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These cases are from the lawindexpro database. They are now being transferred to the swarb.co.uk website in a better form. As a case is published there, an entry here will link to it. The swarb.co.uk site includes many later cases.  















Constitutional - From: 1991 To: 1991

This page lists 9 cases, and was prepared on 20 May 2019.


 
 Regina v Secretary of State for the Home Department ex parte Cheblak; CA 1991 - [1991] 1 WLR 890
 
John G McGregor (Contractors) Ltd v Grampian Regional Council 1991 SC (HL) 1
1991
HL

Constitutional
The House dismissed the Council's appeal as incompetent. An opinion of the court upon questions of law given on consideration of a case stated under provisions such as those in section 3 of the 1972 Act did not constitute a "judgment" within the meaning of section 40(1) of the 1988 Act.
Administration of Justice (Scotland) Act 1972 3 - Court of Session Act 1988 40
1 Citers


 
Secretary of State for Social Security v Tunnicliffe [1991] 2 All ER 712
1991
CA
Staughton LJ
Constitutional
Staughton LJ explained the presumption against interpretation of a statute to have retrospective effect: "the true principle is that Parliament is presumed not to have intended to alter the law applicable to past events and transactions in a manner which is unfair to those concerned in them, unless a contrary intention appears. It is not simply a question of classifying an enactment as retrospective or not retrospective. Rather it may well be a matter of degree – the greater the unfairness, the more it is to be expected that Parliament will make it clear if that is intended."
1 Citers


 
Orissa Cement Ltd v State of Orissa 1991 Supp (1) SCC 430
1991


Commonwealth, Constitutional
(Supreme Court of India) The Supreme Court founded its jurisdiction to make rulings which had prospective effect only, on article 142 of the Indian Constitution. This article empowers the Supreme Court to 'make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it'. In exercise of this power it is a 'well settled proposition that it is open to the Court to grant, mould or restrict relief in a manner most appropriate to the situation before it, in such a way as to advance the interests of justice'

 
Secretary of State for Social Security v Tunnicliffe [1991] 2 All ER 712
1991
CA
Staughton LJ
Constitutional
Staughton LJ considered the interpretation of an Act of Parliament to give it retrospective powers: "In my judgment the true principle is that Parliament is presumed not to have intended to alter the law applicable to past events and transactions in a manner which is unfair to those concerned in them, unless a contrary intention appears. It is not simply a question of classifying an enactment as retrospective or not retrospective. Rather it may well be a matter of degree - the greater the unfairness, the more it is to be expected that Parliament will make it clear if that is intended."
1 Cites

1 Citers


 
Attorney-General of Trinidad and Tobago v Whiteman [1991] 2 AC 240; [1991] UKPC 16; (1991) 39 WIR 397
17 Apr 1991
PC
Keith of Kinkel, Templeman, Griffiths, Ackner, Jauncey of Tullichettle LL
Commonwealth, Criminal Practice, Constitutional
(Trinidad and Tobago) The time at which an arrested or detained person is to be informed of his/her right to consult with a legal adviser of choice is at a stage before the commencement of "in-custody interrogations".
Lord Keith, in delivering the opinion of the Judicial Committee said:
"Their Lordships accordingly consider that persons who have been arrested or detained have a constitutional right to be informed of their right to communicate with a legal adviser both upon a proper construction of section 5(2)( h ) of the Constitution of 1976 and on the basis of a settled practice existing when that Constitution was introduced. Davis JA said towards the end of his judgment of the Court of Appeal:
'I am not prepared to lay down any general rule as to the precise point in time when a person in custody ought to be informed of this right, [but it should be] as early as possible, and in any event before any "in-custody interrogation" takes place.'
Their Lordships would endorse that. It is possible to envisage circumstances where it would not be practicable to inform the person of his right immediately upon his arrest. They would add that it is incumbent upon police officers to see that the arrested person is informed of his right in such a way that he understands it. He may be illiterate, deaf, or unfamiliar with the language. It is plain that the mere exhibition of notices in the police station is insufficient in itself to convey the necessary information."
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]
 
Commission v Council C-300/89; [1991] EUECJ C-300/89; [1991] ECR I-2867
11 Jun 1991
ECJ

Constitutional
ECJ 1. In the context of the organization of the powers of the Community the choice of the legal basis for a measure may not depend simply on an institution's conviction as to the objective pursued but must be based on objective factors which are amenable to judicial review. Those factors include in particular the aim and content of the measure. 2. Where an institution' s power is based on two provisions of the Treaty, it is bound to adopt the relevant measures on the basis of the two relevant provisions. However, where, as in the case of Article 100a of the Treaty, one of the enabling provisions requires recourse to the cooperation procedure provided for in Article 149(2) of the Treaty, on conclusion of which the Council may act by a qualified majority provided that it intends accepting the amendments proposed by the Parliament and put forward by the Commission, and the other provision, as in the case of Article 130s, requires the Council to act unanimously after merely consulting the European Parliament, use of both of them as a joint legal basis would divest the cooperation procedure of its very substance, the purpose of that procedure being to increase the involvement of the European Parliament in the legislative process of the Community. That participation reflects a fundamental democratic principle that the peoples should take part in the exercise of power through the intermediary of a representative assembly. It follows that in such a case recourse to a dual legal basis is excluded and that it is necessary to determine which of those two provisions is the appropriate legal basis.
Europa 3 In view of the fact that, in the first place, it is apparent from the very terms of Article 130r(2) of the Treaty that a Community measure cannot be covered by Article 130s merely because it pursues, among others, objectives of environmental protection, secondly, that action intended to approximate, in a given industrial sector, national rules concerning production conditions which were adopted for reasons relating to environmental protection but are liable to lead to distortions of competition, falls within the scope of Article 100a, since it is conducive to the attainment of the internal market, and, finally, that the objectives of environmental protection referred to in Article 130r may be effectively pursued by means of harmonizing measures adopted on the basis of Article 100a, the Council should have used Article 100a as the legal basis for Directive 89/428/EEC on procedures for harmonizing the programmes for the reduction and eventual elimination of pollution caused by waste from the titanium dioxide industry. Since the Council wrongly based the directive on Article 130s, the directive must be annulled.
1 Citers

[ Bailii ]

 
 Lavigne v Ontario Public Service Employees Union; 27-Jun-1991 - [1991] 2 SCR 211; 1991 CanLII 68 (SCC)
 
Doughty v Rolls Royce Plc [1991] EWCA Civ 15; [1992] ICR 538; [1992] IRLR 126; [1992] 1 CMLR 1045
19 Dec 1991
CA
Mustill, Butler-Sloss LJJ, Sir John Megaw
Employment, Discrimination, European, Constitutional
The claimants sought to assert their rights under the Equal Treatment Directive, whoch had not been implemented. She had been made to retire at 60, but said that had she been a man she would not have had to retire until she reached 65 years old. She had succeeded at the Industrial Tribunal, but failed at the EAT. Held: The court was being asked: "did the act of the respondent company in denying to the appellant the opportunity to continue in service for a further five years amount to reliance by the United Kingdom upon its own failure to bring English law into conformity with the Equal Treatment Directive?" All the shares of the company were in the ownership of the government.
Mustill LJ said: "European legislation of the present kind does not have direct effect on individuals, in the sense of creating causes of action on which they can sue or be sued in the courts of the member state. Nevertheless, if the domestic law falls short of what is required by the Directive the member state is in breach of its treaty obligation to give effect to it. Thus, if the individual asserts before his domestic court a right or immunity vis-a-vis the member state which is not available under the domestic law, but which would have been available if the member state had brought its domestic law into line with the Directive, then the individual is entitled to have his case adjudged as if the member state had performed its obligation: i.e. in accordance with the terms of the Directive."
European Council Directive 1976 EEC/76/207 - Sex Discrimination Act 1975 6(4)
1 Cites

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