Latest Cases

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Family Division granted, in seven cases (the eighth case having been adjourned), the declaration of parentage sought, in circumstances where it had subsequently come to light that there had been administrative errors by certain fertility clinics, concerning consent to acquisition of parenthood. 

European Union – Freedom of movement. The Court of Justice gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 24 of Directive (EC) 2004/38 and art 4 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, as amended, should be interpreted as not precluding legislation of a member state under which nationals of other member states who were in a situation such as that referred to in art 14(4)(b) of that directive were excluded from entitlement to certain 'special non-contributory cash benefits' within the meaning of art 70(2) of Regulation 883/2004, which also constituted 'social assistance' within the meaning of art 24(2) of Directive 2004/38, although those benefits were granted to nationals of the member state concerned who were in the same situation. 

Landlord and tenant – Lease. The Chancery Division held that the claimant was entitled to summary judgment on its claim against the first defendant (Dreamland) for delivery up of a mural, attributed to Banksy, which had been removed by Dreamland from the building of which it was the tenant. Dreamland had no reasonable prospect of establishing that it had been entitled, let alone obliged, to remove the mural in compliance with its repairing obligation under the lease. Further, the contention that, once removed from the building in compliance with its covenants under the lease, the mural became the property of Dreamland, rather than the landlord, by virtue of an implied term in the lease, was unsustainable as a matter of law. 

Town and country planning – Permission for development. The claimant challenged the first defendant Secretary of State's decision, dismissing his appeal against the second defendant local planning authority's refusal to permit non-compliance with a condition previously attached to earlier permission. The Planning Court, in allowing the application, held that the Secretary of State had failed to give adequate reasons for his decision and had failed to grapple with a principle issue adequately. 

European Union – Environment. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that arts 2(a) and 3(2)(a) of Directive (EC) 2001/42 had to be interpreted as meaning that the adoption of a measure containing a plan or programme relating to town and country planning and land use falling within the scope of the Directive that modified an existing plan or programme could not be exempted from the obligation to carry out an environmental assessment under that directive on the ground that that measure was intended to give more specific expression to and implement a master plan established by a hierarchically superior measure that had not, itself, been the subject of such an environmental assessment. 

Local authority – Child protection – Failure to perform statutory duty. Court of Session: Refusing a judicial review petition brought by a father against decisions a local authority had taken in respect of his two sons, the court rejected allegations that the respondents had failed to perform their statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of the two boys, and that the petitioner and his sons' rights not to be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment had been breached, and it also held that the petitioner did not have standing to present the petition and that the respondents' plea of mora was well founded. 

European Union – Rules on competition. The applicant companies sought the annulment of the respondent European Commission's decision that they had been involved in a cartel and the annulment or reduction of the fines imposed on them. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the challenge to the finding of cartel involvement, but reduced the fines, as the Commission had departed from the 2006 Guidelines on the method of setting fines imposed as to the requirement to take an undertaking's best available figures of the value of sales. 

Solemn procedure – Defective representation. High Court of Justiciary: Refusing an appeal by an appellant who was convicted of the murder of his wife, the court, having rejected grounds of appeal based on defective representation (1) in the preparation for trial; (2) in the conduct of the trial; and (3) consisting in a restriction in the appellant's ability to select appropriate representation, added comments in relation to the latter issue, including that the current Rules for the Conduct of Solicitor Advocates 2002 were inadequate and should be amended. 

Patent – Validity. The Patents Court ruled, among other things, that a patent for the treatment of pain, owned by the defendant company, was not invalid for obviousness. However, some of the claims of the patent were invalid on the ground of insufficiency. 

Town and country planning – Planning permission. The claimant company applied to quash the decision of the inspector appointed by the defendant Secretary of State, dismissing its appeal against a refusal to vary a condition of planning permission to allow an extension of opening hours for a restaurant. The Administrative Court, in refusing to quash the decision, held that there had clearly been evidence of complaints before the inspector and he had not failed to take into account extended licensing hours as a material consideration.