Tag: Local Government

Milton Keynes Council v Skyline Taxis and Private Hire Ltd and Another: Admn 10 Nov 2017

Judges:

Hickinbottom LJ, Gilbart J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 2794 (Admin), [2017] WLR(D) 751

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Statutes:

Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Local Government, Licensing, Transport

Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.599413

Tinsley v Manchester City Council and Others: CA 1 Nov 2017

The Court was asked whether a person who has been compulsorily detained in a hospital for mental disorder under section 3 of the 1983 Act and has then been released from detention but still requires ‘after-care services’ is entitled to require his local authority to provide such services at any time before he has exhausted sums reflecting the costs of care awarded to him in a judgment in his favour against a negligent tortfeasor.
Held: The LA’s appeal failed.

Judges:

Sir Terence Etherton MR, Longmore, Irwin LJJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 1704

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Mental Health Act 1983 3

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Local Government, Benefits

Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.598476

Barking and Dagenham, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Health: Admn 5 Oct 2017

The local authority challenges a decision by the Defendant, the Secretary of State for Health, that the second interested party, HR, was ordinarily resident in its area from at least June or July 2013, if not earlier, for the purposes of the provision of care services to him.

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 2449 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Local Government

Updated: 01 April 2022; Ref: scu.598382

UBS Ag (London Branch) and Another v Kommunale Wasserwerke Leipzig Gmbh: CA 16 Oct 2017

The claimant investment bank sought recovery of its loans. The defendant German municipal water company alleged corruption by its financial advisers who were under financial incentives to sell the claimant’s loans.

Judges:

Gloster LJ, Briggs of Westbourne L, Hamblen LJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 1567

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Banking, Local Government, Agency

Updated: 31 March 2022; Ref: scu.597393

DM v Y City Council: CoP 15 Jun 2017

Application on behalf of an incapacitous man under Section 21(A) of the 2005 Act. It is nominally by way of a challenge to a Standard Authorisation authorising the deprivation of DM’s liberty at a care home [‘the Home’] for six months expiring on 2nd August 2017. The underlying issue, however, is: (a) whether DM, who is currently an abstinent alcoholic, should continue to reside and be cared for at the Home, a care home which forbids alcohol, or (b) whether he should be moved, as he wishes to be, to a home which does allow the consumption of alcohol.

Citations:

[2017] EWCOP 13

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Mental Capacity Act 2005and 21(A)

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Health, Local Government

Updated: 30 March 2022; Ref: scu.595868

Davey, Regina (on The Application of) v Oxfordshire County Council and Others: CA 1 Sep 2017

Appeal from rejection of request for judicial review of a decision by the respondents to reduce the calculation of his personal care allowance budget.

Judges:

McFarlane, Bean, Thirlwall LJJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 1308

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Care Act 2014

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Benefits, Local Government

Updated: 29 March 2022; Ref: scu.593146

Vining v London Borough of Wandsworth: CA 28 Jul 2017

The court was asked as to the rights of members of local authority parks police forces and of their trade unions. Can they bring claims for ‘ordinary’ unfair dismissal and can their trade unions bring claims for a protective award in respect an alleged failure in collective consultation?

Judges:

Sir Terence Etherton MR, Beatson, Underhill LJJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 1092

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Employment, Local Government

Updated: 28 March 2022; Ref: scu.591689

Nzolameso v City of Westminster: SC 2 Apr 2015

The court was asked ‘When is it lawful for a local housing authority to accommodate a homeless person a long way away from the authority’s own area where the homeless person was previously living? ‘ The claimant said that on applying for housing she had been rehoused outside the Borough and that the Coucil had failed to take proper account of her and of her children’s needs.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The decision that their duty to secure that accommodation was made available to her had come to an end must be quashed: ‘the authority cannot show that their offer of the property in Bletchley was sufficient to discharge their legal obligations towards the appellant under the 1996 Act. Moreover, their notification to the appellant that their duty towards her had come to an end was purportedly given in circumstances where she did not know, and had no means of knowing, what, if any, consideration had been given to providing accommodation in or nearer to the borough, apart from the general standard paragraph in the letter offering her the Bletchley accommodation the previous day.’

Judges:

Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Clarke, Lord Reed, Lord Hughes, Lord Toulson

Citations:

[2015] UKSC 22, [2015] WLR(D) 165, [2015] PTSR 549, [2015] 2 WLR 813, [2015] 2 All ER 942, (2015) 18 CCL Rep 201, [2015] BLGR 215, [2015] HLR 22, UKSC 2014/0275

Links:

Bailii, WLRD, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary

Statutes:

Housing Act 1996

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Regina v Newham London Borough Council, ex parte Sacupima and others CA 1-Dec-2000
Where a local authority had to decide whether temporary housing was suitable for a family who had applied under the homelessness provisions, the location of the short-term housing was relevant. In this case, a London authority, placing a family in . .
Appeal from – Nzolameso v City of Westminster CA 22-Oct-2014
The authority accepted that it owed a duty to house the appellant, and that she was unable to afford the rents payable on housing within the district after reductions in housing benefits. She was offered but refused, housing im Milton Keynes. . .
Cited – Regina v Sacupima and Others, Ex Parte Newham London Borough Council QBD 26-Nov-1999
A local authority decide to provide temporary accommodation for homeless applicants outside its area in assorted seaside towns, pending a final decision on their cases. This general policy was unlawful, since the authority had failed to consider . .
Cited – Yumsak v London Borough of Enfield Admn 2002
The court will not readily interfere with the approach of a housing authority to the question of suitability, although in an appropriate case it plainly will. . .
Cited – Calgin, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough of Enfield Admn 29-Jul-2005
The claimant complained that having applied for housing in the borough they had in fact housed him outside the borough.
Held: The authority had a duty to house the applicant so far it was reasonably practicable within its borders. The policy . .
Cited – Ruiz Zambrano (European Citizenship) ECJ 8-Mar-2011
ECJ Citizenship of the Union – Article 20 TFEU – Grant of right of residence under European Union law to a minor child on the territory of the Member State of which that child is a national, irrespective of the . .
Cited – Castle and Others v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis Admn 8-Sep-2011
The claimants, all under 17 years old, took a peaceful part in a substantial but disorderly demonstration in London. The police decided to contain the section of crowd which included the claimants. The claimants said that the containment of children . .
Cited – Huzrat v London Borough of Hounslow CA 21-Nov-2013
The applicant sought housing as a homeless person.
Held: Moses LJ said: ‘The statutory questions are clear; was the action or omission in question deliberate? The answer to that question cannot differ [according to] whether the local authority . .
Cited – ZH (Tanzania) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 1-Feb-2011
The respondent had arrived and claimed asylum. Three claims were rejected, two of which were fraudulent. She had two children by a UK citizen, and if deported the result would be (the father being unsuitable) that the children would have to return . .
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 . .
Cited – Stevens v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another Admn 10-Apr-2013
The court was asked as to important issues as the approach of both planning decision-makers and the court to proportionality in circumstances in which a planning decision engages the right to respect for family life under article 8 of the European . .
Cited – Collins v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and Another CA 9-Oct-2013
The claimant, seeking permission to use land as a gypsy and travellers’ camp site, appealed against rejection of his request for the quashing of the inspector’s report approving an enforcement notice. . .
Cited – Hines v London Borough of Lambeth CA 20-May-2014
The child applicant sought housing assistance.
Held: The child’s welfare had obviously to be taken into account, but it could not be the paramount consideration as this would be inconsistent with the statutory language. . .
Cited – Royal Mail Group Plc v The Consumer Council for Postal Services CA 7-Mar-2007
The Royal Mail appealed a grant of judicial review of the decision of the Post regulator not to penalise the company for its failure to meet its service conditions as regards enforcement of credit terms for bulk mail customers.
Held: The . .
Cited – Regina v Ashworth Hospital Authority (Now Mersey Care National Health Service Trust) ex parte Munjaz HL 13-Oct-2005
The claimant was detained in a secure Mental Hospital. He complained at the seclusions policy applied by the hospital, saying that it departed from the Guidance issued for such policies by the Secretary of State under the Act.
Held: The House . .
Cited – Calgin, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough of Enfield Admn 29-Jul-2005
The claimant complained that having applied for housing in the borough they had in fact housed him outside the borough.
Held: The authority had a duty to house the applicant so far it was reasonably practicable within its borders. The policy . .
Cited – Regina v Westminster City Council Ex Parte Ermakov CA 14-Nov-1995
The applicant, having moved here from Greece, applied for emergency housing. The Council received no reply to its requests for corroboration sent to Greece. Housing was refused, but the officer later suggested that the real reason was that the . .
Cited – London Borough of Newham v Khatun, Zeb and Iqbal CA 24-Feb-2004
The council made offers of accommodation which were rejected as inappropriate by the proposed tenants.
Held: The council was given a responsibility to act reasonably. It was for them, not the court to make that assessment subject only to . .

Cited by:

Cited – Poshteh v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea SC 10-May-2017
The appellant, applying for housing as a homeless person, had rejected the final property offered on the basis that its resemblance to the conditions of incarceration in Iran, from which she had fled, would continue and indeed the mental . .
Cited – Samuels v Birmingham City Council SC 12-Jun-2019
The appellant had been provided with emergency accommodation after losing her assured shorthold tenancy, but the court was now asked ‘whether the council adopted the correct approach in determining that the accommodation was ‘affordable’ for those . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Local Government

Updated: 28 March 2022; Ref: scu.545697

Palestine Solidarity Campaign Ltd and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government: Admn 22 Jun 2017

The claimants issued a judicial review claim challenging the lawfulness of the Secretary of State’s published statutory guidance on the investment strategy for the local government pension scheme.

Judges:

Sir Ross Cranston sitting as a High Court judg

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 1502 (Admin), [2017] WLR(D) 426

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Local Government

Updated: 27 March 2022; Ref: scu.588888

JF, Regina (on The Application of) v The London Borough of Merton: Admn 30 Jun 2017

By his litigation friend and mother, the claimant challenged the decision of the defendant Council to change his residential provision without a lawful statutory assessment of his needs.

Judges:

Anne Whyte QC

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 1519 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Local Government, Health

Updated: 27 March 2022; Ref: scu.588883

Hussain v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council: Admn 29 Jun 2017

The court heard attempt to prevent a local authority from continuing with an investigation into alleged wrongdoing by elected Council members. It also concerns a claim for a declaration and damages flowing out of the publication of three documents relating to the investigation which are said to be highly damaging professionally and personally to the Claimant and his family.

Judges:

Green J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 1641 (Admin), [2017] WLR(D) 438

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Local Government

Updated: 27 March 2022; Ref: scu.588882

Chancepixies Animal Welfare, Regina (on The Application of) v North Kesteven District Council: Admn 6 Jul 2016

The claimant sought judicial review of the revocation by the Council of a dog breeding licence, saying that it had been made without jurisdiction.

Judges:

Edis J

Citations:

[2016] EWHC 3617 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Licensing, Local Government, Animals

Updated: 27 March 2022; Ref: scu.588222

A v Cornwall Council: QBD 28 Apr 2017

Allegation that the local council had resisted A’s contact with his child after he had published blogs with opinions as to abortion and same sex marriages.
Held: A had not demonstrated that the response of the social worker had been as claimed. Though there were criticisms, there was no infringement of the claimant’s human rights.

Judges:

Dingemans J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 842 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Children, Local Government, Human Rights

Updated: 26 March 2022; Ref: scu.584200

Liverpool City Council and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Health: Admn 2 May 2017

Four English councils challenged what they describe as the government’s ‘ongoing failure to provide full, or even adequate, funding for local authorities in England to implement the deprivation of liberty regime’.

Judges:

Garnham J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 986 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Local Government, Health

Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.582160

Skipton Properties Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v Craven District Council: Admn 20 Mar 2017

Application for judicial review to challenges a to adopt a document entitled ‘Negotiating Affordable Housing Contributions August 2016’

Judges:

Jay J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 534 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Planning, Local Government

Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581100

HB v A Local Authority and Another: FD 21 Mar 2017

(Wardship – Costs Funding Order) The Court was asked ‘ whether the High Court has power, under its inherent jurisdiction, to make a costs funding order against a local authority requiring it to fund legal advice and representation for a parent in wardship proceedings brought by the local authority where that parent has lawfully been refused legal aid.’
Held: No

Judges:

MacDonald J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 524 (Fam)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Family, Legal Aid, Local Government

Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581089

Westminster City Council v National Asylum Support Service: HL 17 Oct 2002

The applicant sought assistance from the local authority. He suffered from spinal myeloma, was destitute and an asylum seeker.
Held: Although the Act had withdrawn the obligation to provide assistance for many asylum seekers, those who were infirm and whose infirmity was not a consequence of their destitution, had not been excluded. Only able bodied destitute asylum seekers were excluded from benefit, and they had to rely upon the respondent. The House considered the value of the Explanatory notes now published with Acts: ‘Insofar as the Explanatory Notes cast light on the objective setting or contextual scene of the statute, and the mischief at which it is aimed, such materials are therefore always admissible aids to construction. They may be admitted for what logical value they have.’ Lord Steyn: ‘The starting point is that language in all legal texts conveys meaning according to the circumstances in which it was used. It follows that the context must always be identified and considered before the process of construction or during it. It is therefore wrong to say that the court may only resort to evidence of the contextual scene when an ambiguity has arisen.’

Judges:

Steyn, Slynn, Hoffmann, Millett and Rodger LL

Citations:

Times 18-Oct-2002, [2002] UKHL 38, [2002] 1 WLR 2956, [2002] 4 All ER 654, [2002] HLR 58, (2002) 5 CCL Rep 511, [2003] BLGR 23

Links:

House of Lords, Bailii

Statutes:

National Assistance Act 1948 21, Immigration and Asylum Appeals Act 1999 95 116

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Prenn v Simmonds HL 1971
Backgroun Used to Construe Commercial Contract
Commercial contracts are to be construed in the light of all the background information which could reasonably have been expected to have been available to the parties in order to ascertain what would objectively have been understood to be their . .
Cited – Reardon Smith Line Ltd v Yngvar Hansen-Tangen (The ‘Diana Prosperity’) HL 1976
In construing a contract, three principles can be found. The contextual scene is always relevant. Secondly, what is admissible as a matter of the rules of evidence under this heading is what is arguably relevant, but admissibility is not decisive. . .
Cited – Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society HL 19-Jun-1997
Account taken of circumstances wihout ambiguity
The respondent gave advice on home income plans. The individual claimants had assigned their initial claims to the scheme, but later sought also to have their mortgages in favour of the respondent set aside.
Held: Investors having once . .
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 – Regina v Secretary of State for the Environment Transport and the Regions and another, ex parte Spath Holme Limited HL 7-Dec-2000
The section in the 1985 Act created a power to prevent rent increases for tenancies of dwelling-houses for purposes including the alleviation of perceived hardship. Accordingly the Secretary of State could issue regulations whose effect was to limit . .
Cited – Robinson v Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and Others HL 25-Jul-2002
The Northern Ireland Parliament had elected its first minister and deputy more than six weeks after the election, but the Act required the election to be within that time. It was argued that as a creature of statute, the Parliament could not act . .
Cited – Regina v Westminster City Council ex parte A, London Borough of Lambeth ex parte X and similar CA 17-Feb-1997
This was an appeal from orders of certiorari quashing the decisions of three local authorities refusing to provide accommodation for the respondents, four asylum seekers, whose applications for asylum were presently being considered by the Secretary . .
Cited – Regina v Wandsworth London Borough Council, Ex Parte O; Leicester City Council, Ex Parte Bhikha CA 7-Sep-2000
The applicants were immigrants awaiting determination of their applications for exceptional leave to remain, and who came to suffer from serious illness. Each applied for and was refused assistance from their local authority.
Held: The . .
Cited – Wahid v London Borough of Tower Hamlets CA 7-Mar-2002
Gilliatt The appellant suffered from schizophrenia. He was refused permission to apply for judicial review and for orders requiring the local authority not just to provide suitable accommodation but better . .
Appeal from – Westminster City Council v National Asylum Support Service CA 10-Apr-2001
. .
At first instance – Westminster City Council v National Asylum Support Service Admn 27-Feb-2001
. .

Cited by:

Cited – Regina (on the Application of Mani) v London Borough of Lambeth CA 9-Jul-2003
Where a destitute and disabled asylum seeker had a clear need for care and attention, the local authority had a duty to provide it. The claimant was an asylum seeker, with impaired mobility and a history of mental halth difficulties. At first he was . .
Cited – Regina (on the Application of A) v National Asylum Support Service, London Borough of Waltham Forest CA 23-Oct-2003
A family of asylum seekers with two disabled children would be destitute without ‘adequate’ accommodation. What was such accommodation?
Held: The authority was under an absolute duty to house such a family. In satisfying such duty, it was . .
Cited – Regina, ex parte O v The London Borough of Haringey, The Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 4-May-2004
The court considered the duties of local authorities to support infirm asylum seekers with children.
Held: The authority had an obligation to support the adult, but the responsibility for the children fell on the National Asylum Support . .
Applied – S, Regina (on Application of) v South Yorkshire Police; Regina v Chief Constable of Yorkshire Police ex parte Marper HL 22-Jul-2004
Police Retention of Suspects DNA and Fingerprints
The claimants complained that their fingerprints and DNA records taken on arrest had been retained after discharge before trial, saying the retention of the samples infringed their right to private life.
Held: The parts of DNA used for testing . .
Cited – Attorney General’s Reference (No 5 of 2002) HL 14-Oct-2004
The Attorney General sought the correct interpretation of section 17 where a court was asked as to whether evidence obtained from a telephone tapping had been taken from a public or private network. A chief constable suspected that the defendants, . .
Cited – Regina v Montila and Others HL 25-Nov-2004
The defendants faced charges under the two Acts. They raised as a preliminary issue whether it is necessary for the Crown to prove that the property being converted was in fact the proceeds, in the case of the 1994 Act, of drug trafficking and, in . .
Cited – In re P (a minor by his mother and litigation friend); P v National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers HL 27-Feb-2003
The pupil had been excluded from school but then ordered to be re-instated. The teachers, through their union, refused to teach him claiming that he was disruptive. The claimant appealed a refusal of an injunction. The injunction had been refused on . .
Cited – Phillips v Rafiq and Motor Insurers Bureau (MIB) CA 13-Feb-2007
The MIB appealed from a judgment making it liable for an award of damages to the estate of the deceased who had been a passenger in a vehicle which he knew to be being driven without insurance. The estate had not sued the MIB directly, but first . .
Cited – King v The Serious Fraud Office CACD 18-Mar-2008
Restraint and Disclosure orders had been made on without notice applications at the request of South Africa. The applicant appealed a refusal of their discharge.
Held: Such orders did not apply to the applicant’s assets in Scotland. The orders . .
Cited – M, Regina (on the Application of) v Slough Borough Council HL 30-Jul-2008
The House was asked ‘whether a local social services authority is obliged, under section 21(1)(a) of the 1948 Act, to arrange (and pay for) residential accommodation for a person subject to immigration control who is HIV positive but whose only . .
Cited – Persimmon Homes (South Coast) Ltd v Hall Aggregates (South Coast) Ltd and Another TCC 10-Oct-2008
The parties had agreed for the sale of land under an option agreement. The builder purchasers now sought to exercise rights to adjust the price downwards.
Held: The provisions had been intended and had achieved a prompt and binding settlement . .
Cited – Mucelli v Government of Albania (Criminal Appeal From Her Majesty’s High Court of Justice) HL 21-Jan-2009
The House was asked whether someone who wished to appeal against an extradition order had an obligation also to serve his appellant’s notice on the respondent within the seven days limit, and whether the period was capable of extension by the court. . .
Cited – Rollins, Regina v SC 28-Jul-2010
The court was asked whether the Financial Services Authority had a power to prosecute money laundering offences under the 2002 Act, or whether, as contended by the defendant, its powers were limited to sections under the 2000 Act.
Held: The . .
Cited – Oceanbulk Shipping and Trading Sa v TMT Asia Ltd and Others SC 27-Oct-2010
The court was asked whether facts which (a) are communicated between the parties in the course of without prejudice negotiations and (b) would, but for the without prejudice rule, be admissible as part of the factual matrix or surrounding . .
Cited – Horton v Henry CA 7-Oct-2016
No obligation on bankrupt to draw on pension fund
The trustee in bankruptcy appealed against a decision dismissing his application for an income payments order pursuant to section 310 of the 1986 Act in respect of income which might become payable to the respondent from his personal pension . .
Cited – Hutchings, Re Application for Judicial Review SC 6-Jun-2019
The appellant, a former army officer challenged proceedings against him as to the death of a civilian shot in Northern Ireland in 1974. His trial had been certified for trial by judge alone, and without a jury under section 1 of the 2007 Act.
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Health, Immigration, Benefits, Human Rights

Leading Case

Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.177452

Swan Quay Llp, Regina (on The Application of) v Swale Borough Council: Admn 27 Jan 2017

Claim for judicial review of the defendant’s decision to hold a referendum in respect of the Faversham Creek Neighbourhood Plan

Judges:

Dove J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 420 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Local Government, Planning

Updated: 09 February 2022; Ref: scu.579627

Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council v Tanna: CA 10 Feb 2017

The council appealed against a finding that it had not validly served a notice on the respondent under section 215 of the 1990 Act.

Judges:

Arden, Lewison LJJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 50, [2017] WLR(D) 91

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Statutes:

Town and Country Planning Act 1990 215 329, Local Government Act 1972 233

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Planning, Local Government

Updated: 29 January 2022; Ref: scu.574301

Crawley v Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council: CA 2 Feb 2017

Appeal by a highway authority against a decision that it is liable in damages to a person who tripped on a pothole in the road and fell to the ground, suffering injuries.

Judges:

Jackson, Briggs, Irwin LJJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 36, [2017] WLR(D) 77

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Local Government, Personal Injury

Updated: 29 January 2022; Ref: scu.573866

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Ealing: Admn 13 Jan 2017

The court considered a local connection referral case, raising a point of principle with respect to determining upon which housing authority the housing duty falls where there has been a cessation of housing duty by one authority and a new application made to another housing authority.

Judges:

Karen Walden-Smith HHJ

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 24 (Admin)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Housing, Local Government

Updated: 28 January 2022; Ref: scu.573236

Tecnoedi Costruzioni Srl v Comune di Fossano: ECJ 6 Oct 2016

ECJ (Judgment) Reference for a preliminary ruling – Public works contracts – Directive 2004/18/EC – Article 7(c) – Threshold amount for public contracts – Threshold not reached – Abnormally low tenders – Automatic exclusion – Discretion of the contracting authority – Obligations of the contracting authority arising from freedom of establishment, freedom to provide services and the general principle of non-discrimination – Contracts which may be of certain cross-border interest

ECLI:EU:C:2016:747, [2016] EUECJ C-318/15
Bailii
Directive 2004/18/EC
European

Local Government

Updated: 24 January 2022; Ref: scu.570149

Hornsey Local Board v Monarch Investment Building Society: CA 1889

The local authority had incurred expense in paving a street. They were entitled to apportion those expenses amongst the owners of the properties fronting onto that street and summarily to recover from the respective owners the amounts so apportioned. In addition statute provided that such expenses should be charged on the premises in respect of which they were incurred with interest thereon at the rate of 5% until payment. It was not necessary for the amount due to be ascertained on the sale of a house before the Society had a right to receive it. The charge was imposed when the paving works were completed in 1875. The expenses were not apportioned until 1885. In 1887 a demand for payment was made on the defendant and in 1888 the local board sought to enforce the statutory charge against the defendant. The county court judge granted the order, but the Queen’s Bench Division reversed him.
Held: The appeal failed. The limitation period for a local authority to recover paving expenses ran from the time of imposition even though the charge had not yet been apportioned between the frontagers. The right to receive payment had arisen even though it could not yet enforce payment.
Lord Esher MR ‘It was strongly argued that the words ‘present right to receive the same’ in this section are equivalent to ‘present right to enforce payment of the same’. If there were some overwhelming reason why that construction should be given to the words; if that were the only construction that would render the procedure sensible, I think possibly the words might receive that construction, but I do not think it would be their ordinary meaning in the English language. A present right to receive is not in ordinary English the same as a present right to enforce payment. Then is there any overwhelming reason why we should read the words otherwise than in their natural sense? So far from that, I think that in the present case to read the words in the way suggested for the plaintiffs would raise insuperable difficulties, whereas to read them in their natural sense makes the whole legislation sensible and easier application. The difficulty that arises on the plaintiffs’ construction has been pointed out, viz., that the Board, who have to receive the money, and also to apportion the amount, would have the power to delay the application of the Statute of Limitation for any time they please. When that difficulty was presented, the plaintiffs’ Counsel endeavoured to meet it by the ingenious suggestion that, if the apportionment were not made within a reasonable time, the making of it might be enforced by mandamus; and other modes were suggested of meeting the difficulty. But why should we embark on such questions and invent means of overcoming this difficulty, when by reading the words in their ordinary sense no such difficulty arises? . . .
‘The charge exists, though the exact amount charged may not be ascertained. It is suggested that a person in whose favour a charge is imposed cannot be entitled to receive an amount which is not ascertained. I do not see why this should be so. A sum may be offered to him, which the person offering it thinks to be the right sum, and which he may also think to be the right sum, although the actual calculation of the exact amount has not been made. What is there in law, or reason, or business, to shew that he is not entitled to receive the sum when so offered to him? I cannot see any difficulty in saying that there is a present right to receive the expenses. In the case where a person has only a reversionary right to receive money, or for some other reason the time when he is entitled to receive the money has not yet arrived, it would be different, and there would be no present right to receive the money. . .
So, reading the words of the section in their ordinary sense, it seems to me that in the present case the Local Board were a body of persons in whose favour a charge existed for a sum of money, who were entitled to receive it, and who were capable of giving a receipt or discharge for it . . . It seems to me therefore that the case comes within the words of the section read in their ordinary sense and that there is no reason for giving them any other construction. Consequently the claim of the plaintiffs is barred by the Statute of Limitations.’
Lindley LJ said that expression, a ‘present right to receive’ was ‘a little ambiguous’, but agreed with Lord Esher: ‘. . . and as distinguishable, as apparently it is meant to be, from ‘present right to sue’, everything works out harmoniously; the moment the time of the coming into existence of the charge is ascertained, the period of limitation will begin to run: whereas, if the opposite construction is adopted, we are at once landed in the curious anomaly that the creditor, that is to say, the person who is entitled to the charge, can by his own act postpone his right to sue indefinitely . . .
The section is dealing with charges on land, and it must be borne in mind that such charges are present charges and future charges, reversionary charges, charges in remainder, and such like. One general form of expression is used to include the whole, and that expression is ‘present right to receive.’ It seems to me clear that the meaning is that in each case the moment to be looked to is the moment when the charge comes into present operation; for instance, when reversionary charges are being dealt with, the moment to be looked to is the moment when the reversion falls in and the charge takes effect in possession.’
Lopes LJ said that the right to receive what was secured by a charge arose concurrently with the charge: ‘When, then, does the right accrue to the person or persons in whose favour the charge is imposed to receive the amount secured by the charge? It appears to me that it accrues the moment the charge is imposed on the premises by the statute, that is when the expenses have been incurred and the works completed. It may be that certain things have to be done before the right can be enforced, but the right to receive what is secured by the charge arises concurrently with the charge. The words are ‘present right to receive’ not ‘present right to recover’. The right to receive may exist though the definite sum to be received has not yet been ascertained. There are cases where the legislature requires a notice to be given before an action can be maintained. The right of action however exists as soon as an actionable wrong has been committed, though it cannot be successfully enforced until the statutory requirements are complied with.’

Lord Esher MR, Lopes LJ, Lindley LJ
[1889] 24 QBD 1
Real Property Limitation Act 1874 8
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Farran v Beresford HL 30-Aug-1843
The House considered the nature of scire facias, and in particular whether scire facias created a new right, or whether it only operated as a continuation of the original judgment. ‘The present right to receive the same’ was understood by Tindal . .
Cited – Earle v Bellingham 24-Jul-1857
The right to receive legacies charged on a reversionary legacy payable under the will of another was not a present right to receive them until the reversionary legacy fell into possession on the death of the life tenant. . .

Cited by:
Cited – The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea v Amanullah Khan and The Wellcome Trust ChD 13-Jun-2001
The authority had served notices on the second defendant, requiring him to execute works to bring a property up to a habitable condition. Eventually the authority executed the works themselves, and sought repayment from him of the costs. He resisted . .
Cited – Wilkinson and Another v West Bromwich Building Society CA 30-Jul-2004
The Society had repossessed and sold the mortgagors’ house in 1990. It knew then that there was a shortfall, but took no further recovery proceedings until 2002. What was the date from which the relevant limitation period began to run? Though the . .
Distingusihed – Green and others v Gaul and Another; In re Loftus deceased ChD 18-Mar-2005
The claimants began an action in January 2003 to seek to set aside the appointment of an administrator from December 1991, and to have set aside transfers of property made within the estate.
Held: The limitation period against a personal . .
Cited – West Bromwich Building Society v Wilkinson HL 30-Jun-2005
The Society had taken possession of a property in 1989. It located the defendants many years later and sought payment of the excess after deduction of the proceeds of sale, and for interest. The borrowers claimed the debt was expired by limitation . .
Cited – Doodes v Gotham, Perry ChD 17-Nov-2005
The trustee in bankruptcy had taken a charge on the property in 1992 to support the bankruptcy in 1988. He sought to enforce it in 2005. The chargor appealed an order which denied he was protected by limitation.
Held: The appeal succeeded. . .
Cited – Gotham v Doodes CA 25-Jul-2006
The former bankrupt resisted sale of his property by the trustee, saying that enforcement was barred by limitation. He and his wife bought the property in early 1988, and he was made bankrupt in October 1988. He was dischaged from bankruptcy in . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Limitation, Local Government

Updated: 22 January 2022; Ref: scu.182787

Richards v Worcestershire County Council and Another: ChD 28 Jul 2016

Application for claim to be struck out.

Newey J
[2016] EWHC 1954 (Ch)
Bailii
Mental Health Act 1983 2 25A 117
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Mwanza, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Greenwich and Another Admn 15-Jun-2010
The claimant had been discharged from inpatient treatment under the 1983 Act, and now sought to oblige the respondent local authorities to provide the assistance he needed. . .
Cited – Clunis (By his Next Friend Prince) v Camden and Islington Health Authority CA 5-Dec-1997
The plaintiff had killed someone and, as a result, been convicted of manslaughter and ordered to be detained in a secure hospital when subject to after-care under section 117 of the 1983 Act. He sought damages from the health authority on the basis . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health, Local Government

Updated: 20 January 2022; Ref: scu.567847

Hastings Borough Council v Manolete Partners Plc: SC 27 Jul 2016

The council appealed against the decision that it is liable to pay compensation under section 106 of the Building Act 1984, for loss to a business on Hastings Pier arising from its closure during 2006 under the council’s emergency powers. The Council said that the company had been in default under section 106.
Held: There was nothing in the factors relied on in the courts below which required the words ‘in default’ to be limited to default under the 1984 Act. They were right in my view to hold that the authority had no defence in principle to the claim for compensation, not because (as they held) there was no default under the 1984 Act, but because it was not default by Stylus which led to the emergency action under section 78.

Lady Hale, Deputy President, Lord Kerr, Lord Carnwath, Lord Toulson, Lord Hodge
[2016] UKSC 50, [2016] 1 WLR 3059, [2016] WLR(D) 426, [2016] RVR 301, [2016] BLR 503, UKSC 2014/0159
Bailii, Bailii Summary, SC, SC Summary
Building Act 1984 106
England and Wales
Citing:
At TCC – Manolete Partners Plc v Hastings Borough Council TCC 12-Apr-2013
Application for compensation under s.106 of the Building Act 1984 for compensation as a result of the Council exercising its powers to prevent access to Hastings Pier under s.78 of the 1984 Act.
Held: The court rejected the defence, holding . .
At CA – Manolete Partners Plc v Hastings Borough Council CA 7-May-2014
The claimants appealed from rejection of their claim to compensation under the 1984 Act as tenants of a pier closed by the Authority. The Authority said that it had failed to comply with its leasehold obligations of repair, and was in default under . .
Cited – Hobbs v Winchester Corporation CA 18-Jun-1910
Meat had been seized under section 116 of the 1875 Act as unfit for human consumption. Although the butcher was acquitted of any offence under section 117 of that Act, on the grounds that he was unaware that it was unfit for consumption, it was . .
Cited – Lingke v Christchurch Corporation CA 1912
The householder sought compensation under the Act, for the disturbance in the laying of a drain in the highway abutting the claimant’s house and furniture shop. Because of the constraints of the work site, excavated soil had been thrown up against . .
Cited – Neath Rural District Council v Williams QBD 1951
A watercourse became silted by natural causes and the local authority served an abatement notice on the landowner, who failed to respond, and when prosecuted relied on a proviso which excluded from liability ‘any person other than the person by . .
Cited – Granada Theatres Ltd v Freehold Investment (Leytonstone) Ltd CA 23-Mar-1959
The tenant claimed that the landlord had failed in its obligations of repair undertaken in the lease.
Held: Where the landlord was in default, a tenant may have a right to undertake the repairs itself, recovering the costs.
Jenkins LJ . .
Cited – Place v Rawtenstall Corporation 1916
The authority had served notice under the Act requiring the plaintiff to convert a pail closet on his premises into a water closet and to connect it to a sewer. He failed to comply, and the authority carried out the work themselves, but did so by . .
Cited – Clayton v Sale Urban District Council 1926
Action was brought by the Council in respect of an alleged statutory nuisance caused by flooding. Under section 94 of the 1875 Act they could serve an abatement notice on the person by whose ‘act default or sufferance’ the nuisance had arisen. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government

Updated: 17 January 2022; Ref: scu.567605

Branwood, Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government: Admn 26 Apr 2013

This case concerns a Local Council Tax Support scheme and adherence by a local council to the duty to consult and the public sector equality duty.

Haddon-Cave J
[2013] EWHC 1024 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Local Government, Rating

Updated: 14 January 2022; Ref: scu.523761

Gibson v East Riding of Yorkshire District Council: EAT 3 Feb 1999

The Working Time Directive has direct application in the employment by an emanation of the state – a local authority, and an hourly paid part timer was entitled to four weeks paid holiday by the direct effect application of the Directive, and irrespective of any ambiguity or deficit in the implementing regulations.

Times 12-Feb-1999, Gazette 31-Mar-1999, [1999] UKEAT 526 – 98 – 0302
Bailii
Working Time Directive 93/104/EC OJ 1993 L307/18
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Gibson v East Riding Yorkshire Council EAT 3-Jul-1998
. .

Cited by:
Appeal from – East Riding of Yorkshire Council v Lorraine Gibson CA 21-Jun-2000
The European Directive which created rights for workers to minimum holidays, was not sufficiently precise to allow it to have direct effect, and so give rise to an individual’s right to sue an employer under its provisions directly. The Directive . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Employment, European, Local Government

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.80815

IM Properties Development Ltd v Lichfield District Council and Others: Admn 20 Jul 2015

Application to quash local plan alleging: ‘ (1) the planning inspector appointed to conduct the examination into the local plan erred in failing to determine whether the Council’s sustainability appraisal complied with the relevant legal and procedural requirements; (2) the sustainability appraisal and the process of consideration of alternatives by the Council and the planning inspector were legally flawed and unfair; (3) the planning inspector adopted the wrong approach when considering whether it was appropriate to alter the green belt boundaries by releasing the Deanslade Farm and Cricket Lane sites for housing; and (4) the Council had no power to adopt the local plan with the main modifications proposed in respect of the green belt sites, since this departed fundamentally from the spatial strategy it originally set out. ‘

Cranston J
[2015] EWHC 2077 (Admin), [2015] WLR(D) 328
Bailii, WLRD
Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 113(3)
England and Wales

Planning, Local Government

Updated: 02 January 2022; Ref: scu.550379

Credit Suisse v Allerdale Borough Council: QBD 17 Jun 1994

A Local Authority’s guarantee for its own company was void, having been given for impermissible reasons.

Independent 17-Jun-1994
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Credit Suisse v Allerdale Borough Council CA 20-May-1996
Builder’s Guarantee Ultra Vires LA
The council set out to provide a swimming pool using powers under s.19 of the 1976 Act. Purporting to use powers under s.111 of the 1972 Act, it set up a company to develop a site by building a leisure pool and time-share units, with a view to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Banking

Updated: 31 December 2021; Ref: scu.79618

Credit Suisse v Allerdale Borough Council: CA 20 May 1996

Builder’s Guarantee Ultra Vires LA

The council set out to provide a swimming pool using powers under s.19 of the 1976 Act. Purporting to use powers under s.111 of the 1972 Act, it set up a company to develop a site by building a leisure pool and time-share units, with a view to selling the time-share units to pay for the cost of building the pool. The council gave a guarantee to help the company to finance the project, and on the strength of this the company obtained a facility from the bank. The sale of the time-share units proved unsatisfactory and the company went into liquidation. The bank sued the council under the guarantee to recover the sums owed to it by the company.
Held: The guarantee was ultra vires where it had been given to a company when the authority was acting outside it’s proper powers. Where a statutory corporation purports to enter into a contract which it is not empowered by the relevant statute to enter into, the corporation lacks the capacity to make the supposed contract. This lack of capacity means that the document and the agreement it contains do not have effect as a legal contract. It exists in fact but not in law. It is a legal nullity. The purported contract which is in truth not a contract does not confer any legal rights on either party. Neither party can sue on it. Any third party dealing with a local authority should be aware of that fact [of limited capacity and competence] and of the potential legal risk.
Hobhouse LJ said: ‘The discretion of the court in deciding whether to grant any remedy is wide one. It can take into account many considerations, including the needs of good administration, delay, the effect on third parties, and the utility of granting the relevant remedy.’

Hobhouse LJ
Times 20-May-1996, [1997] QB 306
Local Government Act 1972 111, Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 819
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Credit Suisse v Allerdale Borough Council QBD 17-Jun-1994
A Local Authority’s guarantee for its own company was void, having been given for impermissible reasons. . .
Applied – London and Clydeside Estates v Aberdeen District Council HL 8-Nov-1979
Identifying ‘maandatory’ and ‘regulatory’
The appellants had sought a Certificate of Alternative Development. The certificate provided was defective in that it did not notify the appellants, as required, of their right to appeal. Their appeal out of time was refused.
Held: The House . .

Cited by:
Cited – Stretch v The United Kingdom ECHR 24-Jun-2003
The claimant had taken a lease of property from a local authority. Relying upon an option for renewal, he invested substantially in the property, but it was then decided that the option was ultra vires.
Held: Property rights protected under . .
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 – Kilby v Basildon District Council Admn 26-Jul-2006
Tenants complained that the authority landlord had purported to vary a clause in his secure tenancy agreement which gave certain management rights to tenants.
Held: The powers to let on secure tenancies were governed by statute. The clause . .
Cited – Birmingham City Council v Qasim and Others CA 20-Oct-2009
The council argued that the defendant was not a tenant granted to him as a secure tenancy since he had not been granted the tenancy in accordance with its policies. An employee had manipulated the Council’s system to grant tenancies to bypass the . .
Cited – UKI (Kingsway) Ltd v Westminster City Council SC 17-Dec-2018
Short issue as to the requirements for valid ‘service’ of a completion notice so as to bring a newly completed building within liability for non-domestic rates. The notice had been served by email where no statutory authority existed for this.
Local Government, Contract, Company, Banking

Updated: 31 December 2021; Ref: scu.79620

L and P v Warwickshire County Council: Admn 5 Feb 2015

The claimants are two disabled children complaining of a failure in the public law duty to consult, in that the defendant ‘acted unlawfully in failing to consult properly or at all on the cuts to funding for social care services for disabled children which it intends to introduce when the ‘local offer’ is approved.

Mostyn J
[2015] EWHC 203 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Local Government

Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.542271

Torbay Quality Care Forum Ltd, Regina (on The Application of) v Torbay Council: Admn 23 Dec 2014

An association of independent care home operators challenge by judicial review the decision of the Defendant local authority setting a ‘usual cost’ figure in respect of the costs of care.

Lambert HHJ
[2014] EWHC 4321 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Health Professions, Local Government

Updated: 24 December 2021; Ref: scu.540478

Bugg v Director of Public Prosecutions; Director of Public Prosecutions v Percy: QBD 1993

The defendants appealed against convictions for having entered military bases contrary to various bye-laws. They challenged the validity of the bye-laws.
Held: The validity of a bye-law could be challenged in criminal proceedings, but where the irregularity alleged was procedural, the bye-law remained effective until it was set aside in civil proceedings. Except in the ‘flagrant’ and ‘outrageous’ case a statutory order, such as a byelaw, remains effective until it is quashed. Byelaws which are on their face invalid or are patently unreasonable (termed ‘substantive’ invalidity) may be called in question by way of defence in criminal proceedings, whereas byelaws which are invalid because of some defect in the procedure by which they came to be made (termed ‘procedural’ invalidity) may not be called in question in such proceedings, so that a person might be convicted of an offence under them even if the byelaws were later quashed in other proceedings.

[1993] QB 473, [1993] 2 WLR 628
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Smith (Kathleen Rose) v East Elloe Rural District Council HL 26-Mar-1956
The plaintiff challenged a compulsory purchase order as unlawful and made in bad faith and sought damages for trespass. Paragraph 16 provided that an order could not be challenged by legal proceedings, save in the circumstances identified in . .
Cited – F Hoffmann La Roche and Co A G v Secretary of State for Trade and Industry HL 1975
No Indemnity for misadministration
The Secretary of State sought an interlocutory injunction under the Act to restrain the appellant from charging prices in excess of those fixed by a statutory instrument he had made. The appellant argued that the statutory instrument was ultra . .
Cited – London and Clydeside Estates v Aberdeen District Council HL 8-Nov-1979
Identifying ‘maandatory’ and ‘regulatory’
The appellants had sought a Certificate of Alternative Development. The certificate provided was defective in that it did not notify the appellants, as required, of their right to appeal. Their appeal out of time was refused.
Held: The House . .
See Also – Percy v Director of Public Prosecutions QBD 13-Dec-1994
A woman protester repeatedly climbed over the perimeter fencing into a military base.
Held: The defendant had a choice between agreeing to be bound over and going to prison. Her refusal to agree to be bound over had an immediate and obvious . .

Cited by:
Overruled – Boddington v British Transport Police HL 2-Apr-1998
The defendant had been convicted, under regulations made under the Act, of smoking in a railway carriage. He sought to challenge the validity of the regulations themselves. He wanted to argue that the power to ban smoking on carriages did not . .
Doubted – Regina v Wicks HL 21-May-1997
Criminal proceedings, forming part of the general scheme of enforcement of planning control contained in Part VII of the Act, had been taken.
Held: The validity of a planning enforcement notice must be challenged in civil proceedings, not . .
See Also – Percy v Director of Public Prosecutions QBD 13-Dec-1994
A woman protester repeatedly climbed over the perimeter fencing into a military base.
Held: The defendant had a choice between agreeing to be bound over and going to prison. Her refusal to agree to be bound over had an immediate and obvious . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, Local Government, Constitutional

Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.187073

Sutton London Borough Council v Davis: FD 17 Mar 1994

Local Authority need not be inflexible in assessing fitness of child minder – smacking. A child minder refusing to sign Local Authority’s no-smack undertaking can still be registered.

Gazette 18-May-1994, Independent 17-Mar-1994, Times 17-Mar-1994
Children Act 1989 77(6)
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Sutton London Borough Council v Davis (Number 2) FD 8-Jul-1994
The local authority had refused to register a childminder, who successfully appealed to the magistrates, who awarded costs in her favour. The local authority appealed against the costs order. In doing so the authority urged the court to apply, by . .

Cited by:
See Also – Sutton London Borough Council v Davis (Number 2) FD 8-Jul-1994
The local authority had refused to register a childminder, who successfully appealed to the magistrates, who awarded costs in her favour. The local authority appealed against the costs order. In doing so the authority urged the court to apply, by . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Local Government

Updated: 22 December 2021; Ref: scu.89632

Regina v Bowden (T): CACD 24 Feb 1995

The defendant, a maintenance manager, was accused of misconduct in public office. He had caused works to be carried out by other employees of the local authority on premises occupied by a friend when such works were not required under the authority’s repair policy. He said that as a local authority employee, and not being an employee of the Crown he could not commit the offence.
Held: He could. A local authority employee can commit the common law criminal offence of misconduct in public office. The defendant received a salary from public funds and was accountable for public funds. The offender was considered to be a public officer because he was ‘appointed to discharge a public duty and received compensation in whatever shape whether from the Crown or otherwise.’ The offence did not apply only to elected officials. The crime resembles the tort of misfeasance.

Independent 05-Apr-1995, Times 06-Mar-1995, [1996] 1 WLR 98, [1995] 4 All ER 505, 93/6974/X2
Local Government and Planning Act 1980 16, Public Bodies Corrupt Practices Act 1889
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Henly v Lyme Corporation 1828
The plaintiff owned property by the sea. It was swamped by the tide because the corporation, who had been granted land by the Crown subject to a condition that it maintain the sea-defences of the cob, had ‘wrongfully and unjustly intending to . .
Cited – Regina v Llewellyn-Jones CACD 1968
The Registrar of a County Court was convicted of offences of misconduct in public office. The indictment charged ‘misbehaviour in a public office, contrary to common law’ and alleged that court orders had been made ‘with the intention of gaining . .
Cited – Regina v Hall 1891
On taking an office of trust concerning the public, a person makes himself answerable to the Crown irrespective of who they had been appointed by, and in what way the appointment arose. It is an ‘old principle that where an Act of Parliament creates . .
Cited – Rex v Whittaker 1914
The Court was asked whether the defendant, a regimentary colonel accused of receiving bribes in connection with the construction of a canteen, was a ‘public officer’ within the meaning of the relevant legislation.
Held: Lawrence J said: ‘A . .
Cited – Regina v Dytham CACD 1979
A constable was 30 yards away from the entrance to a club, from which he saw a man ejected. There was a fight involving cries and screams and the man was beaten and kicked to death in the gutter outside the club. The constable made no move to . .

Cited by:
Cited – Three Rivers District Council and Others v Governor and Company of The Bank of England HL 18-May-2000
The applicants alleged misfeasance against the Bank of England in respect of the regulation of a bank.
Held: The Bank could not be sued in negligence, but the tort of misfeasance required clear evidence of misdeeds. The action was now properly . .
Cited – Attorney General’s Reference (No 3 of 2003) CACD 7-Apr-2004
Police Officers had been acquitted of misconduct in public office. They had stood by in a police station custody suite as a prisoner lay on the floor and died.
Held: The trial took place before R -v- G which had overruled Caldwell. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Crime, Local Government

Updated: 20 December 2021; Ref: scu.86175

Sky Blue Sports and Leisure Ltd and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v Coventry City Council: Admn 30 Jun 2014

The claimant challenged the loan by the Council of a substantial sum to a company operating a local football club saying that it was contrary both to European and domestic law.

Hickinbottom J
[2014] EWHC 2089 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Local Government, European

Updated: 20 December 2021; Ref: scu.536174

Sheffield County Council v Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council: FD 22 Jun 2012

Appeal by Sheffield against an order that Sheffield be the designated local authority in respect of a final care order regarding a young man C.

Bodey J
[2012] EWHC B37 (Fam), [2013] 1 FLR 1027, [2013] Fam Law 32
Bailii
England and Wales

Children, Local Government

Updated: 12 December 2021; Ref: scu.567271

Goodes v East Sussex County Council: HL 16 Jun 2000

The claimant was driving along a road. He skidded on ice, crashed and was severely injured. He claimed damages saying that the Highway authority had failed to ‘maintain’ the road.
Held: The statutory duty on a highway authority to keep a road in repair did not include an absolute duty to remove all ice. The 1959 Act was a consolidating Act and did not extend the responsibilities of highway authorities. ‘Maintenance and repair’ might sometimes include the removal of ice, but, and contrary to established authority, those words related to works to the surface of the roadway not to matter which might accumulate on it. The presence of ice and snow did not mean that the highway was out of repair. Removing ice and snow was a different kind of obligation which could be imposed on highway authorities only by Parliament. A highway authority’s duty under section 41(1) of the 1980 Act to maintain the highway was a duty to keep the fabric of the highway in such good repair as to render its physical condition safe for ordinary traffic to pass at all seasons of the year. It did not include a duty to prevent the formation of ice or remove an accumulation of snow on the road.
Lord Clyde said: ‘I have no difficulty in holding that Section 41 of the Highways Act, 1980 imposes an absolute duty on the highway authority. There is no hardship in so holding since the section has to be taken along with Section 58 which provides a defence that reasonable care has been taken by the authority. The scheme of the provisions is in its broad effect that the authority should be liable for damage caused by a failure to take reasonable care to maintain the highway, but the injured party is not required to prove the failure to take reasonable care. It is for the authority to prove that it has exercised all reasonable care. Such a reversal of the onus which would have been imposed on a plaintiff in an action for damages at common law is justifiable by the consideration that the plaintiff is not likely to know or be able to readily to ascertain in what respects the authority has failed in its duty. All that the plaintiff will know is that there is a defect in the road which has caused him injury and it is reasonable to impose on the authority the burden of explaining that they had exercised all reasonable care and should not be found liable. But the question in the case is precisely what is the meaning and scope of the absolute duty . . Maintenance certainly includes the work of repair and the taking of measures which will obviate the need to repair, to forestall the development of a defect in the road which will, if allowed to develop, require remedial action. The standard of maintenance is to be measured by considerations of safety. The obligation is to maintain the road so that it is safe for the passage of those entitled to use it. But the question still remains as to precisely what is the scope of that maintenance. It certainly requires that the highway be kept in a structurally sound condition. . . To use the words of Diplock, L.J. in Burnside -v- Emerson [1968] 1 WLR 1490 . . the obligation is to keep the highway ‘in such good repair as renders it reasonably passable for the ordinary traffic of the neighbourhood at all seasons of the year without danger caused by its physical condition.”

Lord Slynn of Hadley Lord Steyn Lord Hoffmann Lord Clyde Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough
Times 16-Jun-2000, Gazette 29-Jun-2000, [2000] UKHL 34, [2000] 3 All ER 603, [2000] 1 WLR 1356
House of Lords, House of Lords, House of Lords, Bailii
Highways Act 1980 41(1), Highways Act 1959
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Goodes v East Sussex County Council CA 7-Jan-1999
A council which failed to maintain a road ice free when they had decided on the need to prevent icing, and had had the opportunity to prevent it, but failed to take it, were in breach of statutory duty and liable for damages to driver of crashed . .
Cited – Regina v Heath QBD 1865
The highways board had sought and obtained an order against a householder who had built an extension part way over the highway. He had been orderd to pay costs but the taxed costs left a shortfall. The board now sought the difference from the . .
Cited – Cross v Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council CA 27-Jun-1997
The Council’s duty to maintain a highway is not absolute. It must take reasonable steps to prevent or clear ice forming on pathway. Lord Justice Evans analysed the application of Section 41 to a situation which arose from ice and snow. In any case . .
Cited – Haydon v Kent County Council CA 1978
Impacted snow and ice had built up on a steep, narrow, made-up footpath from Monday to Thursday during a short wintry spell. The plaintiff slipped and broke her ankle. The highway authority operated a system of priorities. Their resources were fully . .
Cited – Regina v Inhabitants of Greenhow 1876
A roadway had slipped down the hillside. At one point it was some 25ft below its former position. Though the material underneath was poor and unstable, it was repairable at a substantial cost to the inhabitants of the local borough.
Held: The . .
Cited – Farrell v Alexander HL 24-Jun-1976
The House considered the construction of a consolidation Act.
Held: It is ordinarily both unnecessary and undesirable to construe a consolidation Act by reference to statutory antecedents, but it is permissible to do so in a case where the . .
Cited – Burnside and Another v Emerson and Others CA 1968
The plaintiffs were injured in a road accident caused by flooding. They sued the executors of the deceased driver whose car spun out of control into the path of their own car, and also the highway authority, who had installed a proper system of . .
Cited – Guardians of the Poor of the Union of Amesbury v Justices of the Peace of the County of Wiltshire QBD 1883
The removal of snow which obstructed the main roads of the district of a highway authority was an ‘expense incurred in the maintenance’ of the highways for the purposes of obtaining a contribution from the county under section 13. . .
Cited – Cowley v Newmarket Local Board HL 1892
No action in tort lay against highway authorities for a failure to repair a highway. They were no more liable than were the local inhabitants.
Lord Halsbury said: ‘We are to consider the scope and purpose of the statute, and in particular for . .
Cited – Griffiths v Liverpool Corporation CA 1967
The Highways Act of 1961 had enlarged the duty of the highway authority and made it a general duty to take reasonable care to secure that the highway was not dangerous to traffic.
As to the effect of the 1961 Act, Diplock LJ said: ‘The duty at . .
Cited – Slater v Worthington’s Cash Store Ltd 1941
The defendant property owner was held to be liable for failing to remove snow from his roof, so that a minor avalanche injured a passer-by on the pavement. . .
Cited – Saunders v Holborn District Board of Works QBD 1895
Mr Saunders was injured when he slipped on an icy pavement, and claimed damages.
Held: A breach of the duty to remove snow did not give rise to a private law cause of action, any more than a breach of the duty to maintain the highway. Before . .
Cited – Acton District Council v London United Tramways KBD 1909
The court was asked whether the removal of four or five inches of snow from the tramway in Acton High Street was within the duty to maintain the highway imposed by section 28 of the Act of 1870.
Held: It was not. . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Scott 1905
A highway authority should ‘maintain the road according to an up-to-date standard.’ . .
Cited – Dublin United Tramways Co Ltd v Martin Fitzgerald HL 1903
The plaintiff sued when his horse slipped on tramlines in the road and fell. Stone setts or paving between the rails of a tramway in Grafton Street, Dublin, had become slippery owing to the grit or roughness of setts being worn away. In that state, . .
Cited – Latimer v AEC Limited HL 25-Jun-1953
The Appellant had recovered damages for injuries which he alleged had been the result of a failure on the part of the Respondents in their statutory duty to maintain one of the gangways in their works in an efficient state. He slipped on a factory . .

Cited by:
Cited – Roe v Sheffield City Council and others CA 17-Jan-2003
The claimant sought damages after his car was involved in an accident when a wheel struck a part of a tramway standing proud of the road surface. The defendant argued that they were excused liability by the 1988 Act, incorporating the effects of the . .
Cited – Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council HL 1-Apr-2004
Statutory Duty Not Extended by Common Law
The claimant sought damages after a road accident. The driver came over the crest of a hill and hit a bus. The road was not marked with any warning as to the need to slow down.
Held: The claim failed. The duty could not be extended to include . .
Cited – Fiona Thompson v Hampshire County Council CA 27-Jul-2004
The claimant fell into a ditch by a path on the highway in the dark. She appealed a finding of no liability on the highway authority.
Held: The authority’s responsibility was as to the surface structures of the road way and not as to the . .
Cited – Jane Marianne Sandhar, John Stuart Murray v Department of Transport, Environment and the Regions CA 5-Nov-2004
The claimant’s husband died when his car skidded on hoar frost. She claimed the respondent was liable under the Act and at common law for failing to keep it safe.
Held: The respondent had not assumed a general responsibility to all road users . .
Cited – Department for Transport, Environment and the Regions v Mott Macdonald Ltd and others CA 27-Jul-2006
Claims arose from accidents caused by standing water on roadway surfaces after drains had not been cleared by the defendants over a long period of time. The Department appealed a decision giving it responsibility under a breach of statutory duty . .
Cited – Ali v The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council CA 17-Nov-2010
The claimant appealed against rejection of her claim for damages after slipping on a footpath maintainable by the defendant after an accumulation of mud and debris. The claim appeared to be the first under section 130, and the highway authority . .
Cited – King Lifting Ltd v Oxfordshire County Council QBD 20-Jul-2016
A heavy crane had toppled from a road. The crane owners said that the highway authority were responsible for the poor condition of the road.
Held: The action failed. The evidence did not support the assertion that the accident arose from a . .
Cited – London Borough of Southwark and Another v Transport for London SC 5-Dec-2018
Question as to the meaning of the GLA Roads and Side Roads (Transfer of Property etc) Order 2000. When the highway was transferred was only the working surfaces, the road surface and the airspace and subsoil necessary for the operation, maintenance . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Road Traffic, Local Government

Updated: 10 December 2021; Ref: scu.80914

Aster Healthcare Ltd v Shafi (Estate of): QBD 24 Jan 2014

The defendant executor appealed from summary judgment in favour of the claimant in respect of outstanding care home fees.

Andrews DBE J
[2014] EWHC 77 (QB), [2014] PTSR 888, [2014] WLR(D) 42
Bailii, WLRD
Mental Capacity Act 2005, National Assistance Act 1948, National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990
England and Wales

Contract, Health, Local Government

Updated: 29 November 2021; Ref: scu.520897

Trail Riders Fellowship and Others v Powys County Council: Admn 17 Oct 2013

The applicants challenged decisions of the Council to make a traffic regulation order over each of two byways in the county. The Council was both the traffic and highway authority for the county. These orders had the effect of prohibiting the use of the byways by motor vehicles, motor cycles and horse drawn vehicles.

Cranston J
[2013] EWHC 3144 (Admin)
Bailii

Land, Local Government

Updated: 21 November 2021; Ref: scu.516545

Hall v Beckenham Corporation: 1949

A claim was made in nuisance against the local authority, the owner of a public park, in which members of the public flew noisy model aircraft.
Held: The local authority were not liable as the occupiers of the park for an alleged nuisance that was being committed in the park. Finnemore J discussed the purpose of a public walks or pleasure grounds under the 1875 Act, saying: ‘So far as a local authority are concerned, if land is bought under s. 164 of the Act of 1875 for that purpose it is dedicated to the use of the public for the purpose of a park.’

Finnemore J rejected the plaintiff’s submission that even if it was not the occupier, the authority was liable because it had the management and control of the park: ‘So long as a member of the public behaves himself in the ordinary way, committing no criminal offence and observing the by-laws, the corporation cannot stop his doing what he likes in this recreation ground . . I think that the corporation are the trustees and guardians of the park, and that they are bound to admit to it any citizen who wishes to enter it within the times when it is open. I do not think that they can interfere with any person in the park unless he breaks the general law or one of their by-laws. They cannot put themselves in the position of judges of whether a person may be causing a nuisance to someone outside the park. Their proper attitude to such a complaint is to say that the complainer must take action against the person who is said to be committing the nuisance.’

Finnemore J
[1949 ] 1 KB 716
Public Health Act 1875
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v City of Sunderland ex parte Beresford HL 13-Nov-2003
Land had been used as a park for many years. The council land owner refused to register it as a common, saying that by maintaining the park it had indicated that the use was by consent and licence, and that prescription did not apply.
Held: . .
Cited – Barkas v North Yorkshire County Council CA 23-Oct-2012
The court was asked: ‘When local inhabitants indulge in lawful sports and pastimes on a recreation ground which has been provided for that purpose by a local authority in the exercise of its statutory powers, do they do so ‘by right’ or ‘as of . .
Cited – Barkas, Regina (on The Application of ) v North Yorkshire County Council and Another SC 6-Mar-2014
The Court was asked as to the registration of a playing field as a ‘town or village green’. Local residents asserted that their use of the land, having been ‘as of right’ required the registration. They now appealed against rejection of that . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Nuisance, Land, Local Government

Updated: 17 November 2021; Ref: scu.187797

Regina v Camden London Borough Council Ex Parte Cran and Others: QBD 25 Jan 1995

A designation of an area as a controlled parking area was vitiated by the failure of the Local Authority to consult locally. The court expanded on the principles for consultation set out in Gunning: ‘What kind and amount of consultation is required in a particular case must depend on the circumstances. A few general principles can however, be stated.
‘The process of consultation must be effective; looked at as a whole, it must be fair. This requires that: consultation must take place while the proposals are still at a formative stage; those consulted must be provided with information which is accurate and sufficient to enable them to make a meaningful response; they must be given adequate time in which to do so; there must be adequate time for their responses to be considered; the consulting party must consider responses with a receptive mind and a conscientious manner when reaching its decision.’

McCullough J
Times 25-Jan-1995, Ind Summary 20-Mar-1995, (1996) 94 LGR 8
European Convention on Human Rights 9
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Brent London Borough Council ex parte Gunning 1985
The demands of fair consultation procedures will vary from case to case and will depend on the factors involved. The requirements are: ‘First, that consultation must be at a time when proposals are still at a formative stage. Second, that the . .

Cited by:
Cited – Regina (on the Application of Wainwright) v Richmond Upon Thames London Borough Council CA 20-Dec-2001
A local authority was under a statutory duty to consult before undertaking road improvements. Because of the chaotic mail administration systems, the consultation had been ruled unlawful. The council appealed.
Held: The council had in fact . .
Cited – Partingdale Lane Residents’ Association, Regina (on the Application of) v Barnet London Borough Council Admn 2-Apr-2003
Complaint was made that a Councillor had closed his mind to any arguments and had predetermined the decision on a proposed road re-opening order.
Held: The application was allowed. Councillor Coleman had himself gone beyond a legitimate . .
Cited – X, Regina (on the Application of) v Y School Admn 21-Feb-2007
The court was asked whether a school was entitled to refuse to allow a Muslim girl to wear the niqab full face veil at school. The reasons were ‘first educational factors resulting from a teacher being unable to see the face of the girl with a . .
Cited – Watkins-Singh, Regina (on the Application of) v The Governing Body of Aberdare Girls’ High School and Another Admn 29-Jul-2008
Miss Singh challenged her school’s policy which operated to prevent her wearing while at school a steel bangle, a Kara. She said this was part of her religion as a Sikh.
Held: Earlier comparable applications had been made under human rights . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Road Traffic, Local Government

Updated: 17 November 2021; Ref: scu.86281

National Secular Society and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Bideford Town Council: Admn 10 Feb 2012

The claimant challenged the placing of a prayer on the agenda of the respondent’s meetings.
Held: The claim succeeded. The placing of such elements on the Agenda was outside the powers given to the Council, and the action was ultra vires: ‘S111 is the statutory expression of the powers implied by common law for corporations. Even if an act could fall into a category outside s111 but for which no statutory authority was required at all, saying prayers would not be one of them: it can be controversial, the importance attached by the Council to saying prayers as part of the meeting means that it cannot be treated as a trivial matter.’
and ‘There is a contradiction at the heart of the Council’s position. It has made the prayers part of the formal business of the Council, yet it says that Councillors, summoned to its meetings, are not obliged to be present for this incident to the transaction of business nor to participate in it. I do not think that what falls within the scope of s111, as an incident to the transaction of the business of the meeting, can then be regarded as such that attendance for it is unnecessary or optional, in distinction from all other business.’
and ‘I do not think that the 1972 Act, dealing with the organisation, management and decision-making of local Councils, should be interpreted as permitting the religious views of one group of Councillors, however sincere or large in number, to exclude or, even to a modest extent, to impose burdens on or even to mark out those who do not share their views and do not wish to participate in their expression of them. They are all equally elected Councillors.’
Ouseley J said: ‘The issue is solely about whether prayers can be said as a part of the formal business transacted by the Council at a meeting to which all Councillors are summoned. It is quite wrong for the Defendant to suggest that the Claimants would be introducing a bar on acts of worship before the meeting, thus hindering the exercise by Councillors who wished to pray of their right to do so.’

Ouseley J
[2012] EWHC 175 (Admin)
Bailii
Equality Act 2006, European Convention on Human Rights 9, Local Government Act 1972 111
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Richmond Upon Thames London Borough Council, ex parte McCarthy and Stone (Developments) Ltd HL 14-Nov-1991
A Local Authority was not able to impose charge for inquiries as to speculative developments and similar proposals, or for consultations, and pre-planning advice. There was no statutory authority for such a charge, and it was therefore unlawful and . .
Cited – Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council HL 1991
Swap deals outwith Council powers
The authority entered into interest rate swap deals to protect itself against adverse money market movements. They began to lose substantial amounts when interest rates rose, and the district auditor sought a declaration that the contracts were . .
Cited – Watkins-Singh, Regina (on the Application of) v The Governing Body of Aberdare Girls’ High School and Another Admn 29-Jul-2008
Miss Singh challenged her school’s policy which operated to prevent her wearing while at school a steel bangle, a Kara. She said this was part of her religion as a Sikh.
Held: Earlier comparable applications had been made under human rights . .
Cited – Eweida v British Airways Plc CA 12-Feb-2010
The court was asked whether, by adopting a staff dress code which forbade the wearing of visible neck adornment and so prevented the appellant, a Christian, from wearing with her uniform a small, visible cross, British Airways (BA) indirectly . .
Cited – Johns and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Derby City Council and Another Admn 28-Feb-2011
The claimants had acted as foster carers for several years, but challenged a potential decision to discontinue that when, as committed Christians, they refused to sign to agree to treat without differentiation any child brought to them who might be . .
Cited – McFarlane v Relate Avon Ltd CA 29-Apr-2010
The employee renewed his application for leave to appeal against refusal of his discrimination claim on the grounds of religious belief. He worked as a relationship sex therapist, and had signed up to the employer’s equal opportunities policy, but . .
Cited – Buscarini And Others v San Marino ECHR 18-Feb-1999
(Grand Chamber) Elected MPs complained that they were not allowed to take their seats unless they swore an oath in religious form.
Held: This requirement was not compatible with article 9. ‘That freedom [Article 9 freedom of thought] entails, . .
Cited – Carson, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions; Reynolds v Same HL 26-May-2005
One claimant said that as a foreign resident pensioner, she had been excluded from the annual uprating of state retirement pension, and that this was an infringement of her human rights. Another complained at the lower levels of job-seeker’s . .
Cited – Begum (otherwise SB), Regina (on the Application of) v Denbigh High School HL 22-Mar-2006
The student, a Muslim wished to wear a full Islamic dress, the jilbab, but this was not consistent with the school’s uniform policy. She complained that this interfered with her right to express her religion.
Held: The school’s appeal . .
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 . .
Cited – Lautsi v Italy ECHR 18-Mar-2011
(Grand Chamber) The applicants complained that the presence in all state schoolrooms of a crucifix on the wall infringed the principle of secularism. The routine presence in state school classrooms of a crucifix, which was not used for worship, . .
Cited – Ladele v London Borough of Islington CA 15-Dec-2009
The appellant was employed as a registrar. She refused to preside at same sex partnership ceremonies, saying that they conflicted with her Christian beliefs.
Held: The council’s decision had clearly disadvantaged the claimant, and the question . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Human Rights, Ecclesiastical

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.451362

Regina (B) v Merton London Borough Council: Admn 14 Jul 2003

The authority had to decide the age of the applicant, an asylum seeker, in order to decide whether a duty was owed to him under the Act. He complained that the procedure adopted was unfair. The 2002 Act did not apply to persons under 18, and he would be entitled to assistance from the respondent. The assessment was made by a social worker through an interpreter over a telephone, but no record was kept.
Held: There was no statutory procedure. Without documentation, no objective procedure existed, and the respondent must rely upon its own assessment. It was difficult but not complex, and should not be made complex. It had to make its own decision, and could not simply adopt the decision of the Home Office. The procedure adopted here risked misunderstanding, and notes would have been relevant and useful. The applicant had not been given opportunity to answer points found against him, and the decision was unfair and must be set aside.
The court set out guidelines for the making of such assessments.

Stanley Burnton J
[2003] EWHC 1689 (Admin), Times 18-Jul-2003, [2003] 4 All ER 280
Bailii
Children Act 1989 17, Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 18(1)(a)
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – I and Another, Regina (on the Application Of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 27-May-2005
The applicants had sought asylum. The respondent wished to detain them. They said that they were under the age of 18, which would require them to be released. The respondent obtained expert reports from a senior consultant paediatrician experienced . .
Cited – Regina (A) v Liverpool City Council QBD 26-Jun-2007
The applicant sought judicial review of the authority’s decision that he was over the age of eighteen.
Held: Review was granted. The authority had to have regard to all the relevant information, and could not limit itself to adopting the . .
Cited – Friends of Basildon Golf Course v Basildon District Council and Another Admn 23-Jan-2009
The council owned land on which it ran a golf course. It set out to privatise it and sought interest. An application was made for planning permission. The applicants objected to the planning permission, saying that the Environmental Impact . .
Cited – A, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough of Croydon SC 26-Nov-2009
The applicants sought asylum, and, saying that they were children under eighteen, sought also the assistance of the local authority. Social workers judged them to be over eighteen and assistance was declined.
Held: The claimants’ appeals . .
Cited – AA, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 10-Jul-2013
The issue on this appeal is the effect of section 55 on the legality of the appellant’s detention under paragraph 16 over a period of 13 days. At the time of the detention the Secretary of State acted in the mistaken but reasonable belief that he . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Local Government, Benefits

Leading Case

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.184712

Regina v Manchester City Council, ex parte Stennett etc: HL 25 Jul 2002

The applicants were former mental patients who had been admitted to hospital compulsorily under section 3. On their release they were to be given support under section 117. The authorities sought to charge for these services, and appealed a decision that the services should be free.
Held: Section 117 imposed a clear and free standing duty to provide support. The section was not a mere request to the authority to provide services under other provisions. Such patients might have greater needs and also have imposed on them restrictions. It was not inappropriate that support should be free.

Lord Slynn of Hadley Lord Mackay of Clashfern Lord Steyn Lord Hutton Lord Millett
Times 29-Aug-2002, Gazette 17-Oct-2002, [2002] UKHL 34, [2002] BLGR 557, (2002) 5 CCL Rep 500, [2002] 4 All ER 124, [2002] 3 WLR 584, (2002) 68 BMLR 247, [2002] 2 AC 1127
House of Lords, Bailii
Mental Health Act 1983 3 117
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal From – Regina v Richmond London Borough Council, Ex Parte Watson; Regina v Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Ex Parte Armstrong etc Admn 15-Oct-1999
. .

Cited by:
Cited – K v Central and North West London Mental Health NHS Trust and Another QBD 30-May-2008
k_centralQBD2008
The claimant appealed against an order striking out his claim in negligence. He had leaped from a window in a suicide attempt. The accommodation was provided by the defendant whilst caring for him under the 1983 Act.
Held: The case should be . .
Cited – Stojak, Regina (on The Application of) v Sheffield City Council Admn 22-Dec-2009
The deceased had been detained as a mental patient and supported after her release, by her family financially. Her representatives now said that the respondent had failed in its obligation to provide support for no charge. The authority said that . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health, Benefits, Local Government

Leading Case

Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.174394

National Aids Trust v National Health Service Commissioning Board (NHS England): Admn 2 Aug 2016

NHS to make drug available

The claimant charity said that drugs (PrEP) prophylactic for AIDS / HIV should be made available by the defendant and through the NHS. The respndent said that the responsibility for preventative medicine for sexual health lay with local authorities.
Held: The claim succeeded. NHS England had misdirected itself in law when it concluded that it had no power to commission PrEP: ‘when the NHSA 2006 is considered both as a whole but also by reference to its specific provisions it has the following broad characteristics and purposes; First, it imposes broad duties and powers on NHS England to secure the provision of health services to the entirety of the population and nation wide; second, the duty includes all aspects of preventative medicine; third it exercises its powers and duties concurrently with other providers of services which includes the Secretary of State, CCGs and local authorities; fourth these services are to be provided comprehensively and in an integrated manner; fifth, the service is to be provided efficiently and so as to avoid inequalities of provision or outcome.’

Green J
[2016] EWHC 2005 (Admin), CO/2979/2016
Bailii, Judiciary
National Health Service Act 2006, National Health Service Commissioning Board and Clinical Commissioning Groups (Responsibilities and Standing Rules) Regulations 2012, Local Authorities (Public Health Functions etc.) Regulations 2013
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Andrews, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs CA 1-Jul-2015
The claimant appealed against rejection of his request for judicial review of the decision by the respondent not to amend the definitive map to show two sections of public bridleway across an arable field.
Lord Dyson MR considered the purposive . .
Cited – UBS Ag and Another v Revenue and Customs SC 9-Mar-2016
UBS AG devised an employee bonus scheme to take advantage of the provisions of Chapter 2 of the 2003 Act, with the sole purpose other than tax avoidance, and such consequential advantages as would flow from tax avoidance. Several pre-ordained steps . .
Cited – Harvey, Regina v SC 16-Dec-2015
Police had discovered quantities of stolen goods at the appellant’s business premises. He was convicted of receiving stolen goods, and confiscation order made. He now appealed from the inclusion in that order of sums of VAT which had already been . .
Cited – Solar Century Holdings Ltd and Others v Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Admn 7-Nov-2014
The court considered the admissibility of pre-legislative material as evidence to support the interpretation of a statute. . .
Mentioned – Solar Century Holdings Ltd and Others v Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change CA 1-Mar-2016
This judicial review appeal concerns the legality of decisions by the respondent, the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (‘the SoS’), to bring to a premature close, subject to certain periods of grace, a statutory scheme supporting the . .
Cited – Attorney-General v Mersey Railway Co HL 1906
The power to make by-laws encompasses not only a company’s principle activity, but also all incidental and ancillary activities. The incidental power cannot be used to expand the company’s activities, in this case by extending its business by . .
Cited – Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council HL 1991
Swap deals outwith Council powers
The authority entered into interest rate swap deals to protect itself against adverse money market movements. They began to lose substantial amounts when interest rates rose, and the district auditor sought a declaration that the contracts were . .
Cited – Andrews, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs CA 1-Jul-2015
The claimant appealed against rejection of his request for judicial review of the decision by the respondent not to amend the definitive map to show two sections of public bridleway across an arable field.
Lord Dyson MR considered the purposive . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health, Local Government, News

Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.567876

Veolia Es Nottinghamshire Ltd v Nottinghamshire County Council and Others: CA 29 Oct 2010

An elector sought disclosure under the 1988 Act concerning a contract with certain contractors. The authority refused saying that they were commercially sensitive, and the company said that doisclosure would affect its own human rights.
Held: The right to information under the 1988 Act was not so extensive as to override the claimant’s right to protection of its commercially sensitive documents. Valuable commercial information was protectable as a possession under the first protocol. The exercise in any such case is always fact driven and context sensitive.

Rix, Etherton, Jackson LJJ
[2010] EWCA Civ 1214, [2010] WLR (D) 273
Bailii, WLRD
Audit Commission Act 1998, European Convention on Human Rights 1, Freedom of Information Act 2000 50
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Special Commissioner And Another, ex parte Morgan Grenfell and Co Ltd HL 16-May-2002
The inspector issued a notice requiring production of certain documents. The respondents refused to produce them, saying that they were protected by legal professional privilege.
Held: Legal professional privilege is a fundamental part of . .
Cited – Regina (HTV Ltd) v Bristol City Council QBD 14-May-2004
The claimant sought disclosure by the respondent of their accounts, intending to use the material in a television program.
Held: As ratepayers, they were entitled to the information. The respondent was not free to refuse it because it . .
Appeal from – Hertfordshire County Council v Veolia Water Central Ltd QBD 19-Feb-2010
. .

Cited by:
Cited – Phillips v Newsgroup Newspapers Ltd and Others ChD 17-Nov-2010
The claimant had been assistant to a well known publicist. The defendant had settled an action brought by her principal for hacking his mobile telephone, in the course of which it appeared that the claimant’s phone had also been hacked. She now . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Information, Local Government, Human Rights

Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.425613

Cunningham, Regina (on The Application of) v Hertfordshire County Council and Another: CA 11 Nov 2016

Whether child should be seen to b ‘looked after’

Appeal from an order dismissing the appellant’s claim for judicial review, expressed as a challenge to the failure of Hertfordshire to provide her with support for the care of her grandson who, it was suggested, was a ‘looked after child’ for the purposes of section 20 to 22D of the 1989 Ac. A necessary stepping stone to that conclusion was that it should have appeared to Hertfordshire for the purposes of section 20 of the 1989 Act, that R required accommodation because his mother was no longer able to provide him with it. Had Hertfordshire come to that conclusion and arranged accommodation for him, then after 24 hours R would have become a ‘looked after child’ with the consequence that various obligations upon Hertfordshire would have arisen, including the provision of financial support.
Held: The obligation to provide the support arose only upon the Local Authority seeing that it appeared to them that the child required accomodation. Such an assessment was acutely fact sensitive, and required an established error of public law for a challenge.
A child was not in such need of support only on the basis that accomodation offered was only temporary or stopgap

Black, Burnett LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 1108, [2016] WLR(D) 595
Bailii, WLRD
Children Act 1989 20 21 22
England and Wales

Children, Local Government

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.571221

Re L (Care: Assessment: Fair Trial): FD 2002

The court emphasised the need, in the interests not merely of the parent but also of the child, of a transparently fair and open procedure at all stages of the care process, including the making of documents openly available to parents.
Munby J said: ‘it must never be forgotten that, with the state’s abandonment of the right to impose capital sentences, orders of the kind which judges of this Division are typically invited to make in public law proceedings are amongst the most drastic that any judge in any jurisdiction is ever empowered to make. It is a terrible thing to say to any parent – particularly, perhaps, to a mother – that he or she is to lose their child for ever.’ and ‘The local authority should at an early stage of the proceedings make full and frank disclosure to the other parties of all key documents in its possession or available to it . . Early provision should then be afforded for inspection of any of these documents. Any objection to the disclosure or inspection of any document should be notified to the parties at the earliest possible stage in the proceedings and raised with the court by the local authority without delay.’

Munby J
[2002] 2 FLR 730, [2002] EWHC 1379 (Fam)
Cited by:
Cited – Kent County Council v The Mother, The Father, B (By Her Children’s Guardian); Re B (A Child) (Disclosure) FD 19-Mar-2004
The council had taken the applicant’s children into care alleging that the mother had harmed them. In the light of the subsequent cases casting doubt on such findings, the mother sought the return of her children. She applied now that the hearings . .
Cited – JD v East Berkshire Community Health NHS Trust and others HL 21-Apr-2005
Parents of children had falsely and negligently been accused of abusing their children. The children sought damages for negligence against the doctors or social workers who had made the statements supporting the actions taken. The House was asked if . .
Cited – Doctor A and Others v Ward and Another FD 8-Jan-2010
Parents wished to publicise the way care proceedings had been handled, naming the doctors, social workers and experts some of whom had been criticised. Their names had been shown as initials so far, and interim contra mundum orders had been made . .
Cited – Durham County Council v Dunn CA 13-Dec-2012
The claimant wished to begin a claim alleging historic sexual abuse while he had been at an institution run by the defendants. The claimant sought pre-trial disclosure of various documents and the court now considered the principle applicable, and . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Children, Local Government

Leading Case

Updated: 02 November 2021; Ref: scu.194861

Jewish Rights Watch (T/A Jewish Human Rights Watch), Regina (on The Application of) v Leicester City Council: Admn 28 Jun 2016

The claimant challenged the legaity of resolutions passed by three local authorities which were critical of the State of Israel. They said that the resolultions infringed the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the 2010 Act, and also had failed as require to consider the effect it might have in the Jewish community, by possibly encouraging anti-Jewish feelings.
Held: The claims were each dismissed.

Simon LJ, Flaux J
[2016] EWHC 1512 (Admin), [2017] PTSR 1433
Bailii
Local Government Act 1988 17, Equality Act 2010 149
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions Admn 23-Jul-1999
The police had arrested three peaceful but vociferous preachers when some members of a crowd gathered round them threatened hostility.
Held: Freedom of speech means nothing unless it includes the freedom to be irritating, contentious, . .
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 . .
Cited – BAPIO Action Ltd and Another, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and Another QBD 9-Feb-2007
The claimants said that changes to the Highy Skilled Migrant Programme were unfairly introduced, that they had effectively barred non-EU doctors from applying for first tier doctor appointments, and that the guidance could properly be derived only . .
Cited – National Association of Health Stores and Another, Regina (on the Application of) v Department of Health CA 22-Feb-2005
Applications were made to strike down regulations governing the use of the herbal product kava-kava.
Held: The omission of any transtitional provisions had not affected anyone. Nor was the failure to consult as to the possibility of dealing . .
Cited – Meany and Others, Regina (On the Application of) v Harlow District Council Admn 9-Mar-2009
Challenge to process used for advertising an invitation to tender for its welfare rights and advice services within the district.
Held: Davis J said that the: ‘general regard to issues of equality is not the same as having specific regard, by . .
Cited – Hurley and Moore, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills Admn 17-Feb-2012
The applicants, intending university students, challenged the decision to raise to andpound;9,000 per annum, the fees which might be charged by qualifying universities.
Elias LJ said: ‘Contrary to a submission advanced by Ms Mountfield, I do . .
Cited – Bracking and Others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions CA 6-Nov-2013
Application for permission to appeal against refusal of leave to bring judicial review of decision by the respondent to close the Independent Living Fund.
Held: McCombe LJ summarised the application of section 149 of the 2010 Act: ‘1 . . . .
Cited – Brown, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Admn 18-Dec-2008
Having ‘due regard’ is not Obligation to do
The claimant sought to challenge the decision to close her local post office on the basis that being retired and disabled and without a car in a rural area, the office was essential and the decision unsupportable. In particular she challenged the . .
Cited – Bailey and Others, Regina (on The Application of) v London Borough of Brent Council and Others CA 19-Dec-2011
Appeal against failure of challenge to decision to close public libraries. . .
Cited – Pieretti v London Borough of Enfield CA 12-Oct-2010
The claimant sought a declaration that the duty set out in the 1995 Act applies to the discharge of duties, and to the exercise of powers, by local housing authorities under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 being the part entitled ‘Homelessness’. . .
Cited – Domb and Others, Regina (On the Application of) v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and Another CA 8-Sep-2009
The applicants sought to challenge a decision by the authority to charge for various home care services provided to the disabled applicants. They alleged that the charges were discriminatory.
Held: Officials reporting to or advising . .
Cited – Hotak and Others v London Borough of Southwark and Another SC 13-May-2015
The court was asked as to the duty of local housing authorities towards homeless people who claim to be ‘vulnerable’, and therefore to have ‘a priority need’ for the provision of housing accommodation under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. Those . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.566267

Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council: HL 22 May 1996

Simple interest only on rate swap damages

The bank had paid money to the local authority under a contract which turned out to be ultra vires and void. The question was whether, in addition to ordering the repayment of the money to the bank on unjust enrichment principles, the court could also award compound interest. It was clear law that the court had power to do so in the case of a breach of trust.
Held: Simple interest only was payable on a debt payable for an interest rate swap agreement which had been avoided as ultra vires the council’s powers. The failure of the swap agreement did not place the authority under any fiduciary duty to the claimants. A finding to that effect would create equitable interests with uncertain consequences for others. Accordingly simple interest only was payable. Parliament had made its intentions clear and it was not for the courts to create new situations in which compound interest would be awarded. ‘Although it is difficult to find clear authority for the proposition, when property has been obtained by fraud equity imposes a constructive trust on the fraudulent recipient: the property is recoverable and traceable in equity.’ An innocent recipient of property wrongfully obtained does not become a constructive trustee of it until receipt of knowledge of the claim in equity of the true owner.
HL Lord Goff said: ‘Claims in restitution are founded upon a principle of justice, being designed to prevent the unjust enrichment of the defendant: see Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd. [1991] 2 A.C. 548. Long ago, in Moses v Macferlan (1760) 2 Burr. 1005, 1012, Lord Mansfield C.J. said that the gist of the action for money had and received is that ‘the defendant, upon the circumstances of the case, is obliged by the ties of natural justice and equity to refund the money’. It would be strange indeed if the courts lacked jurisdiction in such a case to ensure that justice could be fully achieved by means of an award of compound interest, where it is appropriate to make such an award, despite the fact that the jurisdiction to award such interest is itself said to rest upon the demands of justice. I am glad not to be forced to hold that English law is so inadequate as to be incapable of achieving such a result. In my opinion the jurisdiction should now be made available, as justice requires, in cases of restitution, to ensure that full justice can be done. The seed is there, but the growth has hitherto been confined within a small area. That growth should now be permitted to spread naturally elsewhere within this newly recognised branch of the law. No genetic engineering is required, only that the warm sun of judicial creativity should exercise its benign influence rather than remain hidden behind the dark clouds of legal history.’
Lord Browne-Wilkinson said (obiter): ‘The argument for a resulting trust was said to be supported by the case of a thief who steals a bag of coins. At law those coins remain traceable only so long as they are kept separate: as soon as they are mixed with other coins or paid into a mixed bank account they cease to be traceable at law. Can it really be the case, it is asked, that in such circumstances the thief cannot be required to disgorge the property which, in equity, represents the stolen coins? Moneys can only be traced in equity if there has been at some stage a breach of fiduciary duty, i.e. if either before the theft there was an equitable proprietary interest (e.g. the coins were stolen trust moneys) or such interest arises under a resulting trust at the time of the theft or the mixing of the moneys. Therefore, it is said, a resulting trust must arise either at the time of the theft or when the moneys are subsequently mixed. Unless this is the law, there will be no right to recover the assets representing the stolen moneys once the moneys have become mixed.
I agree that the stolen moneys are traceable in equity. But the proprietary interest which equity is enforcing in such circumstances arises under a constructive, not a resulting, trust. Although it is difficult to find clear authority for the proposition, when property is obtained by fraud equity imposes a constructive trust on the fraudulent recipient: the property is recoverable and traceable in equity. Thus, an infant who has obtained property by fraud is bound in equity to restore it: Stocks v. Wilson [1913] 2 K.B. 235, 244; R. Leslie Ltd. v. Sheill [1914] 3 K.B. 607. Moneys stolen from a bank account can be traced in equity: Bankers Trust Co. v. Shapira [1980] 1 W.L.R. 1274, 1282C-E: see also McCormick v. Grogan (1869) L.R. 4 H.L. 82, 97′.
Lord Browne-Wilkinson explained the differences between institutional and remedial constructive trusts: ‘Under an institutional constructive trust, the trust arises by operation of law as from the date of the circumstances which give rise to it: the function of the court is merely to declare that such trust has arisen in the past. The consequences that flow from such trust having arisen (including the possibly unfair consequences to third parties who in the interim have received the trust property) are also determined by rules of law, not under a discretion. A remedial constructive trust, as I understand it, is different. It is a judicial remedy giving rise to an enforceable equitable obligation: the extent to which it operates retrospectively to the prejudice of third parties lies in the discretion of the court.’

Lord Browne-Wilkinson, Lord Goff, Lord Woolf
Times 30-May-1996, [1996] 2 All ER 961, [1996] 2 AC 669, [1996] UKHL 12, [1996] 2 WLR 802, [1996] 5 Bank LR 341
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council CA 30-Dec-1993
A bank paid money to a local authority under an interest rate swap agreement, which was held later to be outside the local authority’s powers.
Held: The local authority was to repay the money paid to it for an ultra vires purpose (a swap . .
Cited – Burdick v Garrick HL 1870
In the courts of Chancery, the statute of limitations would not apply when the person in a confidential relationship had got the property into his hands. A court presumes against the party against whom relief is sought that he has made that profit . .
Cited – Wallersteiner v Moir (No 2) CA 1975
The court was asked whether Moir would be entitled to legal aid to bring a derivative action on behalf of a company against its majority shareholder.
Held: A minority shareholder bringing a derivative action on behalf of a company could obtain . .
Applied – Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council HL 1991
Swap deals outwith Council powers
The authority entered into interest rate swap deals to protect itself against adverse money market movements. They began to lose substantial amounts when interest rates rose, and the district auditor sought a declaration that the contracts were . .

Cited by:
Cited – Smithkline Beecham Plc Glaxosmithkline UK Ltd and Another v Apotex Europe Ltd and others (No 2) CA 23-May-2006
The parties to the action had given cross undertakings to support the grant of an interim injunction. A third party subsequently applied to be joined, and now sought to take advantage of the cross undertakings to claim the losses incurred through . .
Cited – Islamic Republic of Pakistan v Zardari and others ComC 6-Oct-2006
The claimant alleged that the defendants had funded the purchase of various properties by secret and unlawful commissions taken by them whilst in power in Pakistan. They sought to recover the proceeds. They now sought permission to serve proceedings . .
Cited – Stack v Dowden HL 25-Apr-2007
The parties had cohabited for a long time, in a home bought by Ms Dowden. After the breakdown of the relationship, Mr Stack claimed an equal interest in the second family home, which they had bought in joint names. The House was asked whether, when . .
Cited – Bryce Ashworth v Newnote Ltd CA 27-Jul-2007
The appellant challenged a refusal to set aside a statutory demand, in respect of his director’s loan account with the respondent company, saying the court should have accepted other accounts to set off against that debt.
Held: A statutory . .
Cited – Sempra Metals Ltd v Inland Revenue Commissioners and Another HL 18-Jul-2007
The parties agreed that damages were payable in an action for restitution, but the sum depended upon to a calculation of interest. They disputed whether such interest should be calculated on a simple or compound basis. The company sought compound . .
Cited – Kommune and Another v DEPFA Acs Bank ComC 4-Sep-2009
Local authorities in Denmark sought to recover sums paid to the defendant banks for swap trading, saying that the payments had been outwith their powers. . .
Cited – Clarence House Ltd v National Westminster Bank Plc CA 8-Dec-2009
The defendant tenants, anticipating that the landlord might delay or refuse consent to a subletting entered into a ‘virtual assignment’ of the lease, an assignment in everything but the deed and with no registration. The lease contained a standard . .
Cited – Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp and Others v Harris and Others ChD 5-Feb-2013
The court was asked whether a copyright owner has a proprietary claim to money derived from infringement of the copyright.
Held: He did not. No such argument could be shown to have suceeded before. . .
Cited – Pindell v AirAsia CA 2011
Tomlinson LJ drew attention to the danger of attempting to draw parallels between an aircraft operating (dry) lease and some other more commonly litigated superficially similar instruments such as time charters of ships, where the legal incidents . .
Cited – Olympic Airlines Sa v ACG Acquisition XX Llc CA 17-Apr-2013
The parties disputed their mutual obligations under aircraft leasing agreements. The insolvent airline said that in signing to accept the condition of the aircraft on delivery, it had not created an estoppel against itself when the aircraft later . .
Cited – Bailey and Another v Angove’s Pty Ltd SC 27-Jul-2016
The defendant had agreed to act as the claimant’s agent and distributor of the claimant’s wines in the UK. It acted both as agent and also bought wines on its own account. When the defendant went into litigation the parties disputed the right of the . .
Cited – Filby v Mortgage Express (No 2) Limited CA 22-Jun-2004
Mr and Mrs Filby’s matrimonial home was charged to the Halifax. They also had an unsecured loan with the Midland Bank. Mr Filby sought to remortgage the matrimonial home with Mortgage Express. The mortgage advance was paid to solicitors who used . .
Cited – Akers and Others v Samba Financial Group SC 1-Feb-2017
Saad Investments was a Cayman Islands company in liquidation. The liquidator brought an action here, but the defendant sought a stay saying that another forum was clearly more appropriate. Shares in Saudi banks were said to be held in trust for the . .
Obiter comments doubted – Shalson and others v Russo and others ChD 11-Jul-2003
Rimer J doubted obiter comments of Lord Brown-Wilkinson: ‘I do not find that an easy passage. As to the first paragraph, a thief ordinarily acquires no property in what he steals and cannot give a title to it even to a good faith purchaser: both the . .
Cited – Scott v Bridge and Others ChD 25-Nov-2020
Claim to recover money and property said to have been transferred by the claimant to the defendants or one or more of them. The money concerned came from a bank account belonging to the claimant. The property concerned consisted of two . .
Cited – Prudential Assurance Company Ltd v Revenue and Customs SC 25-Jul-2018
PAC sought to recover excess advance corporation tax paid under a UK system contrary to EU law. It was now agreed that some was repayable but now the quantum. Five issues separated the parties.
Issue I: does EU law require the tax credit to be . .
Cited – Fetch.AI Ltd and Another v Persons Unknown Category A and Others ComC 15-Jul-2021
Cryptocurrency Action
The claimants sought damages and other remedies saying that the unknown defendants had obtained access to the private key guarding their crypto currency assets, and then sold them at an undervalue, acquiring substantial profits for themselves in . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Banking, Local Government, Equity

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.90405

Lambeth London Borough Council v Thomas: CA 31 Mar 1997

There had been an agreement between Lambeth and Thames Water when Thames Water was still a public water authority and when Lambeth collected water rates properly so called from its tenants on behalf of the water authority. No evidence of it in writing remained. but it was found by the county court judge on the basis of the evidence in the case, and its essential outlines were found as facts. The tenant there, Mrs Thomas, was also a secure tenant who had failed to pay her water charges, which under her tenancy agreement were payable weekly together with her rent. A possession order was sought for some pounds 600 of water charges (and some pounds 100 of general rates). Her housing benefit had otherwise discharged all rent due from her. The judge regarded the water charges as rent, but refused to order possession on the basis that, although they were due, it would not be reasonable, at least normally, to use a possession order as a sanction to enforce payment of water charges for water supplied by a privatised third party.
Held: Water rates paid on by council ‘touched and concerned’ land and were recoverable as rent.
Mance J said: ‘The position is thus that the Council had at all material times the power to enter into an agreement for the collection and recovery by the Council on behalf of the water authority or company of any water charges payable or fixed for the supply of water by the water authority or company, at least in the Council’s area. The Judge, after hearing evidence, was satisfied that the Council had entered into such an agreement, currently with Thames Water Utilities Limited, whereby the Council ‘undertook to collect money from each tenant’. He described the origins of the agreement as ‘lost in the mists of time’, but set out certain of its characteristics which are worth mention. The Council, consistently with the statutory language, claims and seeks to collect from its tenants the amounts fixed by the water company in respect of their particular properties. The discounted lump sum is arrived at by negotiation and is based on the total water charges for all relevant Council properties, less a discount to take account of unoccupied premises and the costs of collection. Presumably, although this is not stated, the discount also takes account of the risks of non-recovery, since it appears that the Council undertakes to pay the water company the discounted lump sum, irrespective of what it recovers from its tenants. We were told that the discounting means in practice, and is designed to mean, that the Council achieves for the benefit of its housing revenue account a surplus through collecting on behalf of Thames Water Utilities Limited more by way of water charges than the amount for which the Council actually has to account to that company. It is always open to an agent to contract on such a basis, and I see no objection in the present statutory context to the arrangement made between the Council and the water company. Any surplus accruing to the Council’s housing account (which has been ‘ring-fenced’ under the relevant legislation throughout the 1990s) ensures [sc ensures] to the benefit of all its tenants, since it enables the Council to keep rents down . . The effect of the agreement between the Council as landlord and Mrs Thomas as tenant has been at all times such as to entitle the Council to claim from her the water rate or charges which the Council has arranged with the water authority or company to collect’ and
‘In the present case, the water charges are due from the tenant as occupier of the demised premises and a user of water there. Although the water supplies are made by the water company to Mrs Thomas and the statutory framework envisages the collection of the water charges by the Council on behalf of the water authority or company, the practical effect of the agreements made (a) between the Council and the water company and (b) the Council and Mrs Thomas is that Mrs Thomas answers for the water charges to the Council while the Council takes care of them vis-s-vis the water company. It was explained to us that this system not only provides a potential surplus in the Council’s housing account, to the benefit of all tenants including Mrs Thomas, it also corresponds with the Council’s policy that tenants who are less well off and, in some cases perhaps, less capable of looking after their own affairs should be protected from the risk of having their basic utilities cut off, due to failure to meet relevant charges. Some housing associations have, we were told, made similar arrangements, and the Council itself has some similar arrangements in relation to the supply of electricity and gas. There may be council tenants who do not approve or appreciate the policy or the making of such arrangements for their benefit, but the legislation clearly empowers it and the Council is clearly entitled to adopt such a policy. Where it has done so and has implemented it in the way described for the benefit of itself and its tenants, the resulting obligation on a tenant to pay to the Council the water charges must in my view be regarded as touching and concerning the demised house, and as an ‘obligation of the tenancy’, even if it is not anyway rent.’

Kennedy LJ, Mance J
Times 31-Mar-1997, (1997) 30 HLR 89
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Rochdale Borough Council v Dixon CA 20-Oct-2011
The defendant tenant had disputed payment of water service charges and stopped paying them. The Council obtained a possession order which was suspended on payment or arrears by the defendant at andpound;5.00. The tenant said that when varying the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Landlord and Tenant, Local Government, Utilities

Leading Case

Updated: 01 November 2021; Ref: scu.82907

Stojak, Regina (on The Application of) v Sheffield City Council: Admn 22 Dec 2009

The deceased had been detained as a mental patient and supported after her release, by her family financially. Her representatives now said that the respondent had failed in its obligation to provide support for no charge. The authority said that the case brought by way of judicial review was brought out of time.
Held: The authority had sought out people to whom such support should have been given but had failed to find the deceased. However the claimant had initially failed to pursue the matter by way of judicial review, wrongly awaiting the outcome of a Local Government Ombudsman’s report, and time to claim should not be extended.

Grenfell S P
[2009] EWHC 3412 (Admin)
Bailii
Mental Health Act 1983 117
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Education Committee of Blackpool Borough Council ex parte Taylor 1999
The court emphasised that a party considering challenging by way of a judicial review a local government decision should not first await the outcome of a reference to the Local Government Ombudsman, since he has no power to set aside the decision. . .
Mentioned – Regina v Richmond London Borough Council, Ex Parte Watson; Regina v Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Ex Parte Armstrong etc Admn 15-Oct-1999
. .
Cited – Regina v Manchester City Council, ex parte Stennett etc HL 25-Jul-2002
The applicants were former mental patients who had been admitted to hospital compulsorily under section 3. On their release they were to be given support under section 117. The authorities sought to charge for these services, and appealed a decision . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Local Government, Health, Judicial Review

Updated: 31 October 2021; Ref: scu.384461

Runa Begum v London Borough of Tower Hamlets (First Secretary of State intervening): HL 13 Feb 2003

The appellant challenged the procedure for reviewing a decision made as to the suitability of accomodation offered to her after the respondent had accepted her as being homeless. The procedure involved a review by an officer of the council, with an appeal to the County Court on a point of law.
Held: The decision was one which did engage the applicant’s human rights. The officer was not an independent tribunal, but his decision was of the nature recognised in the jurisprudence as administrative, being areas of law considered regulatory and welfare schemes in which decision making was by custom delegated to administrative officers, and such decisions typically did not give rise to a right of appeal on the facts. The appeal on law was adequate.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Hope of Craighead, Lord Millett, Lord Walker
[2003] UKHL 5, [2003] 1 All ER 739, Gazette 03-Apr-2003, [2003] 2 WLR 388, [2003] 2 AC 430, [2003] ACD 41, [2003] NPC 21, [2003] HRLR 16, [2003] HLR 32, [2003] UKHRR 419, [2003] BLGR 205, 14 BHRC 400, [2003] Hous LR 20
House of Lords, Bailii, Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 6.1, Housing Act 1996 204, Local Authorities (Contracting Out of Allocation of Housing and Homelessness Functions) Order 1996 (1996 No 3205, Allocation of Homelessness Functions (review Procedures) Regulations 1999 (1999 No 71)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Bryan v The United Kingdom ECHR 22-Nov-1995
Bryan was a farmer at Warrington in Cheshire. He built two brick buildings on land in a conservation area without planning permission and the planning authority served an enforcement notice for their demolition. He appealed on grounds (a) (that . .
Appeal from – London Borough of Tower Hamlets v Runa Begum CA 6-Mar-2002
The applicant had applied for rehousing as a homeless person. She was offered interim accommodation but refused it. Her case was reviewed, and her reasons rejected. She claimed the procedure was unfair, in that the authority was looking at decisions . .
Cited – Regina (Holding and Barnes plc) v Secretary of State for Environment Transport and the Regions; Regina (Alconbury Developments Ltd and Others) v Same and Others HL 9-May-2001
Power to call in is administrative in nature
The powers of the Secretary of State to call in a planning application for his decision, and certain other planning powers, were essentially an administrative power, and not a judicial one, and therefore it was not a breach of the applicants’ rights . .
Cited – London Borough of Newham v Adan CA 14-Dec-2001
The applicant was a Dutch national. She appealed for housing as a homeless person. The local authority, after review found her not to have a settled intention to stay in England. She appealed, to the County Court, and succeeded, and the Authority . .
Cited – Kingsley v The United Kingdom (No 2) ECHR 28-May-2002
The finding that a party had been denied a fair trial may of itself be sufficient compensation. The applicant had been excluded from management of licensed casinos. The appeal board had been found to have given the appearance of bias against him. . .
Cited – The Secretary of State for Health, Dorset County Council v The Personal Representative of Christopher Beeson CA 18-Dec-2002
The deceased had been adjudged by his local authority to have deprived himself of his house under the Regulations. Complaint was made that the procedure did not allow an appeal and therefore deprived him of his rights under article 6.
Held: . .
Cited – Kaplan v United Kingdom ECHR 14-Dec-1978
(Admissibility) The Secretary of State had, after preliminary procedures, served notices on an insurance company disallowing it from writing any new business, because its managing director the applicant, had been found not to be a fit and proper . .

Cited by:
Cited – Dyson Limited v The Registrar of Trade Marks ChD 15-May-2003
Applications for trade marks on behalf of the claimant had been rejected. Acquired distinctiveness was a significant issue, and the question of whether the appeal was a review or a rehearing was significant. In this appeal, the parties had given . .
Cited – London Borough of Harrow v Qazi HL 31-Jul-2003
The applicant had held a joint tenancy of the respondent. His partner gave notice and left, and the property was taken into possession. The claimant claimed restoration of his tenancy saying the order did not respect his right to a private life and . .
Cited – Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Kehoe CA 5-Mar-2004
The claimant had applied to the Child Support Agncy for maintenance. They failed utterly to obtain payment, and she complained now that she was denied the opportunity by the 1991 Act to take court proceedings herself.
Held: The denial of . .
Cited – Independent Assessor v O’Brien, Hickey, Hickey CA 29-Jul-2004
The claimants had been imprisoned for many years before their convictions were quashed. They claimed compensation under the Act. The assessor said that there should be deducted from the award the living expenses they would have incurred if they had . .
Cited – Feld, Lord Mayor and Citizens of the City of Westminster v London Borough of Barnet, Lord Mayor and Citizens of the City of Westminster CA 18-Oct-2004
The applicants sought housing as homeless people. After the refusal of their applications, they sought a review, and in due course a second review. That second review was conducted by the same officer who had conducted the first. The appellant . .
Cited – Hall v London Borough of Wandsworth CA 17-Dec-2004
The applicants appealed refusal of their applications for housing having priority housing need being vulnerable because of their mental illness. They said that the original decisions had been reviewed, and that on review deficiencies had been . .
Cited – Kehoe, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions HL 14-Jul-2005
The applicant contended that the 1991 Act infringed her human rights in denying her access to court to obtain maintenance for her children.
Held: The applicant had no substantive right to take part in the enforcement process in domestic law . .
Cited – Cramp v Hastings Borough Council CA 29-Jul-2005
Cases challenged successful appeals by applicants for housing for homelessness, where a county court had ordered a second review of the application. . .
Cited – Hammond, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 1-Dec-2005
The claimants had been convicted of murder, but their tariffs had not yet been set when the 2003 Act came into effect. They said that the procedure under which their sentence tarriffs were set were not compliant with their human rights in that the . .
Cited – MB, Re, Secretary of State for the Home Department v MB Admn 12-Apr-2006
The applicant challenged the terms of a non-derogating control order. It was anticipated that unless prevented, he would fight against UK forces in Iraq.
Held: The section allowed the Secretary of State to impose any necessary conditions, but . .
Cited – Malik, Regina (on the Application of) v Waltham Forest PCT and Secretary of State for Health Admn 17-Mar-2006
The doctor had been suspended on full pay whilst allegations against him were investigated. He claimed that the suspension infringed his human rights and that his licence to practice was a possession.
Held: At the disciplinary proceedings: . .
Cited – Desnousse v London Borough of Newham and others CA 17-May-2006
The occupier had been granted a temporary licence by the authority under the homelessness provisions whilst it made its assessment. The assessment concluded that she had become homeless intentionally, and therefore terminated the licence and set out . .
Cited – F v Birmingham City Council CA 2-Nov-2006
The applicant sought housing as a homeless person with her children. The authority found her in priority need, but intentionally homeless. Her appeal against the adverse review failed, and she appealed again. She had given up a council flat and had . .
Cited – Ali v Birmingham City Council CA 7-Nov-2008
The Council said that it had discharged its duty to house the claimants after they had refused an offer of accommodation, and that decision had been reviewed. The claimant denied receiving a notice under the procedure. The court was asked whether . .
Cited – Wright and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Health and Another HL 21-Jan-2009
The claimants had been provisionally listed as ‘people considered unsuitable to work with vulnerable adults’ which meant that they could no longer work, but they said they were given no effective and speedy opportunity to object to the listing. . .
Cited – Heald and Others v London Borough of Brent CA 20-Aug-2009
The court considered whether it was lawful for a local authority to outsource the decision making on homelessness reviews. The appellants said that it could not be contracted out, and that the agent employed lacked the necessary independence and was . .
Cited – A, Regina (on the Application of) v London Borough of Croydon SC 26-Nov-2009
The applicants sought asylum, and, saying that they were children under eighteen, sought also the assistance of the local authority. Social workers judged them to be over eighteen and assistance was declined.
Held: The claimants’ appeals . .
Cited – G, Regina (on The Application of) v X School and Others CA 20-Jan-2010
The claimant was a teaching assistant. A complaint had been made that he had kissed a boy having work experience at the school, but it had been decided that no criminal prosecution would follow. He sought judicial review of the school’s decision to . .
Cited – Tomlinson and Others v Birmingham City Council SC 17-Feb-2010
The appellant asked whether the statutory review of a housing authority’s decision on whether he was intentionally homeless was a determination of a civil right, and if so whether the review was of the appropriate standard. The claimant said that . .
Cited – Cart, Regina (on The Application of) v The Upper Tribunal and Others CA 23-Jul-2010
The claimant had sought and been refused judicial review of a decision of the SIAC Upper Tribunal. The Upper Tribunals were designated as courts of superior record, and the court at first instance had said that SIACs specialist procedures and . .
Cited – Bubb v London Borough of Wandsworth CA 9-Nov-2011
The appellant had sought housing assistance. She had been offered accomodation but refused it as unreasonable. The authority declined further assistance. She now appealed against the refusal of the county court judge to set aside the decision . .
Cited – Bubb v London Borough of Wandsworth CA 9-Nov-2011
The appellant had sought housing assistance. She had been offered accomodation but refused it as unreasonable. The authority declined further assistance. She now appealed against the refusal of the county court judge to set aside the decision . .
Cited – King, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice CA 27-Mar-2012
In each case the prisoners challenged their transfer to cellular confinement or segregation within prison or YOI, saying that the transfers infringed their rights under Article 6, saying that domestic law, either in itself or in conjunction with . .
Cited – Hotak and Others v London Borough of Southwark and Another SC 13-May-2015
The court was asked as to the duty of local housing authorities towards homeless people who claim to be ‘vulnerable’, and therefore to have ‘a priority need’ for the provision of housing accommodation under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996. Those . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Human Rights, Administrative, Local Government

Leading Case

Updated: 31 October 2021; Ref: scu.179047

Jarvis v Hampshire County Council: CA 23 Nov 1999

A child who did not receive sufficient education appropriate to his disability (dyslexia), did not acquire a right to claim in damages against the education authority. This applies both to claims of misfeasance in public office and in negligence. The authority owed him no direct duty of care. The claim of misfeasance implied dishonesty which would have to be clearly supported.
Times 23-Nov-1999, Gazette 17-Dec-1999
England and Wales
Citing:
Appealed to – Phelps v Hillingdon London Borough Council; Anderton v Clwyd County Council; Gower v Bromley London Borough Council; Jarvis v Hampshire County Council HL 28-Jul-2000
The plaintiffs each complained of negligent decisions in his or her education made by the defendant local authorities. In three of them the Court of Appeal had struck out the plaintiff’s claim and in only one had it been allowed to proceed.
Cited by:
Appeal from – Phelps v Hillingdon London Borough Council; Anderton v Clwyd County Council; Gower v Bromley London Borough Council; Jarvis v Hampshire County Council HL 28-Jul-2000
The plaintiffs each complained of negligent decisions in his or her education made by the defendant local authorities. In three of them the Court of Appeal had struck out the plaintiff’s claim and in only one had it been allowed to proceed.
Updated: 23 October 2021; Ref: scu.82500

Akerman v London Borough of Richmond: Admn 27 Jan 2017

The claimant challenged a byelaw made by the respondent making it a criminal offence to moor a boat against specified land. It was said that the law was made for an improper purpose and was a disproportionate interference with right to private life.
Held: Appeal dismissed.
Beatson LJ, Nicol J
[2017] EWHC 84 (Admin), [2017] PTSR 351, [2017] WLR(D) 68
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales

Updated: 30 September 2021; Ref: scu.573483

Onesearch Direct Holdings Ltd (T/A Onesearch Direct) v City of York Council: Admn 19 Mar 2010

The court considered the conditions under which the respondent authority replied to all enquiries as to properties within its area. The replies were given by a standardised all inclusive information sheet derived from a central database. The authority would not allow either access to the raw data, nor provide piecemeal responses. The claimant argued that the statutory background implied a duty to allow access to the raw data.
Held: While a court can interpret a statute merely authorising an authority to take an action as imposing a duty where a failure to act would frustrate the purpose of the Act, it was not as clear that a similar interpretation could be imposed to support a different statute. The background information to the 2004 Act clearly anticipated authorities allowing access to the raw data, preferring initially a voluntary approach. That preference undermined an interpretation imposing an obligation, and there was in fact no obligation imposed on the council to allow access to the raw data.
Hickinbottom J
[2010] EWHC 590 (Admin)
Bailii
Local Government Act 1972, Local Government Act 2000 2, Local Authorities (Charges for Land Searches) Regulations 1994 (SI 1994 No 1885) 2
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Padfield v Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food HL 14-Feb-1968
Exercise of Ministerial Discretion
The Minister had power to direct an investigation in respect of any complaint as to the operation of any marketing scheme for agricultural produce. Milk producers complained about the price paid by the milk marketing board for their milk when . .
Cited – The Sussex Peerage Case 1844
Statements against penal interest are outside the common law exception of statements against interest. The oral confession of a deceased person was considered.
The court considered principles of statutory interpretation: ‘Acts should be . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 23 September 2021; Ref: scu.403378

Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council; Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Sandwell Borough Council: ChD 23 Feb 1993

A bank, having made payment under an void interest rate swap agreement to a local authority, was entitled to recover the payments made under the equitable doctrine of restitution. It would be wrong to allow the local authorities to enjoy an unjust enrichment. There had been no effective consideration given by the local authorities. ‘The application of the principle is subject to the requirement that the courts should not grant a remedy which amounts to the direct or indirect enforcement of a contract which the law requires to be treated as ineffective.’
Hobhouse J
Independent 25-Feb-1993, Times 23-Feb-1993, [1994] 4 All ER 890
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council CA 30-Dec-1993
A bank paid money to a local authority under an interest rate swap agreement, which was held later to be outside the local authority’s powers.
Held: The local authority was to repay the money paid to it for an ultra vires purpose (a swap . .
Cited – Yaxley v Gotts and Another CA 24-Jun-1999
Oral Agreement Creating Proprietory Estoppel
The defendant offered to give to the Plaintiff, a builder, the ground floor of a property in return for converting the house, and then managing it. They were friends, and the oral offer was accepted. The property was then actually bought in the name . .
Cited – Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Lincoln City Council etc HL 29-Jul-1998
Right of Recovery of Money Paid under Mistake
Kleinwort Benson had made payments to a local authority under swap agreements which were thought to be legally enforceable when made. Subsequently, a decision of the House of Lords, (Hazell v. Hammersmith and Fulham) established that such swap . .
Cited – Aspect Contracts (Asbetos) Ltd v Higgins Construction Plc SC 17-Jun-2015
Aspect had claimed the return of funds paid by it to the appellant Higgins under an adjudication award in a construction contract disute. The claimant had been asked to prpare asbestos surveys and reports on maisonettes which Higgins was to acquire . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 August 2021; Ref: scu.90409

Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Birmingham City Council: CA 20 May 1996

No defence of unjust enrichment was available to defend a claim on a failed interest rate swap agreement.
Times 20-May-1996, [1997] QB 380
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Lincoln City Council etc HL 29-Jul-1998
Right of Recovery of Money Paid under Mistake
Kleinwort Benson had made payments to a local authority under swap agreements which were thought to be legally enforceable when made. Subsequently, a decision of the House of Lords, (Hazell v. Hammersmith and Fulham) established that such swap . .
Cited – Revenue and Customs v The Investment Trust Companies SC 11-Apr-2017
Certain investment trust companies (ITCs) sought refunds of VAT paid on the supply of investment management services. EU law however clarified that they were not due. Refunds were restricted by the Commissioners both as to the amounts and limitation . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 24 August 2021; Ref: scu.82811

Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney: SC 18 Jul 2018

On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The parents were allowed to visit the children subject to an agreement. On the expiry of the initial section 20 72-hour period, the family’s solicitors requested their return. The children were only returned after 7 weeks and the family complained of infringement of their right to family life, saying that the agreement signed was uninformed consent. They now appealed from the CA who decided that section 20 did not require active parental consent.
Held: The appeal failed.
‘although it is not a breach of section 20 to keep a child in accommodation for a long period without bringing care proceedings, it may well be a breach of other duties under the Act and Regulations or unreasonable in public law terms to do so. In some cases there may also be breaches of the child’s or the parents’ rights under article 8 of ECHR.’
and ‘ there are circumstances in which a real and voluntary delegation of the exercise of parental responsibility is required for a local authority to accommodate a child under section 20, albeit not in every case (see para 40 above). Parents with parental responsibility always have a qualified right to object and an unqualified right to remove their children at will (subject to any court orders about where the child is to live). Section 20 gives local authorities no compulsory powers over parents or their children and must not be used in such a way as to give the impression that it does. It is obviously good practice in every case that parents should be given clear and accurate information, both orally and in writing, both as to their own rights and as to the responsibilities of the local authority, before a child is accommodated under section 20 or as soon as practicable thereafter.’
Baroness Hale of Richmond PSC, Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, Lord Wilson, Lord Carnwath, Lady Black JJSC
[2018] UKSC 37, [2018] WLR(D) 454, [2018] 3 WLR 503, UKSC 2017/0037
Bailii, Bailii Summary, WLRD, SC, Bailii Summary, SC Summary Video, SC 14 Feb 2018 am Video, SC 14 Feb 2018 pm Video, SC 15 Feb 2018 am Video, SC 15 Feb 2018 pm Videos
Children Act 1989 20, Human Rights Act 1998 4, European Convention on Human Rights 8
England and Wales
Citing:
At CA – London Borough of Hackney v Williams and Another CA 26-Jan-2017
. .
At QBD – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney QBD 17-Sep-2015
Children had been removed from their parents under s20 of the 1989 Act, but then not returned after the expiry of the initial 72 hour period.
Held: The court dismissed the claims for negligence, misfeasance in public office and religious . .
Cited – G, Regina (on the Application of) v Nottingham City Council Admn 1-Feb-2008
The respondent authority had removed the child from the mother at birth but without first obtaining any court authority. The court had made a peremptory order for the return of the child. The court explained its actions.
Held: Neither social . .
Cited – Re N (Children : Adoption: Jurisdiction) CA 2-Nov-2015
Appeal against care and placement order proceedings in relation to two Hungarian children, The orders were for the transfer of the case to Hungary.
Held: The appeal was dismissed. As to Article 15, the Court considered: What are the . .
Cited – In re W (Children) CA 25-Jul-2014
Appeal against an order made after an agreement within the family that the children should live with the paternal grandmother.
Orse In re W (Parental Agreement with Local Authority)
The mother had placed her three children with their . .
Cited – Re CA (A Baby) FD 30-Jul-2012
Orse Coventry City Council v C, B, CA and CH
This concerned the removal of a baby from her mother on the day of her birth, but the mother, having at first refused to do so, had given her consent to the baby being accommodated. The local . .
Cited – Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council v Others (Re B) CA 30-Jul-2013
The court was asked as to local authority funding in relation to a child, K, who was born in November 2011.
Black LJ explained: ‘I raised the question during the appeal hearing as to whether a parent who is inadequate is in fact ‘willing and . .
Cited – Herefordshire Council v AB FC 1-Feb-2018
. .
Cited – Medway Council v M and T (By Her Children’s Guardian) FC 13-Oct-2015
A child (aged five) was placed in emergency foster care after his mother was detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act. The mother was then too unwell to discuss section 20. The local authority thought that there was no need to issue care . .
Cited – In re H (A Child – Breach of Convention Rights – Damages) FC 29-Oct-2014
A new born baby was placed with foster carers on discharge from hospital. Both parents had learning difficulties and agreed to the baby being placed with a particular couple. At that stage the local authority considered this an informal arrangement . .
Cited – Northamptonshire County Council v AS and Others FD 30-Jan-2015
The mother agreed to the accommodation of her two-week-old baby and care proceedings were issued nearly four months later. The local authority accepted that they had acted in breach of the rights of both mother and child under article 6 and 8, . .
Cited – Re AS (Unlawful Removal of A Child) FC 7-Aug-2015
The case concerned a boy aged eight at the material time, both of whose parents had severe mental health problems. Very shortly after he had been returned to his mother’s care when she came out of hospital, she suffered a relapse and called an . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.620141

London Borough of Hackney v Williams and Another: CA 26 Jan 2017

Sir Brian Leveson P QBD, McFarlane, Burnett LJJ
[2017] EWCA Civ 26, [2017] 2 FLR 1216, [2017] WLR(D) 44, [2017] 3 WLR 59, [2019] AC 421, [2017] 2 FLR 1216
Bailii, WLRD
Children Act 1989 20
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney QBD 17-Sep-2015
Children had been removed from their parents under s20 of the 1989 Act, but then not returned after the expiry of the initial 72 hour period.
Held: The court dismissed the claims for negligence, misfeasance in public office and religious . .

Cited by:
At CA – Williams and Another v London Borough of Hackney SC 18-Jul-2018
On arrest for shoplifting a 12 year old said he had been doing so to get food, and that he had been hit with a belt by his father. Investigation revealed the home to be dangerous, and all eight children were removed to the care of the LA. The . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Updated: 07 August 2021; Ref: scu.573612