Latest Cases

Will – Family provision. The claimant brought a claim in respect of her deceased mother's estate, after she was excluded from her mother's will. The issue was whether she had a claim on the basis of proprietary estoppel or under the under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. The Chancery Division, in dismissing the claim, held that, on the facts, any mention of inheritance had not been intended to be taken seriously or been such that might reasonably have been expected to have been relied on by the claimant. Further, taking into account all the factors under s 3 of the Act, the value judgment was that the claimant's conduct outweighed all of the factors in her favour and her claim under the act had to fail. 

Town and country planning – Permission for development. The claimant sought judicial review of the defendant local planning authority's grant of planning permission to erect a wind turbine to the interested party. The Administrative Court, in allowing the application, held that the authority had not made information available to allow effective participation in democratic decision-making and could not demonstrate that it would inevitably have come to the same conclusion. Further, the authority had been wrong to assume that there had been a financial involvement, allowing a higher noise level. 

Family proceedings – Jurisdiction. In a case where the mother and father and child, M, moved to Israel, the court had to decide on M's place of habitual residence. The Family Division held that it was plain to see that M was unable to settle and integrate into Israeli life and it would be wholly inimical to M's best interest to return to Israel. 

Conflict of laws – Jurisdiction. The Commercial Court granted the claimant, Toyota Tsusho Sugar Trading Ltd, a declaration that an English arbitration tribunal had substantive jurisdiction over any dispute between Toyota and the defendant, arising out of or in connection with a contract for the sale of sugar by Toyota to the defendant. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. In the course of proceedings relating to the care of two twin boys, the Family Court made a number of rulings that, among other things, restricted but did not remove the father's parental rights, and required the parents to obtain the permission of the court before being allowed to make any further applications under the Children Act 1989 in the next five years. 

Town and country planning – Permission for development. The claimant sought judicial review of the defendant local planning authority's grant of planning permission for the demolition of existing buildings and development of an energy recovery facility on a site. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, held that the authority had not erred in its interpretation of the relevant waste plan or in its assessment of Metropolitan open land. Further, the authority had not fettered its discretion or erred in failing to assess the environmental impact of combined heat and power pipes. 

Human rights – Infringement of human rights. Over 600 cases were currently pending in the High Court in which Iraqi civilians were claiming damages from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) for their allegedly unlawful detention and alleged ill treatment by British armed forces on various dates during the period when British forces were present in Iraq. Certain preliminary issues came to be tried. The issues concerned whether the MOD's duty under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1483 overrod any obligations under art 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the availability of aggravated damages and which law governed its availability. 

Extradition – European arrest warrant. By a European arrest warrant (EAW), the respondent sought the appellant's surrender from Gibraltar to face criminal proceedings for an offence allegedly committed in 1992. The appellant's challenges to the validity of the EAW were rejected and he appealed. The central issue was whether the charge intended under the present penal code involved a real risk that the appellant would be pursued for acts which had not, in 1992, constituted such an offence. The Privy Council, in dismissing the appeal, held, inter alia, that there was nothing in the language of the Spanish Constitution or in common sense to compel a conclusion that there should be no surrender unless the relevant provision under the current penal code had had a single analogue in the previous penal code. 

European Union – Reference to European court. The present proceedings arose from two claims for judicial review, the formal object of which was the intention and obligation of the defendant Secretary of State to implement European Parliament and Council Directive (EU) 2014/40. The parties had agreed a series of proposed questions for referral to the Court of Justice of the European Union and a number of organisations wished to be categorised as parties. The Administrative Court held that the draft reference would be amended to make it expressly clear that the court considered the organisations to be parties for the purposes of their participation. 

European Union – Employment. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that cl 4.2 of the Framework Agreement on part-time work, annexed to Council Directive (EC) 97/81 (concerning the framework agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC, as amended by Council Directive (EC) 98/23), should be interpreted as meaning that the principle pro rata temporis applied to the calculation of the amount of a dependent child allowance paid by an employer to a part-time worker pursuant to a collective agreement such as that applicable to the employees of Austrian banks and bankers.