Commentary
News, analysis, comment and updates from ICLR's case law and UK legislation platform
Today saw the opening scene of a courtroom drama that looks likely to play out over the rest of the year, if not beyond. Claims have been brought against the government in the person of the Secretary of State for Brexit with a view to obtaining a court ruling on the correct procedure for the… Continue reading
In the case of Ewing v Crown Court sitting at Cardiff and Newport [2016] EWHC 183 (Admin); [2016] WLR(D) 62 the Divisional Court confirmed an important feature of the open justice principle: that permission is not needed in order to take notes in Court. Although the Court may, for good reason, withdraw the liberty to take… Continue reading
A transcript of the Court of Appeal’s judgment in R (Miranda) v SSHD [2016] EWCA Civ 6 can be found here. [Hat tip to @RichGreenhill for nudging me that the transcript was available on BAILII]. Facts David Miranda was stopped and detained by police at Heathrow airport in August 2013 under para 2(1) of Schedule… Continue reading
Introduction to the Review The purpose of this Review is to pull together the most significant criminal cases decided in 2015 into one place and to provide a short “snippet” on each that e ncapsulates the principle of law for which they stand as authority. There are many superior alternatives to this sort of “updater”… Continue reading
English and Welsh law is made up of common law and statute law – what I shall call, together, primary law; and, of the two, statute law will always trump common law. Common law is made for the most part by judges of the High Court, Upper Tribunal, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Statute… Continue reading
The open justice principle identified in Scott v Scott [1913] AC 417 remains the default position for family proceedings. Any derogation or departure must be justified as an exception. The approach of the Family Procedure Rules (in FPR r 27.10), purporting to reverse the polarity of that presumption of open justice, ought to be regarded as ultra vires (ie not within the statutory powers of the rule makers: see Courts Act 2003 ss 75 and 76) — not to mention an affront to the whole purpose of open justice and transparency, viz accountability and the disinfecting powers of sunlight, argues David Burrows in this guest post.… Continue reading
Welcome to the ICLR Criminal Law Updater for January to March 2015. Here’s our round up of the reportable criminal cases decided in the High Court, the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) and the UK Supreme Court over the last four weeks. Where a transcript is available on BAILII, a linked reference has been provided.… Continue reading
Guest post by David Burrows Funding case law: ‘advantage’, applicants A fresh batch of legal aid and funding cases has appeared since mid-December last year; and of these the news is that the much publicised (by the President of the Family Division) parents in Re D (A Child) [2015] EWFC 2; [2015] CN 64, … Continue reading
Guest post by David Burrows A buttress to the right to a fair trial under article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights is the concept of ‘equality of arms’. This does not mean that where an opponent’s representation is paid for, every civil case justifies a grant of state funding; but, for example,… Continue reading
