroness Hale of Richmond
[2004] UKHL 23, Times 13-May-2004, [2004] 1 WLR 1372, [2004] 4 All ER 385
Bailii, House of Lords
Social Fund (Maternity and Funeral Expenses) (General) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1987, Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 134(1)(a)
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Irving v Minister of Pensions SCS 1945
Appeals were against decisions of Pensions Appeal Tribunals relating to claims for pensions in respect of death or disablement by war injuries. Article 4(1) of the Royal Warrant concerning Retired Pay, Pensions, etc dated December 1943 (Cmd 6489) . .
Cited – Regina v Medical Appeal Tribunal (North Midland Region), Ex parte Hubble 1958
The claimant sought to receive money out of insurance funds fed by contributions from all employers, insured persons and the Exchequer. The procedure for determining whether the claimant is entitled to a disability benefit was said to be more like . .
Cited – Nimmo v Alexander Cowan and Sons Ltd HL 1967
The employer was prosecuted under the 1961 Act.
Held: the burden of proving that it was not reasonably practicable to make and keep a place of work safe rested upon the defendant employer. If an exception was to be established, it was for the . .
Cited – Rees v Hughes 1946
The need to arrange for funerals is a common law obligation ‘in the nature of a public duty’. . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Social Services, Ex parte Child Poverty Action Group CA 1989
The applicants sought judicial review of the failures by the respondent in processing claims for benefits. They asked that there should be a declaration that the respondent had a duty to refer a claim to an adjudication officer as soon as it was . .

Cited by:
Cited – Mote v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Another CA 14-Dec-2007
The appellant was accused of having received income benefits to which he was not entitled. A prosecution was commenced and at the same time he appealed to the tribunal against the decision that there had been an overpayment. The authorities . .
Cited – REW, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Admn 13-Jun-2008
The claimant sought permission to bring judicial review of decisions of the Child Support Agency. He said that his payments should have been reduced for a period when he was in receipt of job seeker’s allowance. A liability order had been made . .
Cited – Novitskaya v London Borough of Brent and Another CA 1-Dec-2009
The claimant appealed refusal of her claim for arrears of housing benefit.
Held: The appeal was allowed. The claim had been defective in having been made informally, but ‘the distribution of benefits is different from many other areas of civil . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Benefits, Northern Ireland

Leading Case

Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.196619

Haddock v MGN Ltd and others: ChNI 17 Oct 2008

Application for injunction to prevent the defendant newspapers and television companies from publishing the plaintiff’s picture in the course of a forthcoming civil action. He was coming toward the end of a long term of imprisonment. Whilst on pre-release bail, there had been attempts to murder him because he had acted as a police informant.
Held: Limited arrangements would be made to allow the claimant’s identity to be hidden. It was not proper to conclude that people who had no criminal convictions should be seen as a threat to the claimant.

Deeny J
[2008] NICh 14
Bailii
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Campbell v Mirror Group Newspapers Ltd (MGN) (No 1) HL 6-May-2004
The claimant appealed against the denial of her claim that the defendant had infringed her right to respect for her private life. She was a model who had proclaimed publicly that she did not take drugs, but the defendant had published a story . .
Cited – Regina v Davis HL 18-Jun-2008
The defendant had been tried for the murder of two men by shooting them at a party. He was identified as the murderer by three witnesses who had been permitted to give evidence anonymously, from behind screens, because they had refused, out of fear, . .
Cited – In re Officer L HL 31-Jul-2007
Police officers appealed against refusal of orders protecting their anonymity when called to appear before the Robert Hamill Inquiry.
Held: ‘The tribunal accordingly approached the matter properly under article 2 in seeking to ascertain . .
Cited – Osman v The United Kingdom ECHR 28-Oct-1998
Police’s Complete Immunity was Too Wide
(Grand Chamber) A male teacher developed an obsession with a male pupil. He changed his name by deed poll to the pupil’s surname. He was required to teach at another school. The pupil’s family’s property was subjected to numerous acts of vandalism, . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media

Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.277034

In re D; Doherty, Re (Northern Ireland); Life Sentence Review Commissioners v D: HL 11 Jun 2008

The Sentence Review Commissioners had decided not to order the release of the prisoner, who was serving a life sentence. He had been released on licence from a life sentence and then committed further serious sexual offences against under-age girls and was recalled. In considering his application for a further licence he complained that the Commissioners had taken into account allegations not tested in court, had accepted video evidence without requiring the girls to attend, and applied the wrong standard of proof. The Commissioners now appealed a decision that their own decision had been reached unlawfully.
Held: The appeal succeeded. D’s counsel had sought both to avoid having to question the complainant’s and to say he had been refused the opportunity to do so. The Commissioners had offered a satisfactory means of taking evidence.
As to the standard of proof ‘in some contexts a court or tribunal has to look at the facts more critically or more anxiously than in others before it can be satisfied to the requisite standard. The standard itself is, however, finite and unvarying.’ The Court of Appeal had misstated the standard of proof required.

Lord Bingham, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
[2008] UKHL 33, Times 24-Jun-2008, [2008] NI 292, [2009] Fam Law 192, [2008] 4 All ER 992, [2008] 1 WLR 1499
Bailii, HL
Life Sentences (Northern Ireland) Order 2001
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – In re Dellow’s Will Trusts; Lloyd’s Bank v Institute of Cancer Research ChD 1964
Husband and wife, having made mutual wills each leaving their estate to the other, had been found dead in their home from coal gas poisoning. The court asked what was required to displace the presumption that the husband, the older of the two, had . .
Cited – Blyth v Blyth HL 1966
The House was asked as to the standard of proof required to establish that adultery had been condoned under the subsection.
Held: Lord Denning said: ‘In short it comes to this: so far as the grounds for divorce are concerned, the case, like . .
See Also – Doherty, Re Judicial Review CANI 5-Dec-2007
The defendant complained that his continued detention was unlawful. Counsel sought to advance a claim for compensation on the basis that his continued detention following the quashing of the Commissioners’ decision was in breach of article 5(1) of . .
Approved – AN, Regina (on the Application of) v Mental Health Review Tribunal (Northern Region) and others CA 21-Dec-2005
The appellant was detained under section 37 of the 1983 Act as a mental patient with a restriction under section 41. He sought his release.
Held: The standard of proof in such applications remained the balance of probabilities, but that . .
Cited – Khera v Secretary of State for The Home Department; Khawaja v Secretary of State for The Home Department HL 10-Feb-1983
The appellant Khera’s father had obtained leave to settle in the UK. The appellant obtained leave to join him, but did not disclose that he had married. After his entry his wife in turn sought to join him. The appellant was detained as an illegal . .
Cited – In re H and R (Minors) (Child Sexual Abuse: Standard of Proof) HL 14-Dec-1995
Evidence allowed – Care Application after Abuse
Children had made allegations of serious sexual abuse against their step-father. He was acquitted at trial, but the local authority went ahead with care proceedings. The parents appealed against a finding that a likely risk to the children had still . .
Cited – Clingham (formerly C (a minor)) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea; Regina v Crown Court at Manchester Ex parte McCann and Others HL 17-Oct-2002
The applicants had been made subject of anti-social behaviour orders. They challenged the basis upon which the orders had been made.
Held: The orders had no identifiable consequences which would make the process a criminal one. Civil standards . .
Cited – Blake v The United Kingdom ECHR 26-Sep-2006
The claimant had been a Russian spy whilst in British Intelligence, escaping from prison and fleeing to Russia in 1966. He now complained that an action by the respondent government to seek to recover royalties from a book had been so extended in . .
Cited – Gough and Another v Chief Constable of Derbyshire CA 20-Mar-2002
The appellants challenged the legality under European law of orders under the Act restricting their freedom of movement, after suspicion of involvement in football violence.
Held: Although the proceedings under which orders were made were . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Home Department v Rehman HL 11-Oct-2001
The applicant, a Pakistani national had entered the UK to act as a Muslim priest. The Home Secretary was satisfied that he was associated with a Muslim terrorist organisation, and refused indefinite leave to remain. The Home Secretary provided both . .
Cited – B v Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary QBD 5-Apr-2000
The defendant appealed the making of a sex offender order under 1998 Act. The justices had found that the defendant was a sex offender within section 2(1)(a) and that he had acted on a number of occasions in a way which brought him within section . .
Cited – Campbell v Hamlet (as executrix of Simon Alexander) PC 25-Apr-2005
(Trinidad and Tobago) The appellant was an attorney. A complaint was made that he had been given money to buy land, but neither had the land been conveyed nor the money returned. The complaint began in 1988, but final speeches were not heard until . .

Cited by:
Cited – Birmingham City Council v Shafi and Another CA 30-Oct-2008
The Council appealed a finding that the court did not have jurisdiction to obtain without notice injunctions to control the behaviour of youths said to be creating a disturbance, including restricting their rights to enter certain parts of the city . .
Cited – In re B (Children) (Care Proceedings: Standard of Proof) (CAFCASS intervening) HL 11-Jun-2008
Balance of probabilities remains standard of proof
There had been cross allegations of abuse within the family, and concerns by the authorities for the children. The judge had been unable to decide whether the child had been shown to be ‘likely to suffer significant harm’ as a consequence. Having . .
Cited – Gale and Another v Serious Organised Crime Agency SC 26-Oct-2011
Civil recovery orders had been made against the applicant. He had been accused and acquitted of drug trafficking allegations in Europe, but the judge had been persuaded that he had no proper explanation for the accumulation of his wealth, and had . .
Cited – Bento v The Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police QBD 1-Jun-2012
bento_ccbpQBD2012
The claimant had been convicted of the murder of his girlfriend. On his acquittal on appeal, the police criticised the CPS decision not to retry the claimant, in effect, the claimant now said, continuing the accusation against him, and so defaming . .
Cited – Braganza v BP Shipping Ltd SC 18-Mar-2015
The claimant’s husband had been lost from the defendant’s ship at sea. The defendant had contracted to pay compensation unless the loss was by suicide. They so determined. The court was now asked whether that was a permissible conclusion in the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice

Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.268808

McEldowney v Forde: HL 18 Jun 1969

The House was asked whether the Magistrates had properly dismissed a charge of membership of an unlawful organisation, namely a Republican club. The Magistrates had found that an unlawful club would only be such if it supported the absorption of Northern Ireland into the Irish Republic. The Regulations were challanged as ultra vires to the Act.
Held: The Regulation was not ultra vires (majority). In the regulation in question the expediency was stated in the Regulation and in the absence of any charge of bad faith, expediency was presumed provided that the exercise of the power was capable of being related to the specified purposes.

Lord Hodson, Lord Guest, Lord Pearce, Lord Pearson, Lord Diplock
[1969] UKHL 6, [1971] 1 AC 632, [1970] NI 11, [1969] 2 All ER 1039
Bailii
Civil Authorities (Special Powers) Act (Northern Ireland) 1922 1, Criminal Law and Procedure (Ireland) Act 1887
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – The Attorney General of Canada v Hallet and Carey Limited and Another PC 20-May-1952
Canada – By section 2(l)(c) of the National Emergency Transitional Powers Act 1945 the governor in Council was authorised to do such things and to make such orders and regulations as he might, by reason of the continued emergency arising out of the . .
Cited – Rex (at the prosecution of Arthur Zadig) v Halliday HL 1-May-1917
The applicant was German born but a naturalised Englishman who complained of having been interned by a regulation made under the 1914 Act. He said that the regulation was ultra vires.
Held: The appeal failed (Lord Shaw dissenting). The House . .
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 – Minister of Health v The King ex parte Yaffe 1931
Lord Thankerton said: ‘In this case, as in similar cases that have come before the Courts, Parliament has delegated its legislative function to a Minister of the Crown, but in this case Parliament has retained no specific control over the exercise . .
Cited – Carltona Ltd v Commissioners of Works CA 1943
Ministers May Act through Civil Servants
The plaintiffs owned a factory which was to be requisitioned. They sought a judicial review of the lawfulness of the order making the requisition, saying that the 1939 Regulations had been implemented not by the Minister as required, but by an . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Northern Ireland, Constitutional

Leading Case

Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.248581

McE, Re; McE v Prison Service of Northern Ireland and Another: HL 11 Mar 2009

Complaint was made that the prisoner’s privileged conversations with his solicitors had been intercepted by the police.
Held: The Act made explicit provisions allowing such interception and set out the appropriate safeguards. The interceptions were lawful. It was significant that a code of practice had been issued making detailed provision for the authorisation of monitoring legally privileged communications, thereby demonstrating that such interference with a fundamental right had been specifically in the contemplation of Parliament when enacting RIPA.
Lord Hope said that section 27(1) is expressed in clear and simple language and it must be taken to mean what it says (i.e. that conduct to which Part II applies shall be lawful ‘for all purposes’). He continued: ‘It does not refer to legal privilege or to any other kind of right or privilege or special relationship which would otherwise be infringed by the conduct that it refers to. But the generality of the phrase ‘for all purposes’ is unqualified. The whole point of the system of authorisation that the statute lays down is to interfere with fundamental rights and to render this invasion of a person’s private life unlawful. To achieve this result it must be able to meet any objections that may be raised on the ground of privilege. I would hold therefore that, provided the conditions in section 27(1) which render it lawful for all purposes are satisfied, intrusive surveillance of a detainee’s consultation with his solicitor cannot be said to be unlawful because it interferes with common law legal privilege. It seems to me that the phrase ‘for all purposes’ which section 27(1) uses is a clear indication that this was Parliament’s intention.’

Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Hope of Craighead, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Carswell and Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
[2009] UKHL 15, Times 12-Mar-2009, [2009] 2 Cr App R 1, [2009] 1 AC 908, [2009] Crim LR 525, [2009] HRLR 20, [2009] EMLR 19, [2009] 2 WLR 782
Bailii, HL
Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Cox and Railton 1884
(Court for Crown Cases Reserved) The defendants were charged with conspiracy to defraud a judgment creditor of the fruits of a judgment by dishonestly backdating a dissolution of their partnership to a date prior to a bill of sale given by Railton . .
Cited – Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Plc v Inland Revenue and Another HL 25-Oct-2006
The tax payer had overpaid Advance Corporation Tax under an error of law. It sought repayment. The revenue contended that the claim was time barred.
Held: The claim was in restitution, and the limitation period began to run from the date when . .
Cited – Calcraft v Guest CA 1898
A trial had taken place in which the principal issue was the upper boundary of the plaintiff’s fishery. On appeal the defendant proposed to rely on new evidence discovered among the papers in another action tried over a hundred years before. The . .
Cited – Three Rivers District Council and others v Governor and Company of the Bank of England (No 6) HL 11-Nov-2004
The Bank anticipated criticism in an ad hoc enquiry which was called to investigate its handling of a matter involving the claimant. The claimant sought disclosure of the documents created when the solicitors advised employees of the Bank in . .
Cited – Cullen v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Northern Ireland) HL 10-Jul-2003
The claimant had been arrested. He had been refused access to a solicitor whilst detaiined, but, in breach of statutory duty, he had not been given reasons as to why access was denied. He sought damages for that failure.
Held: If damages were . .
Cited – Parry-Jones v The Law Society CA 1969
The Society had, for regulatory purposes, exercised a power under the 1957 Act to call upon the plaintiff, a solicitor, to produce for inspection accounts and other information relating to the conduct of his clients’ affairs. He sought an injunction . .
Cited – Khan v The United Kingdom ECHR 12-May-2000
Evidence was acknowledged to have been obtained unlawfully and in breach of another article of the Convention. The police had installed covert listening devices on private property without the knowledge or consent of the owner. UK national law did . .
Cited – Butler v Board of Trade ChD 1970
Goff J discussed the criterion for admissibility of evidence:’If one rejects the bare relevance test, as I have done, then what has to be shown prima facie is not merely that there is a bona fide and reasonably tenable charge of crime or fraud but a . .
Cited – Regina v Tompkins CACD 1977
. .
Cited – Malone v The United Kingdom ECHR 2-Aug-1984
The complainant asserted that his telephone conversation had been tapped on the authority of a warrant signed by the Secretary of State, but that there was no system to supervise such warrants, and that it was not therefore in ‘accordance with law’. . .

Cited by:
Cited – AJA and Others v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis and Others CA 5-Nov-2013
The Court was asked whether the Investigatory Powers Tribunal had the power to investigate whether police officers acrting as undercover agents, and having sexual relations with those they were themselves investigating had infringed the human rights . .
Cited – Brown, Regina v CACD 29-Jul-2015
The claimant, a patient hld at Rampton Hospital faced charges of attempted murder of two nurses. His lwayers had asked for the right to see their client in private, but eth Hospital objected, insisting on the presence of two nurses at all times. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Northern Ireland, Legal Professions, Police, Human Rights

Leading Case

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.317965

The Christian Institute and Others, Re Application for Judicial Review: QBNI 11 Sep 2007

The Claimants opposed the Regulations which prohibited discrimination or harassment on grounds of sexual orientation on the grounds inter alia that they offended orthodox Christian beliefs and violated rights under the ECHR.
Held: The outlawing of harassment in the case of sexual orientation may well involve interference with the freedom to manifest a religious belief. On the facts, the teaching or maintaining that homosexuality was sinful, was engaged and overlapped with the right to free expression under art.10. An assessment of the balance of interests required close consideration of issues such as the actions of the parties, the measures in question, the value of the policy promoted and the right diminished. Individual issues when raised should be decided by the County Court on a case-by-case basis.
Weatherup J said: ‘In general the applicants contend that the Regulations have the effect that the protection afforded to sexual orientation in accordance with the right to respect for private life under Article 8 and Article 14 of the Convention outweighs the protection afforded to the manifestation of religious belief under Article 9 and 14 of the European Convention so that there is a lack of fair balance between the respective rights.
On the other hand the respondent contends that this Court should not undertake an examination of the Regulations in the abstract as civil liability . . will be fact specific and should be determined on a case by case basis . . in the County Court.’ Interference with the Applicants’ rights and justification for it and the balance of interests in play required the close multi-factorial consideration for which the Respondent argued.’

Weatherup J
[2007] NIQB 66, [2008] IRLR 36
Bailii
Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, European Convention on Human Rights 8 9 14
Northern Ireland
Cited by:
Cited – Hall and Another v Bull and Another Misc 4-Jan-2011
(Bristol County Court) The claimants, homosexual partners in a civil partnership, sought damages after being refused a stay at the bed and breakfast hotel operated by the defendants, who said that this was their home, and that they were committed . .
Cited – Bull and Bull v Hall and Preddy CA 10-Feb-2012
The appellants owned a guesthouse. They appealed from being found in breach of the Regulations. They had declined to honour a booking by the respondents of a room upon learning that they were a homosexual couple. The appellants had said that they . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Northern Ireland, Discrimination

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.261743

McClean, Re: HL 7 Jul 2005

The appellant was serving a life sentence for terrorist offences. He complained that he should have been released under the 1998 Act. It was said he would be a danger to the public if released. On pre-release home leave he was involved in a seriously violent incident, and it was found that he continued to support a specified organisation, the LVF. Information supporting the revocation of his certificate had been withheld under the rules, and he now complained as to the use of a special advocate to hear evidence against him.
Held: The rights of release were properly to be respected, but they were subordinate to the need to protect public safety, and there could be no presumption in favour of the prisoner. The procedure adopted was fair. The Secretary of State had communicated the gist of the allegations against him, and the Commissioner had been quite clear that he had not taken account of the evidence because he had reached his decision without relying upon it.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood
[2005] UKHL 46, [2005] UKHRR 826
Bailii, House of Lords
Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998, European Convention on Human Rights 5.4 6.1
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Lichniak HL 25-Nov-2002
The appellants challenged the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment imposed on them on their convictions for murder. They said it was an infringement of their Human Rights, being arbitrary and disproportionate.
Held: The case followed on . .
Cited – Regina (DJ) v Mental Health Review Tribunal; Regina (AN) v Mental Health Review Tribunal (Northern Region) Admn 11-Apr-2005
Each applicant sought judicial review of the refusal of the tribunal to authorise their release from detention under the 1983 Act, saying that the Tribunal had accepted evidence to a lower standard of proof.
Held: Neither the criminal standard . .
Appeal from – Mcclean, Re an Application for Judicial Review 14 CANI 23-Apr-2004
The appellant was serving a prison term for murder. He was being considered for release under the Good Friday agreement, but on home leave he was again involved in further serious violence. He was recalled and his entitlement to early release was . .
Cited – Regina on the Application of Brooks v The Parole Board CA 10-Feb-2004
The court had to decide the extent to which the Parole Board could rely on hearsay evidence in a case in which a discretionary life prisoner’s licence had been revoked. The evidence was crucial to the issue of risk.
Held: (majority) The . .
Cited – Regina (Sim) v Parole Board CA 18-Dec-2003
The prisoner had been sentenced to an extended term of five years imprisonment for indecent assault. He had been released, and then recalled for alleged breaches of his licence. The respondent appealed findings that such a recall was subject to . .
Cited – Regina v Parole Board, ex Parte Watson CA 11-Mar-1996
The test as to whether there was still a need to protect the public safety from the defendant was just as appropriate when considering the revocation of a licence, as it was when the need for continued detention was being reviewed before the grant . .
Cited – Roberts v Parole Board HL 7-Jul-2005
Balancing Rights of Prisoner and Society
The appellant had been convicted of the murder of three police officers in 1966. His tariff of thirty years had now long expired. He complained that material put before the Parole Board reviewing has case had not been disclosed to him.
Held: . .
Cited – Regina v Parole Board ex parte Smith, Regina v Parole Board ex parte West (Conjoined Appeals) HL 27-Jan-2005
Each defendant challenged the way he had been treated on revocation of his parole licence, saying he should have been given the opportunity to make oral representations.
Held: The prisoners’ appeals were allowed.
Lord Bingham stated: . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Home Department v Rehman HL 11-Oct-2001
The applicant, a Pakistani national had entered the UK to act as a Muslim priest. The Home Secretary was satisfied that he was associated with a Muslim terrorist organisation, and refused indefinite leave to remain. The Home Secretary provided both . .
Cited – Giles, Regina (on the Application of) v Parole Board and Another HL 31-Jul-2003
The defendant had been sentenced for offences of violence, but an additional period was imposed to protect the public. He had been refused leave for reconsideration of that part of his sentence after he completed the normal segment of his sentence. . .

Cited by:
Cited – O v Crown Court at Harrow HL 26-Jul-2006
The claimant said that his continued detention after the custody time limits had expired was an infringement of his human rights. He faced continued detention having been refused bail because of his arrest on a grave charge, having a previous . .
Cited – Roberts, Regina (on the Application of) v The Parole Board Admn 7-Nov-2008
The prisoner was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of three police officers in 1966. He served a longer time than the recommended minimum and had been transferred to an open prison anticipating release on licence. He now complained of . .
Cited – Sturnham, Regina (on The Application of) v The Parole Board of England and Wales and Another (No 2) SC 3-Jul-2013
From 4 April 2005 until 3 December 2012, English law provided for the imposition of sentences of imprisonment for public protection (‘IPP’). The Court addressed the practical and legal issues resulting from the new system.
Held: The decision . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Prisons, Human Rights

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.228284

Murray and Another v Foyle Meats Ltd (Northern Ireland): HL 8 Jul 1999

The company decided to make redundancies. The applicants, all selected, had worked in more than one section of the plant. All employees worked under the same contract, but employees were chosen only from the one section. The complainants said that the entire workforce should have been considered.
Held: Under the Order it was for the employer to show the reason for the dismissal, that there was a reduced requirement, and that that led to the dismissal. The fallacy in the Nelson case was that ‘because the work which he was employed to do continued to exist, he was not redundant’. It is a question of fact, not law, as to whether the dismissal is attributable to the reduction in the requirement. The words of the Act should not be made more complicated than they are. Section 139(1)(b) was simple: ‘It asks two questions of fact. The first is whether one or other of various states of economic affairs exists. In this case, the relevant one is whether the requirements of the business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind have diminished. . . In the present case, the tribunal found as a fact that the requirements of the business for employees to work in the slaughter hall had diminished. . . That, in my opinion, is the end of the matter.’
Lord Clyde: ‘The requirements of the business may call for a particular number of employees and for employees of particular skills and abilities.’

Lord Chancellor, Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle, Lord Slynn of Hadley, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Clyde
Times 09-Jul-1999, Gazette 11-Aug-1999, [1999] UKHL 30, [2000] 1 AC 51, [1999] 3 ALL ER 769, [1999] 3 WLR 356, [1999] NI 291, [1999] ICR 827, [1999] IRLR 562
House of Lords, Bailii
Employment Rights Act 1996 98(2)(c) 139(1)(b)(i), Industrial Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 (S.I. 1976 No. 1043) 22, Contracts of Employment and Redundancy Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 1965 11(2)
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Nelson v British Broadcasting Corporation CA 1977
Mr Nelson was employed as a producer but had in fact been engaged in the Caribbean Service of the BBC in terms of the work which he had actually been doing. The contract of employment expressly provided that he should serve wherever and however he . .
Approved – Safeway Stores Plc v Burrell EAT 24-Jan-1997
The tribunal set out the test for whether a dismissal was for redundancy: ‘Free of authority, we understand the statutory framework . . involve a three-stage process: (1) was the employee dismissed: If so, (2) had the requirements of the employer’s . .

Cited by:
Cited – Shawkat v Nottingham City Hospital NHS Trust CA 21-Jun-2001
The claimant doctor had been dismissed. He said it was unfairly, and the Trust replied that he had been made redundant ‘for some other reason’ since he had nt acceted new conditions of work.
Held: The employee’s appeal failed. The EAT had . .
Cited – Victoria and Albert Museum v Durrant EAT 5-Jan-2011
EAT UNFAIR DISMISSAL
Reason for dismissal including some other substantial reason
The correct interpretation of section 106 of Employment Rights Act 1996 (‘the Act’) was considered.
The . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Justice v Slee EAT 19-Jul-2007
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Constructive dismissal
Maternity Rights and Parental Leave – Sex discrimination
The Claimant was employed as a Magistrates’ Clerk and she brought successful claims to the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.159014

Weir and Another, Regina v: CANI 14 Jan 2013

Renewed application for leave to appeal against convictions for robbery. The defendant complained as to the unreliability of identification evidence, and as to a note passed by the jury to the judge indicating the use by the jury of the specialist forensic knowledge of a member.
Held: Leave was refused. There was no error as to the directions given by the judge on identification, and his response to the note had been practical, and he had invited counsel’s submissions.

Higgins, Girvan, Coghlin LJJ
[2013] NICA 3
Bailii
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Turnbull and Another etc CCA 9-Jun-1976
The defendants appealed against their convictions which had been based upon evidence of visual identification.
Held: Identification evidence can be unreliable, and courts must take steps to reduce injustice. The judge should warn the jury of . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Criminal Practice, Criminal Evidence

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.471885

McCartan Turkington Breen (A Firm) v Times Newspapers Limited: HL 2 Nov 2000

(Northern Ireland) The defendant reported a press conference at which the claims denying the criminal responsibility of an army private were made. The report was severely critical of the claimants, who then sued in defamation. The defendants claimed qualified privilege.
Held: It is necessary in a modern democracy to restrict to as limited extent as is possible, restrictions on freedom of speech and reporting. Accordingly a newspaper report of a press conference could attract qualified privilege against proceedings for defamation. Here a meeting was called for the press in general and any member of the public was allowed in with no restrictions. The circumstances showed an intention to make it a public meeting under the Act.
Lord Steyn said that it is ‘generally permissible and indeed necessary to take into account the place of the statutory provisions in controversy in the broad context of the basic principles of the legal system as it has evolved’ which, in the case in point, was the ‘law of freedom of expression as it exists today’.
Lord Nicholls: ‘ . . it should be kept in mind that one of the contemporary functions of the media is investigative journalism. This activity, as much as the traditional activities of reporting and commenting, is part of the vital role of the press’.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill Lord Steyn Lord Hoffmann Lord Cooke of Thorndon Lord Millett
Times 03-Nov-2000, [2000] UKHL 57, [2001] 2 AC 277, [2000] 4 All ER 913, [2000] 9 BHRC 497, [2000] 3 WLR 1670, [2000] NI 410, [2001] UKHRR 184, [2001] EMLR 1
House of Lords, Bailii
Defamation Act (Northern Ireland) 1955 7, Human Rights Act 1998, Law of Libel Amendment Act 1888, European Convention on Human Rights 10
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Turkington and Others (Practising as McCartan Turkington Breen) v Times Newspapers Ltd CANI 11-Nov-1998
A meeting was not a public meeting just because the public attended without objection. A press conference to which press only had had invitations was not as such public, and a report of it was not protected under the Act . .
First instance – McCartan Turkington Breen v Telegraph Group NIHC 11-May-1998
. .

Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Shayler CACD 28-Sep-2001
Duress as Defence not closely Defined
The defendant had been a member of MI5. He had signed the Official Secrets Act, but then disclosed various matters, including material obtained by interceptions under the Interception of Communications Act. He claimed that his disclosures were made . .
Cited – Loutchansky v Times Newspapers Limited (No 2) CA 12-Mar-2001
The defendants appealed against a refusal to allow them to amend their pleadings. They wished to include allegations as to matters which were unknown to the journalist at the time of publication.
Held: It is necessary for the defendants to . .
Cited – Reclaiming Motion In Petition of Scott Davidson for Judicial Review of A Decision To Continue To Detain the Prisoner In Inhuman and Degrading Prison C SCS 18-Dec-2001
A prisoner sought an order for his removal from a prison found to have a regime which breached his human rights. The Crown replied that an order could not be made under s21 of the 1947 Act.
Held: The prisoner had followed through his rights to . .
Cited – Mersey Care NHS Trust v Ackroyd QBD 7-Feb-2006
The trust, operators of Ashworth Secure Hospital sought from the defendant journalist disclosure of the name of their employee who had revealed to the defendant matters about the holding of Ian Brady, the Moors Murderer, and in particular medical . .
Cited – Lowe v Associated Newspapers Ltd QBD 28-Feb-2006
The defendant sought to defend the claim for defamation by claiming fair comment. The claimant said that the relevant facts were not known to the defendant at the time of the publication.
Held: To claim facts in aid of a defence of fair . .
Cited – Norfolk County Council v Webster and others FD 1-Nov-2006
The claimants wished to claim that they were victims of a miscarriage of justice in the way the Council had dealt with care proceedings. They sought that the proceedings should be reported without the children being identified.
Held: A judge . .
Cited – Mersey Care NHS Trust v Ackroyd CA 21-Feb-2007
The defendant journalist had published confidential material obtained from the claimant’s secure hospital at Ashworth. The hospital now appealed against the refusal of an order for him to to disclose his source.
Held: The appeal failed. Given . .
Cited – Times Newspapers Ltd v Secretary of State for the Home Department and AY Admn 17-Oct-2008
The newspaper applied to challenge the protection of the identity of the defendant subject to a control order under the 2005 Act. It said that there was no basis for the making of the order without first considering the Human Rights need for open . .
Cited – Mohamed, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 4) Admn 4-Feb-2009
In an earlier judgment, redactions had been made relating to reports by the US government of its treatment of the claimant when held by them at Guantanamo bay. The claimant said he had been tortured and sought the documents to support his defence of . .
Cited – Roberts and Others v Regina CACD 6-Dec-2018
Sentencing of Political Protesters
The defendants appealed against sentences for causing a public nuisance. They had been protesting against fracking by climbing aboard a lorry and blocking a main road for several days.
Held: The appeals from immediate custodial sentences were . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Defamation, Media, Northern Ireland, Human Rights

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.159091

JR17 for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland): SC 23 Jun 2010

The appellant was excluded from school. A female pupil related her fear of him to a teacher, but would not make a formal complaint, and the appellant was not to be told of the report or the investigation of it. There was said to have been confusion between suspension, exclusion and expulsion. The court was asked whether what happened was a suspension, on what grounds, did the head have the power so to act, and was there a breach of article 2. The courts below had found the suspension to be precautionary rather than disciplinary.
Held: It was clear that the head had both precautionary and disciplinary reasons for the suspension, however overall the evidence suggested suspension on disciplinary grounds. On such grounds he had power to act to suspend the applicant. Nevertheless the decision was made to suspend the student without giving him either any opportunity to comment or indeed the details of the allegation, and it was clearly insupportable on either basis, and the suspension was unlawful.

Lord Phillips, President, Lord Rodger, Lady Hale, Lord Brown, Sir John Dyson SCJ
[2010] UKSC 27, [2010] NI 105, [2010] UKHRR 984, (2010) 13 CCL Rep 357
Summary, SC, SC Summary, Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 82
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Appeal from – JR17’s Application No. 1 (Education)- Appeal CANI 26-Feb-2009
. .
Cited – Re M’s application CANI 2004
The court spoke of the practical need for a power for a school to suspend as a precautionary measure: ‘We consider that it is entirely proper for a principal to suspend a pupil who may face the prospect of expulsion if the allegations made against . .
Cited – Ali v Head Teacher and Governors of Lord Grey School HL 22-Mar-2006
The claimant had been accused with others of arson to school property. He was suspended for the maximum forty five day period. The school then invited the family to discuss arrangements to return to the school, but the family did not attend. After . .
Cited – Leyla Sahin v Turkey ECHR 29-Jun-2004
(Grand Chamber) The applicant had been denied access to written examinations and to a lecture at the University of Istanbul because she was wearing an Islamic headscarf. This was prohibited not only by the rules of the university but also by the . .
Cited – Sahin v Turkey ECHR 6-Dec-2005
ECHR Judgment (Merits and Just Satisfaction) – Violation of Art. 6-1; No separate issue under Art. 6; Violation of Art. 10; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Education, Human Rights

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.417705

McConkey and Another v The Simon Community: HL 20 May 2009

The applicants had been convicted of terrorist related murders many years before, but had since disowned the use of violence. Their applications for employment with the respondent were turned down for their prior involvement in political and terrorist crime. They appealed against dismissal of their complaints of discrimination.
Held: The appeals failed. It was legitimate for an employer to make allowance for the claimants’ histories. They had not been employed, not for their political beliefs, but because of a concern that employing them might pose risks for the vulnerable people who were cared for by the community. The words used in the Order were derived from a time which may have been less forgiving of past activities, and many still lived with the burden of consequences of those activities. It was not surprising or or absurd that the Order was intended to apply in this way.

Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury
[2009] UKHL 24, [2009] WLR (D) 161
Bailii, Times, WLRD
Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (SI 1998 No 3162 (NI 21)) 2 19
Northern Ireland
Citing:
At Tribunal – McConkey and Another v The Simon Community (NI) FENI 4-Apr-2006
. .
Appeal From – McConkey v Simon Community Northern Ireland CANI 21-Feb-2008
. .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Northern Ireland, Discrimination

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.346223

Alexander, Farrelly and Others, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 5 Mar 2009

Each claimant said that they had been wrongfully arrested, the arresting police officers having either failed to ask whether the arrest was necessary (Farrelly), or mistakenly concluding so.
Held: The Order now contained in regulation 26(5) an exhaustive list of the possible reasons for an arrest, and the Code of Practice required the officer to consider whether an alternative, less intrusive alternative was available.
Belief involves a judgement that a state of affairs actually exists; suspicion that a state of affairs might well exist. As to whether the requirement for having reasonable grounds for suspicion restricted the court to the officer’s knowledge at the time, a court should concentrate on the specific grounds to which the constable had regard. However a wilful refusal to take into account factors that might have led unmistakably to a contrary view as to the necessity to arrest cannot be ignored, and ‘where a police officer is called upon to make a decision as to the necessity for an arrest, the grounds on which that decision is based can only be considered reasonable if all obviously relevant circumstances are taken into account. In particular, it is necessary that he make some evaluation of the feasibility of achieving the object of the arrest by some alternative means, such as inviting the suspect to attend for interview.’
As to the ‘necessity’ of an arrest: ‘the requirement that the constable should believe that an arrest is necessary does not signify that he requires to be satisfied that there is no viable alternative to arrest. Rather, it means that he should consider that this is the practical and sensible option.’
Judicial review was not the appropriate means to investigate such allegations: ‘a challenge by way of judicial review is an unacceptable type of satellite litigation which not only distracts from the proper conduct of the criminal proceedings but seeks to remove a discrete issue from the criminal court which is its natural home. The second reason is that in almost all cases, the issues which arise are far more comfortably and satisfactorily accommodated in a form of proceeding which involves the giving of oral testimony and the testing of claims and counterclaims under cross examination.’
In Farrelly’s case, the officer had a practice of unquestioningly arresting anyone attending voluntarily for interview. He did not consider the alternative, and review of that arrest was granted: ‘ this arrest cannot be said to have been based on reasonable grounds for believing that it was necessary. ‘ The court treated the action as an ordinary writ.
A process is either a ‘criminal cause or matter’ or it is not. It is not capable of having chameleon qualities whereby it changes status from one to the other depending on the specific facts at any particular stage of the proceedings. The underlying arrest and investigatory process is a criminal cause or matter and the court considered that all four cases were to be so regarded irrespective of what had occurred since the date of arrest.
Applying re Coleman, a divisional court with two or more judges had jurisdiction to hear such cases which are not criminal causes or matters.

Kerr LCJ, Higgins LJ, Girvan LJ
[2009] NIQB 20
Bailii
Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 26(4)
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Gifford v Kelson 1943
(Canada – Manitoba) ‘suspicion is much less than belief; belief includes and absorbs suspicion’. . .
Cited – Dallison v Caffery CACD 1965
It is for the detaining authority to justify all periods of detention.
The court described the common law duty on a prosecutor to disclose material. Lord Denning MR said: ‘The duty of a prosecuting counsel or solicitor, as I have always . .
Cited – O’Hara v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary HL 21-Nov-1996
The plaintiff had been arrested on the basis of the 1984 Act. The officer had no particular knowledge of the plaintiff’s involvement, relying on a briefing which led to the arrest.
Held: A reasonable suspicion upon which an arrest was founded . .
Cited – Johnson v Whitehouse 1984
There is a relevant distinction between suspecting and believing in a police officer’s mind: ‘the dictionary definitions of those words . . of course, do show that the word ‘believe’ connotes a greater degree of certainty, or perhaps a smaller . .
Cited – Dallison v Caffery CACD 1965
It is for the detaining authority to justify all periods of detention.
The court described the common law duty on a prosecutor to disclose material. Lord Denning MR said: ‘The duty of a prosecuting counsel or solicitor, as I have always . .
Cited – Baker v Oxford 1980
The court considered the distinction between ‘belief’ and ‘suspicion’ when powers of arrest are exercised. . .
Cited – Regina (Aru) v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police CA 30-Jan-2004
The applicant had been cautioned by the police. The victim sought judicial review of that decision. The respondent now appealed.
Held: The court of appeal had no jurisdiction to hear an appeal against a judicial review in a criminal matter . .
Cited – Ex parte Alice Woodhall CA 8-May-1888
Extradition proceedings are in their nature criminal proceedings. Lindley LJ said: ‘Can we say that the application in the present case is not an application in a criminal cause or matter? I think that in substance it certainly is. Its whole object . .
Cited – JR14, Re Judicial Review QBNI 22-Nov-2007
The court said that the test of whether proceedings were in a criminal cause or matter should be: ‘Is the application before the court ancillary or incidental to a substantive process which places the applicant at risk of a criminal charge or . .
Cited – Regina (Aru) v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police CA 30-Jan-2004
The applicant had been cautioned by the police. The victim sought judicial review of that decision. The respondent now appealed.
Held: The court of appeal had no jurisdiction to hear an appeal against a judicial review in a criminal matter . .
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 – Amand v Home Secretary and Minister of Defence of Royal Netherlands Government HL 1943
A Dutch serviceman who had been arrested for desertion and brought before a magistrate who ordered him to be handed over to the Dutch military authorities under the Allied Forces Act 1940. An application for habeas corpus was rejected by a . .
Cited – Cuoghi v Governor of Her Majesty’s Prison Brixton and Government of Switzerland CA 15-Jul-1997
The obtaining of an order to obtain evidence in support of a writ of habeas corpus application is a criminal matter. The Court of Appeal has no civil jurisdiction. Extradition proceedings, as well as proceedings ancillary or incidental to those . .
Cited – Regina v Blandford Justices CA 1990
The applicant had been charged with public order offences and had been remanded in custody by the Magistrates’ Court. He immediately commenced judicial review proceedings on the grounds that he was charged with an offence which was not punishable . .
Cited – Carr v Atkins CA 1987
The police had applied to a judge for an order under the 1984 Act requiring the applicant, a suspect in a fraud investigation, to produce documents falling within the definition of ‘special procedure documents’ under the Act. The applicants sought . .
Cited – In Re Coleman’s Application CANI 1988
The court asked what was the result of a first instance hearing of a matter where it had incorrectly concluded the matter to be a criminal cause. Was it ultra vires?
Held: Lord Lowry CJ said: ‘It is an accepted maxim that nothing is to be . .

Cited by:
Cited – Richardson v The Chief Constable of West Midlands Police QBD 29-Mar-2011
The claimant, a teacher, said he had been unlawfully arrested and detained after an allegation of assault from a pupil. Having attended the police station voluntarily, he said that the circumstances did not satisfy the required precondition that an . .
Cited – Hayes v Merseyside Police CA 29-Jul-2011
The claimant had been arrested after a complaint of harassment. The officer then contacted the complainant who then withdrew his complaint. The officer went to visit the complainant to discuss it further. On his return the claimant was released from . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Northern Ireland, Police, Litigation Practice, Judicial Review

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.346495

Pepper (UK) Ltd (T/A Engage Credit) v Fox (P/A Barry Fox, Solicitors): ChNI 14 Jan 2016

Application by Pepper (UK) Ltd t/a Engage Credit against Emma Jane Fox practising as Barry Fox, Solicitors for the delivery up of all papers, documents and title deeds in the possession and custody of the Solicitors and belonging to the plaintiff relating to mortgage business in respect of a mortgage and premises in County Tyrone. The solicitors said that certain documents related to advice given to the mortgagor’s wife and were confidential to her. The lender said that having acted for them in the matter, all documents were to be disclosed.

Horner J
[2016] NICh 1
Bailii
Citing:
Cited – Leicester County Council v Michael Faraday and Partners CA 1941
The Court rejected a claim for production of all documents, books, maps and plans in possession of rating valuers who were employed by the County Council to give advice and held that the relationship of the County Council and the valuers was that of . .
Cited – Chantrey Martin v Martin CA 1953
The professional working papers of a firm of accountants were held not to be the property of the client, but letters and other papers created by accountants as agent for client were the client’s property: ‘Working accounts and other papers which . .
Cited – Mortgage Express Ltd v Bowerman and Partners (A Firm) CA 1-Aug-1995
A solicitor acting for both a lender and a borrower was under a duty to disclose relevant information to the lender client. An incident of their duty to exercise reasonable care and skill, solicitors are obliged to advise their lender client in . .
Cited – Nationwide Building Society v Various Solicitors ChD 20-Jul-1999
The case draws a distinction in group and consolidated actions between costs incurred on the general points which have been common to the parties and which brought the actions together and costs incurred in dealing with matters specific to the . .
Cited – The Mortgage Business Plc and Bank of Scotland Plc (T/A Birmingham Midshires) v Thomas Taggart and Sons ChNI 30-Apr-2014
. .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Northern Ireland, Legal Professions

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.564915

Regina v Board of Visitors of the Maze Prison, ex Parte Hone: HL 21 Jan 1987

The House was asked whether a prisoner appearing before a Board of visitors on a disciplinary charge is entitled as of right to legal representation at the hearing. The prisoners had failed in their claims to such a right.
Held: The argument that they were entitled as of right to legal representation at the hearing was rejected.
Lord Goff of Chieveley said: ‘though the rules of natural justice may require legal representation before a board of visitors, I can see no basis for Mr Hill’s submission that they should do so in every case as of right. Everything must depend on the circumstances of the particular case . . But it is easy to envisage circumstances in which the rules of natural justice do not call for representation, even though the disciplinary charge relates to a matter which constitutes in law a crime, as may well happen in the case of a simple assault where no question of law arises, and where the prisoner charged is capable of presenting his own case. To hold otherwise would result in wholly unnecessary delays in many cases, to the detriment of all concerned including the prisoner charged, and to wholly unnecessary waste of time and money, contrary to the public interest.’

The Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone, Lord Chancellor, Lord Bridge of Harwich, Lord Ackner, Lord Oliver of Aylmerton, Lord Goff of Chieveley
[1988] AC 379, [1988] 2 WLR 177, [1988] 1 All ER 321, [1987] UKHL 9
Bailii
Prison Act (Northern Ireland) 1953
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Home Secretary, Ex parte Tarrant and Others 1985
An application for an oral hearing by the prisoner had been made on a special basis. The court set out six considerations of the conditions under which a prisoner facing internal disciplinary proceedings should be given access to legal . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Prisons, Human Rights, Northern Ireland, Natural Justice

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.248700

Callaghan v Independent News and Media Ltd: QBNI 7 Jan 2009

callaghan_inmQBNI2009

The claimant was convicted in 1987 of a callous sexual murder. He sought an order preventing the defendant newspaper publishing anything to allow his or his family’s identification and delay his release. The defendant acknowledged the need to avoid the identification, but disputed the extent of the restriction to be given.
Held: The order was made as requested. Articles published to date had been designed to create hostility, and were unbalanced, and without being informative as to any risks: ‘the articles are calculated to and do incite hatred’ and ‘when carrying out any balancing exercise it is important not to conflate two aspects of public interest. There is on the one hand a recognised legitimate public interest in relation to the debate as to whether it is right to publish detailed information about sex offenders when they are to be released into the community and if so the extent of that information. I will term that ‘the wider debate’. On the other hand there is a narrower and particular debate in this case as to whether it is in the public interest to publish unpixelated photographs of a particular individual that is the first plaintiff. I will term that ‘the narrower debate’. There are various observations that can be made about the public interest in the wider and narrower debates. It is not necessary to publish photographs of the first plaintiff to participate in the wider debate. A public interest in the wider debate does not establish a public interest in the publication of unpixelated photographs of the first plaintiff. ‘ and ‘the test requires the publisher to consider whether a proposed series of articles, which is likely to cause distress to an individual, will constitute an abuse of the freedom of press which the pressing social needs of a democratic society require should be curbed. ‘

Stephens J
[2009] NIQB 1
Bailii
Protection from Harassment (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 1
Citing:
Mentioned – Regina v Wright and others NICC 2007
On 26 December 2004 the defendant murdered Noel McComb, a street alcoholic believing, incorrectly, that his victim was a paedophile. . .
Cited – Hellewell v Chief Constable of Derbyshire QBD 13-Jan-1995
The police were asked by shopkeepers concerned about shoplifting, for photographs of thieves so that the staff would recognise them. The police provided photographs including one of the claimant taken in custody. The traders were told only to show . .
Cited – Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd QBD 24-Jul-2008
mosley_newsgroupQBD2008
The defendant published a film showing the claimant involved in sex acts with prostitutes. It characterised them as ‘Nazi’ style. He was the son of a fascist leader, and a chairman of an international sporting body. He denied any nazi element, and . .
Cited – Regina (on the Application of Ellis) v The Chief Constable of Essex Police Admn 12-Jun-2003
An officer proposed to print the face of a convicted burglar on posters to be displayed in the town. The court considered the proposal. The probation service objected that the result would be to make it more difficult for him to avoid criminality on . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) (‘Spycatcher’) HL 13-Oct-1988
Loss of Confidentiality Protection – public domain
A retired secret service employee sought to publish his memoirs from Australia. The British government sought to restrain publication there, and the defendants sought to report those proceedings, which would involve publication of the allegations . .
Cited – Derbyshire County Council v Times Newspapers Ltd and Others HL 18-Feb-1993
Local Council may not Sue in Defamation
Local Authorities must be open to criticism as political and administrative bodies, and so cannot be allowed to sue in defamation. Such a right would operate as ‘a chill factor’ on free speech. Freedom of speech was the underlying value which . .
Cited – Jersild v Denmark ECHR 20-Oct-1994
A journalist was wrongly convicted himself of spreading racial hatred by quoting racists in his material.
Held: Freedom of expression is one of the essential foundations of a democratic society. The safeguards to be afforded to the press are . .
Cited – Thomas v News Group Newspapers Ltd CA 18-Jul-2001
The publication of articles in a newspaper describing how a ‘black clerk’ had complained about the allegedly racist comments of two policemen was said to have caused the claimant to receive racist hate mail.
Held: The court considered the type . .
Cited – Lehideux And Isorni v France ECHR 23-Sep-1998
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 10; Non-pecuniary damage – finding of violation sufficient; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings . .
Cited – Broadmoor Hospital Authority and Another v Robinson CA 20-Dec-1999
Where a body was given statutory duties, it would normally be entitled to orders restraining others from interfering with its performance of those duties. A patient detained under the Act had written a book, and the Hospital had sought to restrain . .
Cited – Howlett v Holding QBD 25-Jan-2006
The claimant sought an injunction against the defendant who had taken to flying airplanes above her house trailing banners making allegations against her, and also to making surveillance of her.
Held: The defence under the 1997 Act excusing . .

Cited by:
Mentioned – Hayes v Willoughby CA 13-Dec-2011
Harassment Occurs on the Result, not the Intention
The claimant said that over several years, the respondent had pursued him in many ways challenging his management of a company’s affairs. Complaints had been investigated by the insolvency service and by the police who had discovered nothing to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Northern Ireland, Media, Human Rights

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.279845

CS, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 30 Apr 2015

QBNI This is a judicial review of decisions made on 24 September 2014 and 1 October 2014 by Queen’s University Belfast (‘QUB’) to ‘temporarily withdraw’ the applicant from the University for the duration of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (‘SOPO’) which expires on 5 September 2019, after which period the applicant could apply to the University for re-admission. It is important to emphasise that this is not an appeal on the merits. This is an application for judicial review.
[2] The court has declined to grant the judicial review for the following reasons:
(i) It has concluded that the Board of Visitors has exclusive jurisdiction to hear the applicant’s appeal from the decisions of which he complains, subject to four exceptions. These are that the Board can be subject to judicial review when it exceeds its jurisdiction, abuses its powers, breaches the principles of natural justice and/or does not protect the rights a party enjoys under the European Convention of Human Rights (‘the Convention’).
(ii) Regardless of the exclusive jurisdiction of the Board, the court requires the applicant to exhaust his remedy before that Board prior to seeking any judicial review.
(iii) The judicial and extra judicial support from many eminent legal figures for the exclusive jurisdiction of the Board of Visitors offered over hundreds of years, remains as true today as when it was originally offered. Indeed, there are good grounds for concluding that the judicial tide flows even more strongly in favour of hearings taking place before such bodies. Of course, as a public authority the Board is now obliged to act in a Convention compliant way.
(iv) In any event the challenge is premature. The process has not yet run its course. At common law and under the Convention, the whole process has to be considered in assessing whether there have been breaches of the applicant’s convention or common law rights. The court is not in a position, nor should it try to determine whether the applicant’s common law or convention rights have been infringed. This should only take place after there has been a full hearing before the Board of Visitors.

Horner J
[2015] NIQB 36
Bailii
European Convention of Human Rights
Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland, Education, Human Rights

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.547271

Kirk Session of Sandown Free Presbyterian Church, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 22 Mar 2011

Ban on Gay Condemnation was Infringement

The church claimant was prohibited by the ASA from publishing a one page advert in a national newspaper condemning homosexuality. As well as stating that ‘the act of sodomy is a grave offence’ and ‘an abomination’, the banned advert had encouraged people to peacefully protest at a forthcoming ‘Gay Pride’ parade.
Held: The ban was disproportionate under Article 10(2) because of the importance of freedom of expression: ‘The applicant’s religious views and the biblical scripture which underpins those views no doubt cause offence, even serious offence, to those of a certain sexual orientation. Likewise, the practice of homosexuality may have a similar effect on those of a particular religious faith. But Art 10 protects expressive rights which offend shock or disturb… the respondent has failed to convincingly establish the necessity for such restriction which, in my view, disproportionately interferes with the applicant’s freedom of expression. In making this assessment I have taken into account the very particular context in which the advertisement was placed, the fact that the advertisement did not condone and was not likely to provoke violence, contained no exhortation to other improper or illegal activity, constituted a genuine attempt to stand up for their religious beliefs and to encourage others to similarly bear witness and did so by citing well known portions of scripture which underpinned their religious faith and their call to bear witness…’

Treacy J
[2011] NIQB 26, [2011] NI 242
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 10
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Handyside v The United Kingdom ECHR 7-Dec-1976
The appellant had published a ‘Little Red Schoolbook’. He was convicted under the 1959 and 1964 Acts on the basis that the book was obscene, it tending to deprave and corrupt its target audience, children. The book claimed that it was intended to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Human Rights, Media

Leading Case

Updated: 31 October 2021; Ref: scu.440639

Down Lisburn Health and Social Services Trust and Another v H and Another: HL 12 Jul 2006

The House considered when adoption law would allow an adoption without the consent of the birth parent where there had been some continuing contact between that parent and the child.
Held: (Baroness Hale dissenting) The appeal against the adoption was dismissed. The judge’s opinion had been expressed strongly but he had expressed the law accurately, and applied it. His decision was within the range of proper decisions.
Baroness Hale pointed out that the United Kingdom is unusual in Europe in permitting the total severance of family ties without parental consent.

Lord Nicholls of Birkenhead, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Carswell
[2006] UKHL 36
Bailii
Adoption (Northern Ireland) Order 1987 18(1)
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – In re W (An Infant) HL 1971
The court considered the reasonability of parental disagreement in applications for adoption: ‘Two reasonable parents can perfectly reasonably come to opposite conclusions on the same set of facts without forfeiting their title to be regarded as . .
Cited – Re C (A Minor) (Adoption Order: Conditions) HL 1988
The House considered the question of conditions to be applied to any continued contact with a child after adoption. Lord Ackner said: ‘The cases rightly stress that in normal circumstances it is desirable that there should be a complete break, but . .
Cited – Yousef v The Netherlands ECHR 5-Nov-2002
In ‘judicial decisions where the rights under article 8 of parents and of a child are at stake, the child’s rights must be the paramount consideration.’ . .
Cited – G v G (Minors: Custody Appeal) HL 25-Apr-1985
The House asked when a decision, on the facts, of a first instance court is so wrong as to allow it to be overturned on appeal.
Held: The epithet ‘wrong’ is to be applied to the substance of the decision made by the lower court. ‘Certainly it . .
Cited – Re G (Children) CA 20-May-2002
. .
Cited – Re C (a Minor) (Adoption: Parental Agreement: Contact) CA 1993
Where adoption is to be considered against the will of the parent, the court should recognise when asking whether the opposition was unreasonable that the test is objective and supposes that this person is endowed with a mind and temperament capable . .
Cited – In re E (A Minor) (Care Order: Contract) CA 1994
The court considered the benefits to a child of continuing parental contact while the child remained in care.
Simon Brown LJ said: ‘I recognise of course that the threshold criteria for a care order under section 31 of the 1989 Act require the . .
Cited – P, C and S v United Kingdom ECHR 2002
The local authority had obtained the issue of an Emergency Protection Order under the 1989 Act to remove a child at birth.
Held: Where the possibility of harm arose from the mother introducing something into the child’s system (such as a . .
Cited – K And T v Finland ECHR 27-Apr-2000
Hudoc Judgment (Merits and just satisfaction) Violation of Art. 8; No violation of Art. 13; Non-pecuniary damage – financial award; Costs and expenses partial award – Convention proceedings; Costs and expenses . .
Cited – In re L (An Infant) CA 1962
That a proposed adoption of a child would be in the child’s best interests is not necessarily an indication that the parent’s opposition to the adoption is unreasonable: ‘A reasonable mother surely gives great weight to what is better for the child. . .
Cited – In re D (An Infant) (Adoption: Parent’s Consent) HL 1977
The father opposed adoption of a child by the mother and her new husband. The House was asked whether his opposition was unreasonable.
Held: Lord Wilberforce said: ‘What, in my understanding, is required is for the court to ask whether the . .
Cited – In re E (Minors) (Adoption: Parental Agreement) 1990
Aa application for a freeing order was premature. . .
Cited – In re KLA (An Infant) 2000
Sir John MacDermott considered the purpose of freeing orders. The purpose was: ‘to find out if a child would be available for adoption before prospective adopters were found and their hopes frustrated if the adoption court ruled that consent was not . .
Cited – In re C (Minors) (Adoption) 1992
. .
Cited – In Re P (Minors) (Adoption: Freeing Orders) FD 25-Jul-1994
A judge should not order continued contact after the making of freeing orders which were made without the consent of the mother. . .
Cited – In Re A (A Minor) (Adoption: Contact Order) CA 24-Jun-1993
A contact order had been properly granted with an order freeing the child for adoption. Butler-Sloss LJ: ‘The effect of an order freeing a child for adoption is to extinguish parental responsibility of those previously endowed with it and thus to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Adoption

Leading Case

Updated: 31 October 2021; Ref: scu.243080

Sandale Developments, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 20 Mar 2013

[2013] NIQB 38
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503537

Brown v Department for Regional Development: CANI 9 Apr 2013

Renewed application for leave to appeal.
Morgan LCJ, Higgins LJ and McCloskey J
[2013] NICA 17
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503549

Miskelly v The Restaurant Group UK Ltd: CANI 15 Mar 2013

[2013] NICA 15
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503546

McCann and Another v Vector Facilities Management and Another: CANI 15 Mar 2013

[2013] NICA 14
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503545

Ostroleka Regional Court, Poland v Rzewnicki: QBNI 10 Apr 2013

[2013] NIQB 42
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503539

Bradley, Regina v: CANI 4 Mar 2013

[2013] NICA 12
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503544

Maye and Another, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 22 Mar 2013

[2013] NIQB 39
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503535

JH, Re Judicial Rview: QBNI 8 Mar 2013

[2013] NIQB 28
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503533

HL (A Minor) v Facebook Incorporated and Others: QBNI 1 Mar 2013

[2013] NIQB 25
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503530

Campbell, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 14 Mar 2013

[2013] NIQB 32
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503528

Quinn, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 22 Feb 2013

[2013] NIQB 24
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503526

Cooleys, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 14 Mar 2013

[2013] NIQB 31
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503529

Gibson (Banbridge) Ltd v Fermanagh District Council: QBNI 4 Feb 2013

[2013] NIQB 16
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503523

Independent Health and Care Providers, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 7 Mar 2013

[2013] NIQB 29
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503531

Irish Waste Services Ltd v Northern Ireland Water Ltd and Others: QBNI 25 Mar 2013

[2013] NIQB 41
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503532

Northstone (Ni) Ltd v KPF Contracts Ltd: QBNI 31 Jan 2013

[2013] NIQB 11
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503522

JR 57, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 11 Mar 2013

[2013] NIQB 33
Bailii

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.503534

Kennedy, Magee, Mccartney, Coyle, Smyth, Macdonald, Treacy, Mallon and Quinlivan, In the Matter of: NIHC 13 Apr 2000

[2000] NIEHC 3
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 27 October 2021; Ref: scu.166339

Doherty and Another v Perrett and Others: CANI 30 Jun 2015

[2015] NICA 52
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 26 October 2021; Ref: scu.560569

PF and JF, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 7 Mar 2011

[2011] NIQB 20
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 26 October 2021; Ref: scu.440643

(Un-named)C18/96(DLA): NISSCS 10 May 1996

[1996] NISSCSC C18/96(DLA)
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 26 October 2021; Ref: scu.240586

(Un-named) C17 – 96(DLA): NISSCS 10 May 1996

[1996] NISSCSC C17/96(DLA)
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 26 October 2021; Ref: scu.240585

(Un-named) C6/96(IS): NISSCS 10 May 1996

[1996] NISSCSC C6/96(IS)
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 26 October 2021; Ref: scu.240592

Regina v Murray and Others: CCNI 2 Jun 2011

[2011] NICC 26
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 26 October 2021; Ref: scu.440591

LG v Department for Social Development (ESA): NISSCS 26 Nov 2015

[2015] NICom 63
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 10 October 2021; Ref: scu.556449

EP v Department for Social Development (ESA) (Capital): NISSCS 4 Dec 2015

[2015] NICom 60
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 10 October 2021; Ref: scu.556451

JG v Department for Social Development (ESA) (Human Rights – Article 6 – Right To A Fair Trial): NISSCS 4 Dec 2015

[2015] NICom 61
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 10 October 2021; Ref: scu.556452

Crilly, Regina v: CCNI 1 Apr 2011

[2011] NICC 14
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 08 October 2021; Ref: scu.439706

Re the Estate of Patricia Milliken: ChNI 20 Apr 2021

[2021] NICh 5
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 06 October 2021; Ref: scu.667454

NB v HMRC (TC): NISSCS 2 Sep 2016

(Child Care Element)
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 29 September 2021; Ref: scu.569448

Irvine v Sunday Newspapers Ltd: QBNI 6 Dec 2013

The plaintiff has sued the defendant for defamation arising out of an article published in the Sunday World on the 28 October 2012 under the heading ‘Fury over UVF’s Nice Little Board’s Earner ‘.
Gillen J
[2013] NIQB 126
Bailii
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Hulton and Co v Jones HL 6-Dec-1909
The defendant newspaper published an article describing the attendance at a motor race at Dieppe. It described the antics, intending to refer to a fictitious person, of one Artemus Jones, and said of him that he was ‘with a woman who is not his . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 September 2021; Ref: scu.544029

Ryder v Northern Ireland Policing Board: CANI 23 Nov 2007

Kerr LCJ said: ‘A number of recent appeals from decisions of the Fair Employment/Industrial tribunals have involved challenges to conclusions reached on preliminary points – see, for instance, Bombadier Aerospace v McConnell and Cunningham v Ballylaw Foods. While I do not suggest that the hearing of a preliminary issue will never be appropriate for determination by a tribunal, I consider that the power to determine a preliminary point should be sparingly exercised. It is, I believe, often difficult to segregate in a wholly compartmentalised way a single issue in this field from other material that may have relevance to the matter to be decided.’
Kerr LCJ, Higgins LJ and Girvan LJ
[2007] NICA 43, [2008] 4 BNIL 34
Bailii
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Appeal from – Ryder v Northern Ireland Policing Board FENI 20-Jan-2006
. .

Cited by:
Cited – SCA Packaging Ltd v Boyle (Northern Ireland) HL 1-Jul-2009
The claimant suffered a condition which would lead to the development of vocal nodules unless she followed a program which would allow her to avoid raising her voice. She said that employer should not have placed her within a noisy environment. The . .
Cited – Lee v Ashers Baking Company Ltd and Others SC 10-Oct-2018
The court considered whether a power of appeal to the existed.
Held: A power did exist under FETO, and the CANI having mistakenly excluded a power to appeal the Supreme Court could nevertheless hear it. Both appeals were allowed. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 27 September 2021; Ref: scu.261675

Main and Another, Regina v: CCNI 26 Jun 2007

[2007] NICC 23
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 12 September 2021; Ref: scu.258325

Martin Estates Ltd v Watt and Hunter: CANI 1925

Barracks were leased for police purposes to a receiver for the Royal Ulster Constabulary. On expiry the landlord moved for possession. The tenant resisted, citing legislation enacted to protect tenants of houses from disturbance in their occupation. He claimed to enjoy possession or occupation of the barracks.
Held: Occupation means actual physical enjoyment. The defence was rejected. Housing let for the public service and occupied by public servants was not a dwelling for the purposes of the Rent Acts and that policemen in police barracks, patients in hospital and inmates in a gaol could not claim security of tenure.
Moore, Andrews LJJ
[1925] NI 79
Northern Ireland
Cited by:
Cited – ZH and CN, Regina (on The Applications of) v London Boroughs of Newham and Lewisham SC 12-Nov-2014
The court was asked whether the 1977 Act required a local authorty to obtain a court order before taking possession of interim accommodation it provided to an apparently homeless person while it investigated whether it owed him or her a duty under . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 September 2021; Ref: scu.554542

Mclaughlin’s Application: QBNI 9 Feb 2016

The claimant appealed from refusal of payment of Bereavement Benefit and Widowed Parent’s Allowance on the grounds that she had neither married nor been civil partner of her deceased partner. She applied for judicial review of that decision on the ground that the relevant legislation was incompatible with the ECHR.
Held: That claim succeeded in part. Treacy J made a declaration of incompatibility under section 4(2) of the Human Rights Act 1998, that section 39A(1) of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits (Northern Ireland) Act 1992 is incompatible with article 8 of the ECHR in conjunction with article 14 ‘insofar as it restricts eligibility for Widowed Parent’s Allowance by reference to the marital status of the applicant and the deceased’. He rejected the claim in relation to the bereavement payment.
Treacy J
[2016] NIQB 11
Bailii
Social Security Contributions and Benefits (NI) Act 1992 36A 39A, European Convention on Human Rights 8
Northern Ireland
Cited by:
Appeal from – Mclaughlin, Re Judicial Review CANI 13-Dec-2016
Widowed parent’s allowance. The Court of Appeal unanimously held that the legislation was not incompatible with article 14, read either with article 8 or with A1P1 . .
Cited – McLaughlin, Re Judicial Review SC 30-Aug-2018
The applicant a differently sexed couple sought to marry under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, but complained that they would lose the benefits of widowed parent’s allowance. Parliament had decided to delay such rules to allow assessment of reaction . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 September 2021; Ref: scu.564938

McCallion Brothers Ltd v Fisher, Northern Ireland Housing Executive and Another: ChNI 10 Jan 2012

[2012] NICh 5
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 03 September 2021; Ref: scu.460324

Santander (UK) Plc v Parker: ChNI 20 Jan 2012

Mortgage possession claim
[2012] NICh 6
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 03 September 2021; Ref: scu.460325

Callender Street Trustees Ltd v Lidl Northern Ireland Gmbh: ChNI 10 May 2012

[2012] NICh 14
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 03 September 2021; Ref: scu.460331

Hayes v Mcguigan and Others [No 2]: ChNI 7 Dec 2011

[2011] NICh 25
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 03 September 2021; Ref: scu.451630

Quinn Finance and Others v Galfis Overseas Ltd: ChNI 31 Mar 2012

Challenge to series of assignments – backdating
[2012] NICh 9
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 03 September 2021; Ref: scu.460328

Young v Hamilton and Others: ChNI 24 Feb 2012

Issue of quantum and costs arising from the Court’s earlier judgment. – claim in misrepresentation
[2012] NICh 4
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 03 September 2021; Ref: scu.460326

Crawfordsburn Inn Ltd v Graham: QBNI 11 Jun 2013

[2013] NIQB 79
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 30 August 2021; Ref: scu.517512

Rodgers, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 11 Jun 2013

[2013] NIQB 69
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 30 August 2021; Ref: scu.513894

Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Ltd v Quinn: ChNI 10 Jan 2012

Deeny J
[2012] NICh 1
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 24 August 2021; Ref: scu.450319

McKee v Chief Constable for Northern Ireland: HL 1984

The House considered the state of mind of an officer required to allow an arrest under the section.
Held: Lord Roskill said: ‘On the true construction of section 11(1) of the statute, what matters is the state of mind of the arresting officer and of no one else. That state of mind can legitimately be derived from the instruction given to the arresting officer by his superior officer. The arresting officer is not bound and indeed may well not be entitled to question those instructions or to ask upon what information they are founded.’
Lord Roskill
[1985] 1 All ER 1, [1984] NI 169, [1984] 1 WLR 1358
Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978 11(1)
Northern Ireland
Cited by:
Distinguished – O’Hara v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary HL 21-Nov-1996
The plaintiff had been arrested on the basis of the 1984 Act. The officer had no particular knowledge of the plaintiff’s involvement, relying on a briefing which led to the arrest.
Held: A reasonable suspicion upon which an arrest was founded . .
Distinguished – Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Raissi CA 12-Nov-2008
The Commissioner appealed against an award of damages for false imprisonment. The claimant had been arrested shortly after a terrorist attack. The judge had held that they had no reasonable belief of his involvement. The Commissioner did not now . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 August 2021; Ref: scu.298305

Regina v HM Attorney-General for Northern Ireland and Another Ex Parte Devine, Same Ex Parte Breslin: HL 1 Apr 1992

The Coroner had held an inquest into the deaths of three persons who had been shot by soldiers. The Coroner had admitted statements made by the soldiers under Rule 17 of the Northern Ireland Rules. Those statements had been produced in evidence by the officers who had taken the statements. The statements of witnesses were admitted at an inquest despite the fact that the evidence was not compellable.
Held: Since under common law, the statements could be produced by the witnesses who were called, the application for judicial review was dismissed.
Lord Goff said: ‘The function of rule 17, which was first introduced in the Rules of 1963, is to regulate the circumstances in which a coroner in Northern Ireland may simply admit a document in evidence, without requiring the maker of the document to attend the inquest and give oral evidence. If the document is admitted as such in evidence under the rule, the contents of the document can no doubt be treated as evidence in the same way as the evidence of the maker of the document given orally to the like effect would have been so treated. In the absence of rule 17 there would, so far as I am aware, have been nothing to restrict the power of the coroner (who in the conduct of an inquisition has historically not been bound by the strict rules of evidence applicable in litigation: see Rex v Divine, ex part Walton [1930] w KB 29, 36, per Talbot J) to admit a document in evidence in t his way. It was for this reason that, in McKerr v Armagh Coroner [1990] 1 WLR 649, 657-658, I referred to rule 17 (as substituted by amendment in 1980) as an example of a rule of practice or procedure which restricts the power of a coroner, and described the rule as one which defines the power of a coroner to admit documentary evidence.
But, in agreement with both Carswell J and the Court of Appeal, I cannot see that rule 17 has the effect of excluding evidence which may otherwise be admissible, even it it is in documentary form. In particular, I cannot see that the rule excludes the power of a coroner to admit hearsay evidence otherwise proved simply because such evidence has been reduced to documentary form. The evidence in the present case consists of statements made by soldiers A, B and C to police officers, which were proved to have been so given by the police officers in question. Had these statements not been recorded in writing, rule 17 would obviously have been irrelevant, and it would have been open to the coroner to admit the statements in evidence, although the evidence was in such circumstances hearsay. As it was, the statements were recorded in writing; but it would be absurd that this fact should render such evidence inadmissible. I cannot see that rule 17, even on the assumption that the written statements were not admissible simply as documentary evidence under the rule, has the effect of excluding the statements as proved by the police officers in the present case. On this basis, the conclusion of the courts below on the admissibility of the evidence is, in my opinion, fully supportable.’
Lord Goff
Gazette 01-Apr-1992, [1992] 1 WLR 262
Coroners (Practice and Procedure) Rules (NI) 1980 17
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Appeal from – Regina v HM Attorney-General for Northern Ireland and Another Ex Parte Devine CANI 1992
An inquest was held into three deaths thought to be at the hands of British soldiers. The coroner had admitted written evidence from statements taken by British officers on the basis that the makers of the statements were not compellable as . .
Adhered to – McKerr v Armagh Coroner HL 1990
It is for the coroner to decide how to adduce the necessary evidence as to death. Lord Goff discussed Rule 17 of the 1980 Rules: ‘Nor, in my opinion, does the mere fact that a rule restricts the power of a coroner as to the evidence which he may . .

Cited by:
Cited – In re McKerr (Northern Ireland) HL 11-Mar-2004
The deceased had been shot by soldiers of the British Army whilst in a car in Northern Ireland. The car was alleged to have ‘run’ a checkpoint. The claimants said the investigation, now 20 years ago, had been inadequate. The claim was brought under . .
Cited – Assistant Deputy Coroner of Inner West London v Paul and Another, Regina on the Application of CA 28-Nov-2007
The coroner appealed a judicial review granted after he allowed into evidence, hearsay evidence contained in a written statemnent from a witness who could not attend the inquest.
Held: Rule 37 does not allow the admission of a document, even . .
Cited – Regina v Davis HL 18-Jun-2008
The defendant had been tried for the murder of two men by shooting them at a party. He was identified as the murderer by three witnesses who had been permitted to give evidence anonymously, from behind screens, because they had refused, out of fear, . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 August 2021; Ref: scu.86862

Curran v Northern Ireland Co-Ownership Housing Association: HL 1987

The claimant bought a property. The previous owner had had it refurbished with a grant, but it now appeared that that work had been defective. He sought damages in negligence from the defendant grant paying authority for having paid out the full amount of the grant without having withheld under the Order a sum to cover the necessary works of repair.
Held: The statutory power to withhold part payment was exercisable in favour of the defendants only, and they had no duty of care to a subsequent purchaser of the property. No duty was imposed on the Council where the purpose of the statutory scheme was to protect the public:
Lord Bridge of Harwich
[1987] 2 All ER 13, [1987] 2 WLR 1043, [1987] AC 718
Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 (1976 No 1780) 47(2)(3) 60(5)
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Distinguished – Anns and Others v Merton London Borough Council HL 12-May-1977
The plaintiff bought her apartment, but discovered later that the foundations were defective. The local authority had supervised the compliance with Building Regulations whilst it was being built, but had failed to spot the fault. The authority . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 August 2021; Ref: scu.188819

Attorney-General for Northern Ireland v Gallagher: HL 1961

The defendant appealed against his conviction for the murder of his wife. The court allowed his appeal on the ground of a misdirection. The prosecutor having now appealed, he sought to plead insanity.
Held: The appeal was allowed on the new ground. While the Appellate Committee always pays close attention to the formulation of questions certified by the Court of Appeal, it is not bound by the terms of the certification: ‘one thing which this House considers in deciding whether to give leave in a civil case is whether the case involves a point of law which ought to be considered by this House. But once leave is given this House can and does consider other points as well. Sub-section (2) could well mean that, whereas in civil cases the existence of such a point is only one element, though an important element, in deciding whether to give leave, in criminal cases it is an indispensable element.’
Lord Denning said: ‘ the general principle of English law that, subject to very limited exceptions, drunkenness is no defence to a criminal charge, nor is a defect of reason produced by drunkenness. This principle was stated by Sir Matthew Hale in his Pleas of the Crown, I, page 32, in words which I would repeat here: ‘This vice’ [drunkenness] ‘doth deprive men of the use of reason, and puts many men into a perfect,’ but temporary phrenzy. . By the laws of England such a person shall have no privilege by this voluntary contracted madness, but shall have the same judgment as if he were in his right senses.’
Lord Reid, Lord Denning, Lord Goddard, Lord Tucker, Lord Morris of Borth-y-Gest
[1961] 3 All ER 299, [1961] UKHL 2, [1963] AC 349
Bailii
Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876, Administration of Justice Act 1960 1(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Milne and Others v Commissioner of Police for City of London HL 1940
The House is not bound on an appeal brought pursuant to a certificate granted under section 1(6) of the 1907 Act to limit the appeal to the certified point. Lord Atkin discussed the 1907 Act: ‘I mention the section in order to support the view that . .

Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Soneji and Bullen HL 21-Jul-2005
The defendants had had confiscation orders made against them. They had appealed on the basis that the orders were made more than six months after sentence. The prosecutor now appealed saying that the fact that the order were not timely did not . .
Cited – Ceredigion County Council v Jones and others HL 23-May-2007
The parties had disputed the provision of free travel to school, and permission had been granted for a leapfrog appeal direct to the House of Lords. The Council then sought instead to take the matter to the Court of Appeal. The claimants said that . .
Followed – Bratty v Attorney General of Northern Ireland HL 3-Oct-1961
The Court of Criminal Appeal of Northern Ireland certified that their decision involved two points of law of general public importance, namely whether, the defendant’s plea of insanity having been rejected by the jury, it was open to the accused to . .
Cited – Director of Public Prosecutions v Majewski HL 1976
The defendant took a cocktail of drink and drugs and, whilst intoxicated, assaulted pub landlord. He said that he did not know what he was doing, and had no mens rea, that self-induced intoxication could be a defence to a charge of assault, and that . .
Cited – Regina v Kingston HL 22-Jul-1994
Involuntary Intoxication not a General Defence
The prosecutor appealed an acquittal on appeal of the defendant for sexual assault, saying that he had not had the necessary intent because of intoxication through drink and drugs. He said that a co-defendant had secretly administered drugs to him. . .
Cited – HH v Deputy Prosecutor of The Italian Republic, Genoa SC 20-Jun-2012
In each case the defendant sought to resist European Extradition Warrants saying that an order would be a disporportionate interference in their human right to family life. The Court asked whether its approach as set out in Norris, had to be amended . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 August 2021; Ref: scu.188786

Clinton (T/A Oriel Training Services) v Department for Employment and Learning and Another: CANI 13 Nov 2012

[2012] NICA 48
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 24 August 2021; Ref: scu.468846

Ulster Bank Ltd v Fisher and Fisher: ChNI 21 Dec 1998

Girvan J
[1999] NI 68, [1998] NICh 7
Bailii
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Myers v Elman HL 1939
The solicitor had successfully appealed against an order for a contribution to the other party’s legal costs, after his clerk had filed statements in court which he knew to be misleading. The solicitor’s appeal had been successful.
Held: The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 23 August 2021; Ref: scu.202013

Gervin v John Cavanagh (T/A Rosewood Holdings): ChNI 7 Apr 2008

Deeny J
[2008] NICh 6
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 22 August 2021; Ref: scu.272358

Ulster Bank Ltd v Fisher and Fisher: NIHC 21 Dec 1998

[1998] NIEHC 7; [1999] NI 68
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 22 August 2021; Ref: scu.166322

Paisley, Re Section 36 Of the Inquiries Act 2005: QBNI 27 Nov 2008

[2008] NIQB 158
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 22 August 2021; Ref: scu.346522

Clarke, In the Matter of: NIHC 21 Dec 2000

[2000] NIEHC 64
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 17 August 2021; Ref: scu.166399

AB, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 15 Jun 2017

[2017] NIQB 57
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 16 August 2021; Ref: scu.636951

Kent, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 19 Feb 2009

[2009] NIQB 16
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 14 August 2021; Ref: scu.346490

Harvey and Another v The Taxing Master: QBNI 15 Mar 2012

[2012] NIQB 19
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 12 August 2021; Ref: scu.471610

Stewart v Piater: QBNI 24 Oct 2013

[2013] NIQB 106
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 10 August 2021; Ref: scu.517533

Siuksteris, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 24 Oct 2013

[2013] NIQB 107
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 10 August 2021; Ref: scu.518552

Joshi, Regina v: CANI 19 Dec 2012

[2012] NICA 56
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 09 August 2021; Ref: scu.468851

Scally v Southern Health and Social Services Board: HL 1991

The plaintiffs were junior doctors employed by the respondents. Their terms had been collectively negotiated, and incorporated the Regulations. During the period of their employment different regulations had given and then taken way their right to purchase additional superannuation contributions. They had not been told of the rights and had failed to exercise them. They claimed damages for breach of contract and of statutory duty.
Held: The term was valuable and not negotiated with the plaintiffs. The defendants had a duty to bring the new rights to their attention. ‘If a duty of the kind in question is not inherent in the contractual relationship, I do not see how it could possibly be derived from the tort of negligence.’ The claims were not time barred because the obligation to inform had been continuing.
Lord Bridge
[1991] 4 All ER 563, [1992] 1 AC 294, [1991] IRLR 525
Contracts of Employment and Redundancy Payments Act (Northern Ireland) 1965 4(1) 5, Health Services (Superannuation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1962 (1962 (NI) 237), Health Services (Superannuation) (Amendment) (Number 3) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1974 (1974 (NI) 327)
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Malik v Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI); Mahmud v Bank of Credit and Commerce International HL 12-Jun-1997
Allowance of Stigma Damages
The employees claimed damages, saying that the way in which their employer had behaved during their employment had led to continuing losses, ‘stigma damages’ after the termination.
Held: It is an implied term of any contract of employment that . .
Cited – Johnson v Unisys Ltd HL 23-Mar-2001
The claimant contended for a common law remedy covering the same ground as the statutory right available to him under the Employment Rights Act 1996 through the Employment Tribunal system.
Held: The statutory system for compensation for unfair . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Lennon CA 20-Feb-2004
The claimant police officer considered being transferred to Northern Ireland. He asked and was incorrectly told that his housing allowance would not be affected by taking time off work.
Held: The break between employments had affected his . .
Cited – Crossley v Faithfull and Gould Holdings Ltd CA 16-Mar-2004
The employee claimant was to retire. On his employer’s negligent advice he resigned and opted for discretionary benefits.
Held: The employer owed no general duty of care to an employee’s financial interests. Nor could a term requiring such a . .
Cited – Bermuda Cablevision Limited and others v Colica Trust Company Limited PC 6-Oct-1997
(Bermuda) An alternative remedy to winding up is available to a shareholder where oppressive conduct is alleged, though the main thrust is that the conduct is unlawful. . .
Cited – Aitken v Standard Life Assurance Ltd SCS 3-Dec-2008
The pursuer averred that the defendant, his pension provider, had wrongfully reduced its final bonus by ten per cent without notifying him. He sought to imply a term into the contract to provide such an effect, saying that the contract promised an . .
Cited – Andrews v Kings College NHS Foundation Trust and Another EAT 12-Mar-2014
EAT Practice and Procedure : Appellate Jurisdiction or Reasons or Burns-Barke – The Claimant worked as a part-time nurse from 1982 to 2010. She claimed that she was entitled to pension rights or compensation for . .
Cited – James-Bowen and Others v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis SC 25-Jul-2018
The Court was asked whether the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (‘the Commissioner’) owes a duty to her officers, in the conduct of proceedings against her based on their alleged misconduct, to take reasonable care to protect them from . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 09 August 2021; Ref: scu.182108

The Director of Public Prosecutions v Edens and Others: CANI 25 Jul 2014

The defendants had been charged with offences which in fact did not apply in Northern Ireland. The prosecutor now appealed against a refusal to allow the charge to be amended to one which did apply.
Morgan LCJ, Higgins LJ, O’Hara J
[2014] NICA 55
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.535724

Cullen v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (Northern Ireland): HL 10 Jul 2003

The claimant had been arrested. He had been refused access to a solicitor whilst detaiined, but, in breach of statutory duty, he had not been given reasons as to why access was denied. He sought damages for that failure.
Held: If damages were awardable, they would not be available without proof of special damage. The availability of a remedy by way of judicial review was significant, despite the lack of opportunity to cross examine witnesses in such cases. A relative knowing of his detention might well obtain legal advice on his behalf. Damages were not therefore available in the absence of proof of loss.
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Steyn, Lord Hutton, Lord Millett, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry
Gazette 18-Sep-2003, [2003] UKHL 39, [2003] 1 WLR 1763, [2004] 2 All ER 237, [2003] 1 WLR 1763, [2003] NI 375
House of Lords, Bailii
Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1987 15, Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act 1982 14(1)(2)
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Appeal from – Cullen v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary 1999
The claimant had been arrested and complained at his treatment.
Held: The failure to give reasons as to why his access to a solicitor was a breach of statutory duty, but there was no private law claim for damages. . .
Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of The Royal Ulster Constabulary Ex Parte Begley; Regina v McWilliams HL 24-Jul-1997
There is no right at common law to have a solicitor present during a police interview. There was no infringement of the suspect’s human rights by the Northern Ireland Rules. The House discussed its ability to take the law forward: ‘It is true that . .
Cited – X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council; M (A Minor) and Another v Newham London Borough Council; Etc HL 29-Jun-1995
Liability in Damages on Statute Breach to be Clear
Damages were to be awarded against a Local Authority for breach of statutory duty in a care case only if the statute was clear that damages were capable of being awarded. in the ordinary case a breach of statutory duty does not, by itself, give rise . .
Cited – Regina v Deputy Governor of Parkhurst Prison, Ex parte Hague, Weldon v Home Office HL 24-Jul-1991
The prisoner challenged the decision to place him in segregation under Prison Rule 43. Under rule 43(1) the initial power to segregate was given to ‘the governor’. The case arose from the fact that the governor of one prison had purported to . .
Cited – Olutu v Home Office CA 29-Nov-1996
The claimant said that she had been detained in excess of the period allowed under the 1987 Regulations, and that that detention was unlawful. She now appealed against the striking out of her claim.
Held: Her action failed. The availablility . .
Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset, ex parte Robinson 1989
Cases brought to challenge a police officer’s compliance with his statutory duty in the way he had treated a detained person was brought by judicial review. . .
Cited – Pickering v Liverpool Daily Post and Echo Newspapers plc HL 1991
Damages were awarded for a breach of statutory duty where the claimant had suffered loss or damage by reason of the breach. The publication at issue went beyond reporting and ‘it reached deeply into the substance of the matter which the court had . .
Cited – Regina v Chief Constable, ex parte McKenna 1992
A detained person challenged the police handling of his case by way of judicial review. . .

Cited by:
Cited – McE, Re; McE v Prison Service of Northern Ireland and Another HL 11-Mar-2009
Complaint was made that the prisoner’s privileged conversations with his solicitors had been intercepted by the police.
Held: The Act made explicit provisions allowing such interception and set out the appropriate safeguards. The interceptions . .
Cited – Kambadzi (previously referred to as SK (Zimbabwe)) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 25-May-2011
False Imprisonment Damages / Immigration Detention
The respondent had held the claimant in custody, but had failed to follow its own procedures. The claimant appealed against the rejection of his claim of false imprisonment. He had overstayed his immigration leave, and after convictions had served a . .
Cited – In re Brownlee for Judicial Review SC 29-Jan-2014
The appellant challenged the course taken in his criminal trial after his legal team had withdrawn citing professional embarassment. No replacement team could be found willing to act in a complicated sentencing matter because of the reduced fixed . .
Cited – Lee-Hirons v Secretary of State for Justice SC 27-Jul-2016
The appellant had been detained in a mental hospital after a conviction. Later released, he was recalled, but he was not given written reasons as required by a DoH circular. However the SS referred the recall immediately to the Tribunal. He appealed . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 06 August 2021; Ref: scu.184397

McClean, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 7 Mar 2011

[2011] NIQB 19
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 04 August 2021; Ref: scu.440640

Official Receiver for Northern Ireland v Gallagher: NIHCM 8 May 2013

[2013] NIMaster 12
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 29 July 2021; Ref: scu.513906

N and R, Re Application for Judicial Review: QBNI 8 Dec 2005

The Official Solicitor as next friend of a child N and a child R both of whom are subjects of pending Care Order proceedings before a Family Proceedings Court issued by a Community Hospital Trust seeks the following relief:
(i) A declaration that the learned Resident Magistrate hearing this case had no jurisdiction to make an Order of 22 June 2005 ordering that the guardian ad litem make disclosure of her notes of conversations with the mother of these children and with the children themselves to the mother and to the other parties in the proceedings .
(ii) Further, or in the alternative, if the learned Resident Magistrate did have jurisdiction to make the said Order for disclosure, a declaration that he erred in law in exercising his discretion to order disclosure against the guardian ad litem (‘gal’) to the extent that he did or at all.
(iii) An Order of Certiorari to remove into this Honourable court and quash the said decision.
(iv) An Order of Mandamus to compel the learned Resident Magistrate to consider the application for disclosure according to law.
[2005] NIQB 75
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 28 July 2021; Ref: scu.239074

Taylor, Regina v: CANI 7 Mar 2016

[2016] NICA 10
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 26 July 2021; Ref: scu.565967

The Attorney General for Northern Ireland and Another v The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission: CANI 29 Jun 2017

Appeal by the Attorney General and Department of Justice against an Order declaring that sections 58 and 59 of the 1861 Act and section 25 of the 1945 Act were incompatible with Article 8 of ECHR insofar as it is an offence:
(i) to procure a miscarriage at any stage during a pregnancy where the foetus has been diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality;
(ii) to procure a miscarriage up to the date when the foetus is capable of being born alive where a pregnancy arises as a result of rape or incest.
Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, suggested that it was possible to construe the words, ‘for the purpose only of preserving the life of the mother’ so as to include circumstances where the mother’s life ‘was significantly adversely affected’: ‘I accept that the grain of the 1861 Act and the 1945 Act was intended to provide substantial protection for the foetus but in my view the phrase ‘for the purpose of preserving the life of the mother’ cannot in present circumstances be interpreted reasonably as confining protection for the mother by way of abortion to those circumstances where it is likely that she will be a physical or mental wreck. I have had the benefit of affidavits sworn in these proceedings by Sarah Ewart and AT [Ashleigh Topley]. Some aspects of the effect on these women of the prohibition of abortion in this jurisdiction in their circumstances have been described in [earlier paras of the judgment]. The present law prioritises the need to protect to a reasonable extent the life that women in these emotionally devastating situations can enjoy. In my opinion that requires the court to determine what is reasonably tolerable in today’s society. That is not to be defined by the values of the 1930s. I conclude that circumstances such as those described in those affidavits fall within the scope of the Bourne exception interpreted in accordance with that test. I consider that in each case the effects on these women were such that the option of abortion in this jurisdiction after appropriate advice should have been open. That conclusion is not dependent upon the state of health of the foetus.’
Gillen LJ expressed disagreement with these statements. He considered that it was ‘institutionally inappropriate’ for the court to ‘change the effect of the legislation and its interpretation in R v Bourne’.
Morgan LCJ, Gillen LJ and Weatherup LJ
[2017] NICA 42
Bailii
Offences against the Person Act 1861 58 59, Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1945 25, European Convention on Human Rights 8
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Family Planning Association of Northern Ireland v Minister for Health Social Services and Public Safety CANI 8-Oct-2004
A termination of pregnancy is lawful when its continuation would threaten the woman’s life or when it would probably affect her physical or mental health but only if the effect would be serious and, in particular, permanent or long-term . .

Cited by:
Appeal from – Human Rights Commission for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland : Abortion) SC 7-Jun-2018
The Commission challenged the compatibility of the NI law relating to banning nearly all abortions with Human Rights Law. It now challenged a decision that it did not have standing to bring the case.
Held: (Lady Hale, Lord Kerr and Lord Wilson . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 26 July 2021; Ref: scu.605108

Regina v Z (Attorney General for Northern Ireland’s Reference): HL 19 May 2005

The defendants appealed their convictions for being members of proscribed organisations. They were members of the ‘Real IRA’, but only the IRA was actually proscribed.
Held: The appeals failed. In construing an Act of Parliament it may be of assistance to have regard to the historical context, which may throw light upon the mischief to which the legislation is directed. There was a long history of attempts to proscribe terrorist organisations. The Act had clearly recognised that such organisations were prone to splinter, and had therefore been careful to ensure that membership of sub-groups of proscribed organisations was also caught.
Lord Carswell, after citing Quintaville, said: ‘My Lords, this appeal serves as a very good example of the principle of statutory construction that in seeking to ascertain the mischief towards which a statute is directed it can be of prime importance to have regard to the historical context . . If the words of a statutory provision, when construed in a literalist fashion, produce a meaning which is manifestly contrary to the intention which one may readily impute to Parliament, when having regard to the historical context and the mischief, then it is not merely legitimate but desirable that they should be construed in the light of the purpose of the legislature in enacting the provision: cf Karpavicius v The Queen [2003] 1 WLR 169, 175-176, paras 15-16, per Lord Steyn.’
Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Woolf, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood
[2005] UKHL 35, Times 20-May-2005, [2000] 2 AC 645, [2005] 3 All ER 95, [2005] 2 WLR 1286
Bailii, House of Lords
Terrorism Act 2000 11
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Appeal from – Regina v Z CANI 30-Jun-2004
. .
Cited – River Wear Commissioners v Adamson HL 1877
It was not necessary for there to be an ambiguity in a statutory provision for a court to be allowed to look at the surrounding circumstances.
As to the Golden Rule of interpretation: ‘It is to be borne in mind that the office of the judge is . .
Cited – Tuck and Sons v Priester 1887
A person should not be penalised except under a clear law: ‘If there is a reasonable interpretation which will avoid the penalty in any particular case, we must adopt that construction. If there are two reasonable constructions we must give the more . .
Cited – Brophy v Attorney-General of Manitoba PC 1895
The purpose of granting to Roman Catholics the right to funding for separate schools and the right to elect trustees to manage their own schools was to enable the teachings of the Roman Catholic faith to be transmitted to the children of Roman . .
Cited – Regina v Secretary of State for Health ex parte Quintavalle (on behalf of Pro-Life Alliance) HL 13-Mar-2003
Court to seek and Apply Parliamentary Intention
The appellant challenged the practice of permitting cell nuclear replacement (CNR), saying it was either outside the scope of the Act, or was for a purpose which could not be licensed under the Act.
Held: The challenge failed. The court was to . .
Cited – Salomon v A Salomon and Company Ltd HL 16-Nov-1896
A Company and its Directors are not same paersons
Mr Salomon had incorporated his long standing personal business of shoe manufacture into a limited company. He held nearly all the shares, and had received debentures on the transfer into the company of his former business. The business failed, and . .
Cited – Coles v Odhams Press Ltd 1936
Lord Hewart CJ said that courts should avoid ‘taking blind shots at a hidden target’. . .
Cited – Ulster Transport Authority v James Brown and Sons Ltd CANI 1953
The repeal of a statutory exemption which had allowed the company to trade in competition with a government established board providing the same services, was ‘a device for diverting a definite part of the business of furniture removers and storage . .
Cited – Corocraft Ltd v Pan American Airways Inc 1969
In the event of inconsistency between the French and English versions of the Convention, the French text prevails. . .
Cited – Kokkinakis v Greece ECHR 25-May-1993
kokkinakis_greeceECHR1993
The defendant was convicted for proselytism contrary to Greek law. He claimed a breach of Article 9.
Held: To say that Jehovah’s Witness were proselytising criminally was excessive. Punishment for proselytising was unlawful in the . .
Cited – Black-Clawson International Ltd v Papierwerke Waldhof Aschaffenburg AG HL 5-Mar-1975
Statute’s Mischief May be Inspected
The House considered limitations upon them in reading statements made in the Houses of Parliament when construing a statute.
Held: It is rare that a statute can be properly interpreted without knowing the legislative object. The courts may . .

Cited by:
Cited – Jackson and others v Attorney General HL 13-Oct-2005
The applicant sought to challenge the 2004 Hunting Act, saying that it had been passed under the provisions of the 1949 Parliament Act which was itself an unlawful extension of the powers given by the 1911 Parliament Act to allow the House of . .
Cited – Boulton v Regina CACD 26-Apr-2007
The defendant appealed convictions for rape and other serious sexual offences, and witness intimidation. He complained that witnesses had been allowed to have their evidence read out because of their fear of him.
Held: In view of the extent of . .
Cited – Bogdanic v The Secretary of State for The Home Department QBD 29-Aug-2014
The claimant challenged fines imposed on him after three illegal immigrants were found to have hidden in his lorry in the immigration control zone at Dunkirk. The 1999 At was to have been amended by the 2002 Act, and the implementation was by the . .
Cited – Human Rights Commission for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland : Abortion) SC 7-Jun-2018
The Commission challenged the compatibility of the NI law relating to banning nearly all abortions with Human Rights Law. It now challenged a decision that it did not have standing to bring the case.
Held: (Lady Hale, Lord Kerr and Lord Wilson . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 26 July 2021; Ref: scu.225010

The Bank of Ireland v Mcfeely and Another: CANI 1 Aug 2016

Application to extend time for the service of a notice of appeal in respect of a judgement
[2016] NICA 34 [2016]
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 25 July 2021; Ref: scu.569180

In Re Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Northern Ireland: HL 20 Jun 2002

The coroner intended to hold an inquest into the deaths on the Omagh bombing. The Commission sought the right to be involved on the basis that human rights of interest to it might arise, and the coroner refused, saying that they had no standing to do so.
Held: It was the intention in the Act to extend the powers of the commission. There were no express powers in the Act to make such an intervention, and as a purely statutory body, it had only those powers given to it. However, it had general powers to do such things as were appropriate to promote understanding of Human Rights law, and that would include the power to become involved in an inquest in the way suggested.
Lord Slynn of Hadley, Lord Woolf, Lord Nolan, Lord Hutton and Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough
Times 25-Jun-2002, [2002] UKHL 25, [2002] HRLR 35, [2002] ACD 95, [2002] NI 236
House of Lords, Bailii
Northern Ireland Act 1998 69
Northern Ireland
Citing:
Cited – Attorney General and Another v Great Eastern Railway Company HL 27-May-1880
An Act of Parliament authorised a company to construct a railway. Two other companies combined and contracted with the first to supply rolling stock. An injunction was brought to try to restrain this, saying that such a contract was not explicitly . .

Cited by:
Cited – Human Rights Commission for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland : Abortion) SC 7-Jun-2018
The Commission challenged the compatibility of the NI law relating to banning nearly all abortions with Human Rights Law. It now challenged a decision that it did not have standing to bring the case.
Held: (Lady Hale, Lord Kerr and Lord Wilson . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 25 July 2021; Ref: scu.174012

In re W’s Application: QBNI 1998

Girvan J
[1998] NI 19
Northern Ireland
Cited by:
Appeal from – In re W’s Application CANI 2-Jan-1998
. .
Cited – Secretary of State for Defence v Elias CA 10-Oct-2006
The claimant said that a scheme drawn by the defendant for compensating British civilians interned by the Japanese during the second world war was indirectly discriminatory on racial grounds by requiring a national origin link with the UK. She had . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 22 July 2021; Ref: scu.551512

Burke and Another v O’Kane and Devine Construction Ltd: QBNI 28 Jun 2013

Appeal by the plaintiffs from the interlocutory order made by the Recorder of Londonderry whereby it was adjudged that the time should be extended/enlarged pursuant to Order 43 Rule 10 of the County Court Rules (Northern Ireland) 1981 so as to permit the defendant/respondent to make a late payment into court.
[2013] NIQB 83
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 22 July 2021; Ref: scu.544008

Magill, Re Judicial Review: QBNI 28 Mar 2019

Judgment on recusal application
[2019] NIQB 38
Bailii
Northern Ireland

Updated: 14 July 2021; Ref: scu.658703