Law Cases
Our law cases library summarises the landmark cases that every law student in England and Wales needs to know, with recent decisions of the UK Supreme Court alongside the classic authorities. Each case has its own page with the full citation, the court, the key facts and the legal principle the judgment established.
Cases A to Z
| Case | Citation | Subject and topic | Key principle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Re A (A Child) | [2015] EWFC 11, [2016] 1 FLR 1 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | A local authority seeking to prove the threshold must establish its case with proper evidence, not mere assertion, and must link the facts alleged to the conclusion that the child is at risk of significant harm. |
| Re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) | [2001] Fam 147 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | Separating conjoined twins, knowing that one would die, was lawful under the doctrine of necessity, in exceptional circumstances. |
| Re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) | [2001] Fam 147 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | Separating conjoined twins, knowing that one would die, was lawful under the doctrine of necessity, in exceptional circumstances. |
| Re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) | [2001] Fam 147 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | Separating conjoined twins, knowing that one would die, was lawful under the doctrine of necessity, in exceptional circumstances. |
| Re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) | [2001] Fam 147 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | Separating conjoined twins, knowing that one would die, was lawful under the doctrine of necessity, in exceptional circumstances. |
| A Ahlström Osakeyhtiö v Commission (Woodpulp II) | Joined Cases C-89/85 and others, [1993] ECR I-1307 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | Parallel conduct can be regarded as proof of concertation only if concertation constitutes the only plausible explanation for it, and the Commission had not shown that. |
| A Menarini Diagnostics SRL v Italy | (2011) Application no 43509/08 | Competition LawInvestigations, cartels and penalties | Heavy competition fines are criminal penalties for the purposes of article 6, but the imposition by an administrative authority is compatible with the Convention if subject to review by a court with full jurisdiction. |
| A v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2004] UKHL 56, [2005] 2 AC 68 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | Indefinite detention without trial of foreign terrorist suspects was disproportionate and discriminatory, leading to a declaration of incompatibility: the Belmarsh case. |
| A v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2004] UKHL 56, [2005] 2 AC 68 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | Indefinite detention without trial of foreign terrorist suspects was disproportionate and discriminatory, leading to a declaration of incompatibility: the Belmarsh case. |
| A v Secretary of State for the Home Department (No 2) | [2005] UKHL 71, [2006] 2 AC 221 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Evidence obtained by torture, whether in the United Kingdom or abroad and whoever inflicted it, is inadmissible in legal proceedings, including before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. |
| A v Secretary of State for the Home Department (No 2) | [2005] UKHL 71, [2006] 2 AC 221 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | Evidence obtained by torture, whether in the United Kingdom or abroad and whoever inflicted it, is inadmissible in legal proceedings, including before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. |
| A v United Kingdom | (1999) 27 EHRR 611 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | The defence of reasonable chastisement, which allowed a stepfather who had beaten a boy with a cane to be acquitted, failed to protect the child from ill treatment contrary to article 3. |
| AA v Persons Unknown | [2019] EWHC 3556 (Comm) | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | Cryptoassets such as bitcoin are property under English law, so the court could grant a proprietary injunction over bitcoin paid as a ransom. |
| Aannemersbedrijf PK Kraaijeveld BV v Gedeputeerde Staten van Zuid-Holland | Case C-72/95, [1996] ECR I-5403 | Environmental LawEnvironmental impact assessment and planning | Member states have discretion to set thresholds for the types of project requiring environmental impact assessment, but they exceed it if their thresholds exclude whole classes of projects likely to have significant effects. |
| Abbey National Building Society v Cann | [1991] 1 AC 56 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | A purchase mortgage takes priority over interests arising from the purchase, and actual occupation must exist at the time of completion, not merely at registration. |
| Re Abbott Fund Trusts | [1900] 2 Ch 326 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | Where a fund raised for the benefit of particular people has a surplus after their deaths, the surplus is held on resulting trust for the subscribers. |
| Abbott v Abbott | [2007] UKPC 53 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | The Stack v Dowden approach of looking at the whole course of dealing applies where a home is in the sole name of one party. |
| ABC v St George's Healthcare NHS Trust | [2020] EWHC 455 (QB) | Medical Law and EthicsConfidentiality and medical information | Doctors owe a duty of care to a patient's relative to balance her interest in being told of a serious genetic risk against the patient's interest in confidentiality, but there was no breach where the balance favoured confidentiality. |
| Aberdeen Railway Co v Blaikie Brothers | (1854) 1 Macq 461 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | A director must not enter into engagements in which he has a personal interest conflicting with that of the company, and a contract made in breach of this rule is voidable however fair it may be. |
| Abernethy v Mott, Hay and Anderson | [1974] ICR 323 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | The reason for a dismissal is the set of facts known to the employer, or beliefs held by it, which cause it to dismiss the employee. |
| Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in respect of Kosovo | (2010) ICJ Reports 403 | Public International LawStatehood, territory, recognition and self determination | The declaration of independence by Kosovo did not violate international law, because general international law contains no prohibition on declarations of independence. |
| Actavis UK Ltd v Eli Lilly & Co | [2017] UKSC 48 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | A variant that does not fall within the normal interpretation of a patent claim may still infringe if it achieves substantially the same result in substantially the same way as the invention, under a doctrine of equivalents. |
| Re Adams | [1990] Ch 601 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | A will was revoked where the testatrix heavily scored out her signature and other parts with a ballpoint pen so that they were no longer apparent, which amounted to destroying the will. |
| Re Adams and the Kensington Vestry | (1884) 27 Ch D 394 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | Precatory words such as in full confidence do not by themselves create a trust, and the court will look at the whole will to find the testator's intention. |
| Adams v Cape Industries plc | [1990] Ch 433 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | The courts will not pierce the corporate veil merely because a group of companies is run as a single economic unit or because justice requires it. |
| Adams v Cape Industries plc | [1990] Ch 433 | Conflict of LawsRecognition and enforcement of foreign judgments | The courts will not pierce the corporate veil merely because a group of companies is run as a single economic unit or because justice requires it. |
| Adams v Lindsell | (1818) 1 B & Ald 681 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | The postal rule: an acceptance sent by post takes effect when it is posted. |
| Addis v Gramophone Co Ltd | [1909] AC 488 | Contract LawRemedies | Damages for breach of contract do not generally include compensation for injured feelings or loss of reputation. |
| Adeneler v Ellinikos Organismos Galaktos (ELOG) | Case C-212/04, [2006] ECR I-6057 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | The duty of consistent interpretation starts when the deadline for implementing a directive expires, and cannot require an interpretation of national law contra legem. |
| Adler v George | [1964] 2 QB 7 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The golden rule allowed the words in the vicinity of a prohibited place to include being inside it. |
| Adoui and Cornuaille v Belgium | Joined Cases 115/81 and 116/81, [1982] ECR 1665 | EU LawFree movement of workers | A Member State cannot deport nationals of other Member States for conduct which, when engaged in by its own nationals, does not give rise to genuine and effective measures to combat it. |
| Aerotel Ltd v Telco Holdings Ltd; Macrossan's Application | [2006] EWCA Civ 1371, [2007] RPC 7 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | Whether an invention is excluded from patentability as a computer program or business method is determined by a four step test focusing on the actual contribution made. |
| AES Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant LLP v Ust-Kamenogorsk Hydropower Plant JSC | [2013] UKSC 35, [2013] 1 WLR 1889 | ArbitrationJurisdiction, the tribunal and the supervisory role of the courts | The English court can grant an anti-suit injunction to enforce the negative promise in an arbitration agreement not to sue in a foreign court, even where no arbitration has begun or is intended. |
| AG Securities v Vaughan; Antoniades v Villiers | [1990] 1 AC 417 | Land LawLeases and licences | Occupiers who signed separate agreements at different times were licensees, but a couple who signed separate agreements for a flat they shared were joint tenants, because the agreements were a sham. |
| AG Spalding & Bros v AW Gamage Ltd | (1915) 32 RPC 273 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | Passing off is a misrepresentation that damages the goodwill of another trader, and it includes selling inferior goods of the claimant's own manufacture as if they were its current goods. |
| Agapitos v Agnew (The Aegeon) | [2002] EWCA Civ 247, [2003] QB 556 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | The use of a fraudulent device to promote a claim, such as a lie told to strengthen it, was treated as a fraudulent claim, a rule later qualified by the Supreme Court in The DC Merwestone. |
| Agip (Africa) Ltd v Jackson | [1991] Ch 547 | Banking and Finance LawPayments, mandates and the Quincecare duty | Tracing at common law is not possible through a mixed bank account, but equitable tracing is available where there is a fiduciary relationship. |
| Agip (Africa) Ltd v Jackson | [1991] Ch 547 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | Tracing at common law is not possible through a mixed bank account, but equitable tracing is available where there is a fiduciary relationship. |
| Agnew v Commissioner of Inland Revenue (Re Brumark Investments Ltd) | [2001] UKPC 28, [2001] 2 AC 710 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | Whether a charge is fixed or floating depends on the rights the parties have created, and a charge is floating if the company can deal with the charged assets without the chargee's consent. |
| Agnew v Commissioner of Inland Revenue (Re Brumark Investments Ltd) | [2001] UKPC 28, [2001] 2 AC 710 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | Whether a charge is fixed or floating depends on the rights the parties have created, and a charge is floating if the company can deal with the charged assets without the chargee's consent. |
| Agyarko v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2017] UKSC 11, [2017] 1 WLR 823 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | Where a person without leave to remain has formed a family life in the United Kingdom, removal will breach article 8 only in exceptional circumstances, meaning that it would result in unjustifiably harsh consequences. |
| AIB Group (UK) plc v Mark Redler & Co | [2014] UKSC 58, [2015] AC 1503 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | A trustee who misapplies trust money is liable for the loss caused by the breach, assessed with hindsight, and not for the whole sum misapplied. |
| Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v James | [2013] UKSC 67, [2014] AC 591 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | In deciding whether life sustaining treatment is in the best interests of a patient who lacks capacity, the court must consider the patient's welfare in the widest sense and his wishes, not only the medical futility of the treatment. |
| Air Canada v Secretary of State for Trade (No 2) | [1983] 2 AC 394 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | A party seeking inspection of documents for which public interest immunity is claimed must show that they are likely to contain material substantially useful to its case, before the court will inspect them. |
| Air Jamaica Ltd v Charlton | [1999] 1 WLR 1399 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | A surplus in a pension fund that is discontinued is held on resulting trust for the employer and the members in proportion to their contributions, even if the scheme says the employer cannot take any surplus. |
| Airbus Industrie GIE v Patel | [1999] 1 AC 119 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction agreements and anti-suit injunctions | Comity requires that an English court should not grant an anti-suit injunction to restrain proceedings in a foreign country unless England has a sufficient interest in, or connection with, the matter in question. |
| Airedale NHS Trust v Bland | [1993] AC 789 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | Withdrawing life sustaining treatment from a patient in a persistent vegetative state was an omission, which was lawful because it was in the patient's best interests. |
| Airedale NHS Trust v Bland | [1993] AC 789 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | Withdrawing life sustaining treatment from a patient in a persistent vegetative state was an omission, which was lawful because it was in the patient's best interests. |
| Airedale NHS Trust v Bland | [1993] AC 789 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | Withdrawing life sustaining treatment from a patient in a persistent vegetative state was an omission, which was lawful because it was in the patient's best interests. |
| Airey v Ireland | (1979) 2 EHRR 305 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | The right of access to a court may require the state to provide legal aid in civil cases where the procedure is too complex for a person to conduct effectively alone. |
| Airey v Ireland | (1979) 2 EHRR 305 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | The right of access to a court may require the state to provide legal aid in civil cases where the procedure is too complex for a person to conduct effectively alone. |
| Airtours plc v Commission | Case T-342/99, [2002] ECR II-2585 | Competition LawMerger control | To prohibit a merger on the ground of collective dominance, the Commission must prove that the market is transparent, that there is a mechanism to deter deviation, and that the reactions of competitors and customers would not jeopardise the common policy. |
| Akici v LR Butlin Ltd | [2005] EWCA Civ 1296, [2006] 1 WLR 201 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | Breaches of covenants against sharing or parting with possession of premises are capable of remedy, unlike an unlawful assignment or subletting. |
| Aktien-Zuckerfabrik Schöppenstedt v Council | Case 5/71, [1971] ECR 975 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | Where an EU legislative measure involves choices of economic policy, the EU is liable in damages only for a sufficiently flagrant violation of a superior rule of law for the protection of the individual. |
| AKZO Chemie BV v Commission | Case C-62/86, [1991] ECR I-3359 | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | Prices below average variable cost by a dominant undertaking are presumed abusive, and prices between average variable and average total cost are abusive if part of a plan to eliminate a competitor. |
| Akzo Nobel Chemicals Ltd v Commission | Case C-550/07 P, [2010] ECR I-8301 | Competition LawInvestigations, cartels and penalties | Communications with in house lawyers are not protected by legal professional privilege in EU competition investigations, because in house lawyers lack the independence of external lawyers. |
| Akzo Nobel NV v Commission | Case C-97/08 P, [2009] ECR I-8237 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | Where a parent company holds all or almost all of the capital of a subsidiary which has infringed competition law, there is a rebuttable presumption that the parent exercises decisive influence and is jointly liable. |
| Al Rawi v Security Service | [2011] UKSC 34, [2012] 1 AC 531 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | The courts cannot, without legislation, adopt a closed material procedure in an ordinary civil claim, because it departs from the fundamental principles of open justice and natural justice. |
| Al Rawi v Security Service | [2011] UKSC 34, [2012] 1 AC 531 | Public LawRule of law | The courts cannot, without legislation, adopt a closed material procedure in an ordinary civil claim, because it departs from the fundamental principles of open justice and natural justice. |
| Al-Adsani v United Kingdom | (2002) 34 EHRR 11 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | Granting state immunity to Kuwait in a civil claim for torture did not breach the right of access to a court, because it reflected generally recognised rules of international law. |
| Al-Jedda v United Kingdom | (2011) 53 EHRR 23 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | The internment of an Iraqi civilian by British forces in Iraq breached article 5, because a UN Security Council resolution did not clearly require the United Kingdom to detain people without charge. |
| Al-Jedda v United Kingdom | (2011) 53 EHRR 23 | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | The internment of an Iraqi civilian by British forces in Iraq breached article 5, because a UN Security Council resolution did not clearly require the United Kingdom to detain people without charge. |
| Al-Khawaja and Tahery v United Kingdom | (2012) 54 EHRR 23 | EvidenceHearsay | The admission of hearsay evidence from an absent witness which is the sole or decisive evidence against a defendant does not automatically breach article 6, if there are sufficient counterbalancing safeguards. |
| Al-Khawaja and Tahery v United Kingdom | (2012) 54 EHRR 23 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | The admission of hearsay evidence from an absent witness which is the sole or decisive evidence against a defendant does not automatically breach article 6, if there are sufficient counterbalancing safeguards. |
| Al-Sirri v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2012] UKSC 54, [2013] 1 AC 745 | Immigration and Asylum LawRefugee status and asylum | Exclusion from refugee status for acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations requires serious reasons for considering that the person committed acts of a kind which threaten international peace and security. |
| Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police | [1992] 1 AC 310 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | A secondary victim of psychiatric injury must have a close tie of love and affection with the primary victim, be present at the event or its immediate aftermath, and perceive it with his own unaided senses. |
| Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust v Evans | [2018] EWHC 308 (Fam) | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | Continued ventilation of a young child with an untreatable degenerative brain condition was not in his best interests, and the court authorised the withdrawal of treatment despite his parents' opposition. |
| Alexander Devine Children's Cancer Trust v Housing Solutions Ltd | [2020] UKSC 45, [2020] 1 WLR 4783 | Land LawFreehold covenants | When deciding whether to modify a restrictive covenant, the tribunal can take into account that the applicant deliberately built in breach of it. |
| Alfred McAlpine Construction Ltd v Panatown Ltd | [2001] 1 AC 518 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | The Linden Gardens exception does not apply where the third party has its own direct remedy against the builder. |
| Ali v Head Teacher and Governors of Lord Grey School | [2006] UKHL 14, [2006] 2 AC 363 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | The right to education guarantees access to an effective system of education, not a particular kind of education, so a pupil excluded from school but offered alternative education was not denied it. |
| Alize 1954 v Allianz Elementar Versicherungs AG (The CMA CGM Libra) | [2021] UKSC 51 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | A defective passage plan rendered a ship unseaworthy, and the carrier could not rely on the exception for negligence in navigation, so cargo interests did not have to contribute in general average. |
| Allcard v Skinner | (1887) 36 Ch D 145 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | A gift made under the undue influence of a person in a relationship of trust can be set aside, but the right is lost by delay. |
| Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v Russian Federation) | (2022) ICJ Reports 211 | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | The International Court of Justice ordered Russia, as a provisional measure, to suspend immediately the military operations it began in Ukraine in February 2022. |
| Allen v Gold Reefs of West Africa Ltd | [1900] 1 Ch 656 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A company may alter its articles by special resolution, but the power must be exercised bona fide for the benefit of the company as a whole. |
| Allen v Gulf Oil Refining Ltd | [1981] AC 1001 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | Statutory authority is a defence to nuisance where Parliament has authorised the construction and use of an undertaking, if the nuisance is the inevitable result of operating it. |
| Allianz SpA v West Tankers Inc (The Front Comor) | Case C-185/07, [2009] ECR I-663 | ArbitrationJurisdiction, the tribunal and the supervisory role of the courts | An English court could not grant an anti-suit injunction to restrain proceedings in another member state brought in breach of an arbitration agreement, because this was incompatible with the Brussels Regulation. |
| Allianz SpA v West Tankers Inc (The Front Comor) | Case C-185/07, [2009] ECR I-663 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction agreements and anti-suit injunctions | An English court could not grant an anti-suit injunction to restrain proceedings in another member state brought in breach of an arbitration agreement, because this was incompatible with the Brussels Regulation. |
| Re Allister's Application for Judicial Review | [2023] UKSC 5 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | The Northern Ireland Protocol was lawful, because the UK Parliament had validly modified the Acts of Union by the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. |
| Allonby v Accrington and Rossendale College | Case C-256/01, [2004] ECR I-873 | Employment LawEqual pay | An equal pay claim can be brought only against a single source which is responsible for the inequality and could restore equal treatment. |
| Alphabet Inc v Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (Android Auto) | Case C-233/23, EU:C:2025:110 | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | A dominant platform's refusal to make its platform interoperable with an app developed by a third party can be an abuse, even if the platform is not indispensable, where it was developed to be open to third parties. |
| Alphacell Ltd v Woodward | [1972] AC 824 | Criminal LawStrict liability | Causing polluted matter to enter a river was a strict liability offence, so a company was guilty without any fault on its part. |
| Alphacell Ltd v Woodward | [1972] AC 824 | Environmental LawPollution offences, contaminated land and waste | Causing polluted matter to enter a river was a strict liability offence, so a company was guilty without any fault on its part. |
| Alpine Investments BV v Minister van Financiën | Case C-384/93, [1995] ECR I-1141 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | A ban on cold calling potential clients in other Member States restricted the freedom to provide services, but was justified to protect the reputation of the national financial markets. |
| Altimo Holdings and Investment Ltd v Kyrgyz Mobil Tel Ltd | [2011] UKPC 7, [2012] 1 WLR 1804 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | A court may assume jurisdiction over a foreign defendant where there is cogent evidence that the claimant would not obtain justice in the natural forum, and comity does not prevent the court from considering such evidence. |
| Aluminium Industrie Vaassen BV v Romalpa Aluminium Ltd | [1976] 1 WLR 676 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A seller who retained title to goods until payment could recover unused goods and trace into the proceeds of their resale by an insolvent buyer. |
| AM & S Europe Ltd v Commission | Case 155/79, [1982] ECR 1575 | Competition LawInvestigations, cartels and penalties | Communications between a client and an independent lawyer for the purpose of the client's defence are protected by legal professional privilege in EU competition investigations. |
| AM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2020] UKSC 17, [2021] AC 633 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | Removing a seriously ill person can breach article 3 if, because of the lack of treatment abroad, he faces a real risk of a serious, rapid and irreversible decline in health or a significant reduction in life expectancy. |
| AM (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2020] UKSC 17, [2021] AC 633 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | Removing a seriously ill person can breach article 3 if, because of the lack of treatment abroad, he faces a real risk of a serious, rapid and irreversible decline in health or a significant reduction in life expectancy. |
| American Cyanamid Co v Ethicon Ltd | [1975] AC 396 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | The test for granting an interim injunction: a serious question to be tried, and the balance of convenience. |
| Amin Rasheed Shipping Corp v Kuwait Insurance Co | [1984] AC 50 | Conflict of LawsChoice of law in contract and tort | In the absence of an express choice, a contract is governed by the system of law with which it has its closest and most real connection, and a marine policy in the form of the English Lloyd's policy was governed by English law. |
| Amin Rasheed Shipping Corp v Kuwait Insurance Co | [1984] AC 50 | Shipping and Maritime LawMarine insurance | In the absence of an express choice, a contract is governed by the system of law with which it has its closest and most real connection, and a marine policy in the form of the English Lloyd's policy was governed by English law. |
| Amministrazione delle Finanze dello Stato v Simmenthal SpA | Case 106/77, [1978] ECR 629 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | A national court must give full effect to EU law and set aside any conflicting national law, without waiting for it to be removed by the legislature or a constitutional court. |
| An NHS Trust v Y | [2018] UKSC 46, [2019] AC 978 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | There is no legal requirement to apply to the court before withdrawing clinically assisted nutrition and hydration from a patient in a prolonged disorder of consciousness, where doctors and family agree that it is in the patient's best interests. |
| Re Andrabell Ltd | [1984] 3 All ER 407 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A seller under a simple retention of title clause could not trace into the proceeds of resale, because there was no fiduciary relationship between the seller and the buyer. |
| Anglia Television Ltd v Reed | [1972] 1 QB 60 | Contract LawRemedies | A claimant may claim wasted expenditure instead of lost profits, including expenditure incurred before the contract if it was within the parties' contemplation. |
| Anglo-Norwegian Fisheries Case (United Kingdom v Norway) | (1951) ICJ Reports 116 | Public International LawSources of international law and its place in domestic courts | Norway was entitled to draw straight baselines along its deeply indented coast, and a rule of customary law does not bind a state which has consistently objected to it, the persistent objector principle. |
| Angonese v Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano SpA | Case C-281/98, [2000] ECR I-4139 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | The Treaty prohibition on discrimination against workers on grounds of nationality applies to private employers, so a bank could not require a certificate of bilingualism obtainable only locally. |
| Anic Partecipazioni SpA v Commission | Case C-49/92 P, [1999] ECR I-4125 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | An undertaking which participates in a single and continuous infringement made up of agreements and concerted practices can be held responsible for the whole infringement, including the parts in which it did not directly participate. |
| Anisminic Ltd v Foreign Compensation Commission | [1969] 2 AC 147 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | An ouster clause does not protect a decision made on the basis of an error of law, because such a decision is a nullity: one of the most important cases in public law. |
| Anns v Merton London Borough Council | [1978] AC 728 | Tort LawDuty of care | The two stage test for duty of care proposed in this case was later rejected, and the decision on local authority liability for defective buildings was overruled in Murphy v Brentwood. |
| Anton Piller KG v Manufacturing Processes Ltd | [1976] Ch 55 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | The court can order a defendant to allow the claimant to search premises and seize evidence, where there is a real risk that it will be destroyed: the search order. |
| Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro) | (2007) ICJ Reports 43 | Public International LawState responsibility, nationality and international organisations | The Srebrenica massacre was genocide, but it was not attributable to Serbia, although Serbia was responsible for failing to prevent the genocide and to punish those responsible. |
| Archbolds (Freightage) Ltd v S Spanglett Ltd | [1961] 1 QB 374 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | An innocent party can enforce a contract that the other party performed illegally, if the contract itself was not prohibited. |
| Archibald v Fife Council | [2004] UKHL 32, [2004] ICR 954 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | The duty to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled employee may require the employer to treat the employee more favourably than others, including transferring her to a higher graded post without competitive interview. |
| ARCO Chemie Nederland Ltd v Minister van Volkshuisvesting | Joined Cases C-418/97 and C-419/97, [2000] ECR I-4475 | Environmental LawPollution offences, contaminated land and waste | Whether a substance is waste depends on whether the holder discards, intends to discard or is required to discard it, judged in the light of all the circumstances, and its use as fuel does not prevent it from being waste. |
| Arcos Ltd v EA Ronaasen & Son | [1933] AC 470 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | Goods must correspond exactly with their description, and a buyer can reject goods that do not, even if the difference is small and does not affect their use. |
| Argos Ltd v Office of Fair Trading; JJB Sports plc v Office of Fair Trading | [2006] EWCA Civ 1318 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | Indirect exchanges of pricing information between retailers through a common supplier can amount to a hub and spoke concerted practice, where each participant intends or foresees that the information will be passed on. |
| Arkin v Borchard Lines Ltd | [2005] EWCA Civ 655, [2005] 1 WLR 3055 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | A commercial litigation funder who funds a claim that fails can be ordered to pay the other side's costs, but only up to the amount of its funding. |
| Armagas Ltd v Mundogas SA (The Ocean Frost) | [1986] AC 717 | Commercial LawAgency | An agent who has no actual or apparent authority to make a contract cannot create apparent authority by representing that he has obtained authority from his principal. |
| Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v Uganda) | (2005) ICJ Reports 168 | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | Uganda violated the prohibition on the use of force by its military intervention in the Congo, could not rely on self defence against attacks by irregular forces not attributable to the Congo, and was responsible as an occupying power. |
| Armes v Nottinghamshire County Council | [2017] UKSC 60, [2018] AC 355 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | A local authority was vicariously liable for abuse of a child by foster parents with whom it had placed her, because the foster parents were integrated into its child care activities. |
| Armitage v Nurse | [1998] Ch 241 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | A trustee exemption clause can validly exclude liability for gross negligence, but not for fraud or dishonesty. |
| Armour v Thyssen Edelstahlwerke AG | [1991] 2 AC 339 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | An all monies retention of title clause, under which the seller keeps ownership until all debts owed by the buyer are paid, is valid and does not create a security requiring registration. |
| Arnhold Karberg & Co v Blythe, Green, Jourdain & Co | [1916] 1 KB 495 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | Under a CIF contract, a buyer can refuse to pay against documents that have become worthless because the contract of carriage has been frustrated by war. |
| Arnold v Britton | [2015] UKSC 36, [2015] AC 1619 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Clear contractual words will be given their natural meaning even if the result is a bad bargain for one party. |
| Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Democratic Republic of the Congo v Belgium) | (2002) ICJ Reports 3 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | A serving minister for foreign affairs enjoys full immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of foreign courts, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. |
| Arsenal Football Club plc v Reed | Case C-206/01, [2002] ECR I-10273 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | Use of a sign identical to a trade mark on goods is infringing if it is liable to affect the functions of the mark, especially its function of guaranteeing the origin of the goods, even if the use is seen as a badge of support. |
| Arthur J S Hall & Co v Simons | [2002] 1 AC 615 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | The House of Lords abolished the immunity of advocates from claims in negligence. |
| Asda Stores Ltd v Brierley | [2021] UKSC 10 | Employment LawEqual pay | Women working in supermarkets could compare themselves with men working in distribution depots at different sites, because common terms would apply if the men were employed at the women's establishment. |
| Ashburn Anstalt v Arnold | [1989] Ch 1 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | A contractual licence does not create an interest in land, but a purchaser may be bound by a constructive trust if its conscience is affected. |
| Ashburn Anstalt v Arnold | [1989] Ch 1 | Land LawLeases and licences | A contractual licence does not create an interest in land, but a purchaser may be bound by a constructive trust if its conscience is affected. |
| Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Co Ltd v Riche | (1875) LR 7 HL 653 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A contract made by a company outside the objects in its memorandum was ultra vires and void, and could not be ratified even by all the shareholders, a rule since abolished by statute. |
| Ashdown v Telegraph Group Ltd | [2001] EWCA Civ 1142, [2002] Ch 149 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Freedom of expression may in rare cases justify a defence to copyright infringement, but a newspaper that published extensive extracts from a politician's confidential minute was not protected. |
| Ashington Piggeries Ltd v Christopher Hill Ltd | [1972] AC 441 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | The implied condition of correspondence with description applies only to words that identify the goods, and a contaminated ingredient was still goods of that description. |
| Aslan v Murphy | [1990] 1 WLR 766 | Land LawLeases and licences | Terms requiring an occupier to share a tiny room and to leave it for part of each day were shams, so the occupier was a tenant. |
| ASLEF v United Kingdom | (2007) 45 EHRR 34 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | A trade union's right to choose its members is protected by article 11, so the union could expel a member because of his membership of a political party whose values conflicted with its own. |
| Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority | [2011] EWHC 2849 (Admin) | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | If a person consents to sex only on condition that a condom is used, and the other person deliberately does not use one, there is no consent. |
| Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority | [2011] EWHC 2849 (Admin) | Immigration and Asylum LawExtradition | If a person consents to sex only on condition that a condom is used, and the other person deliberately does not use one, there is no consent. |
| Associated Japanese Bank (International) Ltd v Crédit du Nord SA | [1989] 1 WLR 255 | Contract LawMistake | A contract of guarantee was void for common mistake where the machines it related to never existed. |
| Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd v Wednesbury Corp | [1948] 1 KB 223 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | A decision is unlawful if it is so unreasonable that no reasonable authority could ever have come to it: Wednesbury unreasonableness. |
| Association Belge des Consommateurs Test-Achats ASBL v Conseil des ministres | Case C-236/09, [2011] ECR I-773 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | A provision of a directive allowing insurers to charge different premiums to men and women was invalid, because it was incompatible with the principle of equal treatment. |
| Assénagon Asset Management SA v Irish Bank Resolution Corp Ltd | [2012] EWHC 2090 (Ch) | Banking and Finance LawDerivatives, bonds and capital markets | An exit consent, by which bondholders exchanging their bonds voted to expropriate the bonds of those who did not exchange, was an oppressive abuse of the power of the majority and unlawful. |
| Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley Parochial Church Council v Wallbank | [2003] UKHL 37, [2004] 1 AC 546 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | A parochial church council is not a core public authority, and enforcing a chancel repair liability was a private act. |
| Aston Cantlow and Wilmcote with Billesley Parochial Church Council v Wallbank | [2003] UKHL 37, [2004] 1 AC 546 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | A parochial church council is not a core public authority, and enforcing a chancel repair liability was a private act. |
| Re Astor's Settlement Trusts | [1952] Ch 534 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | A non charitable purpose trust is void, because there is no beneficiary who can enforce it and the purposes were uncertain. |
| Aswan Engineering Establishment Co v Lupdine Ltd | [1987] 1 WLR 1 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | Goods are of merchantable quality if they are fit for some of their usual purposes, and the seller is not liable for unusually severe conditions of use. |
| Atlas Express Ltd v Kafco (Importers and Distributors) Ltd | [1989] QB 833 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | A threat to break a contract can be economic duress if the victim has no practical alternative but to agree. |
| Attorney General for Hong Kong v Reid | [1994] 1 AC 324 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | A public official who took bribes held them, and the property he bought with them, on constructive trust for the government. |
| Attorney General for Jersey v Holley | [2005] UKPC 23, [2005] 2 AC 580 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | A specially constituted Privy Council of nine judges declined to follow a House of Lords decision on provocation. |
| Attorney General for Jersey v Holley | [2005] UKPC 23, [2005] 2 AC 580 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | A specially constituted Privy Council of nine judges declined to follow a House of Lords decision on provocation. |
| Attorney General for Northern Ireland v Gallagher | [1963] AC 349 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | A defendant who forms the intention to kill and then gets drunk to give himself Dutch courage cannot rely on his intoxication as a defence. |
| Attorney General of Belize v Belize Telecom Ltd | [2009] UKPC 10, [2009] 1 WLR 1988 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A term may be implied into a company's articles if it is what the instrument, read as a whole against the relevant background, would reasonably be understood to mean. |
| Attorney General of Israel v Eichmann | (1962) 36 ILR 277 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | Israel was entitled to try Adolf Eichmann for crimes against the Jewish people and crimes against humanity committed during the Holocaust, on the basis of universal jurisdiction, despite his abduction from Argentina. |
| Attorney General v Blake | [2001] 1 AC 268 | Contract LawRemedies | In exceptional cases a claimant can recover the profits made by the defendant from a breach of contract. |
| Attorney General v Dallas | [2012] EWHC 156 (Admin), [2012] 1 WLR 991 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | A juror who researched a defendant's previous conviction online and told the other jurors was in contempt of court. |
| Attorney General v Dallas | [2012] EWHC 156 (Admin), [2012] 1 WLR 991 | English Legal SystemJuries | A juror who researched a defendant's previous conviction online and told the other jurors was in contempt of court. |
| Attorney General v De Keyser's Royal Hotel Ltd | [1920] AC 508 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | Where a statute covers the same ground as a prerogative power, the prerogative is placed in abeyance and the Crown must act under the statute. |
| Attorney General v Fraill | [2011] EWCA Crim 1570, [2012] 1 Cr App R 1 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | A juror who contacted a defendant on Facebook during a trial was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment for contempt of court. |
| Attorney General v Fraill | [2011] EWCA Crim 1570, [2012] 1 Cr App R 1 | English Legal SystemJuries | A juror who contacted a defendant on Facebook during a trial was sentenced to eight months' imprisonment for contempt of court. |
| Attorney General v Fulham Corp | [1921] 1 Ch 440 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A public body acts unlawfully if it goes beyond the powers conferred on it by statute. |
| Attorney General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) | [1990] 1 AC 109 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | The government could not obtain a permanent injunction to restrain publication of Spycatcher once its contents had been published worldwide. |
| Attorney General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) | [1990] 1 AC 109 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | The government could not obtain a permanent injunction to restrain publication of Spycatcher once its contents had been published worldwide. |
| Attorney General v Guardian Newspapers Ltd (No 2) | [1990] 1 AC 109 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | The government could not obtain a permanent injunction to restrain publication of Spycatcher once its contents had been published worldwide. |
| Attorney General v Jonathan Cape Ltd | [1976] QB 752 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | Courts will not enforce a constitutional convention as such, but may protect confidential Cabinet information while it remains sensitive. |
| Attorney General v National Assembly for Wales Commission | [2012] UKSC 53, [2013] 1 AC 792 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | The Supreme Court's first decision on a Bill of the National Assembly for Wales, holding that it was within competence. |
| Attorney General v PYA Quarries Ltd | [1957] 2 QB 169 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | A public nuisance is one that materially affects the reasonable comfort and convenience of life of a class of Her Majesty's subjects. |
| Attorney General's Reference (No 1 of 1975) | [1975] QB 773 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | To procure an offence means to produce it by taking appropriate steps, and a secret spiking of a driver's drink can amount to procuring drink driving. |
| Attorney General's Reference (No 1 of 1983) | [1985] QB 182 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | A person who is overpaid by mistake and dishonestly keeps the money can be guilty of theft, because section 5(4) treats the money as belonging to the payer. |
| Attorney General's Reference (No 1 of 1992) | [1993] 1 WLR 274 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | To be guilty of attempted rape, the defendant need not have tried to penetrate the victim; it is enough that his acts were more than merely preparatory. |
| Attorney General's Reference (No 2 of 1992) | [1994] QB 91 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | Driving without awareness, a reduced level of consciousness caused by long periods of driving, is not automatism. |
| Attorney General's Reference (No 2 of 2001) | [2003] UKHL 68, [2004] 2 AC 72 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | Breach of the right to trial within a reasonable time does not of itself require criminal proceedings to be stayed, unless a fair trial is no longer possible or it is otherwise unfair to try the defendant. |
| Attorney General's Reference (No 3 of 1994) | [1998] AC 245 | Criminal LawMens rea | Transferred malice cannot be transferred twice: a defendant who stabbed a pregnant woman was not guilty of murder when the child was born alive and later died. |
| Attrill v Dresdner Kleinwort Ltd | [2013] EWCA Civ 394, [2013] 3 All ER 607 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | An announcement to employees at a staff meeting can be a binding contractual promise. |
| Attwood v Small | (1838) 6 Cl & F 232 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | A claimant who relies on his own investigations rather than on the misrepresentation cannot claim that it induced the contract. |
| Austerberry v Oldham Corporation | (1885) 29 Ch D 750 | Land LawFreehold covenants | The burden of a positive covenant, such as a covenant to repair a road, does not run with freehold land at law or in equity. |
| Austin v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis | [2009] UKHL 5, [2009] 1 AC 564 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | Containing a crowd of protesters for several hours, in order to prevent violence, was not a deprivation of liberty under article 5. |
| Austin v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis | [2009] UKHL 5, [2009] 1 AC 564 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | Containing a crowd of protesters for several hours, in order to prevent violence, was not a deprivation of liberty under article 5. |
| Austin v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis | [2009] UKHL 5, [2009] 1 AC 564 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | Containing a crowd of protesters for several hours, in order to prevent violence, was not a deprivation of liberty under article 5. |
| Austin v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis | [2009] UKHL 5, [2009] 1 AC 564 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | Containing a crowd of protesters for several hours, in order to prevent violence, was not a deprivation of liberty under article 5. |
| Austin v Miller Argent (South Wales) Ltd | [2014] EWCA Civ 1012, [2015] 1 WLR 62 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | Costs protection under the Aarhus Convention may in principle be available in a private nuisance claim, but only where the claim has a sufficient public interest element, which was not shown in this case. |
| Austin v Southwark London Borough Council | [2010] UKSC 28, [2011] 1 AC 355 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The Supreme Court will be cautious about departing from a previous House of Lords decision on which people have relied, even if it was wrong. |
| Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher | [2011] UKSC 41, [2011] ICR 1157 | Employment LawEmployment status | In employment cases, the court can disregard written terms that do not reflect the true agreement between the parties, taking account of the relative bargaining power of the parties. |
| Aveling Barford Ltd v Perion Ltd | [1989] BCLC 626 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | A sale of a company's property at an undervalue to a person connected with its controlling shareholder, when the company had no distributable profits, was an unlawful return of capital. |
| Avery v Bowden | (1855) 5 E & B 714 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | An innocent party who does not accept an anticipatory breach keeps the contract alive for both sides, and can lose its claim if the contract is later frustrated. |
| Avonridge Property Co Ltd v Mashru | [2005] UKHL 70, [2005] 1 WLR 3956 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | A landlord may limit its liability under the covenants in a lease so that it is liable only while it owns the reversion. |
| Avraamides v Colwill | [2006] EWCA Civ 1533 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | Under the 1999 Act the third party must be expressly identified in the contract by name, class or description. |
| AXA General Insurance Ltd v HM Advocate | [2011] UKSC 46, [2012] 1 AC 868 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | Acts of the Scottish Parliament can be challenged for breaching Convention rights or exceeding its competence, but not on ordinary grounds of judicial review such as irrationality. |
| Re B (A Child) (Care Proceedings: Threshold Criteria) | [2013] UKSC 33, [2013] 1 WLR 1911 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | A care order with a plan for adoption should be made only where it is necessary and proportionate, as a last resort, when nothing else will do. |
| Re B (A Child) (Residence: Biological Parent) | [2009] UKSC 5, [2009] 1 WLR 2496 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | There is no presumption in favour of a natural parent in a residence dispute, and the child's welfare is the paramount consideration in deciding where the child should live. |
| Re B (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) | [1981] 1 WLR 1421 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | The court ordered a life saving operation on a baby with Down's syndrome against the parents' wishes, because the child's life would not be so demonstrably awful that she should be condemned to die. |
| Re B (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) | [1981] 1 WLR 1421 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | The court ordered a life saving operation on a baby with Down's syndrome against the parents' wishes, because the child's life would not be so demonstrably awful that she should be condemned to die. |
| B (A Minor) v Director of Public Prosecutions | [2000] 2 AC 428 | Criminal LawStrict liability | A boy who honestly believed that a girl was over 14 was not guilty of inciting her to commit an act of gross indecency, because the offence required mens rea as to her age. |
| Re B (Adult: Refusal of Medical Treatment) | [2002] EWHC 429 (Fam) | Medical Law and EthicsConsent, capacity and refusal of treatment | A paralysed woman who was dependent on a ventilator had the capacity to refuse life sustaining treatment, and the hospital acted unlawfully in continuing to ventilate her against her wishes. |
| Re B (Children) (Care Proceedings: Standard of Proof) | [2008] UKHL 35, [2009] 1 AC 11 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | The standard of proof in care proceedings is the simple balance of probabilities, neither more nor less, and the seriousness of an allegation does not raise the standard. |
| Re B (Children) (Care Proceedings: Standard of Proof) | [2008] UKHL 35, [2009] 1 AC 11 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | The standard of proof in care proceedings is the simple balance of probabilities, neither more nor less, and the seriousness of an allegation does not raise the standard. |
| B v B (Occupation Order) | [1999] 1 FLR 715 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | Under the balance of harm test, an occupation order was refused against a violent husband because his child living with him would suffer greater harm than the wife and her child if he were excluded. |
| Re B-S (Children) | [2013] EWCA Civ 1146, [2014] 1 WLR 563 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | Before making an adoption order, the court must undertake a global, holistic evaluation of all the realistic options, supported by proper evidence and analysis. |
| Baden v Société Générale pour Favoriser le Développement du Commerce et de l'Industrie en France SA | [1993] 1 WLR 509 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | The court identified five categories of knowledge relevant to the liability of third parties who receive or assist in the misapplication of trust property. |
| Re Baden's Deed Trusts (No 2) | [1973] Ch 9 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | Applying the is or is not test, the words relatives and dependants were sufficiently certain, although the judges differed on how the test should be applied. |
| Bahin v Hughes | (1886) 31 Ch D 390 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | A passive trustee who leaves the management of the trust to a co-trustee is equally liable for a breach of trust, and has no right to an indemnity from the active trustee. |
| Baigent v Random House Group Ltd | [2007] EWCA Civ 247 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | The use of ideas and historical facts from a non fiction book in a novel was not infringement of copyright, because what was taken was not the expression of the work. |
| Bailey v Ministry of Defence | [2008] EWCA Civ 883, [2009] 1 WLR 1052 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | In clinical negligence, a claimant can establish causation by showing that the negligence made a material contribution to an injury, where medical science cannot establish that it would have occurred anyway. |
| Baird Textile Holdings Ltd v Marks & Spencer plc | [2001] EWCA Civ 274, [2002] 1 All ER (Comm) 737 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | A long commercial relationship without sufficiently certain terms or an intention to be bound does not give rise to an implied contract. |
| Bairstow v Queens Moat Houses plc | [2001] EWCA Civ 712, [2002] BCC 91 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | Directors who knowingly cause a company to pay unlawful dividends are liable to repay the full amount, regardless of whether the company could have paid lawful dividends. |
| Baker v TE Hopkins & Son Ltd | [1959] 1 WLR 966 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A rescuer who is injured in trying to rescue someone from a danger created by the defendant's negligence can recover damages, and is not treated as having consented to the risk. |
| Baker v Willoughby | [1970] AC 467 | Tort LawCausation | Where a claimant suffers a second injury that has the same effect as an earlier injury caused by the defendant, the defendant remains liable for the effects of the first injury. |
| Balfour v Balfour | [1919] 2 KB 571 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | Domestic agreements between spouses living together are presumed not to be intended to be legally binding. |
| Re Ballard's Conveyance | [1937] Ch 473 | Land LawFreehold covenants | A covenant expressed to benefit the whole of a very large estate is not annexed to it if most of the estate is incapable of benefiting from it. |
| Bamford v Bamford | [1970] Ch 212 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | An allotment of shares by directors for an improper purpose is voidable, and can be ratified by an ordinary resolution of the company in general meeting. |
| Bank Mellat v HM Treasury (No 2) | [2013] UKSC 39, [2014] AC 700 | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | The four stage test of proportionality, and a direction targeting one Iranian bank was disproportionate and irrational. |
| Bank Mellat v HM Treasury (No 2) | [2013] UKSC 39, [2014] AC 700 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | The four stage test of proportionality, and a direction targeting one Iranian bank was disproportionate and irrational. |
| Re Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA (No 8) | [1998] AC 214 | Banking and Finance LawInsolvency of financial institutions and client assets | A company can grant a valid charge over its own debt to a customer, a so called charge back, and insolvency set off does not apply where the customer's deposit secures someone else's debt. |
| Re Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA (No 8) | [1998] AC 214 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | A company can grant a valid charge over its own debt to a customer, a so called charge back, and insolvency set off does not apply where the customer's deposit secures someone else's debt. |
| Bank of Cyprus UK Ltd v Menelaou | [2015] UKSC 66, [2016] AC 176 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPrinciples of unjust enrichment | A bank whose security over a property was released to fund the purchase of another property for the borrowers' daughter, on the basis that it would have security over the new property, was entitled to be subrogated to the unpaid vendor's lien. |
| Bank of Ireland Home Mortgages Ltd v Bell | [2001] 2 FLR 809 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | The interests of a creditor will usually be a powerful consideration under section 15 of the 1996 Act, and sale should be ordered where the debt is increasing with no prospect of repayment. |
| Bank of Nova Scotia v Hellenic Mutual War Risks Association (Bermuda) Ltd (The Good Luck) | [1992] 1 AC 233 | Insurance LawUtmost good faith, disclosure, warranties and insurable interest | Under the Marine Insurance Act 1906, breach of a promissory warranty automatically discharged the insurer from liability from the date of breach, without any need for the insurer to accept it. |
| Bank of Nova Scotia v Hellenic Mutual War Risks Association (Bermuda) Ltd (The Good Luck) | [1992] 1 AC 233 | Shipping and Maritime LawMarine insurance | Under the Marine Insurance Act 1906, breach of a promissory warranty automatically discharged the insurer from liability from the date of breach, without any need for the insurer to accept it. |
| Bankers Trust International plc v PT Dharmala Sakti Sejahtera | [1996] CLC 518 | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | A bank which sold complex interest rate swaps to a corporate customer was not liable for misrepresentation or negligent advice, because the customer understood the risks and the bank had not assumed an advisory role. |
| Banković v Belgium | (2007) 44 EHRR SE5 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | The victims of a NATO bombing of a Belgrade television station were not within the jurisdiction of the states responsible, because jurisdiction under article 1 of the Convention is primarily territorial. |
| Banks v Goodfellow | (1870) LR 5 QB 549 | Wills, Succession and ProbateTestamentary capacity, knowledge and approval | A testator has capacity to make a will if he understands the nature of the act and its effects, the extent of his property, and the claims to which he ought to give effect, free from any disorder of the mind poisoning his affections. |
| Banner Homes Group plc v Luff Developments Ltd | [2000] Ch 372 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | Where parties agree to acquire property for a joint venture, and one party refrains from acting in reliance on the agreement, the other cannot keep the property for itself. |
| Bannister v Bannister | [1948] 2 All ER 133 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | A purchaser who orally agreed that the seller could live in the property rent free for life held it on constructive trust for her, despite the lack of writing. |
| Banque Financière de la Cité v Parc (Battersea) Ltd | [1999] 1 AC 221 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPrinciples of unjust enrichment | A claim in unjust enrichment requires the court to ask whether the defendant was enriched, at the claimant's expense, whether the enrichment was unjust, and whether there are any defences. |
| Barber v Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance Group | Case C-262/88, [1990] ECR I-1889 | Employment LawEqual pay | Benefits paid under contracted out occupational pension schemes are pay, so it was unlawful sex discrimination for men to receive their pensions at a later age than women. |
| Barber v Somerset County Council | [2004] UKHL 13, [2004] 1 WLR 1089 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | An employer who knew that an employee was suffering from stress and did nothing to help him was liable for his psychiatric breakdown. |
| Barca v Mears | [2004] EWHC 2170 (Ch) | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | The exceptional circumstances test in bankruptcy cases is compatible with the right to respect for private and family life, and a child's educational needs were not exceptional. |
| Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Co Ltd (Belgium v Spain) | (1970) ICJ Reports 3 | Public International LawState responsibility, nationality and international organisations | Only the state of incorporation, not the state of the shareholders, may exercise diplomatic protection on behalf of a company, and some obligations are owed erga omnes, to the international community as a whole. |
| Barclays Bank Ltd v Quistclose Investments Ltd | [1970] AC 567 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | Money lent for a specific purpose is held on trust for the lender if the purpose fails, so it does not form part of the borrower's assets on insolvency. |
| Barclays Bank Ltd v Quistclose Investments Ltd | [1970] AC 567 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | Money lent for a specific purpose is held on trust for the lender if the purpose fails, so it does not form part of the borrower's assets on insolvency. |
| Barclays Bank Ltd v WJ Simms Son & Cooke (Southern) Ltd | [1980] QB 677 | Banking and Finance LawPayments, mandates and the Quincecare duty | Money paid under a mistake of fact can generally be recovered, so a bank which paid a cheque by mistake after its customer had countermanded it could recover the money from the payee. |
| Barclays Bank Ltd v WJ Simms Son & Cooke (Southern) Ltd | [1980] QB 677 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | Money paid under a mistake of fact can generally be recovered, so a bank which paid a cheque by mistake after its customer had countermanded it could recover the money from the payee. |
| Barclays Bank plc v O'Brien | [1994] 1 AC 180 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A lender is put on inquiry when a wife stands surety for her husband's debts and must take reasonable steps to ensure that her consent is properly obtained. |
| Barclays Bank plc v O'Brien | [1994] 1 AC 180 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | A lender is put on inquiry when a wife stands surety for her husband's debts and must take reasonable steps to ensure that her consent is properly obtained. |
| Barclays Bank plc v O'Brien | [1994] 1 AC 180 | Land LawMortgages | A lender is put on inquiry when a wife stands surety for her husband's debts and must take reasonable steps to ensure that her consent is properly obtained. |
| Barclays Bank plc v Quincecare Ltd | [1992] 4 All ER 363 | Banking and Finance LawPayments, mandates and the Quincecare duty | A bank must refrain from executing a customer's payment order if it is put on inquiry, having reasonable grounds for believing that the order is an attempt to misappropriate the customer's funds. |
| Barclays Bank plc v Various Claimants | [2020] UKSC 13, [2020] AC 973 | Employment LawEmployment status | A business is not vicariously liable for the torts of an independent contractor who carries on his own business, even where the contractor is engaged to perform work for the business. |
| Barclays Bank plc v Various Claimants | [2020] UKSC 13, [2020] AC 973 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | A business is not vicariously liable for the torts of an independent contractor who carries on his own business, even where the contractor is engaged to perform work for the business. |
| Barclays Mercantile Business Finance Ltd v Mawson | [2004] UKHL 51, [2005] 1 AC 684 | Tax LawTax avoidance, statutory interpretation and the Ramsay principle | The Ramsay principle requires the court to give the statute a purposive construction and to decide whether the transaction, viewed realistically, answers to the statutory description, and capital allowances were available on a sale and leaseback. |
| Barder v Caluori | [1988] AC 20 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | A final financial order can be set aside where a new event, occurring soon after the order, invalidates the basis on which it was made, provided that the event was unforeseeable and the application is made promptly. |
| Re Barings plc (No 5) | [1999] 1 BCLC 433 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | Directors have a continuing duty to acquire and maintain a sufficient knowledge and understanding of the company's business to enable them properly to discharge their duties. |
| Barker v Corus UK Ltd | [2006] UKHL 20, [2006] 2 AC 572 | Insurance LawLiability insurance and third party rights | Under the Fairchild exception, a defendant's liability is limited to a share of the damages proportionate to its contribution to the risk, a rule reversed for mesothelioma by statute. |
| Barker v Corus UK Ltd | [2006] UKHL 20, [2006] 2 AC 572 | Tort LawCausation | Under the Fairchild exception, a defendant's liability is limited to a share of the damages proportionate to its contribution to the risk, a rule reversed for mesothelioma by statute. |
| Barlow Clowes International Ltd v Eurotrust International Ltd | [2005] UKPC 37, [2006] 1 WLR 1476 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | For dishonest assistance, it is not necessary for the defendant to have known that his conduct was dishonest by ordinary standards, as long as it was dishonest by those standards. |
| Barlow Clowes International Ltd v Vaughan | [1992] 4 All ER 22 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | The rule in Clayton's Case will not be applied to share out a mixed fund among investors where it would be unjust or impractical, and a pro rata approach may be used instead. |
| Re Barlow's Will Trusts | [1979] 1 WLR 278 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | A gift to friends to buy paintings at a reduced price was valid, because it was a series of individual gifts, and it was enough that a person could be shown to be a friend. |
| Barnard v National Dock Labour Board | [1953] 2 QB 18 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A body with disciplinary powers conferred by statute cannot delegate them to another person without authority to do so. |
| Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee | [1969] 1 QB 428 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | A defendant is not liable if the claimant would have suffered the same harm even without the defendant's negligence, applying the but for test. |
| Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington Hospital Management Committee | [1969] 1 QB 428 | Tort LawCausation | A defendant is not liable if the claimant would have suffered the same harm even without the defendant's negligence, applying the but for test. |
| Barr v Biffa Waste Services Ltd | [2012] EWCA Civ 312, [2013] QB 455 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | Compliance with an environmental permit is not a defence to a claim in nuisance, and the ordinary principles of nuisance apply to a landfill site operating under a permit. |
| Barrett v Bem | [2012] EWCA Civ 52, [2012] Ch 573 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFormalities, execution, undue influence and rectification | A will signed by another person guiding the testator's hand was not signed by the testator's direction, because there must be positive evidence of a direction by the testator, not merely his acquiescence. |
| Barry v Butlin | (1838) 2 Moo PC 480 | Wills, Succession and ProbateTestamentary capacity, knowledge and approval | The person propounding a will must prove that the testator knew and approved its contents, and where the will was prepared by a person who benefits under it, the court must be vigilant and the suspicion must be removed. |
| Bartlett v Barclays Bank Trust Co Ltd (No 1) | [1980] Ch 515 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | A professional trust corporation is held to a higher standard of care, and should have monitored a speculative property development by a company controlled by the trust. |
| Barton v Armstrong | [1976] AC 104 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | A contract obtained by threats of violence can be set aside if the threats were a reason for entering it, even if not the main one. |
| Barton v Morris | [2023] UKSC 3, [2023] AC 684 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Where a contract allocates the risk of an event, the court will neither imply a term nor allow an unjust enrichment claim to override it. |
| Barton v Wright Hassall LLP | [2018] UKSC 12, [2018] 1 WLR 1119 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | A litigant in person must comply with the rules of court, and his lack of representation does not justify a lower standard of compliance. |
| Re Basham (Deceased) | [1986] 1 WLR 1498 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | A stepdaughter who worked for her stepfather for many years without pay, in reliance on his assurance that she would inherit his property, was entitled to the estate by proprietary estoppel. |
| Batchelor v Marlow | [2001] EWCA Civ 1051, [2003] 1 WLR 764 | Land LawEasements | A right to park cars on a strip of land during working hours on weekdays was not an easement, because it left the owner without any reasonable use of the land. |
| Bates van Winkelhof v Clyde & Co LLP | [2014] UKSC 32, [2014] 1 WLR 2047 | Employment LawEmployment status | A member of a limited liability partnership can be a worker, and so entitled to whistleblowing protection, because subordination is not a necessary ingredient of worker status. |
| Bath Rugby Ltd v Greenwood | [2021] EWCA Civ 1927 | Land LawFreehold covenants | A covenant could not be enforced by neighbouring owners where the conveyance did not identify the land intended to be benefited. |
| Baumbast and R v Secretary of State for the Home Department | Case C-413/99, [2002] ECR I-7091 | EU LawEU citizenship | The right of residence of EU citizens under the Treaty has direct effect, and limitations on it must be applied proportionately. |
| Baumbast and R v Secretary of State for the Home Department | Case C-413/99, [2002] ECR I-7091 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | The right of residence of EU citizens under the Treaty has direct effect, and limitations on it must be applied proportionately. |
| Baxter v Mannion | [2011] EWCA Civ 120, [2011] 1 WLR 1594 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | Where a person is registered as proprietor on the basis of adverse possession that he never had, the register can be rectified to correct the mistake. |
| BCCI (Overseas) Ltd v Akindele | [2001] Ch 437 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | A recipient of trust property is liable for knowing receipt if his state of knowledge makes it unconscionable for him to keep the benefit of the receipt. |
| BCCI (Overseas) Ltd v Akindele | [2001] Ch 437 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | A recipient of trust property is liable for knowing receipt if his state of knowledge makes it unconscionable for him to keep the benefit of the receipt. |
| Beale v Taylor | [1967] 1 WLR 1193 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | Goods are sold by description even if the buyer has seen them, where he relied on a description of them that was not true. |
| Beatty v Gillbanks | (1882) 9 QBD 308 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | A lawful assembly does not become unlawful because others threaten to disrupt it violently. |
| Becker v Finanzamt Münster-Innenstadt | Case 8/81, [1982] ECR 53 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | A provision of a directive has direct effect if it is unconditional and sufficiently precise, even where the Member State has some discretion in implementing other parts of it. |
| Beckford v The Queen | [1988] AC 130 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | A person may use force in self defence on the basis of an honest belief that he is being attacked, and need not wait to be struck first. |
| Behnke v Bede Shipping Co Ltd | [1927] 1 KB 649 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Specific performance of a contract for the sale of goods may be ordered where the goods are unique or of special value to the buyer, such as a particular ship. |
| Belgian Linguistic Case (No 2) | (1979) 1 EHRR 252 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | Article 14 prohibits a difference in treatment in the enjoyment of Convention rights only where it has no objective and reasonable justification, and the right to education does not include a right to be taught in a particular language. |
| Belhaj v Straw | [2017] UKSC 3, [2017] AC 964 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | Claims against British officials for complicity in the unlawful rendition and torture of a Libyan dissident were not barred by state immunity or the foreign act of state doctrine. |
| Belhaj v Straw | [2017] UKSC 3, [2017] AC 964 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | Claims against British officials for complicity in the unlawful rendition and torture of a Libyan dissident were not barred by state immunity or the foreign act of state doctrine. |
| Bell v Lever Brothers Ltd | [1932] AC 161 | Contract LawMistake | A common mistake as to quality makes a contract void only if it makes the subject matter essentially different from what was believed. |
| Bell v Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust | [2021] EWCA Civ 1363 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | It is for clinicians, not the court, to decide whether a child is Gillick competent to consent to puberty blockers, and the court should not lay down general guidance on competence. |
| Bell v Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust | [2021] EWCA Civ 1363 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | It is for clinicians, not the court, to decide whether a child is Gillick competent to consent to puberty blockers, and the court should not lay down general guidance on competence. |
| Bellinger v Bellinger | [2003] UKHL 21, [2003] 2 AC 467 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | The courts made a declaration of incompatibility rather than interpreting the law to recognise the marriage of a transgender woman, because the issue required Parliament's attention. |
| Bellinger v Bellinger | [2003] UKHL 21, [2003] 2 AC 467 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | The courts made a declaration of incompatibility rather than interpreting the law to recognise the marriage of a transgender woman, because the issue required Parliament's attention. |
| Bellinger v Bellinger | [2003] UKHL 21, [2003] 2 AC 467 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | The courts made a declaration of incompatibility rather than interpreting the law to recognise the marriage of a transgender woman, because the issue required Parliament's attention. |
| Belmont Finance Corp Ltd v Williams Furniture Ltd (No 2) | [1980] 1 All ER 393 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | Directors who cause a company to give unlawful financial assistance for the purchase of its own shares are in breach of duty, and those who knowingly receive the money are liable as constructive trustees. |
| Belmont Park Investments Pty Ltd v BNY Corporate Trustee Services Ltd | [2011] UKSC 38, [2012] 1 AC 383 | Banking and Finance LawInsolvency of financial institutions and client assets | A flip clause in a structured finance transaction, which reversed the priority of payment on a counterparty's insolvency, did not offend the anti deprivation principle, because it was a commercially justified bona fide transaction. |
| Bence Graphics International Ltd v Fasson UK Ltd | [1998] QB 87 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Where a buyer has resold defective goods without suffering a loss from his sub buyers, his damages may be limited to his actual loss, not the difference between their contract value and actual value. |
| Benedetti v Sawiris | [2013] UKSC 50, [2014] AC 938 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPrinciples of unjust enrichment | In a claim for unjust enrichment for services, the enrichment is valued at its objective market value, which may be reduced, but not increased, by the defendant's subjective valuation. |
| Re Benjamin | [1902] 1 Ch 723 | Wills, Succession and ProbateIntestacy, personal representatives and administration of estates | Where a beneficiary has disappeared and his survival cannot be proved, the court may authorise the personal representatives to distribute the estate on the footing that he predeceased the testator, without extinguishing his rights. |
| Benkharbouche v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | [2017] UKSC 62, [2019] AC 777 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | Provisions of the State Immunity Act 1978 were incompatible with the right to a fair trial, and had to be disapplied to the extent that they conflicted with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. |
| Benkharbouche v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | [2017] UKSC 62, [2019] AC 777 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | Provisions of the State Immunity Act 1978 were incompatible with the right to a fair trial, and had to be disapplied to the extent that they conflicted with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. |
| Bennet v Bennet | (1879) 10 Ch D 474 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | The presumption of advancement applied between a father and child, but not between a mother and child. |
| Beoku-Betts v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2008] UKHL 39, [2009] 1 AC 115 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | In deciding whether removal breaches article 8, the tribunal must consider the effect on the family life of all the family members affected, not only the person being removed. |
| Beresford v Royal Insurance Co Ltd | [1938] AC 586 | Insurance LawLiability insurance and third party rights | Public policy prevented the personal representatives of a man who took his own life from recovering under a life policy, at a time when suicide was a crime. |
| Berkeley v Secretary of State for the Environment | [2001] 2 AC 603 | Environmental LawEnvironmental impact assessment and planning | Where a development that required an environmental impact assessment was approved without one, the court should quash the permission, even if the outcome would probably have been the same. |
| Berkley v Poulett | (1976) 241 EG 911 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | Pictures fixed in recesses in panelling, a statue on a plinth and a sundial were chattels, because they were not intended to become part of the land. |
| Berkoff v Burchill | [1996] 4 All ER 1008 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | A statement that holds a person up to ridicule or contempt can be defamatory, even if it does not suggest any moral fault. |
| Bernstein of Leigh (Baron) v Skyviews & General Ltd | [1978] QB 479 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | A landowner's rights in the airspace above his land extend only to the height necessary for the ordinary use and enjoyment of the land and the structures on it. |
| Bernstein v Pamson Motors (Golders Green) Ltd | [1987] 2 All ER 220 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | A buyer who had used a new car for three weeks before it broke down was held to have accepted it, so he lost the right to reject, a decision later doubted. |
| Berrisford v Mexfield Housing Co-operative Ltd | [2011] UKSC 52, [2012] 1 AC 955 | Land LawLeases and licences | An agreement for an uncertain term, granted to an individual, takes effect as a lease for life, which is converted by statute into a 90 year term. |
| Bertelsmann AG and Sony Corp of America v Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association (Impala) | Case C-413/06 P, [2008] ECR I-4951 | Competition LawMerger control | There is no presumption that a merger is compatible or incompatible with the common market, and the Commission must assess the evidence in each case, applying the Airtours criteria to collective dominance in a realistic way. |
| Re Besterman (Deceased) | [1984] Ch 458 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | A surviving spouse's claim for reasonable provision is not limited to maintenance, and the court should consider what the spouse would have received on divorce. |
| Re Besterman (Deceased) | [1984] Ch 458 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | A surviving spouse's claim for reasonable provision is not limited to maintenance, and the court should consider what the spouse would have received on divorce. |
| Beswick v Beswick | [1968] AC 58 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | A third party cannot sue on a contract personally, but the promisee's personal representative can obtain specific performance for the third party's benefit. |
| Bettini v Gye | (1876) 1 QBD 183 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Breach of a minor term, a warranty, gives rise only to damages and does not entitle the innocent party to terminate. |
| Bettray v Staatssecretaris van Justitie | Case 344/87, [1989] ECR 1621 | EU LawFree movement of workers | A person employed under a state scheme designed to rehabilitate or reintegrate people into work is not a worker, because the work is not a real and genuine economic activity. |
| Bhullar v Bhullar | [2003] EWCA Civ 424, [2003] 2 BCLC 241 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | Directors who acquired a property next to the company's premises for themselves, without telling the company, were liable to account, because it was an opportunity the company might have been interested in. |
| Biddell Brothers v E Clemens Horst Co | [1912] AC 18 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | Under a CIF contract, the buyer must pay against tender of the shipping documents, and is not entitled to inspect the goods before paying. |
| Big Brother Watch v United Kingdom | (2021) Application no 58170/13 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | The United Kingdom's regime for the bulk interception of communications breached articles 8 and 10, because it lacked sufficient end to end safeguards against abuse. |
| Big Brother Watch v United Kingdom | (2021) Application no 58170/13 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | The United Kingdom's regime for the bulk interception of communications breached articles 8 and 10, because it lacked sufficient end to end safeguards against abuse. |
| Biggs v Hoddinott | [1898] 2 Ch 307 | Land LawMortgages | A tie requiring a mortgagor to buy beer only from the mortgagee while the mortgage continues is valid. |
| Biguzzi v Rank Leisure plc | [1999] 1 WLR 1926 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | Under the Civil Procedure Rules, the courts have a range of sanctions for delay, and striking out a claim is not always appropriate. |
| Bilka-Kaufhaus GmbH v Weber von Hartz | Case 170/84, [1986] ECR 1607 | Employment LawEqual pay | Excluding part time workers from an occupational pension scheme is indirectly discriminatory against women unless the employer shows that it meets a real need of the business and is appropriate and necessary. |
| Billson v Residential Apartments Ltd | [1992] 1 AC 494 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | A tenant can apply for relief from forfeiture even after a landlord has peaceably re-entered the premises. |
| Bilta (UK) Ltd v Nazir (No 2) | [2015] UKSC 23, [2016] AC 1 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | A company's directors cannot rely on their own fraud against the company, attributed to the company, to defeat a claim by the company against them. |
| Binions v Evans | [1972] Ch 359 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | A purchaser who bought a cottage expressly subject to a widow's right to live there for life, and paid a reduced price, held it on constructive trust for her. |
| Binions v Evans | [1972] Ch 359 | Land LawLeases and licences | A purchaser who bought a cottage expressly subject to a widow's right to live there for life, and paid a reduced price, held it on constructive trust for her. |
| Biogen Inc v Medeva plc | [1997] RPC 1 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | A patent is invalid for insufficiency if its claims are broader than the technical contribution made by the invention. |
| Re Bird Precision Bellows Ltd | [1986] Ch 658 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | In ordering a buy out of a minority shareholder for unfair prejudice in a quasi partnership, the shares should normally be valued without a discount for being a minority holding. |
| Bird v Jones | (1845) 7 QB 742 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | False imprisonment requires a complete restraint of the claimant's freedom of movement, so blocking only one way of going is not enough. |
| Birmingham City Council v Abdulla | [2012] UKSC 47, [2013] 1 AC 504 | Employment LawEqual pay | An equal pay claim brought in the ordinary courts within the six year limitation period, after the time limit for a tribunal claim had passed, was not necessarily an abuse of process. |
| Bishopsgate Investment Management Ltd v Homan | [1995] Ch 211 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | Beneficiaries cannot trace into a bank account that was overdrawn when the trust money was paid in, because the money has been dissipated. |
| Bishopsgate Motor Finance Corp Ltd v Transport Brakes Ltd | [1949] 1 KB 322 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | The law must balance the protection of property with the protection of commercial transactions, and an innocent buyer at a market overt obtained good title. |
| Bisset v Wilkinson | [1927] AC 177 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | An honest statement of opinion is not a statement of fact and is not a misrepresentation. |
| Black-Clawson International Ltd v Papierwerke Waldhof-Aschaffenburg AG | [1975] AC 591 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The courts may refer to official reports, such as a Law Commission or committee report, to identify the mischief a statute was intended to remedy. |
| Blackburn v Attorney General | [1971] 1 WLR 1037 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The courts will not interfere with the making of treaties under the prerogative. |
| Blackpool and Fylde Aero Club Ltd v Blackpool Borough Council | [1990] 1 WLR 1195 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | An invitation to tender can carry an implied promise to consider every conforming tender submitted on time. |
| Blackwell v Blackwell | [1929] AC 318 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | A half secret trust, where the will shows that the legatee is a trustee but not the terms of the trust, is valid if the terms were communicated to the trustee before or at the time of the will. |
| Bloomberg LP v ZXC | [2022] UKSC 5, [2022] AC 1158 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | A person under criminal investigation has, in general, a reasonable expectation of privacy in information relating to that investigation, before he is charged. |
| Bloomberg LP v ZXC | [2022] UKSC 5, [2022] AC 1158 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | A person under criminal investigation has, in general, a reasonable expectation of privacy in information relating to that investigation, before he is charged. |
| Blue v Ashley | [2017] EWHC 1928 (Comm) | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | A promise made jokingly in a pub, which no reasonable person would take seriously, is not a binding contract. |
| Blyth v Birmingham Waterworks Co | (1856) 11 Exch 781 | Tort LawBreach of duty | Negligence is the omission to do something which a reasonable man would do, or doing something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do. |
| BNY Corporate Trustee Services Ltd v Eurosail-UK 2007-3BL plc | [2013] UKSC 28, [2013] 1 WLR 1408 | Banking and Finance LawInsolvency of financial institutions and client assets | Under the balance sheet test of insolvency, the question is whether the company has insufficient assets to meet all its liabilities, including contingent and prospective ones, taking a commercial view. |
| BNY Corporate Trustee Services Ltd v Eurosail-UK 2007-3BL plc | [2013] UKSC 28, [2013] 1 WLR 1408 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | Under the balance sheet test of insolvency, the question is whether the company has insufficient assets to meet all its liabilities, including contingent and prospective ones, taking a commercial view. |
| BNY Mellon Corporate Trustee Services Ltd v LBG Capital No 1 plc | [2016] UKSC 29 | Banking and Finance LawDerivatives, bonds and capital markets | Lloyds Banking Group was entitled to redeem its enhanced capital notes early, because a capital disqualification event had occurred when they ceased to count towards its core tier 1 capital in the Bank of England's stress test. |
| Boardman v Phipps | [1967] 2 AC 46 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | A solicitor to a trust who made a profit by using information obtained while acting for the trust was liable to account for the profit, even though he acted honestly and the trust also benefited. |
| Bocardo SA v Star Energy UK Onshore Ltd | [2010] UKSC 35, [2011] 1 AC 380 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | The owner of land owns the strata beneath it, and drilling oil wells deep under the land without permission was a trespass, although the damages were small. |
| Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee | [1957] 1 WLR 582 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | A doctor is not negligent if he has acted in accordance with a practice accepted as proper by a responsible body of medical opinion skilled in that particular art. |
| Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee | [1957] 1 WLR 582 | Tort LawBreach of duty | A doctor is not negligent if he has acted in accordance with a practice accepted as proper by a responsible body of medical opinion skilled in that particular art. |
| Bolitho v City and Hackney Health Authority | [1998] AC 232 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | The court will not accept that a body of medical opinion is responsible if the opinion is not capable of withstanding logical analysis. |
| Bolitho v City and Hackney Health Authority | [1998] AC 232 | Tort LawBreach of duty | The court will not accept that a body of medical opinion is responsible if the opinion is not capable of withstanding logical analysis. |
| Bolton Partners v Lambert | (1889) 41 Ch D 295 | Commercial LawAgency | Ratification by a principal relates back to the time when the agent made the contract, so the third party cannot withdraw before ratification. |
| Bolton v Mahadeva | [1972] 1 WLR 1009 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | A contract is not substantially performed where the defects are serious in relation to the whole work, so nothing is payable. |
| Bolton v Stone | [1951] AC 850 | Tort LawBreach of duty | A defendant is not negligent for failing to guard against a risk that is so small that a reasonable person would not take precautions against it. |
| Re Bond Worth Ltd | [1980] Ch 228 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A clause retaining equitable and beneficial ownership in goods sold, while legal title passed to the buyer, created a floating charge which was void for lack of registration. |
| Bonnington Castings Ltd v Wardlaw | [1956] AC 613 | Tort LawCausation | A claimant can establish causation by showing that the defendant's breach made a material contribution to the injury, even if it was not the only cause. |
| Bonsignore v Oberstadtdirektor der Stadt Köln | Case 67/74, [1975] ECR 297 | EU LawFree movement of workers | A Member State cannot deport a national of another Member State on public policy grounds as a general deterrent to others, but only on the basis of the individual's personal conduct. |
| Borden (UK) Ltd v Scottish Timber Products Ltd | [1981] Ch 25 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A seller's retention of title to resin did not give it any rights to chipboard made from the resin, because the resin had ceased to exist as a separate thing. |
| Botham v TSB Bank plc | (1997) 73 P & CR D1 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | Fitted kitchen units, sinks and bathroom fittings were fixtures, but carpets, curtains and freestanding kitchen appliances remained chattels. |
| Botzen v Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij BV | Case 186/83, [1985] ECR 519 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | Where part of an undertaking is transferred, only the employees assigned to that part, and not those who worked for the whole undertaking, transfer to the new employer. |
| Bourhill v Young | [1943] AC 92 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | A pregnant woman who heard a road accident and later saw blood on the road could not recover for nervous shock, because she was not within the range of foreseeable injury. |
| Boyce v Boyce | (1849) 16 Sim 476 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | A trust fails for uncertainty of subject matter if the property to be held for each beneficiary depends on a choice that can no longer be made. |
| Re Boyes | (1884) 26 Ch D 531 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | A fully secret trust fails if the terms are not communicated to the legatee during the testator's lifetime, so the legatee holds on resulting trust for the estate. |
| Boys v Chaplin | [1971] AC 356 | Conflict of LawsChoice of law in contract and tort | Under the old common law rule of double actionability, a tort committed abroad was actionable in England only if actionable under both English law and the law of the place of the wrong, subject to a flexible exception. |
| BP Exploration Co (Libya) Ltd v Hunt (No 2) | [1979] 1 WLR 783 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | Under the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943, the court can award a just sum for a valuable benefit conferred before frustration, assessed by reference to the end product of the claimant's performance. |
| Bradlaugh v Gossett | (1884) 12 QBD 271 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | The courts will not interfere with the internal proceedings of the House of Commons. |
| Bradley v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd | [1989] AC 957 | Insurance LawLiability insurance and third party rights | A third party could not use the 1930 Act to claim against the insurer of a company which had been dissolved, because the company's liability had not been established before dissolution. |
| Brady v Brady | [1989] AC 755 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | Financial assistance by a company for the purchase of its own shares is not saved by the larger purpose exception merely because it was given to resolve a deadlock between shareholders. |
| Braganza v BP Shipping Ltd | [2015] UKSC 17, [2015] 1 WLR 1661 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | A contractual discretion must be exercised rationally, taking into account relevant matters and ignoring irrelevant ones. |
| Braganza v BP Shipping Ltd | [2015] UKSC 17, [2015] 1 WLR 1661 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | A contractual discretion must be exercised rationally, taking into account relevant matters and ignoring irrelevant ones. |
| Brasserie du Pêcheur SA v Germany; R v Secretary of State for Transport, ex p Factortame Ltd (No 3) | Joined Cases C-46/93 and C-48/93, [1996] ECR I-1029 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | A Member State is liable for any breach of EU law that is sufficiently serious, which depends on whether it manifestly and gravely disregarded the limits on its discretion. |
| Re Bravda | [1968] 1 WLR 479 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFormalities, execution, undue influence and rectification | Beneficiaries who signed a will as additional witnesses lost their gifts under section 15 of the Wills Act 1837, a harsh result which led Parliament to change the law. |
| Bray v Ford | [1896] AC 44 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | A fiduciary is not entitled to make a profit from his position unless expressly authorised, because there is a danger that his interest will conflict with his duty. |
| Breakspear v Ackland | [2008] EWHC 220 (Ch), [2009] Ch 32 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | A letter of wishes given to trustees of a discretionary trust is confidential, and the court will order its disclosure only where it is in the interests of the proper administration of the trust. |
| Breyer v Bundesrepublik Deutschland | (2016) Case C-582/14 | Data Protection and Technology LawPersonal data, controllers and the scope of data protection | A dynamic IP address is personal data for a website operator if it has legal means to identify the user with the help of additional information held by the user's internet service provider. |
| Brinkibon Ltd v Stahag Stahl und Stahlwarenhandelsgesellschaft mbH | [1983] 2 AC 34 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | An acceptance sent by telex takes effect where it is received, but there is no universal rule for every case. |
| Bristol and West Building Society v Mothew | [1998] Ch 1 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | Not every breach of duty by a fiduciary is a breach of fiduciary duty, which is concerned with loyalty, and a careless mistake is not disloyal. |
| British Airways plc v Unite the Union (No 2) | [2010] EWCA Civ 669, [2010] ICR 1316 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | A trade union which communicated the ballot result to its members through its website and newsletters had sufficiently complied with the duty to inform them of the number of spoilt ballot papers. |
| British Airways plc v Williams | [2012] UKSC 43, [2012] ICR 1375 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | Holiday pay under the Working Time Directive must correspond to a worker's normal remuneration, including payments intrinsically linked to the performance of the tasks required by the contract. |
| British Coal Corp v The King | [1935] AC 500 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | In theory Parliament could repeal the Statute of Westminster, but in practice that is unlikely ever to happen. |
| British Home Stores Ltd v Burchell | [1980] ICR 303 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | In a misconduct dismissal, the employer must show a genuine belief in the employee's guilt, held on reasonable grounds, after as much investigation as was reasonable in the circumstances. |
| British Oxygen Co Ltd v Minister of Technology | [1971] AC 610 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A public body may adopt a policy for exercising its discretion, but must not shut its ears to applications that might justify an exception. |
| British Railways Board v Herrington | [1972] AC 877 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The House of Lords used the Practice Statement to hold that occupiers owe a duty of common humanity to child trespassers. |
| British Railways Board v Herrington | [1972] AC 877 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | The House of Lords used the Practice Statement to hold that occupiers owe a duty of common humanity to child trespassers. |
| British Sky Broadcasting Group plc v Competition Commission | [2010] EWCA Civ 2 | Competition LawMerger control | BSkyB's acquisition of a 17.9 percent stake in ITV gave it material influence and was found to lessen competition substantially, but the court clarified the separate public interest test of plurality of media. |
| British South Africa Co v Companhia de Moçambique | [1893] AC 602 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | The English courts have no jurisdiction to determine title to, or the right to possession of, land situated abroad, or to award damages for trespass to it. |
| British Telecommunications plc v One in a Million Ltd | [1999] 1 WLR 903 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | Registering internet domain names consisting of the names of well known companies, in order to sell them, was passing off, and the domain names were instruments of fraud. |
| British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co Ltd v Underground Electric Railways Co of London Ltd | [1912] AC 673 | Contract LawRemedies | A claimant must take reasonable steps to mitigate its loss, and benefits gained from those steps reduce its damages. |
| Broekmeulen v Huisarts Registratie Commissie | Case 246/80, [1981] ECR 2311 | EU LawPreliminary references | A body set up by a professional association can be a court or tribunal that can refer questions to the Court of Justice, if it is effectively part of the national system for resolving disputes. |
| Brogan v United Kingdom | (1989) 11 EHRR 117 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | Detaining terrorist suspects for four days and six hours without bringing them before a judge breached the requirement in article 5(3) that arrested persons be brought promptly before a judge. |
| Bromley London Borough Council v Greater London Council | [1983] 1 AC 768 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A council must balance the interests of transport users against those of ratepayers, and owes a fiduciary duty to its ratepayers. |
| Re Brooks' Settlement Trusts | [1939] Ch 993 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A covenant to settle property to which a person might become entitled in the future does not create a trust of that property until it is actually received. |
| Broome v Cassell & Co Ltd | [1972] AC 1027 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The Court of Appeal must follow decisions of the House of Lords, even if it considers them wrongly decided. |
| Brown v British Abrasive Wheel Co Ltd | [1919] 1 Ch 290 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | An alteration of the articles to allow the majority to compulsorily buy out the minority was invalid, because it was not for the benefit of the company as a whole. |
| Brunner v European Union Treaty | [1994] 1 CMLR 57 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | Germany could ratify the Maastricht Treaty, but the German Constitutional Court reserved the right to review whether EU institutions act within the powers conferred on them. |
| Bruton v London & Quadrant Housing Trust | [2000] 1 AC 406 | Land LawLeases and licences | An agreement giving exclusive possession for a term at a rent is a tenancy, even if the landlord has no estate in the land, so it may be a non proprietary lease. |
| BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana SA | [2022] UKSC 25, [2024] AC 211 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | Directors must consider the interests of creditors when the company is insolvent or bordering on insolvency, or when an insolvent liquidation or administration is probable. |
| Buckinghamshire County Council v Moran | [1990] Ch 623 | Land LawAdverse possession | A squatter who enclosed land and padlocked the only gate had an intention to possess, even though he knew the owner intended to use the land in the future. |
| Re Bucks Constabulary Widows' and Orphans' Fund Friendly Society (No 2) | [1979] 1 WLR 936 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | When an unincorporated association is dissolved, its surplus funds belong to its members at the time of dissolution in equal shares, under the contract between them. |
| Buffery v Buffery | [1988] 2 FLR 365 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | Under the old law, the fact that spouses had grown apart and had nothing in common did not show that one had behaved in such a way that the other could not reasonably be expected to live with him. |
| Bull v Bull | [1955] 1 QB 234 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | A beneficial tenant in common is entitled to occupy the property, and the legal owner could not evict his mother, who had contributed to the purchase. |
| Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland v Bezirksregierung Arnsberg (Trianel) | Case C-115/09, [2011] ECR I-3673 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | Environmental organisations must be able to challenge decisions on the basis that they breach EU environmental law intended to protect the public interest, not only rules protecting individual rights. |
| Bundesverband der Arzneimittel-Importeure eV v Bayer AG (Adalat) | Joined Cases C-2/01 P and C-3/01 P, [2004] ECR I-23 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | A unilateral policy adopted by a manufacturer to limit parallel trade is not an agreement unless the distributors have acquiesced in it, which requires a concurrence of wills. |
| Bunge Corp v Tradax Export SA | [1981] 1 WLR 711 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | Time clauses in mercantile contracts are usually conditions, so any breach allows termination. |
| Bunge Corp v Tradax Export SA | [1981] 1 WLR 711 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Time clauses in mercantile contracts are usually conditions, so any breach allows termination. |
| Bunker v Charles Brand & Son Ltd | [1969] 2 QB 480 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | A contractor in control of works on premises can be an occupier, and a warning is not enough to discharge the duty unless it enables the visitor to be reasonably safe. |
| Burden v United Kingdom | (2008) 47 EHRR 38 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | Two elderly sisters living together were not in an analogous situation to married couples or civil partners, so denying them the inheritance tax exemption was not discrimination. |
| Burgess v Rawnsley | [1975] Ch 429 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | An oral agreement between joint tenants for one to buy out the other's share severed the joint tenancy, even though the agreement was not carried out. |
| Burmah Oil Co Ltd v Lord Advocate | [1965] AC 75 | Public LawRule of law | Compensation is payable for property lawfully destroyed under the prerogative in war, although Parliament later reversed the decision retrospectively. |
| Burns v Burns | [1984] Ch 317 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | A woman who lived with her partner for nearly 20 years, raising their children and running the home, but who made no contribution to the purchase, had no beneficial interest in the house. |
| Burns v Burns | [1984] Ch 317 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | A woman who lived with her partner for nearly 20 years, raising their children and running the home, but who made no contribution to the purchase, had no beneficial interest in the house. |
| Bushell v Faith | [1970] AC 1099 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A provision in the articles giving a director weighted voting rights on a resolution to remove him is valid, although it can defeat the statutory power to remove directors by ordinary resolution. |
| Bushell's Case | (1670) Vaughan 135 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | Jurors cannot be punished for their verdict: the foundation of jury independence. |
| Bushell's Case | (1670) Vaughan 135 | English Legal SystemJuries | Jurors cannot be punished for their verdict: the foundation of jury independence. |
| Butler Machine Tool Co Ltd v Ex-Cell-O Corp (England) Ltd | [1979] 1 WLR 401 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | In a battle of the forms, the contract is usually made on the terms of the last form sent before the other side performs or signs. |
| Butler-Sloss v Charity Commission for England and Wales | [2022] EWHC 974 (Ch), [2022] Ch 371 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | Charity trustees may adopt an investment policy that excludes investments inconsistent with the charity's purposes, such as fossil fuels for environmental charities, even at some financial cost. |
| Byrne & Co v Van Tienhoven & Co | (1880) 5 CPD 344 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | Revocation of an offer is effective only when it is actually communicated to the offeree. |
| Re C (A Child) (Immunisation: Parental Rights) | [2003] EWCA Civ 1148, [2003] 2 FLR 1095 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | Where parents disagree about whether a child should be immunised, the court can make a specific issue order, deciding the question by reference to the child's welfare. |
| Re C (Adult: Refusal of Treatment) | [1994] 1 WLR 290 | Medical Law and EthicsConsent, capacity and refusal of treatment | A patient with a mental illness had capacity to refuse amputation of his gangrenous leg because he could understand, believe and weigh the information about the treatment. |
| C v D | [2007] EWCA Civ 1282, [2008] Bus LR 843 | ArbitrationJurisdiction, the tribunal and the supervisory role of the courts | By choosing London as the seat of arbitration, the parties agreed that challenges to the award could be brought only in the English courts, so an anti-suit injunction was granted to prevent a challenge in New York. |
| C v S | [1988] QB 135 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | A foetus of 18 to 21 weeks' gestation was not capable of being born alive for the purposes of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929, so a father could not prevent the abortion. |
| Cadbury Schweppes plc v Commissioners of Inland Revenue | (2006) Case C-196/04 | Tax LawTax avoidance, statutory interpretation and the Ramsay principle | The UK rules on controlled foreign companies restricted freedom of establishment, and could be justified only if they were limited to wholly artificial arrangements intended to escape national tax. |
| Cadbury Schweppes Pty Ltd v Pub Squash Co Pty Ltd | [1981] 1 WLR 193 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | A trader who copied the themes of a competitor's advertising campaign was not liable for passing off, because the product's name and get up were sufficiently different and consumers were not misled. |
| Re Callaghan | [1985] Fam 1 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | An adult stepson who had been treated by the deceased as a child of the family could claim reasonable provision from the estate, though the deceased was not his parent. |
| Callery v Gray | [2002] UKHL 28, [2002] 1 WLR 2000 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | A claimant who succeeds under a conditional fee agreement may recover a reasonable success fee and after the event insurance premium from the defendant. |
| Callow v Tillstone | (1900) 83 LT 411 | Criminal LawStrict liability | A butcher was guilty of selling unfit meat even though he had relied on a vet's certificate that it was sound. |
| Cambridge Water Co Ltd v Eastern Counties Leather plc | [1994] 2 AC 264 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | Liability under Rylands v Fletcher and in nuisance requires that the type of damage was reasonably foreseeable. |
| Cambridge Water Co Ltd v Eastern Counties Leather plc | [1994] 2 AC 264 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | Liability under Rylands v Fletcher and in nuisance requires that the type of damage was reasonably foreseeable. |
| Campbell v MGN Ltd | [2004] UKHL 22, [2004] 2 AC 457 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | The tort of misuse of private information protects information in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, balanced against freedom of expression. |
| Campbell v MGN Ltd | [2004] UKHL 22, [2004] 2 AC 457 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | The tort of misuse of private information protects information in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, balanced against freedom of expression. |
| Campbell v MGN Ltd | [2004] UKHL 22, [2004] 2 AC 457 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | The tort of misuse of private information protects information in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, balanced against freedom of expression. |
| Campbell v MGN Ltd | [2004] UKHL 22, [2004] 2 AC 457 | Medical Law and EthicsConfidentiality and medical information | The tort of misuse of private information protects information in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, balanced against freedom of expression. |
| Campbell v MGN Ltd | [2004] UKHL 22, [2004] 2 AC 457 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | The tort of misuse of private information protects information in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, balanced against freedom of expression. |
| Campbell v MGN Ltd | [2004] UKHL 22, [2004] 2 AC 457 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | The tort of misuse of private information protects information in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, balanced against freedom of expression. |
| Canada Steamship Lines Ltd v The King | [1952] AC 192 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | Guidelines for deciding whether an exclusion clause covers the negligence of the party relying on it. |
| Canary Wharf (BP4) T1 Ltd v European Medicines Agency | [2019] EWHC 335 (Ch) | Contract LawFrustration | Brexit did not frustrate the European Medicines Agency's long lease of its London headquarters. |
| Cane v Jones | [1980] 1 WLR 1451 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | An agreement signed by all the shareholders can alter the articles of association, without a formal special resolution, under the Duomatic principle. |
| Cannon v Hartley | [1949] Ch 213 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A volunteer who is a party to a covenant in a deed can sue for damages at common law for breach of the covenant. |
| Canon Kabushiki Kaisha v Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc | Case C-39/97, [1998] ECR I-5507 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | The more distinctive the earlier mark, the greater the likelihood of confusion, and a low degree of similarity between goods may be offset by a high degree of similarity between marks. |
| Caparo Industries plc v Dickman | [1990] 2 AC 605 | Tort LawDuty of care | In novel cases, a duty of care arises only if the damage was foreseeable, there was a relationship of proximity, and it is fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty. |
| Cape Intermediate Holdings Ltd v Dring | [2019] UKSC 38, [2020] AC 629 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | The principle of open justice gives the court power to allow non parties access to documents used in court proceedings. |
| Capehorn v Harris | [2015] EWCA Civ 955 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | The court can only impute an intention as to the size of the parties' shares, not as to whether they intended to share at all. |
| Capital & Counties plc v Hampshire County Council | [1997] QB 1004 | Tort LawDuty of care | The fire service owes no duty to come to a fire or to fight it effectively, but is liable if it makes the situation worse by a positive act. |
| Car and Universal Finance Co Ltd v Caldwell | [1965] 1 QB 525 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | Where a fraudster cannot be found, a seller can rescind a contract by doing everything reasonably possible to show the intention to rescind, such as telling the police. |
| Car and Universal Finance Co Ltd v Caldwell | [1965] 1 QB 525 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | Where a fraudster cannot be found, a seller can rescind a contract by doing everything reasonably possible to show the intention to rescind, such as telling the police. |
| Card Protection Plan Ltd v Customs and Excise Commissioners | (1999) Case C-349/96 | Tax LawVAT and indirect taxes | Whether a transaction is a single supply or several supplies for VAT depends on its economic reality from the point of view of the typical customer, and an ancillary service is treated in the same way as the principal supply. |
| Carl Zeiss Stiftung v Rayner & Keeler Ltd (No 2) | [1967] 1 AC 853 | Public International LawStatehood, territory, recognition and self determination | The English courts would give effect to acts of the government of East Germany, which the United Kingdom did not recognise, by treating it as a subordinate body set up by the Soviet Union, which the United Kingdom did recognise. |
| Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co | [1893] 1 QB 256 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | An advertisement can be a unilateral offer to the world, accepted by performing its conditions. |
| Carlos Federspiel & Co SA v Charles Twigg & Co Ltd | [1957] 1 Lloyd's Rep 240 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Goods are unconditionally appropriated to the contract only when the seller irrevocably attaches them to it, usually by delivering them to the buyer or a carrier, not merely by setting them aside and labelling them. |
| Carltona Ltd v Commissioners of Works | [1943] 2 All ER 560 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | A power conferred on a minister may be exercised by an official in the minister's department, for whom the minister is accountable to Parliament. |
| Carmichael v National Power plc | [1999] 1 WLR 2042 | Employment LawEmployment status | There is no contract of employment where there is no mutuality of obligation, so casual workers who were not obliged to accept work, nor the employer to offer it, were not employees. |
| Carpenter v Secretary of State for the Home Department | Case C-60/00, [2002] ECR I-6279 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | Deporting the non EU spouse of a British national who provided services in other Member States would restrict his freedom to provide services, and had to respect the right to family life. |
| Carter v Boehm | (1766) 3 Burr 1905 | Insurance LawUtmost good faith, disclosure, warranties and insurable interest | Insurance is a contract of the utmost good faith, so the insured must disclose facts within his knowledge which the insurer does not know and which are material to the risk. |
| Cartesio Oktató és Szolgáltató bt | Case C-210/06, [2008] ECR I-9641 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | A Member State may prevent a company formed under its law from transferring its seat to another Member State while keeping its status as a company of the first state. |
| Cartier International AG v British Telecommunications plc | [2018] UKSC 28, [2018] 1 WLR 3259 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | Rights holders, not internet service providers, must bear the costs of implementing website blocking orders to prevent trade mark infringement. |
| Cartier International AG v British Telecommunications plc | [2018] UKSC 28, [2018] 1 WLR 3259 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | Rights holders, not internet service providers, must bear the costs of implementing website blocking orders to prevent trade mark infringement. |
| Case of Proclamations | (1611) 12 Co Rep 74 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The King cannot create new offences or change the law by proclamation: the prerogative is limited to what the law allows. |
| Cassidy v Daily Mirror Newspapers Ltd | [1929] 2 KB 331 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | A statement can be defamatory by innuendo, because of facts known to readers, even if the publisher did not know of those facts. |
| Castellain v Preston | (1883) 11 QBD 380 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | A contract of fire insurance on property is a contract of indemnity only, so an insurer who has paid the vendor is entitled to the benefit of the purchase price later received from the buyer. |
| Castorina v Chief Constable of Surrey | (1988) 138 NLJ 180 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | The question whether an arresting officer had reasonable grounds for suspecting the person arrested is an objective one, and the officer need not have a belief amounting to a prima facie case. |
| Catnic Components Ltd v Hill & Smith Ltd | [1982] RPC 183 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | Patent claims must be given a purposive construction, asking whether persons skilled in the art would understand that strict compliance with a particular word was intended to be essential. |
| Cavendish Square Holding BV v Makdessi; ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis | [2015] UKSC 67, [2016] AC 1172 | Contract LawRemedies | A clause is a penalty only if it imposes a detriment out of all proportion to the innocent party's legitimate interest in performance. |
| Cehave NV v Bremer Handelsgesellschaft mbH (The Hansa Nord) | [1976] QB 44 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | A term in a contract for the sale of goods can be an innominate term, so that the buyer can reject only if the breach goes to the root of the contract. |
| Celtec Ltd v Astley | [2006] UKHL 29 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | A transfer of an undertaking takes place at a particular point in time, rather than over a period, and is the date on which responsibility for running the business moves from the transferor to the transferee. |
| Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd | [1947] KB 130 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | A promise not to enforce strict legal rights, relied on by the other party, can be binding in equity even without consideration. |
| Central Newbury Car Auctions Ltd v Unity Finance Ltd | [1957] 1 QB 371 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | An owner who hands over a car and its registration document to a rogue is not necessarily estopped from denying the rogue's authority to sell, because a registration document is not a document of title. |
| Centros Ltd v Erhvervs og Selskabsstyrelsen | Case C-212/97, [1999] ECR I-1459 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | A Member State cannot refuse to register a branch of a company formed in another Member State, even if it was formed there only to avoid stricter rules on minimum capital. |
| Centrum för rättvisa v Sweden | (2021) Application no 35252/08 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | The bulk interception of communications is not in itself incompatible with article 8, but must be subject to end to end safeguards, and the Swedish regime breached article 8 because some of those safeguards were missing. |
| Century Insurance Co Ltd v Northern Ireland Road Transport Board | [1942] AC 509 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | An employer was vicariously liable for a petrol tanker driver who caused an explosion by lighting a cigarette while delivering petrol. |
| Chadwick v British Railways Board | [1967] 1 WLR 912 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | A rescuer who suffered psychiatric injury from helping at the scene of a disaster was able to recover, where he was in physical danger. |
| Chagos Marine Protected Area Arbitration (Mauritius v United Kingdom) | (2015) PCA Case No 2011-03 | Public International LawLaw of the sea, international environmental law and dispute settlement | The United Kingdom's declaration of a marine protected area around the Chagos Archipelago breached the Law of the Sea Convention, because it failed to have due regard to Mauritius's rights, including fishing rights and the return of the islands. |
| Chahal v United Kingdom | (1997) 23 EHRR 413 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | The prohibition on deporting a person to a country where he faces a real risk of ill treatment is absolute, and cannot be balanced against the threat he poses to national security. |
| Chahal v United Kingdom | (1997) 23 EHRR 413 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | The prohibition on deporting a person to a country where he faces a real risk of ill treatment is absolute, and cannot be balanced against the threat he poses to national security. |
| Chalmers v Johns | [1999] 1 FLR 392 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | An occupation order excluding a person from the home is a draconian order, and the court must first apply the balance of harm test and then consider all the circumstances. |
| Chandler v Cape plc | [2012] EWCA Civ 525, [2012] 1 WLR 3111 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | A parent company can owe a direct duty of care to the employees of its subsidiary, where it has assumed responsibility for their health and safety. |
| Chandler v Director of Public Prosecutions | [1964] AC 763 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The disposition and armament of the armed forces are matters within the prerogative that the courts will not review. |
| Channel Tunnel Group Ltd v Balfour Beatty Construction Ltd | [1993] AC 334 | ArbitrationThe arbitration agreement: validity, scope and governing law | The court has power to stay proceedings in favour of a multi tier dispute resolution clause involving expert determination and arbitration abroad, and may grant interim relief, but should be cautious in doing so. |
| Chapelton v Barry Urban District Council | [1940] 1 KB 532 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | A document that a reasonable person would see as a mere receipt is not a contractual document, so conditions on it are not incorporated. |
| Chapman v Chapman | [1954] AC 429 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | The court has no inherent jurisdiction to approve a variation of a trust merely because it would benefit the beneficiaries, for example by saving tax. |
| Chappell & Co Ltd v Nestlé Co Ltd | [1960] AC 87 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Something of little or no real value, such as chocolate wrappers, can be good consideration. |
| Re Charge Card Services Ltd | [1987] Ch 401 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | Millett J held that a bank could not take a charge over its own customer's deposit with it, a view rejected by the House of Lords in Re BCCI (No 8), which held that such charge backs are possible. |
| Charman v Charman (No 4) | [2007] EWCA Civ 503, [2007] 1 FLR 1246 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | Special contribution by one spouse, such as the generation of exceptional wealth by a genius, can justify a departure from equal sharing, but only in exceptional cases. |
| Chartbrook Ltd v Persimmon Homes Ltd | [2009] UKHL 38, [2009] 1 AC 1101 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Where something has clearly gone wrong with the language, the court can correct it by construction, but pre-contractual negotiations remain inadmissible. |
| Charter v Sullivan | [1957] 2 QB 117 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Where demand for goods exceeds supply, a seller whose buyer refuses to take the goods suffers only nominal damages, because he can sell them to another buyer. |
| Chase Manhattan Bank NA v Israel-British Bank (London) Ltd | [1981] Ch 105 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | A person who pays money by mistake retains an equitable interest in it, so the recipient holds it on trust for the payer. |
| Cheese v Lovejoy | (1877) 2 PD 251 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | A will is revoked by destruction only if there is both an act of destruction and an intention to revoke, so crossing out the will and throwing it away, without destroying it, did not revoke it. |
| Cheesman v R Brewer Contracts Ltd | [2001] IRLR 144 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | In deciding whether there has been a transfer of an undertaking, the tribunal must first ask whether there is a stable economic entity, and then whether that entity has retained its identity after the transfer. |
| Chelsea Yacht and Boat Co Ltd v Pope | [2000] 1 WLR 1941 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | A houseboat moored to the river bank and connected to services did not become part of the land, so its occupier could not have an assured tenancy. |
| Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society v Norgan | [1996] 1 WLR 343 | Land LawMortgages | When deciding whether a mortgagor can pay off arrears within a reasonable period, the court should start by considering the whole remaining term of the mortgage. |
| Cheney v Conn | [1968] 1 WLR 242 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | A taxpayer cannot challenge an Act of Parliament on the ground that it conflicts with international law. |
| Chester v Afshar | [2004] UKHL 41, [2005] 1 AC 134 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | A surgeon who failed to warn of a small risk was liable when the risk materialised, even though the patient would have had the operation later anyway, to protect the patient's right to make an informed choice. |
| Chester v Afshar | [2004] UKHL 41, [2005] 1 AC 134 | Tort LawCausation | A surgeon who failed to warn of a small risk was liable when the risk materialised, even though the patient would have had the operation later anyway, to protect the patient's right to make an informed choice. |
| Chesterton Global Ltd v Nurmohamed | [2017] EWCA Civ 979, [2018] ICR 731 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | A disclosure about a breach of the worker's own contract can be in the public interest if it affects a sufficient number of others, and the worker reasonably believes that it is in the public interest. |
| Chhokar v Chhokar | [1984] FLR 313 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | A wife's temporary absence from the home, while in hospital giving birth, did not prevent her from being in actual occupation. |
| Chichester Diocesan Fund and Board of Finance Inc v Simpson | [1944] AC 341 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A gift for charitable or benevolent objects was not wholly charitable, because benevolent objects could include non charitable ones, so the gift was void. |
| Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland v Agnew | [2023] UKSC 33 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | A series of underpayments of holiday pay is not broken by a gap of three months or more between them, so workers could claim underpayments going back many years. |
| Chief Constable of the West Yorkshire Police v Khan | [2001] UKHL 48, [2001] 1 WLR 1947 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | An employer who refuses to give a reference to an employee who has brought a discrimination claim does not victimise him if it acts honestly and reasonably to protect its position in the litigation. |
| Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG v Franz Hauswirth GmbH | Case C-529/07, [2009] ECR I-4893 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | Whether an applicant for a trade mark acted in bad faith depends on all the circumstances, including whether it knew that others were using the sign and intended to prevent them from continuing. |
| Chocosuisse Union des Fabricants Suisses de Chocolat v Cadbury Ltd | [1999] RPC 826 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | The name Swiss chocolate had acquired a distinctive reputation, so the sale of English chocolate called Swiss Chalet was passing off. |
| Choithram (T) International SA v Pagarani | [2001] 1 WLR 1 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A gift to a charitable foundation of which the donor was one of the trustees was complete, because equity would not allow a donor who was also a trustee to resile from the gift. |
| Christie v Davey | [1893] 1 Ch 316 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | Noise made deliberately and maliciously to annoy a neighbour is a nuisance, even if similar noise made for a legitimate purpose would not be. |
| Christie v Leachinsky | [1947] AC 573 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | A person who is arrested must be told the true reason for the arrest. |
| Christie v Leachinsky | [1947] AC 573 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | A person who is arrested must be told the true reason for the arrest. |
| Chudley v Clydesdale Bank plc | [2019] EWCA Civ 344, [2020] QB 284 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | Investors could enforce a bank's promise to an investment manager to hold their money in a protected client account, as a class identified in the contract. |
| Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council | [2023] EWCA Civ 1416 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | The courts can order parties to engage in mediation or other non court dispute resolution, departing from the view in Halsey. |
| CIA Security International SA v Signalson SA | Case C-194/94, [1996] ECR I-2201 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | A national technical regulation that was not notified to the Commission as required by a directive is unenforceable, even in a dispute between private parties. |
| CIBC Mortgages plc v Pitt | [1994] 1 AC 200 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | A lender is not put on inquiry where the loan is made to husband and wife jointly for their joint benefit, and actual undue influence does not require manifest disadvantage. |
| CIBC Mortgages plc v Pitt | [1994] 1 AC 200 | Land LawMortgages | A lender is not put on inquiry where the loan is made to husband and wife jointly for their joint benefit, and actual undue influence does not require manifest disadvantage. |
| Re Citro (A Bankrupt) | [1991] Ch 142 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | Where a co-owner is bankrupt, the creditors' interests will usually prevail and sale will be ordered, unless there are exceptional circumstances. |
| Re City Equitable Fire Insurance Co Ltd | [1925] Ch 407 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | Under the old common law, a director needed to show only the degree of skill that might reasonably be expected from a person of his knowledge and experience, a subjective standard now replaced by statute. |
| City of London Building Society v Flegg | [1988] AC 54 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | Where a mortgage loan is paid to two trustees, the beneficial interests under the trust are overreached and do not bind the lender, even if the beneficiaries are in actual occupation. |
| City of London Corporation v Fell | [1994] 1 AC 458 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | An original tenant who had assigned the lease was not liable for rent falling due after the contractual term ended, during a statutory continuation of the tenancy. |
| Cityland and Property (Holdings) Ltd v Dabrah | [1968] Ch 166 | Land LawMortgages | A premium of 57 per cent of the loan, payable on a mortgage of the borrower's home, was unconscionable and was reduced to a reasonable rate of interest. |
| CK Telecoms UK Investments Ltd v Commission | Case T-399/16, EU:T:2020:217 | Competition LawMerger control | The Commission's prohibition of the merger of the mobile operators O2 and Three in the United Kingdom was annulled, because it had not shown with sufficient probability that the merger would significantly impede competition. |
| Re Cleaver | [1981] 1 WLR 939 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | Where mutual wills are made under an agreement, the survivor holds the property on a constructive trust that binds his estate, even if he makes a new will. |
| Re Cleaver | [1981] 1 WLR 939 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | Where mutual wills are made under an agreement, the survivor holds the property on a constructive trust that binds his estate, even if he makes a new will. |
| Cleaver v Mutual Reserve Fund Life Association | [1892] 1 QB 147 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | A woman convicted of murdering her husband could not benefit from his life insurance policy, which was held on trust for his estate. |
| Clegg v Olle Andersson (The Hampton) | [2003] EWCA Civ 320 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | A buyer who took time to obtain information about how a defect could be cured had not accepted the goods, and the reasonable time for rejection includes time to obtain such information. |
| ClientEarth v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | Case C-404/13, EU:C:2014:2382 | Environmental LawAir and water quality | Where a member state has failed to meet air quality limit values and has not obtained an extension, national courts must take any necessary measure to ensure that an air quality plan is drawn up which keeps the exceedance period as short as possible. |
| Clough Mill Ltd v Martin | [1985] 1 WLR 111 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A simple retention of title clause, under which the seller keeps ownership of unused goods until payment, is valid and is not a charge requiring registration. |
| CMA CGM SA v Classica Shipping Co Ltd (The CMA Djakarta) | [2004] EWCA Civ 114 | Shipping and Maritime LawSalvage, general average, collisions, arrest and limitation | A charterer is entitled to limit its liability under the Limitation Convention only for claims of the kind which a shipowner could limit, not for the shipowner's own losses, such as damage to the ship. |
| CMS Dolphin Ltd v Simonet | [2001] 2 BCLC 704 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | A director who resigns in order to take a maturing business opportunity of the company for himself is liable to account for the profits he makes from it. |
| Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd v Argyll Stores (Holdings) Ltd | [1998] AC 1 | Contract LawRemedies | Specific performance will not normally be ordered to compel a party to carry on a business. |
| Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd v Argyll Stores (Holdings) Ltd | [1998] AC 1 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | Specific performance will not normally be ordered to compel a party to carry on a business. |
| Cobbe v Yeoman's Row Management Ltd | [2008] UKHL 55, [2008] 1 WLR 1752 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | Proprietary estoppel was not available to a developer who relied on an agreement in principle that both parties knew was not legally binding, although he was awarded a quantum meruit. |
| Cobbe v Yeoman's Row Management Ltd | [2008] UKHL 55, [2008] 1 WLR 1752 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPrinciples of unjust enrichment | Proprietary estoppel was not available to a developer who relied on an agreement in principle that both parties knew was not legally binding, although he was awarded a quantum meruit. |
| Coco v AN Clark (Engineers) Ltd | [1969] RPC 41 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | A claim for breach of confidence requires information with the necessary quality of confidence, imparted in circumstances importing an obligation of confidence, and unauthorised use of it to the detriment of the confider. |
| Codorníu SA v Council | Case C-309/89, [1994] ECR I-1853 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | A private applicant can be individually concerned by a regulation if it affects him in a way that differentiates him from all others, for example by taking away a trade mark right. |
| Cofemel Sociedade de Vestuário SA v G-Star Raw CV | Case C-683/17, EU:C:2019:721 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | Designs, including clothing, are protected by copyright if they are original works expressing the author's own intellectual creation, and Member States cannot require an additional aesthetic or artistic effect. |
| Cohen v Roche | [1927] 1 KB 169 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Specific performance will not be ordered for the sale of ordinary goods, such as furniture, that have no special value, because damages are an adequate remedy. |
| Cole v Davis-Gilbert | [2007] EWCA Civ 396 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier of a village green was not liable for an injury caused by a hole left by a maypole, because the hole had been filled in and the occupier had acted reasonably. |
| Coleman v Attridge Law | Case C-303/06, [2008] ECR I-5603 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | The prohibition of direct disability discrimination and harassment protects an employee who is treated less favourably because of the disability of her child, although she is not disabled herself. |
| Collen v Wright | (1857) 8 E & B 647 | Commercial LawAgency | A person who professes to act as an agent impliedly warrants that he has the authority he claims, and is liable for breach of warranty if he does not, even if he honestly believed he had it. |
| Collier v P & MJ Wright (Holdings) Ltd | [2007] EWCA Civ 1329, [2008] 1 WLR 643 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Promissory estoppel may prevent a creditor from going back on a promise to accept part payment where the debtor has relied on it by paying. |
| Re Colling | [1972] 1 WLR 1440 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFormalities, execution, undue influence and rectification | A will is not validly executed if one of the witnesses leaves the room before the testator completes his signature, because the testator must sign or acknowledge his signature in the presence of both witnesses at the same time. |
| Collins v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | Case C-138/02, [2004] ECR I-2703 | EU LawFree movement of workers | Member States can require work seekers to have a genuine link with their employment market before they receive job seekers' benefits, such as a period of residence. |
| Collins v Wilcock | [1984] 1 WLR 1172 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | Any touching of another person without consent and beyond the generally acceptable conduct of daily life is a battery, including by a police officer acting without legal power. |
| Collins v Wilcock | [1984] 1 WLR 1172 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | Any touching of another person without consent and beyond the generally acceptable conduct of daily life is a battery, including by a police officer acting without legal power. |
| Colombian-Peruvian Asylum Case (Colombia v Peru) | (1950) ICJ Reports 266 | Public International LawSources of international law and its place in domestic courts | A state relying on a regional or local custom must prove that it is established in such a manner that it has become binding on the other party, and Colombia had not done so. |
| Coman v Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrări | Case C-673/16, EU:C:2018:385 | EU LawEU citizenship | A Member State must recognise a same sex marriage concluded in another Member State for the purpose of granting a right of residence to the non EU spouse of an EU citizen. |
| Combe v Combe | [1951] 2 KB 215 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Promissory estoppel is a shield, not a sword: it cannot create a new cause of action. |
| Comic Enterprises Ltd v Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp | [2016] EWCA Civ 41, [2016] FSR 30 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | The use of the name Glee for a television series infringed the trade mark of a comedy club chain called The Glee Club, because some viewers would think they were connected. |
| Comiskey v Bowring-Hanbury | [1905] AC 84 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | Precatory words can create a trust where the will, read as a whole, shows an intention to impose a binding obligation. |
| Commission v Belgium (Public service) | Case 149/79, [1980] ECR 3881 | EU LawFree movement of workers | The public service exception covers only posts which involve the exercise of powers conferred by public law and duties designed to safeguard the general interests of the state. |
| Commission v Denmark (Danish bottles) | Case 302/86, [1988] ECR 4607 | EU LawFree movement of goods | Protection of the environment is a mandatory requirement that can justify restrictions on free movement of goods, such as a deposit and return system for drinks containers, if proportionate. |
| Commission v France (Fishery products) | Case C-304/02, [2005] ECR I-6263 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | Where a Member State fails to comply with a judgment of the Court of Justice, the Court can impose both a lump sum and a periodic penalty payment. |
| Commission v France (Spanish strawberries) | Case C-265/95, [1997] ECR I-6959 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A Member State that fails to take adequate measures to prevent private individuals from obstructing imports breaches its obligations under the free movement of goods rules. |
| Commission v Germany (Beer purity) | Case 178/84, [1987] ECR 1227 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A German law prohibiting the sale of beer made with additives or ingredients other than malted barley, hops, yeast and water under the name beer breached the free movement of goods. |
| Commission v Germany (Leybucht Dykes) | Case C-57/89, [1991] ECR I-883 | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | A member state may reduce the area of a special protection area only on exceptional grounds of general interest superior to the ecological objective, such as danger to life, and not for economic or recreational reasons. |
| Commission v Ireland (Buy Irish) | Case 249/81, [1982] ECR 4005 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A government campaign to promote the buying of domestic products, even though run by a private company, was a measure having equivalent effect to a quantitative restriction. |
| Commission v Italy (Art treasures) | Case 7/68, [1968] ECR 423 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A tax on the export of artistic, historic and archaeological items was a charge having equivalent effect to a customs duty, and could not be justified by the need to protect national heritage. |
| Commission v Italy (Motorcycle trailers) | Case C-110/05, [2009] ECR I-519 | EU LawFree movement of goods | Measures that hinder access to the market for products from other Member States, including rules on how products may be used, are caught by article 34. |
| Commission v Italy (Premiums for slaughtering cows) | Case 39/72, [1973] ECR 101 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | Member States must not reproduce or alter EU regulations in national legislation, because this may obscure their nature and direct applicability. |
| Commission v Jégo-Quéré & Cie SA | Case C-263/02 P, [2004] ECR I-3425 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | The Court of Justice overturned the General Court's attempt to adopt a more liberal test for the standing of private applicants. |
| Commission v Luxembourg and Belgium (Dairy products) | Joined Cases 90/63 and 91/63, [1964] ECR 625 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | A Member State cannot justify its own failure to comply with EU law by pointing to a failure by the EU institutions or other Member States to comply. |
| Commission v Poland (Independence of the Supreme Court) | Case C-619/18, EU:C:2019:531 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | Member States must ensure that their courts are independent, so a law lowering the retirement age of Supreme Court judges to remove them from office breached EU law. |
| Commission v Tetra Laval BV | Case C-12/03 P, [2005] ECR I-987 | Competition LawMerger control | The Commission's assessment of conglomerate mergers based on predicted future conduct must be supported by convincing evidence, and courts may review whether the evidence is accurate, reliable and consistent. |
| Commission v United Kingdom (Air quality) | Case C-664/18, EU:C:2021:171 | Environmental LawAir and water quality | The United Kingdom had systematically and persistently exceeded the annual limit value for nitrogen dioxide in 16 zones, and had failed to adopt measures to keep the period of exceedance as short as possible. |
| Commission v United Kingdom (Bathing water) | Case C-56/90, [1993] ECR I-4109 | Environmental LawAir and water quality | The United Kingdom had failed to ensure that the quality of bathing waters at Blackpool and Southport met the standards of the Bathing Water Directive, and practical difficulties were no excuse. |
| Commission v United Kingdom (Costs in environmental cases) | Case C-530/11, EU:C:2014:67 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | The United Kingdom had failed to implement the requirement that environmental judicial review should not be prohibitively expensive, because the system of protective costs orders was too uncertain. |
| Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v DSD | [2018] UKSC 11, [2019] AC 196 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | Article 3 imposes an operational duty on the police to conduct an effective investigation into serious crimes of violence committed by private individuals, and serious failures can give rise to damages. |
| Compaq Computer Ltd v Abercorn Group Ltd | [1991] BCC 484 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A retention of title clause giving the seller rights to the proceeds of sub sales by the buyer creates a registrable charge, and it does not have priority over a factor of the debts. |
| Competition and Markets Authority v Flynn Pharma Ltd | [2020] EWCA Civ 339 | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | In excessive pricing cases, a competition authority is not required to establish a benchmark competitive price by any single method, but must apply the United Brands test properly, considering all relevant evidence. |
| Comptoir d'Achat et de Vente du Boerenbond Belge SA v Luis de Ridder Limitada (The Julia) | [1949] AC 293 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | A contract described as CIF is not a true CIF contract if, in substance, the seller undertakes to deliver the goods themselves rather than shipping documents. |
| Comptoir d'Achat et de Vente du Boerenbond Belge SA v Luis de Ridder Limitada (The Julia) | [1949] AC 293 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | A contract described as CIF is not a true CIF contract if, in substance, the seller undertakes to deliver the goods themselves rather than shipping documents. |
| Re Compton | [1945] Ch 123 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A trust for the education of the descendants of named people was not charitable, because it was based on a personal relationship rather than a public benefit. |
| Condron v United Kingdom | (2001) 31 EHRR 1 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Where defendants remained silent in police interview on legal advice, the jury should have been directed that they could draw an adverse inference only if satisfied that the silence could sensibly be attributed only to having no answer. |
| Conegate Ltd v HM Customs & Excise | Case 121/85, [1986] ECR 1007 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A Member State cannot rely on public morality to ban imports of goods where similar goods may lawfully be made and sold within its territory. |
| Congreve v Home Office | [1976] QB 629 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A minister cannot use a statutory power to revoke licences for an improper purpose, such as stopping people from avoiding a lawful fee increase. |
| Connelly v Director of Public Prosecutions | [1964] AC 1254 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | The rule against double jeopardy and the court's power to stop a prosecution that is an abuse of process. |
| Connelly v Director of Public Prosecutions | [1964] AC 1254 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | The rule against double jeopardy and the court's power to stop a prosecution that is an abuse of process. |
| Connelly v RTZ Corp plc | [1998] AC 854 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | A claim by a Scottish worker against an English parent company for throat cancer allegedly caused by work at a uranium mine in Namibia was not stayed, because he could not obtain the funding and expert evidence needed in Namibia. |
| Conor Medsystems Inc v Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc | [2008] UKHL 49, [2008] RPC 28 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | Obviousness is judged by reference to the claim, not the specification, and a patent need not show that the invention works, as long as it is not obvious to try. |
| Conservative and Unionist Central Office v Burrell | [1982] 1 WLR 522 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | The Conservative Party was not an unincorporated association, because there was no contract between its members, so it was not liable to corporation tax as an association. |
| Consorzio Italian Management v Rete Ferroviaria Italiana SpA | Case C-561/19, EU:C:2021:799 | EU LawPreliminary references | The Court of Justice restated the CILFIT criteria, confirming that a court of last instance must refer unless the answer is so obvious as to leave no reasonable doubt, but explaining that this is judged in context. |
| Re Continental Assurance Co of London plc | [2007] 2 BCLC 287 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | Directors were not liable for wrongful trading where they had acted reasonably in believing that the company could avoid insolvent liquidation, and losses were not caused by continuing to trade. |
| Conway v Rimmer | [1968] AC 910 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | One of the first uses of the Practice Statement: the courts, not ministers, have the final say on whether documents are withheld in the public interest. |
| Conway v Rimmer | [1968] AC 910 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | One of the first uses of the Practice Statement: the courts, not ministers, have the final say on whether documents are withheld in the public interest. |
| Cook v Deeks | [1916] 1 AC 554 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | Directors who diverted to themselves a contract that belonged in equity to the company held the benefit on trust for it, and the majority shareholders could not ratify their breach. |
| Cooper v Wandsworth Board of Works | (1863) 14 CB NS 180 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | A public body must give a person a hearing before taking action that seriously affects their property, even if the statute says nothing about a hearing. |
| Copeland v Greenhalf | [1952] Ch 488 | Land LawEasements | A right to store vehicles on a strip of land was too extensive to be an easement, because it amounted to joint possession of the land. |
| Corbett v Corbett (otherwise Ashley) | [1971] P 83 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | Under the old law, a person's sex for the purpose of marriage was fixed at birth by biological criteria, so a marriage between a man and a transgender woman was void, a position later changed by statute. |
| Corby Group Litigation Claimants v Corby Borough Council | [2008] EWCA Civ 463, [2009] QB 335 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | A claim for personal injury can be brought in public nuisance, so children born with limb defects could sue for exposure of their mothers to toxic waste from a reclamation project. |
| Corcoran v Anderton | (1980) 71 Cr App R 104 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | Theft is complete for the purposes of robbery as soon as the defendant assumes the owner's rights, even if he does not get away with the property. |
| Corfu Channel Case (United Kingdom v Albania) | (1949) ICJ Reports 4 | Public International LawState responsibility, nationality and international organisations | A state is obliged not knowingly to allow its territory to be used for acts contrary to the rights of other states, and ships have a right of innocent passage through international straits. |
| Corkery v Carpenter | [1951] 1 KB 102 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The mischief rule meant that a bicycle was a carriage for the purposes of an offence of being drunk in charge of a carriage. |
| Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd | [2008] UKHL 13, [2008] 1 AC 884 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | The suicide of a man who developed severe depression as a result of an accident at work did not break the chain of causation, and his employer was liable for his death. |
| Costa v ENEL | Case 6/64, [1964] ECR 585 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | EU law takes precedence over the national law of the Member States, including national law passed later, because the Member States have limited their sovereign rights. |
| Coty Germany GmbH v Parfümerie Akzente GmbH | Case C-230/16, EU:C:2017:941 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | A selective distribution system for luxury goods designed primarily to preserve their luxury image can comply with article 101, and a ban on selling through third party platforms such as Amazon may be lawful. |
| Council of Civil Service Unions v Minister for the Civil Service | [1985] AC 374 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The exercise of prerogative powers is subject to judicial review, subject to excluded areas, and Lord Diplock set out the three grounds of review. |
| Courage Ltd v Crehan | Case C-453/99, [2001] ECR I-6297 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | A party to an agreement that breaches EU competition law can claim damages from the other party, and English law could not prevent this merely because the claimant was a party to the illegal agreement. |
| Courage Ltd v Crehan | Case C-453/99, [2001] ECR I-6297 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | A party to an agreement that breaches EU competition law can claim damages from the other party, and English law could not prevent this merely because the claimant was a party to the illegal agreement. |
| Couturier v Hastie | (1856) 5 HLC 673 | Contract LawMistake | A contract for the sale of goods that, unknown to the parties, no longer exist is void. |
| Re Coventry (Deceased) | [1980] Ch 461 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | An able bodied adult son in employment must show some special circumstance, such as a moral obligation on the deceased, to succeed in a claim for reasonable provision from his parent's estate. |
| Re Coventry (Deceased) | [1980] Ch 461 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | An able bodied adult son in employment must show some special circumstance, such as a moral obligation on the deceased, to succeed in a claim for reasonable provision from his parent's estate. |
| Coventry v Lawrence | [2014] UKSC 13, [2014] AC 822 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | It is no defence to nuisance that the claimant came to the nuisance, planning permission does not authorise a nuisance, and courts should be more willing to award damages instead of an injunction. |
| Coventry v Lawrence | [2014] UKSC 13, [2014] AC 822 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | It is no defence to nuisance that the claimant came to the nuisance, planning permission does not authorise a nuisance, and courts should be more willing to award damages instead of an injunction. |
| Cowan v Foreman | [2019] EWCA Civ 1336, [2020] Fam 129 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | The court can extend the six month time limit for a claim for reasonable provision where the delay was caused by reasonable negotiations, as it has a wide discretion. |
| Cowan v Foreman | [2019] EWCA Civ 1336, [2020] Fam 129 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | The court can extend the six month time limit for a claim for reasonable provision where the delay was caused by reasonable negotiations, as it has a wide discretion. |
| Cowan v Scargill | [1985] Ch 270 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | Trustees of a pension fund must exercise their powers of investment in the best financial interests of the beneficiaries, and cannot refuse investments for political or moral reasons. |
| Cox v Ergo Versicherung AG | [2014] UKSC 22, [2014] AC 1379 | Conflict of LawsChoice of law in contract and tort | Under the Private International Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995, the rules of German law on the assessment of damages for a fatal accident in Germany applied, because they were substantive, including the duty to mitigate. |
| Cox v Ministry of Justice | [2016] UKSC 10, [2016] AC 660 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | A prison was vicariously liable for the negligence of a prisoner working in its kitchen, because the prisoner's work was an integral part of the prison's activities. |
| Coöperatie Mobilisation for the Environment UA v College van gedeputeerde staten van Limburg | Joined Cases C-293/17 and C-294/17, EU:C:2018:882 | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | A national programme authorising agricultural activities which cause nitrogen deposition on protected sites must be based on an appropriate assessment that removes all reasonable scientific doubt about the effects. |
| Coöperatieve Vereniging Suiker Unie UA v Commission | Joined Cases 40 to 48, 50, 54 to 56, 111, 113 and 114/73, [1975] ECR 1663 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | Each economic operator must determine independently the policy it intends to adopt on the market, which precludes any direct or indirect contact between competitors intended to influence each other's conduct. |
| Crabb v Arun District Council | [1976] Ch 179 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | Where a landowner encouraged a neighbour to believe he would be given a right of access, and the neighbour acted on it, equity granted the right without payment. |
| Craven v White | [1989] AC 398 | Tax LawTax avoidance, statutory interpretation and the Ramsay principle | The Ramsay principle applies only where, at the time of an intermediate transaction, the later transactions were pre-ordained, in the sense that there was no practical likelihood that they would not take place. |
| Craven-Ellis v Canons Ltd | [1936] 2 KB 403 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | A person who provides services under a contract which turns out to be void can recover a reasonable sum for the services on a quantum meruit, because the obligation arises from the law, not from the contract. |
| Creation Records Ltd v News Group Newspapers Ltd | [1997] EMLR 444 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | A scene arranged for a photograph was not itself an artistic work, but the official photographs of it were protected by copyright. |
| Credit Lyonnais Bank Nederland NV v Burch | [1997] 1 All ER 144 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | A charge given by a junior employee to secure her employer's debts was set aside because it was so manifestly disadvantageous that the bank should have ensured she was properly advised. |
| Cresswell v Board of Inland Revenue | [1984] ICR 508 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | Employees are expected to adapt to new methods and techniques introduced in the course of their employment, and the introduction of computers did not change the nature of their jobs. |
| Crest Nicholson Residential (South) Ltd v McAllister | [2004] EWCA Civ 410, [2004] 1 WLR 2409 | Land LawFreehold covenants | For section 78 to annex the benefit of a covenant, the land intended to be benefited must be identifiable from the conveyance. |
| Crestsign Ltd v National Westminster Bank plc | [2014] EWHC 3043 (Ch) | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | A bank that sold an interest rate swap to a small business did not owe it a duty to advise, because the contractual documents excluded an advisory relationship, although its explanations had to be accurate. |
| Criminal proceedings against Van de Walle | Case C-1/03, [2004] ECR I-7613 | Environmental LawPollution offences, contaminated land and waste | Hydrocarbons accidentally spilled from a petrol station, and the soil contaminated by them, are waste, and the oil company which supplied the petrol station could be treated as their holder. |
| Crossco No 4 Unlimited v Jolan Ltd | [2011] EWCA Civ 1619 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | A Pallant v Morgan constructive trust does not arise where the parties knew that their arrangement was not legally binding and expected a formal agreement to follow. |
| CTN Cash and Carry Ltd v Gallaher Ltd | [1994] 4 All ER 714 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | A threat to do something lawful, made in good faith in a commercial context, is very unlikely to be economic duress. |
| Cuckmere Brick Co Ltd v Mutual Finance Ltd | [1971] Ch 949 | Land LawMortgages | A mortgagee selling the property must take reasonable care to obtain the true market value at the time it chooses to sell. |
| Cukurova Finance International Ltd v Alfa Telecom Turkey Ltd | [2009] UKPC 19 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A lender with a security interest over shares may appropriate them under the Financial Collateral Regulations without a court order, if the security agreement provides for it, and the appropriation is effective once the lender's intention is clearly expressed. |
| Cundy v Le Cocq | (1884) 13 QBD 207 | Criminal LawStrict liability | A publican was guilty of selling alcohol to a drunken person even though he did not know the customer was drunk. |
| Cundy v Lindsay | (1878) 3 App Cas 459 | Contract LawMistake | Where a party intends to contract only with a specific identified person, a contract with a rogue who impersonates them in writing is void. |
| Curran v Collins | [2015] EWCA Civ 404 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | An excuse given for not putting a partner's name on the title is not evidence of a common intention to share unless it implies that she would otherwise have been included. |
| Curran v Collins | [2015] EWCA Civ 404 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | An excuse given for not putting a partner's name on the title is not evidence of a common intention to share unless it implies that she would otherwise have been included. |
| Currie v Misa | (1875) LR 10 Ex 153 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | The classic definition of consideration as a benefit to one party or a detriment to the other. |
| Curtis v Chemical Cleaning and Dyeing Co | [1951] 1 KB 805 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | A party cannot rely on an exclusion clause whose effect it has misrepresented to the other party. |
| Customs and Excise Commissioners v Barclays Bank plc | [2006] UKHL 28, [2007] 1 AC 181 | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | A bank that negligently allowed a customer to remove money from its account, in breach of a court freezing order, owed no duty of care to the party who had obtained the order. |
| Customs and Excise Commissioners v Barclays Bank plc | [2006] UKHL 28, [2007] 1 AC 181 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A bank that negligently allowed a customer to remove money from its account, in breach of a court freezing order, owed no duty of care to the party who had obtained the order. |
| Cutter v Powell | (1795) 6 Term Rep 320 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | Where a contract requires complete performance before payment, partial performance earns nothing. |
| D & C Builders Ltd v Rees | [1966] 2 QB 617 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | A creditor pressured into accepting part payment is not bound, because a debtor who acts inequitably cannot rely on promissory estoppel. |
| Re D (A Child) (Abduction: Rights of Custody) | [2006] UKHL 51, [2007] 1 AC 619 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | In a Hague Convention case, the court should hear the child's views where appropriate, and rights of custody are to be determined by the Convention's own meaning, not by the label used in foreign law. |
| D v National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children | [1978] AC 171 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | The identity of a person who gave information to the NSPCC about suspected child abuse was protected by public interest immunity, by analogy with the protection of police informers. |
| D'Eyncourt v Gregory | (1866) LR 3 Eq 382 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | Statues, vases and stone garden seats that formed part of the architectural design of a house and its grounds were fixtures, even though they rested by their own weight. |
| Re D'Jan of London Ltd | [1994] 1 BCLC 561 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | A director's duty of care is judged by the objective standard of a reasonably diligent person with the general knowledge, skill and experience reasonably expected of a director, and also by the director's own knowledge and experience. |
| Da Costa en Schaake NV v Nederlandse Belastingadministratie | Joined Cases 28/62 to 30/62, [1963] ECR 31 | EU LawPreliminary references | Where the Court of Justice has already answered a question in a previous case, a national court of last instance need not refer the same question again, although it may do so. |
| Daborn v Bath Tramways Motor Co Ltd | [1946] 2 All ER 333 | Tort LawBreach of duty | In deciding whether a defendant was negligent, the court must balance the risk against the consequences of not assuming that risk, including the social value of the activity. |
| Dallah Real Estate and Tourism Holding Co v Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Government of Pakistan | [2010] UKSC 46, [2011] 1 AC 763 | ArbitrationJurisdiction, the tribunal and the supervisory role of the courts | A court asked to enforce a foreign award must decide for itself whether the party resisting enforcement was bound by the arbitration agreement, and is not bound by the tribunal's own ruling on its jurisdiction. |
| Dalton v Angus & Co | (1881) 6 App Cas 740 | Land LawEasements | A right of support for a building from neighbouring land can be acquired as an easement by prescription, under the doctrine of lost modern grant. |
| Daniels v Daniels | [1978] Ch 406 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | A minority shareholder can bring a derivative action where the majority directors have negligently benefited themselves at the expense of the company, even without fraud. |
| Dann v Hamilton | [1939] 1 KB 509 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A passenger who accepted a lift from a driver she knew had been drinking had not voluntarily accepted the risk of injury, unless the driver was so drunk that the danger was obvious. |
| Dano v Jobcenter Leipzig | Case C-333/13, EU:C:2014:2358 | EU LawEU citizenship | EU citizens who move to another Member State without working or having sufficient resources, solely to obtain social assistance, can be refused benefits. |
| Dano v Jobcenter Leipzig | Case C-333/13, EU:C:2014:2358 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | EU citizens who move to another Member State without working or having sufficient resources, solely to obtain social assistance, can be refused benefits. |
| Dansk Industri (DI), acting on behalf of Ajos A/S v Estate of Karsten Eigil Rasmussen | Case C-441/14, EU:C:2016:278 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | A national court must interpret national law in line with the general principle of non discrimination on grounds of age, even if this means departing from settled national case law, or else disapply it. |
| Darby v National Trust | [2001] EWCA Civ 189 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier is not obliged to warn visitors of an obvious risk, such as drowning in a pond, which they can be expected to appreciate. |
| Re Darby, ex p Brougham | [1911] 1 KB 95 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | Promoters who used a company they controlled as a vehicle for a fraud could be made to account for their secret profits, as the company was merely their alias. |
| Darlington Borough Council v Wiltshier Northern Ltd | [1995] 1 WLR 68 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | The Linden Gardens exception allowed a party to recover damages for the owner's loss where the owner had no direct contract with the builder. |
| Darnley v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust | [2018] UKSC 50, [2019] AC 831 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | A hospital receptionist owed a duty not to give a patient misleading information about waiting times, as part of the hospital's duty of care to patients. |
| Darnley v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust | [2018] UKSC 50, [2019] AC 831 | Tort LawDuty of care | A hospital receptionist owed a duty not to give a patient misleading information about waiting times, as part of the hospital's duty of care to patients. |
| Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Ltd and Maximillian Schrems | (2020) Case C-311/18 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | In Schrems II, the Court of Justice invalidated the EU US Privacy Shield, but upheld standard contractual clauses, subject to a duty on exporters to verify that the law of the recipient country provides adequate protection. |
| Davies v Davies | [2016] EWCA Civ 463 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | The court must assess a proprietary estoppel award by reference to the claimant's expectation and detriment, and must avoid a disproportionate result. |
| Davis Contractors Ltd v Fareham Urban District Council | [1956] AC 696 | Contract LawFrustration | A contract is frustrated only if performance becomes radically different, not merely more expensive or difficult. |
| Davis v Johnson | [1979] AC 264 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The Court of Appeal remains bound by its own decisions and cannot adopt its own version of the Practice Statement. |
| Re Dawson (deceased) | [1966] 2 NSWR 211 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | A trustee who misappropriates trust property must restore it, and compensation is assessed at the date of judgment rather than the date of the breach. |
| Dawson v Wearmouth | [1999] 2 AC 308 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | Changing a child's surname is a serious matter, and the court should not allow it unless there is evidence that it would lead to an improvement in the child's welfare. |
| Dawson-Damer v Taylor Wessing LLP | [2017] EWCA Civ 74 | Data Protection and Technology LawLawful processing, data subject rights and the right to be forgotten | A subject access request is not invalid because the data subject wants the data for use in litigation, and the legal professional privilege exemption covers only documents privileged under UK law. |
| Dawsons Ltd v Bonnin | [1922] 2 AC 413 | Insurance LawUtmost good faith, disclosure, warranties and insurable interest | A basis of the contract clause, which made the truth of answers in a proposal form a condition of the policy, entitled the insurer to avoid the policy for an inaccurate answer, even though it was immaterial. |
| De Bussche v Alt | (1878) 8 Ch D 286 | Commercial LawAgency | An agent may delegate his authority only with the express or implied consent of the principal, and a sub agent who was properly appointed owes fiduciary duties to the principal. |
| Re Dean | (1889) 41 Ch D 552 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | A trust for the maintenance of particular horses and hounds was valid as an anomalous exception to the beneficiary principle. |
| Deckmyn v Vandersteen | Case C-201/13, EU:C:2014:2132 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Parody is an autonomous concept of EU law, which requires the evocation of an existing work while being noticeably different from it, and the expression of humour or mockery, but must strike a fair balance with the rights of the author. |
| Defrenne v Sabena (No 2) | Case 43/75, [1976] ECR 455 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | The principle of equal pay for men and women in the Treaty has direct effect against both public bodies and private employers, but only for claims from the date of the judgment. |
| Defrenne v Sabena (No 2) | Case 43/75, [1976] ECR 455 | Employment LawEqual pay | The principle of equal pay for men and women in the Treaty has direct effect against both public bodies and private employers, but only for claims from the date of the judgment. |
| Demby Hamilton & Co Ltd v Barden | [1949] 1 All ER 435 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Where delivery is delayed through the buyer's fault, the goods are at the buyer's risk as regards any loss which might not have occurred but for the delay. |
| Demir and Baykara v Turkey | (2009) 48 EHRR 54 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | The right to bargain collectively with the employer has become one of the essential elements of the right to form and join trade unions protected by article 11 of the Convention. |
| Demir and Baykara v Turkey | (2009) 48 EHRR 54 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | The right to bargain collectively with the employer has become one of the essential elements of the right to form and join trade unions protected by article 11 of the Convention. |
| Re Denley's Trust Deed | [1969] 1 Ch 373 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | A trust for a purpose that directly benefits identifiable people, such as a sports ground for employees, is valid, because those people can enforce it. |
| Dennant v Skinner and Collom | [1948] 2 KB 164 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | At an auction, property in specific goods passes when the hammer falls, unless there is a contrary intention, so the auctioneer cannot later retain title. |
| Denton v TH White Ltd | [2014] EWCA Civ 906, [2014] 1 WLR 3926 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | The three stage test for relief from sanctions, clarifying and softening the approach in Mitchell. |
| Derbyshire County Council v Times Newspapers Ltd | [1993] AC 534 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | A local authority cannot sue for defamation, because that would place an undesirable fetter on freedom of speech about government. |
| Derbyshire County Council v Times Newspapers Ltd | [1993] AC 534 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | A local authority cannot sue for defamation, because that would place an undesirable fetter on freedom of speech about government. |
| Derbyshire County Council v Times Newspapers Ltd | [1993] AC 534 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | A local authority cannot sue for defamation, because that would place an undesirable fetter on freedom of speech about government. |
| Dereci v Bundesministerium für Inneres | Case C-256/11, [2011] ECR I-11315 | EU LawEU citizenship | The Ruiz Zambrano principle applies only in exceptional cases where the EU citizen would be forced to leave the territory of the EU as a whole. |
| Derry v Peek | (1889) 14 App Cas 337 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | Fraud requires a false statement made knowingly, without belief in its truth, or recklessly as to whether it is true. |
| Designers Guild Ltd v Russell Williams (Textiles) Ltd | [2000] 1 WLR 2416 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Whether copying amounts to the reproduction of a substantial part of a work depends on the quality, not the quantity, of what was taken, and the court looks at what was copied from the claimant's work. |
| Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group plc v Inland Revenue Commissioners | [2006] UKHL 49, [2007] 1 AC 558 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | A taxpayer who paid tax early under a statutory regime later held contrary to EU law could recover the interest benefit as money paid under a mistake of law, with the extended limitation period for mistake. |
| Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group plc v Inland Revenue Commissioners | [2006] UKHL 49, [2007] 1 AC 558 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | A taxpayer who paid tax early under a statutory regime later held contrary to EU law could recover the interest benefit as money paid under a mistake of law, with the extended limitation period for mistake. |
| Deutscher Apothekerverband eV v 0800 DocMorris NV | Case C-322/01, [2003] ECR I-14887 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A national ban on selling medicines by mail order over the internet affected imports more than domestic sales, but could be justified for prescription only medicines. |
| Devaynes v Noble (Clayton's Case) | (1816) 1 Mer 572 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | In a running bank account, the first payment in is treated as the first payment out, a rule applied to mixed trust funds. |
| Devenish Nutrition Ltd v Sanofi-Aventis SA | [2008] EWCA Civ 1086, [2009] Ch 390 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | A claimant who suffered loss from a cartel cannot claim an account of the cartelists' profits instead of compensatory damages, and exemplary damages are not available after an EU fine. |
| Dextra Bank & Trust Co Ltd v Bank of Jamaica | [2001] UKPC 50 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | A payment made on the basis of a misprediction about the future is not a payment made by mistake, and the defence of change of position does not require the defendant to have been less at fault than the claimant. |
| DH v Czech Republic | (2008) 47 EHRR 3 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | The disproportionate placement of Roma children in special schools for children with learning difficulties was indirect discrimination, which could be shown by statistics without proof of discriminatory intent. |
| DHN Food Distributors Ltd v Tower Hamlets London Borough Council | [1976] 1 WLR 852 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | A group of companies was treated as a single economic entity, so that the parent company could receive compensation for disturbance of its business on compulsory purchase, a decision later doubted. |
| Diageo North America Inc v Intercontinental Brands (ICB) Ltd (Vodkat) | [2010] EWCA Civ 920, [2011] 1 All ER 242 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | The name vodka denoted a distinct class of spirit with goodwill, so selling a lower strength drink called Vodkat, in a way that suggested it was vodka, was passing off. |
| Dick Bentley Productions Ltd v Harold Smith (Motors) Ltd | [1965] 1 WLR 623 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | A statement by a seller with expertise who is in a position to know the facts is likely to be a contractual term. |
| Dickinson v Dodds | (1876) 2 Ch D 463 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | An offer can be withdrawn at any time before acceptance, and the offeree can learn of the withdrawal from a reliable third party. |
| Digital Rights Ireland Ltd v Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources | Joined Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12, EU:C:2014:238 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | The Data Retention Directive, which required general retention of communications data, was invalid because it was a disproportionate interference with the rights to privacy and data protection. |
| Digital Rights Ireland Ltd v Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources | Joined Cases C-293/12 and C-594/12, EU:C:2014:238 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | The Data Retention Directive, which required general retention of communications data, was invalid because it was a disproportionate interference with the rights to privacy and data protection. |
| Dillenkofer v Germany | Joined Cases C-178/94, C-179/94 and C-188/94 to C-190/94, [1996] ECR I-4845 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | A complete failure to take any measures to implement a directive within the time limit is in itself a sufficiently serious breach of EU law. |
| Dillwyn v Llewelyn | (1862) 4 De GF & J 517 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | A father who encouraged his son to build a house on the father's land, on the faith of a gift of it, was bound to convey the land to him. |
| Dimes v Proprietors of Grand Junction Canal | (1852) 3 HLC 759 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | A judge with a financial interest in the outcome of a case is automatically disqualified, however small the interest. |
| Dimmock v Hallett | (1866) LR 2 Ch App 21 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | A half truth, true in itself but misleading because of what is left out, can be a misrepresentation. |
| Dimskal Shipping Co SA v International Transport Workers Federation (The Evia Luck) | [1992] 2 AC 152 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | Money paid under economic duress, including the illegitimate threat of industrial action, can be recovered, and the duress was judged by English law as the governing law of the contract. |
| Dingle v Turner | [1972] AC 601 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A trust for the relief of poverty among the employees of a company was charitable, because poverty trusts are an exception to the requirement that the beneficiaries form a section of the public. |
| Re Diplock | [1948] Ch 465 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | Next of kin who were not paid because of a wrongful distribution of an estate to charities had personal and proprietary claims against the recipients. |
| Re Diplock | [1948] Ch 465 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | Next of kin who were not paid because of a wrongful distribution of an estate to charities had personal and proprietary claims against the recipients. |
| Re Diplock | [1948] Ch 465 | Wills, Succession and ProbateIntestacy, personal representatives and administration of estates | Next of kin who were not paid because of a wrongful distribution of an estate to charities had personal and proprietary claims against the recipients. |
| Director General of Fair Trading v First National Bank plc | [2001] UKHL 52, [2002] 1 AC 481 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | The test of unfairness for consumer contract terms, and the meaning of good faith in that test. |
| Director of Public Prosecutions v P | [1991] 2 AC 447 | EvidenceCharacter evidence | Similar fact evidence is admissible where its probative force in support of the allegation is sufficiently great to make it just to admit it, despite its prejudicial effect, and striking similarity is not essential. |
| Director of Public Prosecutions v Smith (Michael) | [2006] EWHC 94 (Admin), [2006] 1 WLR 1571 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | Cutting off a substantial part of a person's hair without consent can amount to actual bodily harm. |
| Director of Public Prosecutions v Ziegler | [2021] UKSC 23, [2022] AC 408 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | Protesters who deliberately blocked a road could have a lawful excuse under the Highways Act, depending on whether their conviction would be a proportionate interference with their rights. |
| Director of Public Prosecutions v Ziegler | [2021] UKSC 23, [2022] AC 408 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | Protesters who deliberately blocked a road could have a lawful excuse under the Highways Act, depending on whether their conviction would be a proportionate interference with their rights. |
| Director of the Serious Fraud Office v Eurasian Natural Resources Corp Ltd | [2018] EWCA Civ 2006 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | Documents created in an internal investigation into suspected bribery, at a time when a criminal investigation was reasonably in contemplation, were protected by litigation privilege. |
| Discount Records Ltd v Barclays Bank Ltd | [1975] 1 WLR 315 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | The court will not grant an injunction to restrain a bank from paying under a letter of credit merely on an allegation of fraud, without clear evidence. |
| Dobson v Thames Water Utilities Ltd | [2009] EWCA Civ 28 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | Members of a household without a property interest cannot sue in nuisance, but they may have a claim under the Human Rights Act, which is affected by any damages awarded in nuisance to the owners. |
| Donoghue v Stevenson | [1932] AC 562 | Tort LawDuty of care | A manufacturer owes a duty of care to the ultimate consumer of its products, and the neighbour principle is the foundation of the modern law of negligence. |
| Donohue v Armco Inc | [2001] UKHL 64 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction agreements and anti-suit injunctions | An English court will ordinarily hold parties to an exclusive jurisdiction clause in favour of England, by restraining foreign proceedings, unless there are strong reasons not to, such as the involvement of third parties not bound by the clause. |
| Dorchester Finance Co Ltd v Stebbing | [1989] BCLC 498 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | Non executive directors who signed blank cheques, allowing the managing director to misappropriate the company's money, were liable for negligence. |
| Dorsch Consult Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH v Bundesbaugesellschaft Berlin mbH | Case C-54/96, [1997] ECR I-4961 | EU LawPreliminary references | Whether a body is a court or tribunal that can refer questions depends on whether it is established by law, permanent, has compulsory jurisdiction, uses an adversarial procedure, applies rules of law and is independent. |
| Douglas v Hello! Ltd (No 3) | [2007] UKHL 21, [2008] 1 AC 1 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | A magazine that published unauthorised photographs of a celebrity wedding, knowing that another magazine had exclusive rights, was liable to that magazine for breach of confidence. |
| Douglas v Hello! Ltd (No 3) | [2007] UKHL 21, [2008] 1 AC 1 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | A magazine that published unauthorised photographs of a celebrity wedding, knowing that another magazine had exclusive rights, was liable to that magazine for breach of confidence. |
| Douglas v Hello! Ltd (No 3) | [2007] UKHL 21, [2008] 1 AC 1 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | A magazine that published unauthorised photographs of a celebrity wedding, knowing that another magazine had exclusive rights, was liable to that magazine for breach of confidence. |
| DPP for Northern Ireland v Maxwell | [1978] 1 WLR 1350 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | An accessory is guilty of any crime within the range of offences that he contemplated as being one that the principal might commit. |
| DPP v Lennon | [2006] EWHC 1201 (Admin) | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | Sending a huge number of emails to a company's server, to disrupt its operation, is an unauthorised modification of data, because the owner of the server does not consent to emails sent for that purpose. |
| DPP v Majewski | [1977] AC 443 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | Voluntary intoxication is not a defence to crimes of basic intent, although it may negate the intention required for crimes of specific intent. |
| DPP v Newbury and Jones | [1977] AC 500 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | For unlawful act manslaughter, the defendant need not foresee that his act might cause harm, as long as a reasonable person would recognise that it was dangerous. |
| DPP v Santana-Bermudez | [2003] EWHC 2908 (Admin) | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A person who creates a danger by giving a false assurance may be liable for assault by failing to warn of it. |
| Re Draper's Conveyance | [1969] 1 Ch 486 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | A summons asking the court to order the sale of the matrimonial home and the division of the proceeds severed the joint tenancy. |
| Duarte Agostinho v Portugal and 32 Other States | (2024) Application no 39371/20 | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | Young Portuguese applicants could not bring climate change claims against states other than their own, and their claim against Portugal was inadmissible because they had not exhausted domestic remedies. |
| Dubai Aluminium Co Ltd v Salaam | [2002] UKHL 48, [2003] 2 AC 366 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | A firm is vicariously liable for a partner's dishonest assistance in a fraud, where the partner's conduct was so closely connected with acts he was authorised to do that it could fairly be regarded as done in the ordinary course of the firm's business. |
| Dudgeon v United Kingdom | (1982) 4 EHRR 149 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | Laws in Northern Ireland which criminalised private homosexual acts between consenting adult men breached the right to respect for private life. |
| Re Duke of Norfolk's Settlement Trusts | [1982] Ch 61 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | The court has inherent jurisdiction to authorise payment to a trustee, or to increase its remuneration, where this is in the interests of the beneficiaries. |
| Duke of Westminster v Guild | [1985] QB 688 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | The court will not imply into a lease an obligation on a landlord to repair a drain on its land used by the tenant, where the lease is a detailed document that does not provide for it. |
| Duke v GEC Reliance Ltd | [1988] AC 618 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | The House of Lords refused to interpret a statute passed before the relevant EU directive so as to conform with it, where the statute was not intended to implement it. |
| Dulieu v White & Sons | [1901] 2 KB 669 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | A person who suffers nervous shock from reasonable fear of immediate personal injury to herself, caused by the defendant's negligence, can recover damages. |
| Dunbar v Plant | [1998] Ch 412 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | The forfeiture rule applied to the survivor of a suicide pact who had aided and abetted her partner's suicide, but the court granted full relief from forfeiture under the Forfeiture Act 1982. |
| Duncan v Jones | [1936] 1 KB 218 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | A police officer may order a speaker to stop if the officer reasonably apprehends a breach of the peace, even if the speaker is acting lawfully. |
| Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd | [1915] AC 79 | Contract LawRemedies | The classic tests for distinguishing liquidated damages from penalties. |
| Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v Selfridge & Co Ltd | [1915] AC 847 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | Only a party to a contract who has given consideration can enforce it. |
| Dunnage v Randall | [2015] EWCA Civ 673, [2016] QB 639 | Tort LawBreach of duty | A person suffering a mental illness is judged by the objective standard of a reasonable person, unless the illness completely eliminated his responsibility for his actions. |
| Dunnett v Railtrack plc | [2002] EWCA Civ 303, [2002] 1 WLR 2434 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | A winning party that unreasonably refused to consider mediation was denied its costs. |
| Re Duomatic Ltd | [1969] 2 Ch 365 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | Where all the shareholders entitled to vote assent to a matter which a general meeting could carry into effect, their assent is as binding as a resolution passed at a meeting. |
| Duport Steels Ltd v Sirs | [1980] 1 WLR 142 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | Judges must apply the clear words of a statute, even if they consider the result unjust: making policy is for Parliament. |
| Durant v Financial Services Authority | [2003] EWCA Civ 1746 | Data Protection and Technology LawPersonal data, controllers and the scope of data protection | Information is personal data only if it relates to the individual in a biographical sense, focusing on him rather than on some other matter in which he was involved, and a manual filing system is covered only if it is structured like a computerised one. |
| Durham v BAI (Run Off) Ltd (The Employers' Liability Policy Trigger Litigation) | [2012] UKSC 14, [2012] 1 WLR 867 | Insurance LawLiability insurance and third party rights | Employers' liability policies covering disease contracted or sustained during the policy period responded to mesothelioma claims on the basis of exposure to asbestos during that period, not the onset of the disease. |
| Dyer v Dyer | (1788) 2 Cox Eq 92 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | Where a person pays for property that is put in the name of another, there is a presumption that the other holds it on resulting trust for the person who paid. |
| Re E (Children) (Abduction: Custody Appeal) | [2011] UKSC 27, [2012] 1 AC 144 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | The grave risk of harm exception in the Hague Convention on child abduction is to be applied without gloss, and the court should consider whether protective measures can reduce the risk. |
| E L Oldendorff & Co GmbH v Tradax Export SA (The Johanna Oldendorff) | [1974] AC 479 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | Under a port charter, a ship becomes an arrived ship, so that laytime can begin, when she has reached a place within the port where ships usually wait for a berth and is at the immediate and effective disposition of the charterer. |
| E Pfeiffer Weinkellerei-Weineinkauf GmbH & Co v Arbuthnot Factors Ltd | [1988] 1 WLR 150 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A retention of title clause that gave the seller rights to the proceeds of resale of the goods created a charge over book debts, which was void because it was not registered. |
| Eastern Distributors Ltd v Goldring | [1957] 2 QB 600 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | An owner who arms another with documents enabling him to represent that he owns or has authority to sell goods is estopped from denying the buyer's title. |
| Eastwood v Magnox Electric plc | [2004] UKHL 35, [2005] 1 AC 503 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | An employee can claim damages at common law for breach of the implied term of trust and confidence before dismissal, which falls outside the Johnson exclusion zone. |
| EB (Kosovo) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2008] UKHL 41, [2009] 1 AC 1159 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | Delay by the Home Office in deciding an immigration application may be relevant to the proportionality of removal under article 8, because family and private life may develop during the delay. |
| Ebrahimi v Westbourne Galleries Ltd | [1973] AC 360 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | A company may be wound up on the just and equitable ground where it is a quasi partnership and a member is excluded from management in breach of the understanding on which it was formed. |
| Eclairs Group Ltd v JKX Oil & Gas plc | [2015] UKSC 71 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | Directors who use a power for an improper purpose act unlawfully if that purpose was causative, meaning that they would not have exercised the power but for the improper purpose. |
| Edgar v Edgar | [1980] 1 WLR 1410 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | A formal separation agreement freely entered into with competent legal advice should not be displaced unless there are good and substantial grounds for concluding that an injustice will be done by holding the parties to it. |
| Edgington v Fitzmaurice | (1885) 29 Ch D 459 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | A misstatement of present intention is a misrepresentation of fact, and it need not be the only reason the claimant entered the contract. |
| Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway Co v Wauchope | (1842) 8 Cl & F 710 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | The courts will not investigate the procedure by which a private Act of Parliament was passed: the enrolled Act rule. |
| Edward Owen Engineering Ltd v Barclays Bank International Ltd | [1978] QB 159 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A bank that gives a performance guarantee payable on demand must pay on a demand that complies with its terms, regardless of disputes about the underlying contract, unless there is clear fraud. |
| Edward Owen Engineering Ltd v Barclays Bank International Ltd | [1978] QB 159 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | A bank that gives a performance guarantee payable on demand must pay on a demand that complies with its terms, regardless of disputes about the underlying contract, unless there is clear fraud. |
| Edwards and Pallikaropoulos v Environment Agency | Case C-260/11, EU:C:2013:221 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | The requirement that environmental litigation should not be prohibitively expensive means that the cost must not exceed the financial resources of the claimant nor appear objectively unreasonable. |
| Edwards v Bairstow | [1956] AC 14 | Tax LawIncome and corporation tax: employment, trading and residence | An isolated purchase and resale of machinery for profit was an adventure in the nature of trade, and an appellate court can overturn a tribunal's finding where the only reasonable conclusion contradicts it. |
| Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust | [2011] UKSC 58, [2012] 2 AC 22 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | An employee cannot recover damages for breach of an express contractual disciplinary procedure where the loss flows from the dismissal, because this also falls within the Johnson exclusion zone. |
| Edwards v Halliwell | [1950] 2 All ER 1064 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | The rule in Foss v Harbottle does not prevent a member from suing where the act complained of is illegal, requires a special majority, infringes his personal rights, or is a fraud on the minority. |
| Edwards v Railway Executive | [1952] AC 737 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | Repeated trespass by children does not by itself give them an implied licence to be on the land, where the occupier has taken reasonable steps to keep them out. |
| Edwards v Skyways Ltd | [1964] 1 WLR 349 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | In commercial agreements the burden of rebutting the presumption of legal intention is heavy, and words such as ex gratia do not rebut it. |
| Edwinton Commercial Corp v Tsavliris Russ (Worldwide Salvage and Towage) Ltd (The Sea Angel) | [2007] EWCA Civ 547, [2007] 2 Lloyd's Rep 517 | Contract LawFrustration | Frustration is assessed by a multi factorial approach, taking into account the contract, its context, the parties' knowledge and expectations and the risks allocated. |
| Edwinton Commercial Corp v Tsavliris Russ (Worldwide Salvage and Towage) Ltd (The Sea Angel) | [2007] EWCA Civ 547, [2007] 2 Lloyd's Rep 517 | Shipping and Maritime LawSalvage, general average, collisions, arrest and limitation | Frustration is assessed by a multi factorial approach, taking into account the contract, its context, the parties' knowledge and expectations and the risks allocated. |
| Egenberger v Evangelisches Werk für Diakonie und Entwicklung eV | Case C-414/16, EU:C:2018:257 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | The prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights is sufficient in itself to confer a right that individuals can rely on against private employers. |
| El Ajou v Dollar Land Holdings plc | [1994] 2 All ER 685 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | A company is liable for knowing receipt if a director with the necessary knowledge was its directing mind and will in relation to the transaction. |
| Elchinov v Natsionalna zdravnoosiguritelna kasa | Case C-173/09, [2010] ECR I-8889 | EU LawPreliminary references | A lower court must disregard a ruling of a higher national court that it considers to be inconsistent with EU law, as interpreted by the Court of Justice. |
| Eley v Positive Government Security Life Assurance Co Ltd | (1876) 1 Ex D 88 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A provision in the articles appointing a person as the company's solicitor for life could not be enforced by him, because it did not give him rights in his capacity as a member. |
| Re Elgindata Ltd | [1991] BCLC 959 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | Serious mismanagement of a company may amount to unfair prejudice, but the court will not normally interfere with management decisions that are merely poor. |
| Elitestone Ltd v Morris | [1997] 1 WLR 687 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | A bungalow resting on concrete pillars that could not be removed except by demolition had become part of the land. |
| Ellen Street Estates Ltd v Minister of Health | [1934] 1 KB 590 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | Parliament cannot bind its successors: a later Act impliedly repeals an earlier inconsistent one. |
| Re Ellenborough Park | [1956] Ch 131 | Land LawEasements | A right to use a communal garden could be an easement, and the case sets out the four characteristics of an easement. |
| Elliniki Radiophonia Tiléorassi AE (ERT) v Dimotiki Etairia Pliroforissis | Case C-260/89, [1991] ECR I-2925 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | Where a Member State relies on an exception to EU free movement rules, the exception must be interpreted in the light of fundamental rights, including freedom of expression. |
| Elliston v Reacher | [1908] 2 Ch 374 | Land LawFreehold covenants | A building scheme allows the purchasers of plots on an estate to enforce restrictive covenants against each other, if certain conditions are met. |
| Emanuel v Symon | [1908] 1 KB 302 | Conflict of LawsRecognition and enforcement of foreign judgments | A foreign judgment in personam will be enforced in England only if the defendant was resident or present in the foreign country, or submitted to its jurisdiction, and not merely because he owned property there or entered into the contract there. |
| Emotional Perception AI Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks | [2024] EWCA Civ 825 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | An artificial neural network is a computer program, so an invention using it to recommend music was excluded from patentability unless it made a technical contribution. |
| Emotional Perception AI Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks | [2024] EWCA Civ 825 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | An artificial neural network is a computer program, so an invention using it to recommend music was excluded from patentability unless it made a technical contribution. |
| Empress Car Co (Abertillery) Ltd v National Rivers Authority | [1999] 2 AC 22 | Environmental LawPollution offences, contaminated land and waste | A person who maintains a polluting substance in a way that allows it to escape causes pollution, even if the immediate trigger is the act of a third party, unless that act is extraordinary rather than a normal fact of life. |
| Re Endacott | [1960] Ch 232 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | The exceptions allowing certain non charitable purpose trusts, such as for tombs and animals, are anomalous and will not be extended. |
| Enderby v Frenchay Health Authority | Case C-127/92, [1993] ECR I-5535 | Employment LawEqual pay | Where statistics show a significant difference in pay between two jobs of equal value, one done mainly by women and the other mainly by men, the employer must show that the difference is objectively justified. |
| Enka Insaat ve Sanayi AS v OOO Insurance Co Chubb | [2020] UKSC 38, [2020] 1 WLR 4117 | ArbitrationThe arbitration agreement: validity, scope and governing law | Where a contract does not specify the law governing its arbitration agreement, that law is generally the law chosen to govern the main contract, or failing that, the law of the seat of arbitration. |
| Entick v Carrington | (1765) 19 St Tr 1029 | Public LawRule of law | The state may not interfere with a person's property without clear legal authority: the foundation of the rule of law in English law. |
| Entores Ltd v Miles Far East Corp | [1955] 2 QB 327 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | Acceptance by instantaneous communication takes effect when and where it is received. |
| Equitable Trust Co of New York v Dawson Partners Ltd | (1927) 27 Ll L Rep 49 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | A bank paying under a documentary credit must ensure that the documents strictly comply with the terms of the credit, and cannot accept documents that differ. |
| Erich Gasser GmbH v MISAT Srl | Case C-116/02, [2003] ECR I-14693 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | A court second seised must stay its proceedings until the court first seised has decided whether it has jurisdiction, even where the second court is designated by an exclusive jurisdiction clause and the first court's proceedings are slow. |
| Errington v Errington and Woods | [1952] 1 KB 290 | Land LawLeases and licences | A contractual licence to occupy a house, under which the occupiers were paying the mortgage, could not be revoked while they kept up the payments. |
| Erven Warnink BV v J Townend & Sons (Hull) Ltd (Advocaat) | [1979] AC 731 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | A group of producers of a product with a recognised name, such as advocaat, can sue in passing off to protect the goodwill in that name against a different product. |
| Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise | [1976] 1 WLR 1 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | A free gift offered as a promotion was not sold, though the Lords were divided on whether there was any contract for the gift. |
| Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise | [1976] 1 WLR 1 | Tax LawVAT and indirect taxes | A free gift offered as a promotion was not sold, though the Lords were divided on whether there was any contract for the gift. |
| Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Harper's Garage (Stourport) Ltd | [1968] AC 269 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | The restraint of trade doctrine applies to solus agreements tying a garage to one supplier, and a tie of 21 years was unreasonable. |
| Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Mardon | [1976] QB 801 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | A forecast by a party with special expertise can carry a warranty that it was made with reasonable care, and can give rise to liability for negligent misstatement. |
| Esso Petroleum Co Ltd v Mardon | [1976] QB 801 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A forecast by a party with special expertise can carry a warranty that it was made with reasonable care, and can give rise to liability for negligent misstatement. |
| Essop v Home Office (UK Border Agency) | [2017] UKSC 27, [2017] 1 WLR 1343 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | In indirect discrimination, the claimant need not show why a provision puts a group at a particular disadvantage, only that it does so and that she suffers that disadvantage. |
| Eturas UAB v Lietuvos Respublikos konkurencijos taryba | Case C-74/14, EU:C:2016:42 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | Travel agents who received a message from the operator of a booking system announcing a cap on discounts could be presumed to have participated in a concerted practice, unless they publicly distanced themselves from it. |
| European Superleague Company SL v FIFA and UEFA | Case C-333/21, EU:C:2023:1011 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | FIFA and UEFA's rules requiring their prior approval for new football competitions, without transparent, objective and non discriminatory criteria, were an abuse of dominance and a restriction of competition by object. |
| Europemballage Corp and Continental Can Co Inc v Commission | Case 6/72, [1973] ECR 215 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | Article 102 is concerned not only with practices directly harming consumers but also with those harming them indirectly through their effect on the structure of competition, including the acquisition of competitors. |
| Re Evans (deceased) | [1999] 2 All ER 777 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | A lay administrator who distributed an estate after taking advice and buying insurance was partially relieved from liability under section 61 of the Trustee Act 1925. |
| Evans v United Kingdom | (2008) 46 EHRR 34 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | The requirement that both parties consent to the continued storage and use of embryos, so that a former partner could withdraw his consent, did not breach the woman's human rights. |
| Evans v United Kingdom | (2008) 46 EHRR 34 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | The requirement that both parties consent to the continued storage and use of embryos, so that a former partner could withdraw his consent, did not breach the woman's human rights. |
| Evans v United Kingdom | (2008) 46 EHRR 34 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | The requirement that both parties consent to the continued storage and use of embryos, so that a former partner could withdraw his consent, did not breach the woman's human rights. |
| Eves v Eves | [1975] 1 WLR 1338 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | Where a man gave his partner an excuse for not putting the house in joint names, which showed that she would otherwise have been on the title, and she did heavy work on the house, she acquired a beneficial interest. |
| Eves v Eves | [1975] 1 WLR 1338 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | Where a man gave his partner an excuse for not putting the house in joint names, which showed that she would otherwise have been on the title, and she did heavy work on the house, she acquired a beneficial interest. |
| Eweida v United Kingdom | (2013) 57 EHRR 8 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | An employer's refusal to allow an employee to wear a small cross visibly at work breached her freedom of religion, because insufficient weight was given to her right to manifest her belief. |
| Eweida v United Kingdom | (2013) 57 EHRR 8 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | An employer's refusal to allow an employee to wear a small cross visibly at work breached her freedom of religion, because insufficient weight was given to her right to manifest her belief. |
| Re Exchange Banking Co (Flitcroft's Case) | (1882) 21 Ch D 519 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | Directors who knowingly pay dividends out of capital, on the basis of false accounts, are personally liable to repay them, and the shareholders cannot ratify the payment. |
| Expert Clothing Service & Sales Ltd v Hillgate House Ltd | [1986] Ch 340 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | Breach of a positive covenant is usually capable of remedy, so a notice under section 146 must require the tenant to remedy it. |
| Express and Echo Publications Ltd v Tanton | [1999] ICR 693 | Employment LawEmployment status | A person who is not required to perform work personally, because he has an unfettered right to send a substitute, cannot be an employee. |
| Express Newspapers Ltd v McShane | [1980] AC 672 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | Whether industrial action is in furtherance of a trade dispute depends on the honest belief of the person taking it that it may help one of the parties, not on whether it is objectively likely to do so. |
| Exxon Corp v Exxon Insurance Consultants International Ltd | [1982] Ch 119 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | A single invented word, such as Exxon, is not an original literary work protected by copyright, even if it took considerable effort to create. |
| Re F (A Child) (International Relocation Cases) | [2015] EWCA Civ 882 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | In relocation cases, the court must carry out a holistic and comparative evaluation of each realistic option for the child's future, with the child's welfare as the paramount consideration. |
| F v M | [2021] EWFC 4 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | The family court found that a father had subjected two former partners to coercive and controlling behaviour, describing how such abuse can be insidious and cumulative. |
| F v West Berkshire Health Authority (Re F (Mental Patient: Sterilisation)) | [1990] 2 AC 1 | Medical Law and EthicsConsent, capacity and refusal of treatment | Medical treatment of a patient who cannot consent is lawful under the principle of necessity if it is in the patient's best interests. |
| F v West Berkshire Health Authority (Re F (Mental Patient: Sterilisation)) | [1990] 2 AC 1 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | Medical treatment of a patient who cannot consent is lawful under the principle of necessity if it is in the patient's best interests. |
| Faccenda Chicken Ltd v Fowler | [1987] Ch 117 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | A former employee may use the skill and knowledge acquired in his employment, but must not use or disclose trade secrets, and only trade secrets are protected after employment ends without a restrictive covenant. |
| Faccenda Chicken Ltd v Fowler | [1987] Ch 117 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | A former employee may use the skill and knowledge acquired in his employment, but must not use or disclose trade secrets, and only trade secrets are protected after employment ends without a restrictive covenant. |
| Facchini v Bryson | [1952] 1 TLR 1386 | Land LawLeases and licences | An occupier with exclusive possession is a tenant unless there is something such as a family arrangement, act of friendship or service occupancy which negatives any intention to create a tenancy. |
| Faccini Dori v Recreb Srl | Case C-91/92, [1994] ECR I-3325 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | A directive cannot be relied on against a private individual, even where the Member State has failed to implement it, although the claimant may have other remedies. |
| Factory at Chorzów (Germany v Poland) | (1928) PCIJ Series A No 17 | Public International LawState responsibility, nationality and international organisations | The breach of an international obligation involves an obligation to make reparation, which must, as far as possible, wipe out all the consequences of the illegal act and re-establish the situation which would have existed. |
| Fagan v Metropolitan Police Commissioner | [1969] 1 QB 439 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | An act can be a continuing act, so the mens rea can coincide with the actus reus at any point while the act continues. |
| Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd | [2002] UKHL 22, [2003] 1 AC 32 | Insurance LawLiability insurance and third party rights | Where a claimant has contracted mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos by several negligent employers, and it cannot be proved which exposure caused the disease, each employer that materially increased the risk is liable. |
| Fairchild v Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd | [2002] UKHL 22, [2003] 1 AC 32 | Tort LawCausation | Where a claimant has contracted mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos by several negligent employers, and it cannot be proved which exposure caused the disease, each employer that materially increased the risk is liable. |
| Fairclough v Swan Brewery Co Ltd | [1912] AC 565 | Land LawMortgages | A postponement of the right to redeem a mortgage of a lease until shortly before the lease ends is void, because it makes the right of redemption illusory. |
| Fairweather v St Marylebone Property Co Ltd | [1963] AC 510 | Land LawAdverse possession | Where a squatter acquires title against a leaseholder, the freeholder can still recover possession when the lease ends, including where the tenant surrenders the lease. |
| Farley v Skinner | [2001] UKHL 49, [2002] 2 AC 732 | Contract LawRemedies | Non pecuniary damages are recoverable where a major or important object of the contract was to give pleasure or peace of mind. |
| Farrell v Whitty | Case C-413/15, EU:C:2017:745 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | The criteria in Foster v British Gas are not cumulative, so a body may be an emanation of the state if it has special powers given by the state, even if it is not under state control. |
| Fashion ID GmbH & Co KG v Verbraucherzentrale NRW eV | (2019) Case C-40/17 | Data Protection and Technology LawPersonal data, controllers and the scope of data protection | A website operator which embeds a Facebook Like button is a joint controller with Facebook for the collection and transmission of visitors' data, but not for Facebook's later processing of the data. |
| Fearn v Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery | [2023] UKSC 4, [2024] AC 1 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | The Tate Modern's public viewing platform, from which visitors looked directly into neighbouring flats, was a nuisance, because it was not a common and ordinary use of land. |
| Feasey v Sun Life Assurance Co of Canada | [2003] EWCA Civ 885 | Insurance LawUtmost good faith, disclosure, warranties and insurable interest | Insurable interest is to be interpreted flexibly, so a syndicate which reinsured a P and I club's liabilities to injured crew members had an insurable interest in the lives of those crew members. |
| Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras v Deutsche Bank SAE | Case C-55/18, EU:C:2019:402 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | Member states must require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system for recording the duration of each worker's daily working time. |
| Federación de Servicios Privados del sindicato Comisiones obreras v Tyco Integrated Security SL | Case C-266/14, EU:C:2015:578 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | For workers without a fixed place of work, time spent travelling between their homes and the first and last customers of the day is working time. |
| Federal Commerce & Navigation Co Ltd v Molena Alpha Inc (The Nanfri) | [1979] AC 757 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | A threat to break a contract in a way that would deprive the other party of substantially the whole benefit of it is a repudiation. |
| Federal Commerce & Navigation Co Ltd v Molena Alpha Inc (The Nanfri) | [1979] AC 757 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | A threat to break a contract in a way that would deprive the other party of substantially the whole benefit of it is a repudiation. |
| Federal Republic of Brazil v Durant International Corp | [2015] UKPC 35, [2016] AC 297 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | Backwards tracing is possible where there is a close causal and transactional link between the incurring of a debt and the use of trust money to pay it. |
| Federal Republic of Nigeria v Process & Industrial Developments Ltd | [2023] EWHC 2638 (Comm) | ArbitrationChallenging and enforcing awards, and investment arbitration | An arbitration award of about 11 billion US dollars against Nigeria was set aside under section 68, because it had been obtained by fraud, including bribery and the improper use of Nigeria's privileged documents. |
| Federated Homes Ltd v Mill Lodge Properties Ltd | [1980] 1 WLR 594 | Land LawFreehold covenants | Section 78 of the Law of Property Act 1925 automatically annexes the benefit of a restrictive covenant to the land it benefits. |
| Felthouse v Bindley | (1862) 11 CB NS 869 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | Silence cannot amount to acceptance of an offer. |
| FENIN v Commission | Case C-205/03 P, [2006] ECR I-6295 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | An organisation which purchases goods not to offer them on a market but to use them in providing a non economic social service, such as a national health service, is not acting as an undertaking. |
| Fenty v Arcadia Group Brands Ltd (Rihanna) | [2015] EWCA Civ 3, [2015] 1 WLR 3291 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | The sale of a T shirt with a photograph of the singer Rihanna, without her consent, was passing off, because many customers would think that she had endorsed it. |
| Fercometal SARL v Mediterranean Shipping Co SA (The Simona) | [1989] AC 788 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | An innocent party who affirms the contract after a repudiation remains bound to perform its own obligations, and cannot later rely on its own failure to perform. |
| Fercometal SARL v Mediterranean Shipping Co SA (The Simona) | [1989] AC 788 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | An innocent party who affirms the contract after a repudiation remains bound to perform its own obligations, and cannot later rely on its own failure to perform. |
| Ferrishurst Ltd v Wallcite Ltd | [1999] Ch 355 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | Actual occupation of part of the land protects a person's rights over the whole of the land comprised in the registered disposition. |
| FG Wilson (Engineering) Ltd v John Holt & Co (Liverpool) Ltd | [2013] EWCA Civ 1232, [2014] 1 WLR 2365 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A retention of title clause does not create a trust of the proceeds of resale, or make the buyer the seller's agent, unless this is clearly intended, so the seller could not claim the price from the buyer. |
| FHR European Ventures LLP v Cedar Capital Partners LLC | [2014] UKSC 45, [2015] AC 250 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | A bribe or secret commission received by an agent in breach of his fiduciary duty is held on constructive trust for the principal. |
| Fibrosa Spolka Akcyjna v Fairbairn Lawson Combe Barbour Ltd | [1943] AC 32 | Contract LawFrustration | Money paid under a contract that is later frustrated can be recovered where there is a total failure of consideration. |
| Fibrosa Spolka Akcyjna v Fairbairn Lawson Combe Barbour Ltd | [1943] AC 32 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | Money paid under a contract that is later frustrated can be recovered where there is a total failure of consideration. |
| Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd | [2021] UKSC 1, [2021] AC 649 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | Business interruption policies covering closure due to a notifiable disease responded to losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the government's lockdown measures, because each case of the disease was a concurrent cause of the losses. |
| Financial Conduct Authority v Macris | [2017] UKSC 19, [2017] 1 WLR 1095 | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | A person is identified in a regulatory notice, and so entitled to make representations, only if he is named or identifiable from the notice itself to people with relevant knowledge, not merely by reference to his job title. |
| Re Finger's Will Trusts | [1972] Ch 286 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A gift to an unincorporated charity that has ceased to exist may still take effect as a gift for its purposes, while a gift to a dissolved charitable company lapses unless there is a general charitable intention. |
| Re Finucane's Application for Judicial Review | [2019] UKSC 7 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | A government may change course on a promise for good policy reasons, but there had not been an article 2 compliant investigation into the murder of Pat Finucane. |
| Re Finucane's Application for Judicial Review | [2019] UKSC 7 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | A government may change course on a promise for good policy reasons, but there had not been an article 2 compliant investigation into the murder of Pat Finucane. |
| Fiona Trust & Holding Corp v Privalov | [2007] UKHL 40, [2007] Bus LR 1719 | ArbitrationThe arbitration agreement: validity, scope and governing law | An arbitration clause should be construed on the presumption that rational businessmen intend all disputes arising out of their relationship to be decided by the same tribunal, and it survives allegations that the main contract was procured by bribery. |
| First Energy (UK) Ltd v Hungarian International Bank Ltd | [1993] 2 Lloyd's Rep 194 | Commercial LawAgency | An agent who has no apparent authority to make a contract may have apparent authority to communicate that the principal has approved it. |
| First National Bank plc v Achampong | [2003] EWCA Civ 487, [2004] 1 FCR 18 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | A lender whose charge took effect against only one co-owner's share was entitled to an order for sale, because it should not have to wait indefinitely for repayment. |
| Firstpost Homes Ltd v Johnson | [1995] 1 WLR 1567 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | A contract for the sale of land must be signed by both parties, and a party's name typed by the other party as addressee is not a signature. |
| Fish Legal v Information Commissioner | Case C-279/12, EU:C:2013:853 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | Privatised water companies can be public authorities for the purposes of the Environmental Information Directive, so they may be required to disclose environmental information. |
| Fisher v Bell | [1961] 1 QB 394 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | Goods displayed in a shop window with a price are an invitation to treat, not an offer for sale. |
| Fisher v Brooker | [2009] UKHL 41, [2009] 1 WLR 1764 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | An organist who wrote the famous organ melody in A Whiter Shade of Pale was a joint author of the song, and his delay of 38 years in claiming did not bar his claim. |
| Fitch v Dewes | [1921] 2 AC 158 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | A lifelong restraint on a solicitor's clerk was reasonable to protect the employer's clients in a small area. |
| Fitzpatrick v Sterling Housing Association Ltd | [2001] 1 AC 27 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | A same sex partner could be a member of the deceased tenant's family for the purposes of succession to a protected tenancy, although not his spouse. |
| Fletcher v Collis | [1905] 2 Ch 24 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | A beneficiary who consents to a breach of trust cannot sue the trustee for the resulting loss. |
| Fletcher v Fletcher | (1844) 4 Hare 67 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A covenant to pay money to trustees may itself be the subject of a completely constituted trust, so that a volunteer beneficiary can enforce it. |
| Flood v Times Newspapers Ltd | [2012] UKSC 11, [2012] 2 AC 273 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | A newspaper that reported that a police officer was being investigated for corruption was protected by Reynolds privilege, because it had acted responsibly in publishing the allegations and the fact of the investigation. |
| Foakes v Beer | (1884) 9 App Cas 605 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Payment of a smaller sum does not discharge a debt for a larger sum. |
| Foglia v Novello (No 1) | Case 104/79, [1980] ECR 745 | EU LawPreliminary references | The Court of Justice will refuse to answer questions referred in proceedings that are contrived, because there is no genuine dispute between the parties. |
| Foley v Hill | (1848) 2 HL Cas 28 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | Money paid into a bank account belongs to the bank, and the relationship between banker and customer is that of debtor and creditor, not trustee and beneficiary. |
| Folkes v King | [1923] 1 KB 282 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | A buyer from a mercantile agent in possession of goods with the owner's consent obtains good title, even if the agent obtained possession by fraud, as long as the owner consented to his possession as agent. |
| Football Dataco Ltd v Yahoo! UK Ltd | Case C-604/10, EU:C:2012:115 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | Football fixture lists are not protected by copyright as databases, because the skill and labour in creating the data does not count, unless the selection or arrangement of the data is original. |
| Force India Formula One Team Ltd v 1 Malaysia Racing Team Sdn Bhd | [2013] EWCA Civ 780, [2013] RPC 36 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | A Formula One team that misused confidential technical drawings from another team was liable, but damages were assessed at the modest value of the information to it. |
| Fornah v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2006] UKHL 46, [2007] 1 AC 412 | Immigration and Asylum LawRefugee status and asylum | Young women in Sierra Leone who had not undergone female genital mutilation were a particular social group, and the practice was persecution for that reason. |
| Forstater v CGD Europe | [2022] ICR 1 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | A gender critical belief that sex is biological and immutable is a philosophical belief protected under the Equality Act 2010, although its protection does not justify harassment of others. |
| Foskett v McKeown | [2001] 1 AC 102 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | Where trust money is used to pay premiums on a life insurance policy, the beneficiaries can claim a proportionate share of the policy proceeds, including any increase in value. |
| Foskett v McKeown | [2001] 1 AC 102 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPrinciples of unjust enrichment | Where trust money is used to pay premiums on a life insurance policy, the beneficiaries can claim a proportionate share of the policy proceeds, including any increase in value. |
| Foss v Harbottle | (1843) 2 Hare 461 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | Where a wrong is done to a company, the proper claimant is the company itself, and an individual shareholder cannot normally sue in respect of it. |
| Foster Bryant Surveying Ltd v Bryant | [2007] EWCA Civ 200 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | Whether a former director is liable for exploiting an opportunity after resigning depends on the facts, and a director forced out of the company who later worked for a client was not liable. |
| Foster v British Gas plc | Case C-188/89, [1990] ECR I-3313 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | A directive can be relied on against a body that provides a public service under the control of the state and has special powers, even if it is not part of the state itself. |
| Foster v Driscoll | [1929] 1 KB 470 | Conflict of LawsChoice of law in contract and tort | An English contract whose object is to break the law of a friendly foreign country, such as by smuggling whisky into the United States during prohibition, is unenforceable as contrary to public policy. |
| Foto-Frost v Hauptzollamt Lübeck-Ost | Case 314/85, [1987] ECR 4199 | EU LawPreliminary references | National courts have no power to declare EU measures invalid; only the Court of Justice can do so, so a national court that doubts the validity of an EU act must refer the question. |
| Four Point Garage Ltd v Carter | [1985] 3 All ER 12 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A sub buyer who receives goods from a buyer in possession obtains good title, even though the original seller retained title, because the buyer in possession exception applies. |
| Four-Maids Ltd v Dudley Marshall (Properties) Ltd | [1957] Ch 317 | Land LawMortgages | A mortgagee is entitled to possession of the mortgaged property as soon as the mortgage is made, even if the mortgagor is not in default. |
| Fowkes v Pascoe | (1875) LR 10 Ch App 343 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | The presumption of resulting trust can be rebutted by evidence that the person who paid intended to make a gift. |
| Fowler v Barron | [2008] EWCA Civ 377 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | A home bought in joint names was owned in equal shares, even though one party paid the whole of the purchase price and mortgage, because the parties' arrangements showed that they intended to share. |
| Franbar Holdings Ltd v Patel | [2008] EWHC 1534 (Ch), [2009] 1 BCLC 1 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | In deciding whether to give permission for a derivative claim, the court considers the factors in section 263 of the Companies Act 2006, including whether the claimant has an alternative remedy. |
| Francis Day & Hunter Ltd v Bron | [1963] Ch 587 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Infringement of copyright requires a causal link between the claimant's work and the defendant's work, which may be shown by subconscious copying, but similarity alone is not enough. |
| Francovich and Bonifaci v Italy | Joined Cases C-6/90 and C-9/90, [1991] ECR I-5357 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | A Member State is liable to compensate individuals for loss caused by its failure to implement a directive, if the directive conferred rights on them that can be identified and there is a causal link. |
| Fraser v Thames Television Ltd | [1984] QB 44 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | An idea for a television series can be protected as confidential information, if it is sufficiently developed to be capable of being realised and was disclosed in confidence. |
| Fratelli Costanzo SpA v Comune di Milano | Case 103/88, [1989] ECR 1839 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | Local authorities are part of the state, and like national courts, they must apply the provisions of a directive that has direct effect and disapply conflicting national law. |
| Freeman & Lockyer v Buckhurst Park Properties (Mangal) Ltd | [1964] 2 QB 480 | Commercial LawAgency | A company is bound by a contract made by a person who has been held out by the board as having authority to make it, under the doctrine of apparent authority. |
| Freeman & Lockyer v Buckhurst Park Properties (Mangal) Ltd | [1964] 2 QB 480 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | A company is bound by a contract made by a person who has been held out by the board as having authority to make it, under the doctrine of apparent authority. |
| Froom v Butcher | [1976] QB 286 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A car occupant who fails to wear a seat belt is contributorily negligent, and the damages should normally be reduced by 25 per cent if wearing it would have prevented the injury, or 15 per cent if it would have made them less severe. |
| Frost v Knight | (1872) LR 7 Ex 111 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | Anticipatory breach applies to a promise to be performed on a future contingency, such as a promise to marry on the death of a parent. |
| FS Cairo (Nile Plaza) LLC v Brownlie | [2021] UKSC 45, [2022] AC 995 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | The tort gateway for service out of the jurisdiction is satisfied where significant damage is sustained in England, including continuing pain and loss after an accident abroad. |
| Fulham Football Club (1987) Ltd v Richards | [2011] EWCA Civ 855, [2012] Ch 333 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | A claim for unfair prejudice can be referred to arbitration, where the members have agreed to arbitrate disputes, because the claim is not inherently unsuitable for arbitration. |
| Fulham Football Club Ltd v Cabra Estates plc | [1994] 1 BCLC 363 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | Directors may agree in advance how they will exercise their powers in future, if they consider in good faith that the agreement is in the company's interests. |
| Furniss v Dawson | [1984] AC 474 | Tax LawTax avoidance, statutory interpretation and the Ramsay principle | Where there is a pre-ordained series of transactions, and steps are inserted which have no commercial purpose apart from the avoidance of tax, the inserted steps are disregarded for tax purposes. |
| Re G (A Child) (Interim Care Order: Residential Assessment) | [2005] UKHL 68, [2006] 1 AC 576 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | The court's power to direct an assessment of a child during an interim care order is limited to assessing the child and the parents, and does not extend to ordering therapy for the parents. |
| Re G (Children) (Residence: Same-sex Partner) | [2006] UKHL 43, [2006] 1 WLR 2305 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | Being the natural parent of a child is an important and significant factor in deciding what is in the child's best interests, though the child's welfare remains paramount. |
| G v G (Occupation Order: Conduct) | [2000] 2 FLR 36 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | In deciding whether to make an occupation order, the court considers the effect of the respondent's conduct on the applicant, and it is not necessary to show that the respondent intended to cause harm. |
| Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary v Slovakia) | (1997) ICJ Reports 7 | Public International LawState responsibility, nationality and international organisations | Hungary could not rely on a state of ecological necessity to justify abandoning its treaty obligations to build a dam system, because the strict conditions for necessity were not met. |
| Galloway v Guardian Royal Exchange (UK) Ltd | [1999] Lloyd's Rep IR 209 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | An insured who makes a fraudulent claim forfeits the whole claim, including the genuine part, so a claim for a burglary which included a false item worth 2,000 pounds failed entirely. |
| Gamerco SA v ICM/Fair Warning (Agency) Ltd | [1995] 1 WLR 1226 | Contract LawFrustration | Under the Law Reform (Frustrated Contracts) Act 1943, the court has a broad discretion to allow a party to keep money paid to cover its expenses. |
| Gammon (Hong Kong) Ltd v Attorney General of Hong Kong | [1985] AC 1 | Criminal LawStrict liability | The criteria for deciding whether an offence is of strict liability. |
| Garcia Avello v Belgium | Case C-148/02, [2003] ECR I-11613 | EU LawEU citizenship | A Member State's refusal to allow children with dual nationality to have a surname in accordance with the law of their other Member State was discrimination contrary to EU citizenship rules. |
| Gard Marine and Energy Ltd v China National Chartering Co Ltd (The Ocean Victory) | [2017] UKSC 35 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | A port is not unsafe merely because a combination of weather conditions caused a ship's loss, where that combination was an abnormal occurrence, and joint insurance arrangements excluded claims between the insured parties. |
| Re Gardner (No 2) | [1923] 2 Ch 230 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | Where a beneficiary of a secret trust died before the testator, her estate still took her share, because the trust was created when it was accepted. |
| GC v Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) | (2019) Case C-136/17 | Data Protection and Technology LawLawful processing, data subject rights and the right to be forgotten | The prohibition on processing special categories of personal data applies to search engine operators, which must grant requests to de-reference links to such data unless that is strictly necessary to protect freedom of information. |
| Geary v Rankine | [2012] EWCA Civ 555 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | Where a property is in one party's sole name, the claimant must first show a common intention that she should have a share, and this was not established where the property was bought as a business. |
| Gebhard v Consiglio dell'Ordine degli Avvocati e Procuratori di Milano | Case C-55/94, [1995] ECR I-4165 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | National measures that hinder or make less attractive the exercise of fundamental freedoms must satisfy four conditions: they must be non discriminatory, justified by imperative requirements in the general interest, suitable and proportionate. |
| Gencor Ltd v Commission | Case T-102/96, [1999] ECR II-753 | Competition LawMerger control | The EU Merger Regulation applies to a merger between non EU companies where it is foreseeable that it will have an immediate and substantial effect in the EU, and it covers collective dominance. |
| General Motors Corp v Yplon SA (Chevy) | Case C-375/97, [1999] ECR I-5421 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | A trade mark has a reputation, for the purpose of extended protection, if it is known by a significant part of the public concerned by the products or services it covers. |
| Generics (UK) Ltd v Competition and Markets Authority | Case C-307/18, EU:C:2020:52 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | A pay for delay settlement in which a patent holder pays a generic manufacturer to stay out of the market can restrict competition by object and be an abuse of dominance. |
| Generics (UK) Ltd v H Lundbeck A/S | [2009] UKHL 12, [2009] RPC 13 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | A claim to a product is sufficiently enabled if the specification discloses one way of making it, because the product is the invention, unlike in Biogen. |
| George Hensher Ltd v Restawile Upholstery (Lancs) Ltd | [1976] AC 64 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | A prototype for a mass produced suite of furniture was not a work of artistic craftsmanship, because it did not have sufficient artistic quality. |
| George Mitchell (Chesterhall) Ltd v Finney Lock Seeds Ltd | [1983] 2 AC 803 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | A limitation clause that covers the breach may still fail the statutory test of reasonableness. |
| Gereis v Yagoub | [1997] 1 FLR 854 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | A Coptic Orthodox marriage ceremony in an unregistered church, which bore the hallmarks of marriage, was a void marriage, not a non marriage, so the wife could apply for financial relief. |
| Germany v European Parliament and Council (Tobacco Advertising) | Case C-376/98, [2000] ECR I-8419 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | The EU's power to adopt measures for the internal market does not give it a general power to regulate it, so a directive banning tobacco advertising was annulled. |
| Geys v Société Générale | [2012] UKSC 63, [2013] 1 AC 523 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | A repudiation of a contract, including an employment contract, does not end it automatically: the innocent party must accept the repudiation. |
| Geys v Société Générale | [2012] UKSC 63, [2013] 1 AC 523 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | A repudiation of a contract, including an employment contract, does not end it automatically: the innocent party must accept the repudiation. |
| Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza | [2004] UKHL 30, [2004] 2 AC 557 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | Section 3 required the words as his or her wife or husband in the Rent Act to be read as including same sex partners. |
| Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza | [2004] UKHL 30, [2004] 2 AC 557 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | Section 3 required the words as his or her wife or husband in the Rent Act to be read as including same sex partners. |
| Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza | [2004] UKHL 30, [2004] 2 AC 557 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | Section 3 required the words as his or her wife or husband in the Rent Act to be read as including same sex partners. |
| Gibson v Manchester City Council | [1979] 1 WLR 294 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | A letter saying a council may be prepared to sell was not an offer, so there was no contract to buy the house. |
| Gilford Motor Co Ltd v Horne | [1933] Ch 935 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | A company formed by a former employee to evade a restrictive covenant was a mere sham, so an injunction was granted against both him and the company. |
| Gilham v Ministry of Justice | [2019] UKSC 44, [2019] 1 WLR 5905 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | A district judge was entitled to whistleblowing protection, because the exclusion of judges from that protection was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. |
| Gill & Duffus SA v Berger & Co Inc | [1984] AC 382 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | Under a CIF contract, a buyer who wrongly rejects conforming documents is in repudiatory breach, even if the goods later turn out not to conform. |
| Gill v Gill | [1909] P 157 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | A will torn up by the testator's wife without his direction, even in his presence, is not revoked, because destruction by another person must be in the testator's presence and by his direction. |
| Gill v Woodall | [2010] EWCA Civ 1430, [2011] Ch 380 | Wills, Succession and ProbateTestamentary capacity, knowledge and approval | A will leaving a farmer's estate to the RSPCA rather than her daughter was set aside for lack of knowledge and approval, because the testatrix's severe agoraphobia meant that she had not understood it. |
| Gillan v United Kingdom | (2010) 50 EHRR 45 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | The police power to stop and search without reasonable suspicion under the Terrorism Act 2000 breached the right to respect for private life because it was not in accordance with the law. |
| Gillan v United Kingdom | (2010) 50 EHRR 45 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | The police power to stop and search without reasonable suspicion under the Terrorism Act 2000 breached the right to respect for private life because it was not in accordance with the law. |
| Gillan v United Kingdom | (2010) 50 EHRR 45 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | The police power to stop and search without reasonable suspicion under the Terrorism Act 2000 breached the right to respect for private life because it was not in accordance with the law. |
| Gillett v Holt | [2001] Ch 210 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | Repeated assurances that a farm worker would inherit a farm, relied on for decades, gave rise to an estoppel even though a will is by nature revocable. |
| Gillett v Holt | [2001] Ch 210 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | Repeated assurances that a farm worker would inherit a farm, relied on for decades, gave rise to an estoppel even though a will is by nature revocable. |
| Gillette Safety Razor Co v Anglo-American Trading Co Ltd | (1913) 30 RPC 465 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | A defendant can show that it has not infringed a patent by proving that what it does was already known before the patent, so that the patent is either not infringed or invalid. |
| Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority | [1986] AC 112 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | A child under 16 who has sufficient understanding and intelligence to understand fully what is proposed can consent to medical treatment, including contraception, without parental knowledge. |
| Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority | [1986] AC 112 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | A child under 16 who has sufficient understanding and intelligence to understand fully what is proposed can consent to medical treatment, including contraception, without parental knowledge. |
| Gillingham Borough Council v Medway (Chatham) Dock Co Ltd | [1993] QB 343 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | A grant of planning permission can change the character of a neighbourhood, so that what would otherwise have been a nuisance is no longer actionable. |
| Re Gillingham Bus Disaster Fund | [1958] Ch 300 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | Where a fund raised from the public for a purpose has a surplus, the surplus is held on resulting trust for the donors, even if they are anonymous. |
| Gilmour v Coats | [1949] AC 426 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A gift to a community of cloistered nuns who devoted themselves to prayer was not charitable, because there was no proof of public benefit. |
| Gisda Cyf v Barratt | [2010] UKSC 41 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | The effective date of termination of employment, where notice of dismissal is given by letter, is the date on which the employee reads the letter or has a reasonable opportunity to do so. |
| Gissing v Gissing | [1971] AC 886 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | A person who is not the legal owner can claim a beneficial interest in the home only if there is a common intention that they should have one, on which they have acted. |
| Gissing v Gissing | [1971] AC 886 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | A person who is not the legal owner can claim a beneficial interest in the home only if there is a common intention that they should have one, on which they have acted. |
| Glasbrook Bros Ltd v Glamorgan County Council | [1925] AC 270 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Doing more than an existing public duty requires is good consideration for a promise of payment. |
| Glasgow City Council v Marshall | [2000] 1 WLR 333 | Employment LawEqual pay | Where there is no evidence of sex discrimination in a pay difference, the employer need only show that the difference is genuinely due to a material factor other than sex, and need not justify it. |
| Glasgow Corporation v Muir | [1943] AC 448 | Tort LawBreach of duty | The standard of care is that of the reasonable person, which is an objective standard, and a person is only liable for consequences that a reasonable person would foresee. |
| Glasgow Corporation v Taylor | [1922] 1 AC 44 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier who has poisonous berries that are attractive to children on land open to the public may be liable to a child who eats them. |
| Glass v Kencakes Ltd | [1966] 1 QB 611 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | A breach of covenant caused by a subtenant's immoral use of premises, without the tenant's knowledge, may be capable of remedy by the tenant taking prompt steps to end it. |
| Glass v United Kingdom | (2004) 39 EHRR 15 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | Doctors who gave diamorphine to a severely disabled child against his mother's objections, without seeking the court's authority, breached the child's right to respect for physical integrity under article 8. |
| GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited v Commission | Joined Cases C-501/06 P and others, [2009] ECR I-9291 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | An agreement which aims to prevent or limit parallel trade has an anticompetitive object, even if it does not harm final consumers, because article 101 protects the structure of the market and competition as such. |
| Global Process Systems Inc v Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad (The Cendor Mopu) | [2011] UKSC 5 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | The loss of a drilling rig's legs, which broke off during a sea voyage because of metal fatigue caused by the ordinary action of the waves, was caused by a peril of the sea, not inherent vice. |
| Global Process Systems Inc v Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad (The Cendor Mopu) | [2011] UKSC 5 | Shipping and Maritime LawMarine insurance | The loss of a drilling rig's legs, which broke off during a sea voyage because of metal fatigue caused by the ordinary action of the waves, was caused by a peril of the sea, not inherent vice. |
| Gohil v Gohil | [2015] UKSC 61, [2016] AC 849 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | A wife could apply to set aside a consent order on the ground of the husband's non disclosure, even though the evidence of non disclosure came from criminal proceedings and was not admissible in its own right. |
| Re Golay's Will Trusts | [1965] 1 WLR 969 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | A direction to allow a beneficiary to enjoy a reasonable income from properties is sufficiently certain, because the court can quantify what is reasonable. |
| Re Goldcorp Exchange Ltd | [1995] 1 AC 74 | Banking and Finance LawInsolvency of financial institutions and client assets | Customers who bought unallocated gold from a bulk had no proprietary interest in it, because the gold they had bought had never been identified. |
| Re Goldcorp Exchange Ltd | [1995] 1 AC 74 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Customers who bought unallocated gold from a bulk had no proprietary interest in it, because the gold they had bought had never been identified. |
| Re Goldcorp Exchange Ltd | [1995] 1 AC 74 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | Customers who bought unallocated gold from a bulk had no proprietary interest in it, because the gold they had bought had never been identified. |
| Golden Strait Corp v Nippon Yusen Kubishika Kaisha (The Golden Victory) | [2007] UKHL 12, [2007] 2 AC 353 | Contract LawRemedies | Damages for repudiation of a long term contract are assessed taking into account events after the breach that would have ended the contract anyway. |
| Golden Strait Corp v Nippon Yusen Kubishika Kaisha (The Golden Victory) | [2007] UKHL 12, [2007] 2 AC 353 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | Damages for repudiation of a long term contract are assessed taking into account events after the breach that would have ended the contract anyway. |
| Golder v United Kingdom | (1979) 1 EHRR 524 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | Article 6 includes a right of access to a court, so refusing a prisoner permission to consult a solicitor about suing a prison officer breached the Convention. |
| Goldman Sachs International v Novo Banco SA | [2018] UKSC 34 | Banking and Finance LawDerivatives, bonds and capital markets | A decision of the Bank of Portugal retransferring a liability to a failed bank under its resolution powers had to be recognised in England under the EU Bank Reorganisation Directive, even if it was retrospective. |
| Goldman Sachs International v Novo Banco SA | [2018] UKSC 34 | Conflict of LawsRecognition and enforcement of foreign judgments | A decision of the Bank of Portugal retransferring a liability to a failed bank under its resolution powers had to be recognised in England under the EU Bank Reorganisation Directive, even if it was retrospective. |
| Re Goodchild | [1997] 1 WLR 1216 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | Mutual wills are binding only where there was an agreement between the testators that the wills would not be revoked, not merely a common intention. |
| Re Goodchild | [1997] 1 WLR 1216 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | Mutual wills are binding only where there was an agreement between the testators that the wills would not be revoked, not merely a common intention. |
| Goodlife Foods Ltd v Hall Fire Protection Ltd | [2018] EWCA Civ 1371 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | A limitation clause that is common in the industry is not particularly onerous or unusual, and may be reasonable even if it excludes liability for negligence. |
| Goodman v Gallant | [1986] Fam 106 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | An express declaration of the beneficial interests in a conveyance is conclusive, in the absence of fraud or mistake. |
| Goodwin v Curtis | [1998] STC 475 | Tax LawCapital gains, inheritance tax and property taxes | To qualify for private residence relief from capital gains tax, the taxpayer's occupation of the property must have some degree of permanence, continuity or expectation of continuity. |
| Goodwin v United Kingdom | (2002) 35 EHRR 18 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | The failure of the United Kingdom to give legal recognition to the acquired gender of a transgender woman breached her rights to respect for private life and to marry. |
| Google France SARL v Louis Vuitton Malletier SA | Joined Cases C-236/08 to C-238/08, [2010] ECR I-2417 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | A search engine that allows advertisers to buy keywords identical to trade marks does not itself use the marks, but advertisers do, and may infringe if the advertisement does not make clear where the goods come from. |
| Google France SARL v Louis Vuitton Malletier SA | Joined Cases C-236/08 to C-238/08, [2010] ECR I-2417 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | A search engine that allows advertisers to buy keywords identical to trade marks does not itself use the marks, but advertisers do, and may infringe if the advertisement does not make clear where the goods come from. |
| Google LLC and Alphabet Inc v Commission (Google Shopping) | Case C-48/22 P, EU:C:2024:726 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | Google abused its dominant position in general search by favouring its own comparison shopping service in its search results and demoting rival services. |
| Google LLC and Alphabet Inc v Commission (Google Shopping) | Case C-48/22 P, EU:C:2024:726 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | Google abused its dominant position in general search by favouring its own comparison shopping service in its search results and demoting rival services. |
| Google LLC v Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL) | (2019) Case C-507/17 | Data Protection and Technology LawLawful processing, data subject rights and the right to be forgotten | A search engine operator which grants a request for de-referencing is not required by EU law to de-reference on all versions of its search engine worldwide, but only on the versions for the member states. |
| Google Spain SL v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) and Mario Costeja González | Case C-131/12, EU:C:2014:317 | Data Protection and Technology LawLawful processing, data subject rights and the right to be forgotten | A search engine operator is responsible for processing personal data, and individuals have a right to ask for links to inaccurate or irrelevant information about them to be removed, known as the right to be forgotten. |
| Google Spain SL v Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (AEPD) and Mario Costeja González | Case C-131/12, EU:C:2014:317 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | A search engine operator is responsible for processing personal data, and individuals have a right to ask for links to inaccurate or irrelevant information about them to be removed, known as the right to be forgotten. |
| Gorringe v Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council | [2004] UKHL 15, [2004] 1 WLR 1057 | Tort LawDuty of care | A highway authority's statutory duty to maintain the highway did not create a common law duty of care to paint warnings on the road. |
| Goss v Chilcott | [1996] AC 788 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | A lender could recover the balance of a loan for total failure of consideration, although the borrowers had paid some interest, because the security which formed the basis of the loan had failed. |
| Goulding v James | [1997] 2 All ER 239 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | The court can approve a variation of a trust that departs from the settlor's wishes, if it benefits the beneficiaries on whose behalf the court acts. |
| Gow v Grant | [2012] UKSC 29, 2013 SC (UKSC) 1 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | Under Scottish law a cohabitant could claim compensation for economic disadvantage suffered in the relationship, and Lady Hale called for similar reform in England and Wales. |
| Grace and Sweetman v An Bord Pleanála | Case C-164/17, EU:C:2018:593 | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | Measures which seek to compensate for the adverse effects of a project on a protected site, such as creating new habitat elsewhere, cannot be taken into account in the appropriate assessment as mitigation. |
| Grace v Biagioli | [2005] EWCA Civ 1222, [2006] 2 BCLC 70 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | The usual remedy for unfair prejudice is an order for the purchase of the petitioner's shares, and the exclusion of a member was not cured by an offer to pay him a dividend. |
| Grad v Finanzamt Traunstein | Case 9/70, [1970] ECR 825 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | Decisions addressed to Member States can have direct effect, allowing individuals to rely on them in national courts. |
| Grainger plc v Nicholson | [2010] ICR 360 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | A belief in climate change and the moral duty to live in a way that mitigates it can be a philosophical belief, and the EAT set out the criteria which a belief must satisfy to be protected. |
| Grant v Australian Knitting Mills Ltd | [1936] AC 85 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | Woollen underpants that contained an excess of chemicals causing dermatitis were not of merchantable quality or fit for their purpose, and the manufacturer was also liable in negligence. |
| Grant v Edwards | [1986] Ch 638 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | An excuse for not putting a partner's name on the title is evidence of a common intention to share, and contributions to household expenses that enabled the legal owner to pay the mortgage were sufficient detriment. |
| Grant v Norway | (1851) 10 CB 665 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | A master has no authority to sign bills of lading for goods which have not been shipped, so the shipowner was not bound by a bill issued for goods which were never put on board. |
| Re Grant's Will Trusts | [1980] 1 WLR 360 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | A gift to a local branch of a political party failed, because its members could not control its property, which was subject to the rules of the national party. |
| Gray v Barr | [1971] 2 QB 554 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | An insured who killed a man in circumstances amounting to manslaughter could not recover an indemnity under his liability insurance, because public policy prevents a person from being indemnified for the consequences of a deliberate criminal act of violence. |
| Gray v Thames Trains Ltd | [2009] UKHL 33, [2009] 1 AC 1339 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A claimant cannot recover damages for losses that result from a criminal sentence imposed on him, or from his own deliberate criminal act, even if his mental state was caused by the defendant's negligence. |
| Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust v Yates | [2017] EWHC 972 (Fam) | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | Where doctors and parents disagree about the treatment of a seriously ill child, the court decides what is in the child's best interests, which may mean withdrawing life sustaining treatment. |
| Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust v Yates | [2017] EWHC 972 (Fam) | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | Where doctors and parents disagree about the treatment of a seriously ill child, the court decides what is in the child's best interests, which may mean withdrawing life sustaining treatment. |
| Great Peace Shipping Ltd v Tsavliris Salvage (International) Ltd | [2002] EWCA Civ 1407, [2003] QB 679 | Contract LawMistake | A common mistake voids a contract only if it makes performance impossible or essentially different, and there is no separate equitable doctrine of mistake. |
| Great Peace Shipping Ltd v Tsavliris Salvage (International) Ltd | [2002] EWCA Civ 1407, [2003] QB 679 | Shipping and Maritime LawSalvage, general average, collisions, arrest and limitation | A common mistake voids a contract only if it makes performance impossible or essentially different, and there is no separate equitable doctrine of mistake. |
| Greatorex v Greatorex | [2000] 1 WLR 1970 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | A person who negligently injures himself does not owe a duty of care to a relative who suffers psychiatric injury from witnessing the aftermath of his injury. |
| Greenhalgh v Arderne Cinemas Ltd | [1951] Ch 286 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | Benefit to the company as a whole means benefit to the individual hypothetical member, and an alteration is valid if it does not discriminate between majority and minority. |
| Greenwood v Martins Bank Ltd | [1933] AC 51 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | A customer who knows that his signature has been forged on cheques owes a duty to inform the bank, and if he fails to do so, he is estopped from relying on the forgeries. |
| Gregg v Scott | [2005] UKHL 2, [2005] 2 AC 176 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | A claimant cannot recover damages in negligence for the reduction of his chance of being cured of cancer, where he could not show that the delay probably caused a worse outcome. |
| Gregg v Scott | [2005] UKHL 2, [2005] 2 AC 176 | Tort LawCausation | A claimant cannot recover damages in negligence for the reduction of his chance of being cured of cancer, where he could not show that the delay probably caused a worse outcome. |
| Gregory v United Kingdom | (1998) 25 EHRR 577 | English Legal SystemJuries | A judge's firm warning to a jury after a note suggesting possible racial bias was enough to ensure a fair trial. |
| Grey v IRC | [1960] AC 1 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | An oral direction by a beneficiary to his trustees to hold his equitable interest on trust for others is a disposition of an equitable interest that must be in writing. |
| Grey v Pearson | (1857) 6 HLC 61 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The golden rule: the ordinary meaning of words should be adopted unless it leads to an absurdity or inconsistency, in which case it may be modified. |
| Griffiths v Peter Conway Ltd | [1939] 1 All ER 685 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | A buyer with an abnormal sensitivity who does not tell the seller of it cannot complain that the goods are not fit for their purpose. |
| Grimme Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co KG v Scott | [2010] EWCA Civ 1110, [2011] FSR 7 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | A person who supplies a means relating to an essential element of an invention can be liable for contributory infringement if he knows, or it is obvious, that the means is intended to put the invention into effect. |
| Groener v Minister for Education | Case 379/87, [1989] ECR 3967 | EU LawFree movement of workers | A requirement for teachers to know the Irish language was justified as part of a policy to promote the national language, as long as it was proportionate. |
| Groupement des cartes bancaires (CB) v Commission | Case C-67/13 P, EU:C:2014:2204 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | The concept of a restriction by object must be interpreted restrictively, and applies only to types of coordination which reveal in themselves a sufficient degree of harm to competition. |
| Grzelczyk v Centre Public d'Aide Sociale d'Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve | Case C-184/99, [2001] ECR I-6193 | EU LawEU citizenship | Union citizenship is destined to be the fundamental status of nationals of the Member States, and a student could not be refused a minimum subsistence allowance on grounds of nationality. |
| GS Media BV v Sanoma Media Netherlands BV | Case C-160/15, EU:C:2016:644 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Posting a link to a work published on another website without the copyright owner's consent is a communication to the public if the person knew or ought to have known that it was unlawful, which is presumed where the link is posted for profit. |
| Guest v Guest | [2022] UKSC 27 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | The starting point for the remedy in proprietary estoppel is to fulfil the claimant's expectation, adjusted for factors such as the acceleration of the benefit. |
| Guest v Guest | [2022] UKSC 27 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | The starting point for the remedy in proprietary estoppel is to fulfil the claimant's expectation, adjusted for factors such as the acceleration of the benefit. |
| Guinness plc v Saunders | [1990] 2 AC 663 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | A director who was paid by a committee of the board that had no power to authorise the payment held the money on constructive trust for the company, and could not claim for his services. |
| Guinness plc v Saunders | [1990] 2 AC 663 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | A director who was paid by a committee of the board that had no power to authorise the payment held the money on constructive trust for the company, and could not claim for his services. |
| Re Gulbenkian's Settlements | [1970] AC 508 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | A power of appointment is valid if it can be said with certainty whether any given person is or is not a member of the class. |
| Guzzardi v Italy | (1981) 3 EHRR 333 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | The difference between a restriction on freedom of movement and a deprivation of liberty is one of degree or intensity, and confinement to a small part of a remote island was a deprivation of liberty. |
| Gäfgen v Germany | (2011) 52 EHRR 1 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Threatening a kidnap suspect with intolerable pain to make him reveal a child's whereabouts was inhuman treatment, whatever the motive, but the use of evidence derived from it did not make his trial unfair. |
| Gäfgen v Germany | (2011) 52 EHRR 1 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | Threatening a kidnap suspect with intolerable pain to make him reveal a child's whereabouts was inhuman treatment, whatever the motive, but the use of evidence derived from it did not make his trial unfair. |
| Re H (Minors) (Local Authority: Parental Rights) (No 3) | [1991] Fam 151 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | In deciding whether to grant parental responsibility to an unmarried father, the court considers his commitment, the attachment between him and the child, and his reasons for applying. |
| Re H (Minors) (Sexual Abuse: Standard of Proof) | [1996] AC 563 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | The threshold for a care order must be proved on the balance of probabilities, on the basis of facts proved, not suspicion, although the more serious the allegation the less likely it is to have occurred. |
| Re H (Minors) (Sexual Abuse: Standard of Proof) | [1996] AC 563 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | The threshold for a care order must be proved on the balance of probabilities, on the basis of facts proved, not suspicion, although the more serious the allegation the less likely it is to have occurred. |
| H West & Son Ltd v Shephard | [1964] AC 326 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A claimant who is unconscious or unaware of her condition is still entitled to substantial damages for loss of amenity, because the loss of amenity is assessed objectively. |
| Re H-N and Others (Children) (Domestic Abuse: Finding of Fact Hearings) | [2021] EWCA Civ 448 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | Family courts should focus on patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour rather than isolated incidents when deciding allegations of domestic abuse in disputes about children. |
| Habberfield v Habberfield | [2019] EWCA Civ 890 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | A daughter who worked on the family farm for 30 years in reliance on assurances that she would take over the farm was entitled to a large lump sum. |
| Hadley v Baxendale | (1854) 9 Exch 341 | Contract LawRemedies | Damages are recoverable for losses arising naturally from a breach, or within the reasonable contemplation of both parties when the contract was made. |
| Hadley v Kemp | [1999] EMLR 589 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | Members of a band who contributed to the performance and arrangement of songs written by another member were not joint authors, because they did not contribute to the composition of the songs. |
| Halifax plc v Customs and Excise Commissioners | (2006) Case C-255/02 | Tax LawVAT and indirect taxes | Transactions which have the essential aim of obtaining a tax advantage contrary to the purpose of the VAT rules are an abuse, and must be redefined to re-establish the position that would have existed without them. |
| Hall v Hall | (1868) LR 1 P & D 481 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFormalities, execution, undue influence and rectification | Undue influence in relation to wills means coercion, which overpowers the volition of the testator, and persuasion or appeals to affection are legitimate provided the testator's will is not overborne. |
| Re Hallett's Estate | (1880) 13 Ch D 696 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | Where a trustee mixes trust money with his own and then withdraws money for himself, he is presumed to have spent his own money first. |
| Halliburton Co v Chubb Bermuda Insurance Ltd | [2020] UKSC 48, [2021] AC 1083 | ArbitrationJurisdiction, the tribunal and the supervisory role of the courts | An arbitrator has a legal duty to disclose facts which would or might lead a fair minded and informed observer to conclude that there was a real possibility of bias, including overlapping appointments in related arbitrations. |
| Halliday v Creation Consumer Finance Ltd | [2013] EWCA Civ 333 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | A data subject whose inaccurate data was passed to a credit reference agency could recover nominal damages for the breach and compensation for distress. |
| Halsall v Brizell | [1957] Ch 169 | Land LawFreehold covenants | A person who takes the benefit of rights granted in a deed must also accept the burden of related obligations in the same deed, such as paying for the upkeep of roads. |
| Halsey v Esso Petroleum Co Ltd | [1961] 1 WLR 683 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | Acid smuts from an oil depot which damaged a neighbour's car parked in the street were actionable in public nuisance and under Rylands v Fletcher, and noise and smell were private nuisances. |
| Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust | [2004] EWCA Civ 576, [2004] 1 WLR 3002 | ArbitrationThe arbitration agreement: validity, scope and governing law | Parties cannot be compelled to mediate, but an unreasonable refusal to mediate may lead to costs penalties. |
| Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust | [2004] EWCA Civ 576, [2004] 1 WLR 3002 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | Parties cannot be compelled to mediate, but an unreasonable refusal to mediate may lead to costs penalties. |
| Re Halt Garage (1964) Ltd | [1982] 3 All ER 1016 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | Directors' remuneration that is not genuine remuneration for services, but a disguised gift out of capital, is an unlawful return of capital. |
| Hambrook v Stokes Brothers | [1925] 1 KB 141 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | A mother who suffered nervous shock from fear for the safety of her children, caused by seeing a runaway lorry, could recover damages. |
| Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council v Monk | [1992] 1 AC 478 | Land LawLeases and licences | A periodic tenancy held by joint tenants can be ended by a notice to quit given by just one of them, without the consent of the other. |
| Hammond v Mitchell | [1991] 1 WLR 1127 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | Express assurances that a partner would share in the home, followed by detrimental reliance, gave her a half share in the house. |
| Hamp v Bygrave | (1983) 266 EG 720 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | Garden ornaments such as stone urns, statues and a lead trough passed with the land because they were part of the garden's design, and the seller was in any event estopped from removing them. |
| Hamzeh Malas & Sons v British Imex Industries Ltd | [1958] 2 QB 127 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | A confirmed documentary credit is independent of the underlying contract of sale, so the court will not prevent the bank from paying because of a dispute about the goods. |
| Hanchett-Stamford v Attorney General | [2008] EWHC 330 (Ch), [2009] Ch 173 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | Where an unincorporated association ends with one member left, the property belongs to that member, rather than going to the Crown as bona vacantia. |
| Handyside v United Kingdom | (1979) 1 EHRR 737 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | Freedom of expression extends to ideas that offend, shock or disturb, but states have a margin of appreciation in protecting morals, so the seizure of an obscene book for children was justified. |
| Hanif and Khan v United Kingdom | (2012) 55 EHRR 16 | English Legal SystemJuries | The presence on a jury of a police officer who knew a police witness made the trial unfair. |
| Hansson v Hamel & Horley Ltd | [1922] 2 AC 36 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | Under a CIF contract, the seller must tender a bill of lading that covers the whole of the voyage to the destination, so a through bill issued after transhipment was not sufficient. |
| Harding v Wealands | [2006] UKHL 32, [2007] 2 AC 1 | Conflict of LawsChoice of law in contract and tort | The assessment of damages is a matter of procedure governed by English law as the law of the forum, so a claimant injured in Australia could recover damages under English law rather than capped Australian damages. |
| Harlingdon & Leinster Enterprises Ltd v Christopher Hull Fine Art Ltd | [1991] 1 QB 564 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | A sale is by description only if the description is influential in the sale, so that it becomes an essential term, and an art dealer who relied on his own judgment could not complain. |
| Re Harmer (HR) Ltd | [1959] 1 WLR 62 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | A founder who ran a family company as his own business, disregarding the wishes of the other shareholders and the board, was oppressing them, and was ordered to give up control. |
| Harper v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [1955] Ch 238 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | The courts would not intervene to stop the Home Secretary laying a parliamentary boundaries report before Parliament. |
| Harpur Trust v Brazel | [2022] UKSC 21 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | A part year worker on a permanent contract is entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year, calculated by reference to average weekly pay, without pro rating for the weeks not worked. |
| Harries v Church Commissioners for England | [1992] 1 WLR 1241 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | Charity trustees may take ethical considerations into account in investment only if this does not cause a significant risk of financial detriment, or if the investment conflicts with the charity's purposes. |
| Harris v Goddard | [1983] 1 WLR 1203 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | A request in a divorce petition for a property adjustment order did not sever a joint tenancy, because it did not show a desire to sever immediately. |
| Harrods Ltd v Harrodian School Ltd | [1996] RPC 697 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | The use of a similar name by a business in a different field is passing off only if the public would think that the claimant was responsible for the defendant's business, which was not the case for a school. |
| Harrow London Borough Council v Shah | [1999] 3 All ER 302 | Criminal LawStrict liability | A newsagent was guilty of selling a lottery ticket to a child under 16 even though the sale was made by an employee who reasonably believed the buyer was over 16. |
| Hartley v Ponsonby | (1857) 7 E & B 872 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Where the remaining crew are released from their original contract by the scale of desertion, a promise of extra pay is enforceable. |
| Hartog v Colin & Shields | [1939] 3 All ER 566 | Contract LawMistake | A party cannot accept an offer that it knows the other party has made by mistake as to its terms. |
| Hartshorne v Gardner | [2008] EWHC B3 (Ch) | Wills, Succession and ProbateIntestacy, personal representatives and administration of estates | Where the parents of an intestate young man, who were jointly entitled to administer his estate, disagreed about where he should be buried, the court decided the question by reference to all the circumstances. |
| Harvey v Facey | [1893] AC 552 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | A statement of the lowest price a party would accept is not an offer to sell. |
| Re Harwood | [1936] Ch 285 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A gift to a charity that never existed can be applied cy-près where the testator had a general charitable intention, but not a gift to a specific charity that has ceased to exist. |
| Haseldine v CA Daw & Son Ltd | [1941] 2 KB 343 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier who entrusts technical work to an apparently competent independent contractor is not liable for injury caused by the contractor's negligence. |
| Hassan v United Kingdom | (2016) 61 EHRR 18 | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | In an international armed conflict, article 5 of the Convention is to be interpreted in harmony with international humanitarian law, so detention of a person under the Geneva Conventions did not breach it. |
| Hatton v Sutherland | [2002] EWCA Civ 76, [2002] ICR 613 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | An employer is liable for psychiatric injury caused by stress at work only if the injury was reasonably foreseeable, which usually requires indications of harm. |
| Hauck GmbH & Co KG v Stokke A/S | Case C-205/13, EU:C:2014:2233 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | A shape that results from the nature of the goods, or gives substantial value to them, cannot be registered, even if it has other characteristics such as safety and comfort. |
| Hauer v Land Rheinland-Pfalz | Case 44/79, [1979] ECR 3727 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | The right to property and the freedom to pursue a trade are protected as general principles of EU law, but they may be restricted in the general interest if the restriction is proportionate. |
| Haughton v Smith | [1975] AC 476 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | At common law, a person could not be guilty of attempting to handle stolen goods that were no longer stolen, a rule reversed by the Criminal Attempts Act 1981. |
| Re Hay's Settlement Trusts | [1982] 1 WLR 202 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | A wide power of appointment in favour of anyone in the world, except certain people, is valid, but trustees must consider the range of objects and the appropriateness of appointments. |
| Hayes v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police | [2011] EWCA Civ 911, [2012] 1 WLR 517 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | Under section 24 of PACE, an arresting officer must honestly and reasonably believe that arrest is necessary for one of the statutory reasons, but need not consider all possible alternatives to arrest. |
| Haynes v Harwood | [1935] 1 KB 146 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A police officer who was injured stopping runaway horses that had been left unattended in a busy street could recover from their owner. |
| Hayward v Cammell Laird Shipbuilders Ltd | [1988] AC 894 | Employment LawEqual pay | Under equal pay law, each term of a woman's contract must be compared with the corresponding term of the man's contract, and she is entitled to equality in each term, not merely in the overall package. |
| Haywood v Brunswick Permanent Benefit Building Society | (1881) 8 QBD 403 | Land LawFreehold covenants | Equity will not enforce a positive covenant, such as a covenant to repair, against a successor in title of the covenantor. |
| Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council | [1992] 2 AC 1 | Banking and Finance LawDerivatives, bonds and capital markets | Local authorities had no power to enter into interest rate swaps, so the swap contracts were void, leading to extensive restitution litigation. |
| Hazell v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council | [1992] 2 AC 1 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | Local authorities had no power to enter into interest rate swaps, so the swap contracts were void, leading to extensive restitution litigation. |
| Head v Gould | [1898] 2 Ch 250 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | A trustee who is a solicitor is not required to indemnify a co-trustee merely because of his profession, unless the co-trustee relied on his advice and he exercised a controlling influence. |
| Healey v Brown | [2002] EWHC 1405 (Ch), [2002] WTLR 849 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | A mutual wills agreement relating to land must satisfy the formalities for contracts for the sale of land, but a constructive trust may still arise. |
| Healey v Brown | [2002] EWHC 1405 (Ch), [2002] WTLR 849 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | A mutual wills agreement relating to land must satisfy the formalities for contracts for the sale of land, but a constructive trust may still arise. |
| Healy v Howlett & Sons | [1917] 1 KB 337 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Property in unascertained goods does not pass until goods are unconditionally appropriated to the contract, so the seller bears the risk of deterioration before appropriation. |
| Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v Heller & Partners Ltd | [1964] AC 465 | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | A person who gives advice or information in circumstances showing an assumption of responsibility can owe a duty of care, so negligent misstatement is actionable. |
| Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v Heller & Partners Ltd | [1964] AC 465 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | A person who gives advice or information in circumstances showing an assumption of responsibility can owe a duty of care, so negligent misstatement is actionable. |
| Hedley Byrne & Co Ltd v Heller & Partners Ltd | [1964] AC 465 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A person who gives advice or information in circumstances showing an assumption of responsibility can owe a duty of care, so negligent misstatement is actionable. |
| Helow v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2008] UKHL 62, [2008] 1 WLR 2416 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | A judge's membership of a lawful association with strong views on an issue did not, without more, give rise to an appearance of bias. |
| Hely-Hutchinson v Brayhead Ltd | [1968] 1 QB 549 | Commercial LawAgency | A director who acts as managing director with the acquiescence of the board may have implied actual authority to make contracts on behalf of the company. |
| Hely-Hutchinson v Brayhead Ltd | [1968] 1 QB 549 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | A director who acts as managing director with the acquiescence of the board may have implied actual authority to make contracts on behalf of the company. |
| Henderson v Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust | [2020] UKSC 43, [2021] AC 563 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A claimant who killed her mother because of the defendant's negligent psychiatric care could not recover damages for the consequences, because of the illegality defence. |
| Henderson v Henderson | (1843) 3 Hare 100 | Conflict of LawsRecognition and enforcement of foreign judgments | A party must bring forward its whole case in litigation, and the court will not allow it to raise in later proceedings matters which could and should have been raised in the earlier ones. |
| Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Ltd | [1995] 2 AC 145 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A duty of care to avoid pure economic loss arises where the defendant assumes responsibility for providing professional services, and it can exist concurrently with a contractual duty. |
| Hendy Lennox (Industrial Engines) Ltd v Grahame Puttick Ltd | [1984] 1 WLR 485 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A seller can retain title to goods that have been incorporated into other goods, as long as they remain identifiable and can be removed without damage. |
| Henry Kendall & Sons v William Lillico & Sons Ltd | [1969] 2 AC 31 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | Goods are of merchantable quality if they are suitable for one or more of the purposes for which goods of that description are commonly bought, and a buyer can rely partly on the seller's skill and judgment. |
| Her Majesty's Attorney General v Akhter and Khan | [2020] EWCA Civ 122, [2021] Fam 277 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | A religious marriage ceremony that did not comply with the formalities for marriage and was not intended to be a legal marriage was a non qualifying ceremony, so there was no marriage, void or valid. |
| Herbert Morris Ltd v Saxelby | [1916] 1 AC 688 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | An employer can protect trade secrets and customer connections, but not prevent an employee from using his general skill and knowledge. |
| Herbert Morris Ltd v Saxelby | [1916] 1 AC 688 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | An employer can protect trade secrets and customer connections, but not prevent an employee from using his general skill and knowledge. |
| Herd v Weardale Steel, Coal and Coke Co Ltd | [1915] AC 67 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | A miner who refused to work and was not immediately brought to the surface was not falsely imprisoned, because he had agreed to stay in the mine until the end of his shift. |
| Herne Bay Steam Boat Co v Hutton | [1903] 2 KB 683 | Contract LawFrustration | A contract is not frustrated if its purpose is only partly defeated and performance still has some value. |
| Hesham Ali v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2016] UKSC 60, [2016] 1 WLR 4799 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | The deportation of foreign criminals involves a balancing exercise under article 8, in which great weight must be given to the public interest in deportation as expressed in the Immigration Rules. |
| Hesham Ali v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2016] UKSC 60, [2016] 1 WLR 4799 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | The deportation of foreign criminals involves a balancing exercise under article 8, in which great weight must be given to the public interest in deportation as expressed in the Immigration Rules. |
| Re Hetherington | [1990] Ch 1 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A gift for the saying of masses was charitable, because the masses would be celebrated in public, which provided public benefit. |
| Heydon's Case | (1584) 3 Co Rep 7a | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The origin of the mischief rule: the court looks at the mischief the statute was intended to remedy. |
| Heyman v Darwins Ltd | [1942] AC 356 | ArbitrationThe arbitration agreement: validity, scope and governing law | An arbitration clause survives the repudiation and termination of the main contract, so a dispute about whether the contract had been repudiated fell within the clause. |
| HH v Deputy Prosecutor of the Italian Republic, Genoa | [2012] UKSC 25, [2013] 1 AC 338 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | In extradition cases, the interests of the children of the person to be extradited must be considered, but the public interest in extradition will usually outweigh them unless the consequences are exceptionally severe. |
| HH v Deputy Prosecutor of the Italian Republic, Genoa | [2012] UKSC 25, [2013] 1 AC 338 | Immigration and Asylum LawExtradition | In extradition cases, the interests of the children of the person to be extradited must be considered, but the public interest in extradition will usually outweigh them unless the consequences are exceptionally severe. |
| Hickman v Kent or Romney Marsh Sheep Breeders' Association | [1915] 1 Ch 881 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | The articles of association form a contract between the company and each member, enforceable in respect of rights and obligations attaching to membership. |
| High Table Ltd v Horst | [1998] ICR 409 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | The place where an employee was employed, for the purposes of the definition of redundancy, is to be decided on the facts of where the employee actually worked, not by a wide mobility clause. |
| Hill v Baxter | [1958] 1 QB 277 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | Automatism requires a total destruction of voluntary control, and a driver who claimed to be in a trance could not rely on it without evidence. |
| Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire | [1989] AC 53 | Tort LawDuty of care | The police owed no duty of care to a member of the public to catch a criminal who later killed her, because there was no special relationship of proximity. |
| Hill v Tupper | (1863) 2 H & C 121 | Land LawEasements | An exclusive right to put pleasure boats on a canal was a personal right for the benefit of a business, not an easement. |
| Hilton v Thomas Burton (Rhodes) Ltd | [1961] 1 WLR 705 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | An employer was not vicariously liable for an employee who was driving on a frolic of his own, unconnected with his work. |
| Hinds v The Queen | [1977] AC 195 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | Parliament could not transfer the judicial power of sentencing to a body controlled by the executive in breach of a written constitution. |
| Hippisley v Knee Brothers | [1905] 1 KB 1 | Commercial LawAgency | An agent who honestly makes a secret profit does not necessarily forfeit his commission, although he must account for the profit. |
| Hirani v Hirani | (1983) 4 FLR 232 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | A marriage can be annulled for duress where the pressure on the petitioner was such as to destroy the reality of consent, and threats to life or limb are not required. |
| Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2) | (2006) 42 EHRR 41 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | The UK's blanket ban on voting by convicted prisoners breached the right to free elections under the Convention. |
| Hirst v United Kingdom (No 2) | (2006) 42 EHRR 41 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | The UK's blanket ban on voting by convicted prisoners breached the right to free elections under the Convention. |
| Hivac Ltd v Park Royal Scientific Instruments Ltd | [1946] Ch 169 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | An employee owes a duty of fidelity to his employer, which can be broken by working in his spare time for a competitor where this may seriously harm the employer's business. |
| HJ (Iran) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2010] UKSC 31, [2011] 1 AC 596 | Immigration and Asylum LawRefugee status and asylum | A gay man cannot be refused asylum on the basis that he could avoid persecution by concealing his sexual orientation, if the reason he would conceal it is fear of persecution. |
| HM Customs and Excise v Schindler | Case C-275/92, [1994] ECR I-1039 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | A national ban on large lotteries restricted the freedom to provide services, but was justified by social policy concerns, such as preventing fraud and the risk of crime. |
| Hochster v De la Tour | (1853) 2 E & B 678 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | Anticipatory breach: a party can sue immediately when the other side repudiates before performance is due. |
| Hochstrasser v Mayes | [1960] AC 376 | Tax LawIncome and corporation tax: employment, trading and residence | A payment made to an employee is taxable as an emolument from his employment only if it is a reward for his services, so compensation for a loss on the sale of his house under a housing scheme was not taxable. |
| Hodgkinson & Corby Ltd v Wards Mobility Services Ltd | [1994] 1 WLR 1564 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | Copying the appearance of a product is not passing off unless the appearance has become associated with the claimant and the defendant misrepresents that its product is the claimant's. |
| Hodgson v Marks | [1971] Ch 892 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A person in actual occupation may have an overriding interest even though the vendor also lives in the house and their presence is not obviously inconsistent with the vendor's title. |
| Hodgson v Marks | [1971] Ch 892 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | A person in actual occupation may have an overriding interest even though the vendor also lives in the house and their presence is not obviously inconsistent with the vendor's title. |
| Hoechst AG v Commission | Joined Cases 46/87 and 227/88, [1989] ECR 2859 | Competition LawInvestigations, cartels and penalties | The Commission's powers to carry out dawn raids are subject to fundamental rights, but the inviolability of the home does not extend to business premises, and the decision ordering an inspection must state its subject matter and purpose. |
| Hoenig v Isaacs | [1952] 2 All ER 176 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | Where a contract has been substantially performed, the party in breach can recover the price less the cost of remedying the defects. |
| Hoffmann-La Roche & Co AG v Commission | Case 85/76, [1979] ECR 461 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | Very large market shares are in themselves evidence of dominance, and loyalty rebates granted by a dominant undertaking in return for exclusive purchasing are an abuse. |
| Hogg v Cramphorn Ltd | [1967] Ch 254 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | An issue of shares by directors to defeat a takeover bid is an improper exercise of their powers, even if they honestly believe it is in the company's interests, but it can be ratified by the general meeting. |
| Holder v Holder | [1968] Ch 353 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | An executor who had done very little in the administration of an estate and bought property from it at a fair price at auction was not caught by the self dealing rule. |
| Holland v Hodgson | (1872) LR 7 CP 328 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | Whether an object is a fixture depends on the degree and the purpose of its annexation to the land. |
| Re Holliday (A Bankrupt) | [1981] Ch 405 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | Sale of the family home was postponed, despite the husband's bankruptcy, because of the interests of the wife and children and the special circumstances of the case. |
| Hollier v Rambler Motors (AMC) Ltd | [1972] 2 QB 71 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | A few dealings over several years are not a sufficient course of dealing to incorporate an exclusion clause. |
| Hollywood Silver Fox Farm Ltd v Emmett | [1936] 2 KB 468 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | A landowner who deliberately fired guns near his boundary to disturb a neighbour's silver foxes during the breeding season was liable in nuisance. |
| Holman v Johnson | (1775) 1 Cowp 341 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | The classic statement that no court will lend its aid to a person who founds a cause of action on an immoral or illegal act. |
| Holme v Brunskill | (1878) 3 QBD 495 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A guarantor is discharged if the creditor and principal debtor vary the principal contract without the guarantor's consent, unless the variation is obviously unsubstantial or necessarily beneficial to him. |
| Holohan v An Bord Pleanála | Case C-461/17, EU:C:2018:883 | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | An appropriate assessment must identify and examine the implications of a project for the species and habitats for which the site is protected, including effects on habitats outside the site that are necessary for their conservation. |
| Holwell Securities Ltd v Hughes | [1974] 1 WLR 155 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | The postal rule does not apply where the offer requires actual communication of acceptance, or where it would produce manifest inconvenience or absurdity. |
| Homburg Houtimport BV v Agrosin Private Ltd (The Starsin) | [2003] UKHL 12, [2004] 1 AC 715 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | Where a bill of lading is signed for the master and the face of the bill identifies the charterer as carrier, the shipowner, not the charterer, is the carrier, because the signature box governs over printed terms on the back. |
| Home Office v Dorset Yacht Co Ltd | [1970] AC 1004 | Tort LawDuty of care | Prison officers owed a duty of care to the owners of boats damaged by young offenders who escaped because of the officers' carelessness. |
| Homer v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police | [2012] UKSC 15, [2012] ICR 704 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | A requirement for a law degree was indirect age discrimination against an employee too close to retirement to obtain one, and the employer had to show that it was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. |
| Hongkong Fir Shipping Co Ltd v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd | [1962] 2 QB 26 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Many terms are innominate: whether breach allows termination depends on whether it deprives the innocent party of substantially the whole benefit of the contract. |
| Hongkong Fir Shipping Co Ltd v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd | [1962] 2 QB 26 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Many terms are innominate: whether breach allows termination depends on whether it deprives the innocent party of substantially the whole benefit of the contract. |
| Hongkong Fir Shipping Co Ltd v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd | [1962] 2 QB 26 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | Many terms are innominate: whether breach allows termination depends on whether it deprives the innocent party of substantially the whole benefit of the contract. |
| Re Hooper | [1932] 1 Ch 38 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | A trust for the upkeep of family graves and monuments was valid for the perpetuity period, as one of the anomalous exceptions to the beneficiary principle. |
| Hopcraft v Close Brothers Ltd | [2025] UKSC 33 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | Car dealers arranging finance owed customers no fiduciary duties, but an undisclosed large commission made the credit relationship unfair. |
| Horsham Properties Group Ltd v Clark | [2008] EWHC 2327 (Ch), [2009] 1 WLR 1255 | Land LawMortgages | A mortgagee can exercise its power of sale over a residential property without first obtaining possession or a court order. |
| Horvath v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2001] 1 AC 489 | Immigration and Asylum LawRefugee status and asylum | Persecution under the Refugee Convention requires a failure of state protection, and a state provides sufficient protection if it has a reasonably effective system of criminal law and is willing to operate it. |
| Hotson v East Berkshire Area Health Authority | [1987] AC 750 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | A claimant cannot recover damages for the loss of a chance of a better medical outcome where, on the balance of probabilities, the bad outcome would have happened anyway. |
| Hotson v East Berkshire Area Health Authority | [1987] AC 750 | Tort LawCausation | A claimant cannot recover damages for the loss of a chance of a better medical outcome where, on the balance of probabilities, the bad outcome would have happened anyway. |
| Hounslow London Borough Council v Minchinton | (1997) 74 P & CR 221 | Land LawAdverse possession | Fencing land to keep a dog in can be evidence of an intention to possess, even if the squatter's motive was not to exclude the owner. |
| Howard Marine & Dredging Co Ltd v A Ogden & Sons (Excavations) Ltd | [1978] QB 574 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | Under section 2(1) of the Misrepresentation Act 1967, the representor is liable unless it proves it had reasonable grounds to believe its statement was true. |
| Howard Smith Ltd v Ampol Petroleum Ltd | [1974] AC 821 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | Directors must exercise their powers for the purposes for which they were conferred, so an issue of shares to destroy an existing majority is invalid, even if the directors believe it to be in the company's interests. |
| HP Bulmer Ltd v J Bollinger SA | [1974] Ch 401 | EU LawPreliminary references | Lord Denning gave guidance on when English courts below the final court should refer questions to the Court of Justice, emphasising that references should not be made lightly. |
| HRH Prince of Wales v Associated Newspapers Ltd | [2006] EWCA Civ 1776, [2008] Ch 57 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | Prince Charles's private journals of an official visit to Hong Kong were protected by the law of confidence, and the newspaper's publication was not justified by the public interest. |
| Huang v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2007] UKHL 11, [2007] 2 AC 167 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | When deciding whether a decision breaches a Convention right, the appellate authority must make its own judgment on proportionality, giving appropriate weight to the views of the decision maker. |
| Huang v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2007] UKHL 11, [2007] 2 AC 167 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | When deciding whether a decision breaches a Convention right, the appellate authority must make its own judgment on proportionality, giving appropriate weight to the views of the decision maker. |
| Huang v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2007] UKHL 11, [2007] 2 AC 167 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | When deciding whether a decision breaches a Convention right, the appellate authority must make its own judgment on proportionality, giving appropriate weight to the views of the decision maker. |
| Huawei Technologies Co Ltd v ZTE Corp | Case C-170/13, EU:C:2015:477 | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | A holder of a standard essential patent who has committed to license on FRAND terms abuses its dominance by seeking an injunction against an alleged infringer, unless it follows a prescribed negotiation process. |
| Hubbard v Vosper | [1972] 2 QB 84 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Whether a use of a copyright work is fair dealing for criticism or review depends on all the circumstances, including the number and extent of the quotations and the purpose of the use. |
| Hudson v Leigh | [2009] EWHC 1306 (Fam), [2009] 2 FLR 1129 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | A ceremony which the parties did not intend to create a legally valid marriage, and which did not have the essential features of a marriage, was a non marriage, not a void marriage. |
| Hughes v Lord Advocate | [1963] AC 837 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A defendant is liable if the damage is of a foreseeable kind, even if the precise way in which it happened, or its extent, was not foreseeable. |
| Hughes v Metropolitan Railway Co | (1877) 2 App Cas 439 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | A party who leads another to believe that strict rights will not be enforced cannot enforce them without fair notice. |
| Human Genome Sciences Inc v Eli Lilly & Co | [2011] UKSC 51, [2012] RPC 6 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | A patent for a newly identified protein was capable of industrial application, because its likely uses were plausible on the basis of the patent and the common general knowledge. |
| Hunter v Canary Wharf Ltd | [1997] AC 655 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | Only a person with a proprietary interest in land can sue in private nuisance, and interference with television reception by a building is not an actionable nuisance. |
| Hunter v Canary Wharf Ltd | [1997] AC 655 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | Only a person with a proprietary interest in land can sue in private nuisance, and interference with television reception by a building is not an actionable nuisance. |
| Hunter v Mann | [1974] QB 767 | Medical Law and EthicsConfidentiality and medical information | A doctor's duty of confidence does not entitle him to refuse to give information to the police where a statute requires it, so a doctor was rightly convicted for refusing to identify a driver he had treated. |
| Hunter v Moss | [1994] 1 WLR 452 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | A declaration of trust of a number of identical shares out of a larger holding is valid, even though the particular shares are not identified. |
| Hurst v Picture Theatres Ltd | [1915] 1 KB 1 | Land LawLeases and licences | A cinema customer who had paid for a ticket had a licence coupled with an interest, so it was a battery to eject him during the film. |
| Hussein v Mehlman | [1992] 2 EGLR 87 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | A lease can be ended by a landlord's repudiatory breach, accepted by the tenant, under ordinary contract principles. |
| Hussey v Palmer | [1972] 1 WLR 1286 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | Money paid to build an extension on another person's house for the payer to live in was held on trust for the payer when the arrangement ended. |
| Hyde Park Residence Ltd v Yelland | [2001] Ch 143 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | The publication of stills from a security video of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed was not fair dealing for reporting current events, and was not justified in the public interest. |
| Hyde v Hyde and Woodmansee | (1866) LR 1 P & D 130 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | Marriage, as understood in Christendom, was defined as the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, a definition now changed by statute. |
| Hyde v Wrench | (1840) 3 Beav 334 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | A counter offer rejects the original offer, which cannot then be accepted. |
| Höfner and Elser v Macrotron GmbH | Case C-41/90, [1991] ECR I-1979 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | The concept of an undertaking covers every entity engaged in an economic activity, regardless of its legal status and the way in which it is financed, so a public employment agency could be an undertaking. |
| I Congreso del Partido | [1983] 1 AC 244 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | Under the restrictive doctrine of state immunity, the court must look at the nature of the act in question, and a state that acts in a commercial transaction is not immune even if its motive is political. |
| IAM Group plc v Chowdrey | [2012] EWCA Civ 505 | Land LawAdverse possession | A squatter's reasonable belief that land belonged to him, under the boundary exception, is judged on the facts known to him, and he does not have to check the register. |
| IBA Health Ltd v Office of Fair Trading | [2004] EWCA Civ 142 | Competition LawMerger control | The Office of Fair Trading had to refer a merger for detailed investigation if it believed there was a realistic prospect, more than fanciful, that the merger would substantially lessen competition. |
| Iceland Frozen Foods Ltd v Jones | [1983] ICR 17 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | In deciding whether a dismissal was fair, the tribunal must ask whether it fell within the band of reasonable responses which a reasonable employer might have adopted, and must not substitute its own view. |
| Iesini v Westrip Holdings Ltd | [2009] EWHC 2526 (Ch), [2011] 1 BCLC 498 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | Under the Companies Act 2006, the court must refuse permission for a derivative claim if a director acting in accordance with the duty to promote the success of the company would not seek to continue it, and otherwise has a discretion. |
| Igen Ltd v Wong | [2005] EWCA Civ 142, [2005] ICR 931 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | Under the burden of proof rule in discrimination cases, once the claimant proves facts from which discrimination could be inferred, the burden shifts to the employer to prove that the treatment was in no sense whatsoever because of the protected characteristic. |
| Illumina Inc v Commission | Joined Cases C-611/22 P and C-625/22 P, EU:C:2024:677 | Competition LawMerger control | The Commission cannot accept a referral from a member state of a merger which falls below that state's own national thresholds, so its review of Illumina's acquisition of Grail was unlawful. |
| Ilott v The Blue Cross | [2017] UKSC 17, [2018] AC 545 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | An adult daughter estranged from her mother could claim reasonable provision from the estate, but the court must respect the testator's wishes and the award for maintenance only is limited. |
| Ilott v The Blue Cross | [2017] UKSC 17, [2018] AC 545 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | An adult daughter estranged from her mother could claim reasonable provision from the estate, but the court must respect the testator's wishes and the award for maintenance only is limited. |
| Imageview Management Ltd v Jack | [2009] EWCA Civ 63, [2009] Bus LR 1034 | Commercial LawAgency | An agent who takes a secret commission from the other party to a transaction forfeits his right to remuneration from his principal, and must account for the secret commission. |
| Imageview Management Ltd v Jack | [2009] EWCA Civ 63, [2009] Bus LR 1034 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | An agent who takes a secret commission from the other party to a transaction forfeits his right to remuneration from his principal, and must account for the secret commission. |
| Imerman v Tchenguiz | [2010] EWCA Civ 908, [2011] Fam 116 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | A wife's brothers who secretly copied her husband's confidential documents from his computer, for use in divorce proceedings, were liable for breach of confidence. |
| Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd v Commission (Dyestuffs) | Case 48/69, [1972] ECR 619 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | A concerted practice is a form of coordination between undertakings which knowingly substitutes practical cooperation for the risks of competition, even without an agreement. |
| Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd v Shatwell | [1965] AC 656 | Tort LawDefences and damages | The defence of volenti non fit injuria can apply to an employee who deliberately disobeyed safety rules together with a co-worker, so the employer was not vicariously liable. |
| Imperial Tobacco Ltd v Lord Advocate | [2012] UKSC 61 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | Scottish legislation banning tobacco displays in shops was within competence, and the Scotland Act should be interpreted according to its ordinary meaning. |
| Improver Corp v Remington Consumer Products Ltd | [1990] FSR 181 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | The Catnic approach to claim construction was restated as three questions about whether a variant has a material effect, whether that would have been obvious, and whether the patentee intended strict compliance. |
| IMS Health GmbH & Co OHG v NDC Health GmbH & Co KG | Case C-418/01, [2004] ECR I-5039 | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | A refusal to license an intellectual property right is abusive only if the licence is indispensable, the refusal prevents the emergence of a new product, it is unjustified, and it excludes competition on a secondary market. |
| In the Estate of Fuld (No 3) | [1968] P 675 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | The court must be satisfied that a testator knew and approved the contents of a will, and the burden is heavier where the will was prepared in suspicious circumstances, as with codicils made by a seriously ill testator. |
| In the Estate of Fuld (No 3) | [1968] P 675 | Wills, Succession and ProbateTestamentary capacity, knowledge and approval | The court must be satisfied that a testator knew and approved the contents of a will, and the burden is heavier where the will was prepared in suspicious circumstances, as with codicils made by a seriously ill testator. |
| Inco Europe Ltd v First Choice Distribution | [2000] 1 WLR 586 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The courts can correct an obvious drafting error in a statute, provided they are sure of the intended purpose and the words Parliament would have used. |
| Income Tax Special Purposes Commissioners v Pemsel | [1891] AC 531 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | Charity in its legal sense comprises four principal divisions: the relief of poverty, the advancement of education, the advancement of religion, and other purposes beneficial to the community. |
| Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain v Central Arbitration Committee | [2023] UKSC 43 | Employment LawEmployment status | Deliveroo riders, who had a genuine and unfettered right to send a substitute, were not in an employment relationship for the purposes of the right to collective bargaining under article 11 of the Convention. |
| Industrial Development Consultants Ltd v Cooley | [1972] 1 WLR 443 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | A managing director who obtained a contract for himself, which came to him because of his position, was liable to account for the profits, even though the company could not have obtained the contract. |
| Industrial Development Consultants Ltd v Cooley | [1972] 1 WLR 443 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | A managing director who obtained a contract for himself, which came to him because of his position, was liable to account for the profits, even though the company could not have obtained the contract. |
| Infopaq International A/S v Danske Dagblades Forening | Case C-5/08, [2009] ECR I-6569 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | Copyright protects a work only if it is the author's own intellectual creation, and even an extract of 11 words can be protected if it expresses that creation. |
| Ingmar GB Ltd v Eaton Leonard Technologies Inc | Case C-381/98, [2000] ECR I-9305 | Conflict of LawsChoice of law in contract and tort | The provisions of the Commercial Agents Directive giving agents compensation on termination are overriding mandatory rules, which apply where the agent operates in the EU even if the contract is governed by the law of a non EU state. |
| Ingram v Inland Revenue Commissioners | [2000] 1 AC 293 | Tax LawCapital gains, inheritance tax and property taxes | A donor who carved out a lease for herself before giving away the freehold of her land had not made a gift with reservation of benefit, because she had given away only the freehold subject to the lease. |
| Ingram v Little | [1961] 1 QB 31 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | A contract with a rogue was void for mistake as to identity where the sellers had shown they would deal only with the person whose identity was claimed. |
| Ingram v Little | [1961] 1 QB 31 | Contract LawMistake | A contract with a rogue was void for mistake as to identity where the sellers had shown they would deal only with the person whose identity was claimed. |
| Inland Revenue Commissioners v Duke of Westminster | [1936] AC 1 | Tax LawTax avoidance, statutory interpretation and the Ramsay principle | Every person is entitled, if he can, to order his affairs so that the tax payable is less than it would otherwise be, and the court will not disregard the legal form of a transaction in favour of its supposed substance. |
| Inntrepreneur Pub Co v Crehan | [2006] UKHL 38, [2007] 1 AC 333 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | An English court is not bound by a Commission decision about a different agreement when deciding whether a beer tie infringes competition law, and Mr Crehan's damages claim failed. |
| Intel Corp Inc v CPM United Kingdom Ltd | Case C-252/07, [2008] ECR I-8823 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | Detriment to the distinctive character of a mark with a reputation, known as dilution, requires evidence of a change in the economic behaviour of the average consumer. |
| Intel Corp v Commission | Case C-413/14 P, EU:C:2017:632 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | Where a dominant undertaking submits evidence that its rebates were not capable of restricting competition, the Commission must examine their capacity to foreclose as efficient competitors. |
| Inter-Environnement Wallonie ASBL v Région Wallonne | Case C-129/96, [1997] ECR I-7411 | Environmental LawPollution offences, contaminated land and waste | Member states must refrain from adopting measures liable seriously to compromise the result prescribed by a directive during the period allowed for its transposition, and substances used in commercial processes can still be waste. |
| Interflora Inc v Marks & Spencer plc | [2014] EWCA Civ 1403, [2015] FSR 10 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | Bidding on a competitor's trade mark as a keyword infringes if the advertisement does not enable reasonably well informed users to tell that the goods do not come from the trade mark owner. |
| Interfoto Picture Library Ltd v Stiletto Visual Programmes Ltd | [1989] QB 433 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | A particularly onerous or unusual term must be fairly and reasonably brought to the other party's attention. |
| Interlego AG v Tyco Industries Inc | [1989] AC 217 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | A copy of an existing work that involves skill and labour but no material alteration of the work is not original, so new drawings of Lego bricks did not create a new copyright. |
| International Energy Group Ltd v Zurich Insurance plc UK | [2015] UKSC 33, [2016] AC 509 | Insurance LawLiability insurance and third party rights | Where an employer is liable in full for mesothelioma under the Compensation Act 2006 but had insurance for only part of the exposure period, the insurer must pay in full but can seek contribution from other insurers or the employer. |
| International Transport Workers' Federation v Viking Line ABP | Case C-438/05, [2007] ECR I-10779 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | Collective action by trade unions that restricts freedom of establishment must be justified and proportionate, although the right to strike is a fundamental right. |
| International Transport Workers' Federation v Viking Line ABP | Case C-438/05, [2007] ECR I-10779 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | Collective action by trade unions that restricts freedom of establishment must be justified and proportionate, although the right to strike is a fundamental right. |
| Internationale Handelsgesellschaft mbH v Einfuhr und Vorratsstelle für Getreide und Futtermittel | Case 11/70, [1970] ECR 1125 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | EU law takes precedence even over the fundamental rights in a Member State's constitution, although respect for fundamental rights forms part of the general principles of EU law. |
| Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami v European Parliament and Council | Case C-583/11 P, EU:C:2013:625 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | The new category of regulatory act introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon, which a private person can challenge without showing individual concern, does not include legislative acts. |
| Investment Trust Companies v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2017] UKSC 29, [2018] AC 275 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPrinciples of unjust enrichment | The claimant's loss must correspond to the defendant's gain, generally through a direct transfer, so investment trusts which paid VAT to suppliers could not claim directly against HMRC. |
| Investment Trust Companies v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2017] UKSC 29, [2018] AC 275 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | The claimant's loss must correspond to the defendant's gain, generally through a direct transfer, so investment trusts which paid VAT to suppliers could not claim directly against HMRC. |
| Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society | [1998] 1 WLR 896 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | A contract means what it would convey to a reasonable person with all the background knowledge reasonably available to the parties. |
| Inwards v Baker | [1965] 2 QB 29 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | A son who built a bungalow on his father's land at his father's suggestion was entitled to live there for as long as he wished. |
| IRC v Baddeley | [1955] AC 572 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A trust for the religious, social and physical wellbeing of Methodists in a particular area was not charitable, because it was for a class within a class and included non charitable purposes. |
| IRC v Broadway Cottages Trust | [1955] Ch 20 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | The old rule that a discretionary trust is valid only if a complete list of all the beneficiaries can be drawn up, a rule later overruled in McPhail v Doulton. |
| IRC v McMullen | [1981] AC 1 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A trust to promote the playing of football and other sports by pupils at schools and universities was charitable, because it was for the advancement of education. |
| Ireland v Livingston | (1872) LR 5 HL 395 | Commercial LawAgency | An agent who acts in good faith on a reasonable interpretation of ambiguous instructions is not in breach of his duty, even if it was not the interpretation the principal intended. |
| Ireland v United Kingdom | (1979) 2 EHRR 25 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | The five techniques used in interrogating internees in Northern Ireland amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment, though not torture, which requires suffering of particular intensity and cruelty. |
| Irvine v Talksport Ltd | [2003] EWCA Civ 423, [2003] 2 All ER 881 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | A celebrity can sue in passing off where a business falsely suggests that he has endorsed its product, if he has a significant reputation and the endorsement is likely to be believed. |
| Isabella Shipowner SA v Shagang Shipping Co Ltd (The Aquafaith) | [2012] EWHC 1077 (Comm), [2012] 2 Lloyd's Rep 61 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | An innocent party loses its right to affirm a contract and claim the price only where insisting on performance would be wholly unreasonable or perverse. |
| Isabella Shipowner SA v Shagang Shipping Co Ltd (The Aquafaith) | [2012] EWHC 1077 (Comm), [2012] 2 Lloyd's Rep 61 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | An innocent party loses its right to affirm a contract and claim the price only where insisting on performance would be wholly unreasonable or perverse. |
| Islam v Secretary of State for the Home Department; R v Immigration Appeal Tribunal, ex p Shah | [1999] 2 AC 629 | Immigration and Asylum LawRefugee status and asylum | Women in Pakistan who were accused of adultery and faced violence without state protection were members of a particular social group, defined by their gender and the discrimination they suffered. |
| Islamic Republic of Iran v Barakat Galleries Ltd | [2007] EWCA Civ 1374, [2009] QB 22 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | A foreign state that owns antiquities under its law can bring a claim in England to recover them, because such a claim is not the enforcement of a foreign penal or public law. |
| Island Export Finance Ltd v Umunna | [1986] BCLC 460 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | A former director is not prevented from exploiting an opportunity after leaving the company, unless his resignation was prompted by a wish to acquire the opportunity, or the opportunity was one that the company was actively pursuing. |
| Island of Palmas Case (Netherlands v United States) | (1928) 2 RIAA 829 | Public International LawStatehood, territory, recognition and self determination | Title to territory depends on the continuous and peaceful display of state authority, and discovery alone gives only an inchoate title which must be perfected by effective occupation. |
| ISS Facility Services NV v Govaerts | Case C-344/18, EU:C:2020:239 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | Where an undertaking is transferred to more than one transferee, the employee's contract can be divided between the transferees in proportion to the work he performed for each part. |
| Istituto Chemioterapico Italiano SpA and Commercial Solvents Corp v Commission | Joined Cases 6 and 7/73, [1974] ECR 223 | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | A dominant supplier of a raw material which stops supplying an existing customer, in order to compete with it in the downstream market, abuses its dominant position. |
| It's a Wrap (UK) Ltd v Gula | [2006] EWCA Civ 544, [2006] BCC 626 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | A shareholder who receives an unlawful dividend is liable to repay it if he knew the facts that made it unlawful, even if he did not know that the law prohibited it. |
| Item Software (UK) Ltd v Fassihi | [2004] EWCA Civ 1244 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | A director's duty of loyalty may require him to disclose his own misconduct to the company. |
| Ittihadieh v 5-11 Cheyne Gardens RTM Co Ltd | [2017] EWCA Civ 121 | Data Protection and Technology LawLawful processing, data subject rights and the right to be forgotten | A data controller must carry out a reasonable and proportionate search in response to a subject access request, and the court has a discretion whether to order compliance. |
| Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd | [2017] UKSC 67, [2018] AC 391 | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | The test for dishonesty is objective: the jury decides the defendant's actual state of knowledge or belief, and then whether his conduct was dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people. |
| Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd | [2017] UKSC 67, [2018] AC 391 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | The test for dishonesty is objective: the jury decides the defendant's actual state of knowledge or belief, and then whether his conduct was dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people. |
| Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd | [2017] UKSC 67, [2018] AC 391 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | The test for dishonesty is objective: the jury decides the defendant's actual state of knowledge or belief, and then whether his conduct was dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people. |
| Re J (A Child) (Custody Rights: Jurisdiction) | [2005] UKHL 40, [2006] 1 AC 80 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | Where a child is brought to England from a country which is not party to the Hague Convention, the court must decide whether to return the child by applying the welfare principle, not a presumption of return. |
| Re J (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) | [1991] Fam 33 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | The court may approve the withholding of life prolonging treatment from a severely disabled baby, where the treatment would cause suffering and the baby's life would be intolerable to him. |
| Re J (Children) (Care Proceedings: Threshold Criteria) | [2013] UKSC 9, [2013] 1 AC 680 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | A finding in earlier proceedings that a person was a possible perpetrator of harm to a child cannot by itself establish that a child in a new family is likely to suffer significant harm. |
| Re J (Specific Issue Orders: Child's Religious Upbringing and Circumcision) | [2000] 1 FLR 571 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | A decision to circumcise a child for religious reasons is one which requires the agreement of both parents with parental responsibility, or else the court's approval, decided by reference to the child's welfare. |
| J Bollinger v Costa Brava Wine Co Ltd (Spanish Champagne) | [1960] Ch 262 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | Producers of champagne can sue together to prevent the sale of sparkling wine from elsewhere as champagne, because they share the goodwill in the name. |
| J Lauritzen AS v Wijsmuller BV (The Super Servant Two) | [1990] 1 Lloyd's Rep 1 | Contract LawFrustration | Where a party chooses which of several contracts to perform after an event affects its resources, the loss of the others is self induced and not frustration. |
| J Lauritzen AS v Wijsmuller BV (The Super Servant Two) | [1990] 1 Lloyd's Rep 1 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | Where a party chooses which of several contracts to perform after an event affects its resources, the loss of the others is self induced and not frustration. |
| J v C | [1970] AC 668 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | The welfare of the child is the first and paramount consideration, which rules upon or determines the course to be followed, even in a dispute between parents and strangers. |
| J&H Ritchie Ltd v Lloyd Ltd | [2007] UKHL 9, [2007] 1 WLR 670 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | A buyer who agreed to the seller repairing defective goods was entitled to be told what the defect had been before deciding whether to accept them, and could reject them when the seller refused. |
| JA Pye (Oxford) Ltd v Graham | [2002] UKHL 30, [2003] 1 AC 419 | Land LawAdverse possession | Adverse possession requires factual possession and an intention to possess, not an intention to own, and a squatter's willingness to pay for use does not defeat the claim. |
| JA Pye (Oxford) Ltd v United Kingdom | (2008) 46 EHRR 45 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | The English law of adverse possession, which deprived an owner of its land without compensation, did not breach the right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions. |
| JA Pye (Oxford) Ltd v United Kingdom | (2008) 46 EHRR 45 | Land LawAdverse possession | The English law of adverse possession, which deprived an owner of its land without compensation, did not breach the right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions. |
| Jackson v Horizon Holidays Ltd | [1975] 1 WLR 1468 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | A person who books a holiday for his family can recover damages reflecting the whole family's disappointment. |
| Jackson v Murray | [2015] UKSC 5, [2015] 2 All ER 805 | Tort LawDefences and damages | In apportioning damages for contributory negligence, the court must consider both the blameworthiness and the causative potency of each party's conduct, and appellate courts may interfere only if the apportionment is wrong. |
| Jackson v Union Marine Insurance Co Ltd | (1874) LR 10 CP 125 | Contract LawFrustration | A delay so long that it defeats the commercial purpose of the venture can frustrate a contract. |
| Jackson v Union Marine Insurance Co Ltd | (1874) LR 10 CP 125 | Shipping and Maritime LawMarine insurance | A delay so long that it defeats the commercial purpose of the venture can frustrate a contract. |
| Jaggard v Sawyer | [1995] 1 WLR 269 | Land LawFreehold covenants | The court may award damages instead of an injunction for breach of a restrictive covenant, measured by the price that might reasonably have been agreed for release of the covenant. |
| Jameel v Wall Street Journal Europe Sprl | [2006] UKHL 44, [2007] 1 AC 359 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | The Reynolds defence protects responsible journalism on matters of public interest, and the factors should be applied flexibly, not as a series of hurdles. |
| James v Eastleigh Borough Council | [1990] 2 AC 751 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | Direct discrimination is decided by the objective but for test, so a criterion that is inherently based on sex, such as state pension age, is directly discriminatory whatever the motive. |
| James v Greenwich London Borough Council | [2008] EWCA Civ 35, [2008] ICR 545 | Employment LawEmployment status | A contract of employment between an agency worker and the end user should be implied only where it is necessary to do so to explain the relationship. |
| James v Redcats (Brands) Ltd | [2007] ICR 1006 | Employment LawEmployment status | In deciding whether a person is a worker, the question is whether the dominant purpose of the contract is the personal performance of work, or whether the person is in business on his own account. |
| James v United Kingdom | (1986) 8 EHRR 123 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | Leasehold enfranchisement legislation which allowed tenants to buy the freehold of their homes at less than market value did not breach the right to property, because it pursued a legitimate aim of social justice. |
| Janecek v Freistaat Bayern | Case C-237/07, [2008] ECR I-6221 | Environmental LawAir and water quality | Individuals directly concerned by a risk that air quality limit values will be exceeded must be able to require the competent authorities to draw up an action plan. |
| Januzi v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2006] UKHL 5, [2006] 2 AC 426 | Immigration and Asylum LawRefugee status and asylum | In deciding whether an asylum seeker can be expected to relocate within his own country, the question is whether relocation would be unduly harsh, judged by the general standards in that country, not by comparison with the United Kingdom. |
| Jarvis v Swans Tours Ltd | [1973] QB 233 | Contract LawRemedies | Damages for disappointment and distress can be recovered where the contract is one to provide enjoyment, such as a holiday. |
| JCC (A Minor) v Eisenhower | [1984] QB 331 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | A wound requires a break in the continuity of the whole skin, so internal bleeding is not a wound. |
| Re Jennings (Deceased) | [1994] Ch 286 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | In a claim by an adult son for reasonable provision, the obligations and responsibilities of the deceased must be those existing at the death, not those he failed to discharge in the son's childhood long ago. |
| Re Jennings (Deceased) | [1994] Ch 286 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | In a claim by an adult son for reasonable provision, the obligations and responsibilities of the deceased must be those existing at the death, not those he failed to discharge in the son's childhood long ago. |
| Jennings v Rice | [2002] EWCA Civ 159, [2003] 1 P & CR 8 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | The remedy for proprietary estoppel must be proportionate to the detriment suffered, and need not fulfil the claimant's full expectation. |
| Jennings v Rice | [2002] EWCA Civ 159, [2003] 1 P & CR 8 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | The remedy for proprietary estoppel must be proportionate to the detriment suffered, and need not fulfil the claimant's full expectation. |
| Jersild v Denmark | (1995) 19 EHRR 1 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | Convicting a journalist for broadcasting racist remarks made by youths he interviewed breached article 10, because the programme was a serious contribution to public debate about racism. |
| Jervis v Harris | [1996] Ch 195 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | A landlord who exercises a right to enter and carry out repairs that the tenant has failed to do can recover the cost as a debt, without serving notice under the Leasehold Property (Repairs) Act 1938. |
| Jewson Ltd v Boyhan | [2003] EWCA Civ 1030 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | A buyer who relied on the seller's skill and judgment only for the general quality of goods, not for their suitability for his particular project, could not complain that they did not meet his needs. |
| JH Rayner (Mincing Lane) Ltd v Department of Trade and Industry (International Tin Council) | [1990] 2 AC 418 | Public International LawSources of international law and its place in domestic courts | An unincorporated treaty does not create rights or obligations enforceable in English courts, so creditors of the International Tin Council could not sue the member states for its debts. |
| JI MacWilliam Co Inc v Mediterranean Shipping Co SA (The Rafaela S) | [2005] UKHL 11, [2005] 2 AC 423 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | A straight bill of lading, which names a consignee and is not transferable, is a bill of lading for the purposes of the Hague-Visby Rules. |
| Jivraj v Hashwani | [2011] UKSC 40, [2011] 1 WLR 1872 | ArbitrationThe arbitration agreement: validity, scope and governing law | Arbitrators are not employees within the meaning of the employment discrimination legislation, so a clause requiring arbitrators to be members of a particular religious community was valid. |
| Jobcenter Berlin Neukölln v Alimanovic | Case C-67/14, EU:C:2015:597 | EU LawEU citizenship | A Member State can refuse social assistance to EU citizens who are looking for work and whose right of residence derives only from their status as job seekers, without an individual assessment. |
| Jobling v Associated Dairies Ltd | [1982] AC 794 | Tort LawCausation | Where a claimant who has been injured by the defendant later develops an unrelated illness that would have caused the same disability, the defendant is not liable for the loss after the illness. |
| Johnson v FirstRand Bank Ltd (London Branch) | [2025] UKSC 33 | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | Car dealers arranging finance did not owe customers fiduciary duties, so undisclosed commissions were not bribes, but the relationship with one customer was unfair under the Consumer Credit Act because of the size and concealment of the commission. |
| Johnson v Gore Wood & Co | [2002] 2 AC 1 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | A shareholder cannot recover damages for a diminution in the value of his shares that merely reflects the loss suffered by the company, where the company has a cause of action for the same loss. |
| Johnson v Unisys Ltd | [2001] UKHL 13, [2003] 1 AC 518 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | An employee cannot recover damages at common law for the manner of his dismissal, because Parliament has provided a statutory remedy for unfair dismissal, creating the Johnson exclusion zone. |
| Johnston v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary | Case 222/84, [1986] ECR 1651 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | A police authority is an emanation of the state, and national rules preventing judicial review of discrimination breached the right to an effective judicial remedy. |
| Jolley v Sutton London Borough Council | [2000] 1 WLR 1082 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | The type of harm that is foreseeable must be described broadly, so a council was liable when boys were injured while trying to repair an abandoned boat. |
| Re Jones | [1976] Ch 200 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | Where a will in the testator's possession is found mutilated after death, there is a presumption that the testator destroyed it with the intention of revoking it, which can be rebutted by evidence. |
| Jones v Challenger | [1961] 1 QB 176 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | Where the purpose of a trust of the home has come to an end, such as on divorce, the court will usually order sale. |
| Jones v Garnett | [2007] UKHL 35 | Tax LawIncome and corporation tax: employment, trading and residence | Dividends paid to a wife who held shares in her husband's one man company fell within the settlements legislation, but were exempt because they arose from an outright gift between spouses. |
| Jones v Jones | [2011] EWCA Civ 41, [2012] Fam 1 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | Where a business was owned before the marriage, the court should exclude from sharing its value at the start of the marriage together with a notional element of passive growth, and share the rest. |
| Jones v Kaney | [2011] UKSC 13, [2011] 2 AC 398 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | Expert witnesses can be sued in negligence by the clients who retain them, abolishing their immunity. |
| Jones v Kaney | [2011] UKSC 13, [2011] 2 AC 398 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | Expert witnesses can be sued in negligence by the clients who retain them, abolishing their immunity. |
| Jones v Kernott | [2011] UKSC 53, [2012] 1 AC 776 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | The parties' common intention as to their shares can change over time, and where it cannot be inferred, the court can impute an intention by deciding what is fair. |
| Jones v Kernott | [2011] UKSC 53, [2012] 1 AC 776 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | The parties' common intention as to their shares can change over time, and where it cannot be inferred, the court can impute an intention by deciding what is fair. |
| Jones v Kernott | [2011] UKSC 53, [2012] 1 AC 776 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | The parties' common intention as to their shares can change over time, and where it cannot be inferred, the court can impute an intention by deciding what is fair. |
| Jones v Lipman | [1962] 1 WLR 832 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | A person who transferred land to a company he controlled in order to avoid an order for specific performance could be ordered, together with the company, to complete the sale. |
| Jones v Livox Quarries Ltd | [1952] 2 QB 608 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A claimant is contributorily negligent if he exposes himself to a risk of the kind of harm that occurred, even if it happened in a slightly different way from the one he might have foreseen. |
| Jones v Lock | (1865) LR 1 Ch App 25 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | An ineffective gift will not be treated as a declaration of trust, because the intention to make a gift is different from an intention to hold the property on trust. |
| Jones v Ministry of Interior of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | [2006] UKHL 26, [2007] 1 AC 270 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | Saudi Arabia and its officials were entitled to state immunity in civil proceedings for damages for torture, because the Torture Convention did not create an exception to immunity in civil claims. |
| Jones v Padavatton | [1969] 1 WLR 328 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | Family arrangements between parent and child are presumed not to be legally binding unless the presumption is rebutted. |
| Jones v Tower Boot Co Ltd | [1997] ICR 254 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | A purposive interpretation meant that an employer was liable for racial harassment by employees acting in the course of employment. |
| Jones v Vernon's Pools Ltd | [1938] 2 All ER 626 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | A clause stating that an arrangement is binding in honour only prevents it from being enforced in the courts. |
| Jordan v United Kingdom | (2003) 37 EHRR 2 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | Article 2 requires an effective official investigation into killings by state agents, which must be independent, prompt, open to public scrutiny and capable of identifying and punishing those responsible. |
| JP Morgan Chase Bank v Springwell Navigation Corp | [2010] EWCA Civ 1221 | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | Non reliance and no advice clauses in the documents of a sophisticated investor were effective to create a contractual estoppel, preventing it from claiming that the bank had advised it. |
| Junior Books Ltd v Veitchi Co Ltd | [1983] 1 AC 520 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A subcontractor who laid a defective floor was liable in negligence for the economic loss of the building owner, because of the very close relationship between them. |
| Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v Italy: Greece intervening) | (2012) ICJ Reports 99 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | Germany was entitled to state immunity in the Italian courts for claims arising from war crimes committed by German forces in the Second World War, because immunity is procedural and does not conflict with jus cogens norms. |
| Re K (Deceased) | [1986] Ch 180 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | A widow who killed her husband in circumstances amounting to manslaughter, after years of violence by him, was granted relief from forfeiture under the Forfeiture Act 1982. |
| K Ltd v National Westminster Bank plc | [2006] EWCA Civ 1039, [2007] 1 WLR 311 | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | A bank which suspects that funds are criminal property is not liable to its customer for refusing to make a payment while it awaits consent from the authorities under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. |
| K v K (Relocation: Shared Care Arrangement) | [2011] EWCA Civ 793, [2012] Fam 134 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | The only principle in relocation cases is that the welfare of the child is paramount, and the guidance in Payne v Payne is not a presumption in favour of the parent who wishes to relocate. |
| K/S Victoria Street v House of Fraser (Stores Management) Ltd | [2011] EWCA Civ 904, [2012] Ch 497 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | A tenant's guarantor cannot be required to guarantee the liabilities of the next assignee directly, but it can guarantee the outgoing tenant's authorised guarantee agreement. |
| Kabab-Ji SAL v Kout Food Group | [2021] UKSC 48 | ArbitrationThe arbitration agreement: validity, scope and governing law | An award could not be enforced against a company which was not a party to the arbitration agreement under its governing English law, because a no oral modification clause prevented it from becoming a party by conduct. |
| Kadi and Al Barakaat International Foundation v Council and Commission | Joined Cases C-402/05 P and C-415/05 P, [2008] ECR I-6351 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | EU measures implementing United Nations Security Council resolutions must respect fundamental rights, including the right to be heard and to effective judicial review. |
| Kamer van Koophandel en Fabrieken voor Amsterdam v Inspire Art Ltd | Case C-167/01, [2003] ECR I-10155 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | A Member State cannot impose its own company law requirements, such as minimum capital, on a company formed in another Member State that carries on business only in the first state. |
| Karlshamns Oljefabriker v Eastport Navigation Corp (The Elafonissos) | [1982] 1 All ER 208 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Goods forming part of a bulk may become ascertained by exhaustion, when all the rest of the bulk has been delivered to others, so that property passes to the buyer of what remains. |
| Kasperbauer v Griffith | [2000] WTLR 333 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | Statements by a testator of what he wished to happen after his death were not enough to create a secret trust, because they did not impose a binding obligation. |
| Kaur v Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | [2018] EWCA Civ 978, [2019] ICR 1 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | An employee who resigns in response to a last straw can rely on the whole course of the employer's conduct, even if she affirmed the contract after earlier breaches. |
| Kaur v MG Rover Group Ltd | [2004] EWCA Civ 1507, [2005] ICR 625 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | Terms of a collective agreement are incorporated into individual contracts of employment only if they are apt for incorporation, and a statement of aspiration that there would be no compulsory redundancies was not. |
| Kay v Lambeth London Borough Council | [2006] UKHL 10, [2006] 2 AC 465 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | Domestic courts must follow binding domestic precedent even where it appears inconsistent with a later Strasbourg ruling, leaving it to the higher courts to resolve the conflict. |
| Re Kayford Ltd | [1975] 1 WLR 279 | Banking and Finance LawInsolvency of financial institutions and client assets | A company that paid customers' advance payments into a separate account, intending to protect them, created a trust for the customers, so the money did not form part of its assets on insolvency. |
| Re Kayford Ltd | [1975] 1 WLR 279 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | A company that paid customers' advance payments into a separate account, intending to protect them, created a trust for the customers, so the money did not form part of its assets on insolvency. |
| KC and NNC v City of Westminster Social and Community Services Department | [2008] EWCA Civ 198, [2009] Fam 11 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | A marriage conducted by telephone abroad with a man who lacked the capacity to marry, though valid where it was celebrated, was not recognised in England because recognising it would be contrary to public policy. |
| Keck and Mithouard | Joined Cases C-267/91 and C-268/91, [1993] ECR I-6097 | EU LawFree movement of goods | National rules restricting or prohibiting certain selling arrangements are not caught by article 34, as long as they apply to all traders and affect domestic and imported goods in the same way. |
| Keech v Sandford | (1726) Sel Cas Ch 61 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | A trustee who renews a lease held on trust for his own benefit holds the new lease on trust for the beneficiary, even if the landlord would not have renewed it for the beneficiary. |
| Re Keen | [1937] Ch 236 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | A half secret trust fails where the terms were communicated in a way inconsistent with the will, or after the will was made. |
| Keighley, Maxsted & Co v Durant | [1901] AC 240 | Commercial LawAgency | A principal cannot ratify a contract made by an agent who did not profess to be acting on behalf of a principal. |
| Kell v Charmer | (1856) 23 Beav 195 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | Extrinsic evidence was admissible to explain the meaning of a jeweller's private marks used in a will to indicate sums of money, because the marks were in effect a code known to the testator. |
| Kelly v Cooper | [1993] AC 205 | Commercial LawAgency | An estate agent acting for several sellers of similar properties is not in breach of duty by failing to tell one seller of confidential information obtained from another, because the terms of the agency imply this. |
| Kelly v Solari | (1841) 9 M & W 54 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | Money paid under a mistake of fact can be recovered even if the payer was careless and had the means of discovering the truth, provided that he did not intend to pay whether or not the fact was true. |
| Kelner v Baxter | (1866) LR 2 CP 174 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | A person who contracts on behalf of a company that has not yet been formed is personally liable on the contract, and the company cannot ratify it once formed. |
| Kelsen v Imperial Tobacco Co (of Great Britain and Ireland) Ltd | [1957] 2 QB 334 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | An advertising sign projecting a few inches into the airspace above neighbouring land was a trespass, not merely a nuisance. |
| Kempf v Staatssecretaris van Justitie | Case 139/85, [1986] ECR 1741 | EU LawFree movement of workers | A part time worker who needs to rely on social assistance to supplement his income is still a worker, as long as the work is effective and genuine. |
| Kennaway v Thompson | [1981] QB 88 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | The public interest in an activity that causes a nuisance does not prevent the court from granting an injunction to protect the claimant's rights. |
| Kennedy v Charity Commission | [2014] UKSC 20, [2015] AC 455 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | The common law, not only the Human Rights Act, protects fundamental rights, and the intensity of review depends on the context. |
| Kennedy v Cordia (Services) LLP | [2016] UKSC 6, [2016] 1 WLR 597 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | Expert evidence is admissible where it will assist the court, the witness has the necessary knowledge and experience, is impartial, and there is a reliable body of knowledge or experience to underpin it. |
| Kenny v Preen | [1963] 1 QB 499 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | A landlord who tried to drive a tenant out by threatening letters and repeated knocking on her door was in breach of the covenant for quiet enjoyment. |
| Kent v Griffiths | [2001] QB 36 | Tort LawDuty of care | An ambulance service that accepted an emergency call owed a duty of care to the patient to arrive within a reasonable time. |
| Keown v Coventry Healthcare NHS Trust | [2006] EWCA Civ 39, [2006] 1 WLR 953 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier is not liable to a trespasser injured by his own risky activity, such as climbing a fire escape, where the danger did not arise from the state of the premises. |
| Key v Key | [2010] EWHC 408 (Ch), [2010] 1 WLR 2020 | Wills, Succession and ProbateTestamentary capacity, knowledge and approval | An elderly testator's capacity was impaired by grief following his wife's death, so a will made a week later was invalid, and the solicitor should have followed the golden rule of obtaining a medical opinion. |
| Kiani v Cooper | [2010] EWHC 577 (Ch), [2010] 2 BCLC 427 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | Permission to continue a derivative claim was granted where there was a strong prima facie case that a director had misappropriated the company's money. |
| Kiarie v Secretary of State for the Home Department; Byndloss v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2017] UKSC 42, [2017] 1 WLR 2380 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | Certifying foreign criminals' human rights claims so that they could appeal only after being deported was unlawful, because an out of country appeal would not be effective in their cases. |
| Kilraine v London Borough of Wandsworth | [2018] EWCA Civ 1436, [2018] ICR 1850 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | A whistleblowing disclosure must contain sufficient factual content to tend to show wrongdoing, but there is no rigid distinction between information and an allegation. |
| Kinane v Mackie-Conteh | [2005] EWCA Civ 45 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | Where a person relied on a void oral agreement to grant security over land, the agreement could be enforced through a constructive trust arising from proprietary estoppel. |
| Kinch v Bullard | [1999] 1 WLR 423 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | A notice of severance sent to the matrimonial home was effective when delivered, even though the sender later changed her mind and destroyed it before her husband saw it. |
| King v Dubrey | [2015] EWCA Civ 581, [2016] Ch 221 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | The doctrine of donatio mortis causa must be kept within strict limits, and requires a gift made in contemplation of death in the near future for a specific reason. |
| King v Dubrey | [2015] EWCA Civ 581, [2016] Ch 221 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | The doctrine of donatio mortis causa must be kept within strict limits, and requires a gift made in contemplation of death in the near future for a specific reason. |
| King v Sash Window Workshop Ltd | Case C-214/16, EU:C:2017:914 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | A worker who was prevented from taking paid annual leave because the employer refused to pay for it can carry over the untaken leave until the end of the employment relationship. |
| Kingsnorth Finance Co Ltd v Tizard | [1986] 1 WLR 783 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | In unregistered land, a lender had constructive notice of a wife's beneficial interest, because its surveyor's inspection should have led to further inquiries. |
| Kirin-Amgen Inc v Hoechst Marion Roussel Ltd | [2004] UKHL 46, [2005] RPC 9 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | Claim construction asks what a person skilled in the art would have understood the patentee to be using the language of the claim to mean, and there is no separate doctrine of equivalents. |
| Kirkham v Attenborough | [1897] 1 QB 201 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | A person who receives goods on sale or return and pledges them adopts the transaction, so property passes to him and the pledgee obtains good title. |
| Kittel v Belgian State | (2006) Joined Cases C-439/04 and C-440/04 | Tax LawVAT and indirect taxes | A trader who knew or should have known that his purchase was connected with fraudulent evasion of VAT loses the right to deduct input VAT, even if his own transaction meets the objective criteria. |
| Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Lincoln City Council | [1999] 2 AC 349 | Banking and Finance LawDerivatives, bonds and capital markets | The declaratory theory of judicial decisions means that a change in the law by the courts operates retrospectively. |
| Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Lincoln City Council | [1999] 2 AC 349 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The declaratory theory of judicial decisions means that a change in the law by the courts operates retrospectively. |
| Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Lincoln City Council | [1999] 2 AC 349 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | The declaratory theory of judicial decisions means that a change in the law by the courts operates retrospectively. |
| Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Malaysia Mining Corp Bhd | [1989] 1 WLR 379 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A letter of comfort that states a present policy, rather than promising future conduct, is not a contractual promise. |
| Kleinwort Benson Ltd v Malaysia Mining Corp Bhd | [1989] 1 WLR 379 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | A letter of comfort that states a present policy, rather than promising future conduct, is not a contractual promise. |
| Knauer v Ministry of Justice | [2016] UKSC 9, [2016] AC 908 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The Supreme Court departed from two House of Lords decisions on the calculation of damages in fatal accident cases, because they were inconsistent with principle. |
| Knight v Knight | (1840) 3 Beav 148 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | A trust is created only if there is certainty of intention, certainty of subject matter and certainty of objects. |
| Knightley v Johns | [1982] 1 WLR 349 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A negligent act by a police officer, responding to an accident caused by the defendant, broke the chain of causation, so the original defendant was not liable for a further accident. |
| Knightsbridge Estates Trust Ltd v Byrne | [1939] Ch 441 | Land LawMortgages | A postponement of the right to redeem a mortgage of freehold land for 40 years was valid, because it was a commercial agreement between parties of equal bargaining power. |
| KO (Nigeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2018] UKSC 53, [2018] 1 WLR 5273 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | In deciding whether the deportation of a foreign criminal would be unduly harsh on his child or partner, the tribunal must focus on the effect on them, and not take into account the seriousness of the parent's offending. |
| Kodros Shipping Corp v Empresa Cubana de Fletes (The Evia) (No 2) | [1983] 1 AC 736 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | A charterer's obligation to nominate a safe port relates to the characteristics of the port at the time of nomination, and the charterer is not liable for an unexpected and abnormal event which occurs after nomination. |
| Re Koeppler's Will Trusts | [1986] Ch 423 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A trust to fund conferences for the exchange of views on political and other matters was charitable as being for education, because it did not promote any particular political view. |
| Kohll v Union des Caisses de Maladie | Case C-158/96, [1998] ECR I-1931 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | A national rule requiring prior authorisation for reimbursement of the costs of medical treatment in another Member State restricted the freedom to provide services. |
| Kokkinakis v Greece | (1994) 17 EHRR 397 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | Freedom of religion includes the right to try to convince others of one's beliefs, and convicting a Jehovah's Witness of proselytism for discussing his faith with a neighbour breached article 9. |
| Kone AG v ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG | Case C-557/12, EU:C:2014:1317 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | Members of a cartel can be liable for umbrella pricing, the higher prices charged by non members as a result of the cartel, if the cartel was liable to have that effect. |
| Koninklijke KPN Nederland NV v Benelux-Merkenbureau (Postkantoor) | Case C-363/99, [2004] ECR I-1619 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | A mark consisting of a combination of descriptive words is itself descriptive, unless there is a perceptible difference between the combination and the mere sum of its parts. |
| Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV v Remington Consumer Products Ltd | Case C-299/99, [2002] ECR I-5475 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | A shape that is necessary to obtain a technical result cannot be registered as a trade mark, even if the same result could be achieved by other shapes. |
| Konkurrensverket v TeliaSonera Sverige AB | Case C-52/09, [2011] ECR I-527 | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | A margin squeeze by a vertically integrated dominant undertaking can be an independent form of abuse, without the need to show that the input is indispensable. |
| Konsumentombudsmannen v Gourmet International Products AB | Case C-405/98, [2001] ECR I-1795 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A ban on advertising alcoholic drinks was a selling arrangement that affected imported products more than domestic ones, so it fell within article 34 but could be justified on public health grounds. |
| Kostal UK Ltd v Dunkley | [2021] UKSC 47 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | An employer which makes direct offers to employees to change their terms, bypassing a recognised trade union's collective bargaining, acts unlawfully if the offers would have the result of removing the terms from collective bargaining on that occasion. |
| Koufos v C Czarnikow Ltd (The Heron II) | [1969] 1 AC 350 | Contract LawRemedies | Remoteness in contract requires that the loss was not unlikely to result, a stricter test than reasonable foreseeability in tort. |
| Kraus v Land Baden-Württemberg | Case C-19/92, [1993] ECR I-1663 | EU LawFree movement of workers | National rules that may hinder or make less attractive the exercise of free movement by EU nationals, even without discrimination, must be justified and proportionate. |
| Kreglinger v New Patagonia Meat and Cold Storage Co Ltd | [1914] AC 25 | Land LawMortgages | A collateral advantage that continues after redemption is valid if it is part of a separate and independent bargain that is not unconscionable. |
| Krell v Henry | [1903] 2 KB 740 | Contract LawFrustration | A contract is frustrated if an event destroys the foundation of the contract that both parties had in mind. |
| Krombach v Bamberski | Case C-7/98, [2000] ECR I-1935 | Conflict of LawsRecognition and enforcement of foreign judgments | A court of a member state may refuse to recognise a judgment of another member state on grounds of public policy where it was given in breach of the defendant's fundamental right to be defended, as protected by the European Convention. |
| Kudrevičius v Lithuania | (2016) 62 EHRR 34 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | Article 11 protects peaceful assembly, including protests that cause disruption, but deliberate obstruction of traffic is not at the core of the right, and states have a wide margin in sanctioning it. |
| Kursell v Timber Operators and Contractors Ltd | [1927] 1 KB 298 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Goods are not specific, so that property can pass on the making of the contract, unless they are identified and agreed on at that time. |
| Kuwait Airways Corp v Iraqi Airways Co (Nos 4 and 5) | [2002] UKHL 19, [2002] 2 AC 883 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | The English courts would not recognise an Iraqi decree transferring ownership of aircraft seized from Kuwait during the invasion, because it was a flagrant breach of international law contrary to English public policy. |
| Kuzel v Roche Products Ltd | [2008] EWCA Civ 380, [2008] ICR 799 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | Where an employee alleges that the reason for dismissal was a protected disclosure, the employer must prove its reason, but if it fails the tribunal is not bound to accept the employee's reason. |
| Kwei Tek Chao v British Traders and Shippers Ltd | [1954] 2 QB 459 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Under a CIF contract, the buyer has a right to reject the documents for non conformity and a separate right to reject the goods on arrival if they do not conform. |
| Köbler v Austria | Case C-224/01, [2003] ECR I-10239 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | A Member State can be liable for a breach of EU law by a court of final instance, where the court has manifestly infringed EU law. |
| Kücükdeveci v Swedex GmbH & Co KG | Case C-555/07, [2010] ECR I-365 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | A national court must disapply national law that conflicts with the general principle of non discrimination on grounds of age, as given expression in a directive, even between private parties. |
| Re L (A Child) (Contact: Domestic Violence); Re V; Re M; Re H | [2001] Fam 260 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | There is no presumption against contact where there has been domestic violence, but violence is a highly relevant factor which must be weighed in deciding whether contact is in the child's best interests. |
| Re L (Care: Threshold Criteria) | [2007] 1 FLR 2050 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | Society must be willing to tolerate very diverse standards of parenting, and it is not the role of the state to remove children from parents who are less than perfect. |
| L'Estrange v F Graucob Ltd | [1934] 2 KB 394 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | A person who signs a contractual document is bound by its terms, whether or not they have read them. |
| L'Oréal SA v Bellure NV | Case C-487/07, [2009] ECR I-5185 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | Taking advantage of the reputation of a trade mark, by using comparison lists and similar packaging for cheap smell alike perfumes, can be taking unfair advantage of the mark, even without confusion or harm. |
| L'Oréal SA v eBay International AG | Case C-324/09, [2011] ECR I-6011 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | An online marketplace is not itself using trade marks displayed in its users' listings, but it can be liable if it plays an active role, and national courts can order it to take measures to prevent infringements. |
| L'Oréal SA v eBay International AG | Case C-324/09, [2011] ECR I-6011 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | An online marketplace is not itself using trade marks displayed in its users' listings, but it can be liable if it plays an active role, and national courts can order it to take measures to prevent infringements. |
| La Quadrature du Net v Premier ministre | (2020) Joined Cases C-511/18, C-512/18 and C-520/18 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | Member states may require the general retention of communications data to safeguard national security against a serious threat, but only for a limited period and subject to effective review. |
| Laboratoires Pharmaceutiques Bergaderm SA v Commission | Case C-352/98 P, [2000] ECR I-5291 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | The EU is liable in damages for breach of a rule of law intended to confer rights on individuals only if the breach is sufficiently serious, the same test as for Member State liability. |
| Lace v Chantler | [1944] KB 368 | Land LawLeases and licences | A lease for the duration of the war was void because its maximum term was uncertain. |
| Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd | [2019] UKSC 27, [2020] AC 612 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | Under the Defamation Act 2013, a statement is defamatory only if its publication has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the claimant's reputation, which must be proved as a fact. |
| Ladbroke (Football) Ltd v William Hill (Football) Ltd | [1964] 1 WLR 273 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | The skill and labour involved in selecting and arranging the contents of a compilation can make it an original literary work, even if the individual parts are not protected. |
| Laemthong International Lines Co Ltd v Artis (The Laemthong Glory) (No 2) | [2005] EWCA Civ 519, [2005] 1 Lloyd's Rep 688 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | A shipowner could enforce a letter of indemnity given to charterers because it was expressly intended to benefit the owner's agents and servants. |
| Lagden v O'Connor | [2003] UKHL 64, [2004] 1 AC 1067 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A defendant must take the claimant as he finds him, including his financial position, so a claimant who could not afford to hire a replacement car could recover the higher cost of credit hire. |
| Lair v Universität Hannover | Case 39/86, [1988] ECR 3161 | EU LawFree movement of workers | A migrant worker who gives up work to study keeps the status of worker, and so is entitled to maintenance grants, if there is a link between the studies and the previous work. |
| Laker Airways Ltd v Department of Trade | [1977] QB 643 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The prerogative cannot be used to defeat rights granted by statute. |
| Lamb v Camden London Borough Council | [1981] QB 625 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A defendant is not liable for damage caused by the deliberate acts of third parties unless it was highly likely, and the courts may use policy to limit liability. |
| Lambert v Co-operative Insurance Society Ltd | [1975] 2 Lloyd's Rep 485 | Insurance LawUtmost good faith, disclosure, warranties and insurable interest | An insured must disclose all facts that a prudent insurer would regard as material, even if the insured does not realise they are material, so a wife's failure to disclose her husband's convictions entitled the insurer to avoid her policy. |
| Lampleigh v Brathwait | (1615) Hob 105 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | An act done at the promisor's request before a promise of payment can support the promise. |
| Lancashire County Council v B | [2000] 2 AC 147 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | The threshold for a care order can be satisfied where the child's injuries were caused by either a parent or another carer, even though the court cannot identify which. |
| Land Baden-Württemberg v Tsakouridis | Case C-145/09, [2010] ECR I-11979 | EU LawEU citizenship | An EU citizen who has lived in a Member State for ten years can be expelled only on imperative grounds of public security, which may include serious drug trafficking as part of an organised group. |
| Landelijke Vereniging tot Behoud van de Waddenzee v Staatssecretaris van Landbouw (Waddenzee) | Case C-127/02, [2004] ECR I-7405 | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | A plan or project may be authorised under the Habitats Directive only if the authorities are certain that it will not adversely affect the integrity of the site, meaning that no reasonable scientific doubt remains. |
| Laskar v Laskar | [2008] EWCA Civ 347, [2008] 1 WLR 2695 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | Where property is bought in joint names primarily as an investment, the presumption of a resulting trust applies, rather than the Stack v Dowden approach. |
| Laskar v Laskar | [2008] EWCA Civ 347, [2008] 1 WLR 2695 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | Where property is bought in joint names primarily as an investment, the presumption of a resulting trust applies, rather than the Stack v Dowden approach. |
| Latimer v AEC Ltd | [1953] AC 643 | Tort LawBreach of duty | An employer is not negligent for failing to take precautions that would be out of proportion to the risk, such as closing down a factory. |
| Lautsi v Italy | (2012) 54 EHRR 3 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | The display of crucifixes in the classrooms of Italian state schools did not breach the right of parents to ensure education in conformity with their convictions, because it was within the state's margin of appreciation. |
| Laval un Partneri Ltd v Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet | Case C-341/05, [2007] ECR I-11767 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | Trade union action to force a foreign company posting workers to accept a collective agreement going beyond minimum standards was an unjustified restriction on the freedom to provide services. |
| Laval un Partneri Ltd v Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet | Case C-341/05, [2007] ECR I-11767 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | Trade union action to force a foreign company posting workers to accept a collective agreement going beyond minimum standards was an unjustified restriction on the freedom to provide services. |
| Lavelle v Lavelle | [2004] EWCA Civ 223 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | The presumption of advancement is now weak and can be rebutted by comparatively slight evidence. |
| Lavender & Son Ltd v Minister of Housing and Local Government | [1970] 1 WLR 1231 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A minister unlawfully fettered his discretion by adopting a policy of never granting planning permission without another minister's agreement. |
| Laverton v Kiapasha | [2002] EWCA Civ 1656 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier of a takeaway shop was not liable to a customer who slipped on a wet floor on a rainy night, because it had taken reasonable precautions. |
| Law Debenture Trust Corp plc v Ukraine | [2023] UKSC 11 | Banking and Finance LawDerivatives, bonds and capital markets | Ukraine was entitled to a trial of its defence that it had issued 3 billion US dollars of Eurobonds to Russia under duress, consisting of threats of force, but its other defences failed. |
| Law Debenture Trust Corp plc v Ukraine | [2023] UKSC 11 | Public International LawLaw of the sea, international environmental law and dispute settlement | Ukraine was entitled to a trial of its defence that it had issued 3 billion US dollars of Eurobonds to Russia under duress, consisting of threats of force, but its other defences failed. |
| Lawal v Northern Spirit Ltd | [2003] UKHL 35, [2004] 1 All ER 187 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | A barrister who sits as a part time judge should not appear as counsel before a lay member of the tribunal with whom he has sat as a judge. |
| Lawrence v Metropolitan Police Commissioner | [1972] AC 626 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | Appropriation can take place even if the owner consents to the property being taken. |
| Lawrie-Blum v Land Baden-Württemberg | Case 66/85, [1986] ECR 2121 | EU LawFree movement of workers | A worker is a person who, for a period of time, performs services for and under the direction of another person in return for remuneration, and this includes a trainee teacher. |
| LB (Plastics) Ltd v Swish Products Ltd | [1979] RPC 551 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Copying of a three dimensional object from another three dimensional object can infringe the copyright in the drawings from which the first object was made. |
| Le Patourel v BT Group plc | [2024] CAT 76 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | The first collective action to go to trial in the Competition Appeal Tribunal failed, because although BT's prices for landline services were excessive, they were not shown to be unfair. |
| Leaf v International Galleries | [1950] 2 KB 86 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | The right to rescind a contract for innocent misrepresentation can be lost by lapse of time. |
| Leahy v Attorney General for New South Wales | [1959] AC 457 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | A gift to an unincorporated association may take effect as a gift to its members, but a gift to an order of nuns for ever was a purpose trust that failed, except as saved by statute. |
| Leakey v National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty | [1980] QB 485 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | An occupier is under a measured duty to take reasonable steps to prevent a natural hazard on his land from damaging his neighbour's property. |
| Learoyd v Whiteley | (1887) 12 App Cas 727 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | When investing trust money, trustees must take the care that an ordinary prudent man would take if he were investing for people for whom he felt morally bound to provide. |
| Lee v Ashers Baking Co Ltd | [2018] UKSC 49, [2020] AC 413 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | A bakery owned by Christians did not discriminate against a gay customer by refusing to bake a cake iced with a message supporting same sex marriage, because it objected to the message, not the customer. |
| Lee v Bude and Torrington Junction Railway Co | (1871) LR 6 CP 576 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | The courts cannot hold an Act of Parliament invalid because it was obtained by fraud or misleading Parliament. |
| Lee v Lee's Air Farming Ltd | [1961] AC 12 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | A person who owns and controls a company can also be its employee, because the company is a separate legal person with which he can contract. |
| Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust v A | [2003] EWHC 259 (QB), [2003] 1 FLR 1091 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | Where a clinic mistakenly used the wrong man's sperm in fertility treatment, the man whose sperm was used was the legal father, and not the husband of the mother. |
| Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust v A | [2003] EWHC 259 (QB), [2003] 1 FLR 1091 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | Where a clinic mistakenly used the wrong man's sperm in fertility treatment, the man whose sperm was used was the legal father, and not the husband of the mother. |
| Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory | (2004) ICJ Reports 136 | Public International LawStatehood, territory, recognition and self determination | Israel's construction of a wall in the occupied Palestinian territory was contrary to international law, including the right of the Palestinian people to self determination and international humanitarian law. |
| Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 | (2019) ICJ Reports 95 | Public International LawStatehood, territory, recognition and self determination | The decolonisation of Mauritius was not lawfully completed when the Chagos Archipelago was separated from it before independence, and the United Kingdom was obliged to end its administration of the archipelago as rapidly as possible. |
| Legal Status of Eastern Greenland (Denmark v Norway) | (1933) PCIJ Series A/B No 53 | Public International LawStatehood, territory, recognition and self determination | Sovereignty over remote and sparsely populated territory may be established by very little actual exercise of authority, and an oral declaration by a foreign minister can bind his state. |
| Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons | (1996) ICJ Reports 226 | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | The threat or use of nuclear weapons would generally be contrary to international humanitarian law, but the court could not conclude whether it would be unlawful in an extreme circumstance of self defence in which the survival of a state was at stake. |
| Re Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (In Administration) (Client Money) | [2012] UKSC 6 | Banking and Finance LawInsolvency of financial institutions and client assets | Under the client money rules, a statutory trust arises when a firm receives client money, and on the firm's failure all clients with a claim to client money share in the pool, whether or not their money was properly segregated. |
| Re Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (In Administration) (Waterfall I) | [2017] UKSC 38, [2018] AC 465 | Banking and Finance LawInsolvency of financial institutions and client assets | In the Lehman administration, which had a large surplus, creditors were not entitled to claim currency conversion losses or statutory interest in the administration, but the court resolved the order of distribution of the surplus. |
| Leigh v Jack | (1879) 5 Ex D 264 | Land LawAdverse possession | Acts on land that do not interfere with the owner's intended future use of it were held not to amount to adverse possession, a rule later rejected. |
| Leigh v Taylor | [1902] AC 157 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | Valuable tapestries attached to a wall so that they could be displayed and enjoyed as tapestries remained chattels. |
| Lennard's Carrying Co Ltd v Asiatic Petroleum Co Ltd | [1915] AC 705 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | A company's fault or privity is that of the person who is its directing mind and will, such as a managing director who manages its business. |
| Leonesio v Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry | Case 93/71, [1972] ECR 287 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | A Member State cannot delay the rights conferred by a regulation by relying on its own budgetary or procedural rules. |
| Les Laboratoires Servier v Apotex Inc | [2014] UKSC 55, [2015] AC 430 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | The illegality defence applies only to criminal acts and quasi-criminal acts, not to the infringement of private rights such as a foreign patent. |
| Lesoochranárske zoskupenie VLK v Ministerstvo životného prostredia Slovenskej republiky (Slovak Brown Bears) | Case C-240/09, [2011] ECR I-1255 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | Article 9(3) of the Aarhus Convention does not have direct effect in EU law, but national courts must interpret national procedural law as far as possible to enable environmental organisations to challenge decisions. |
| Lesotho Highlands Development Authority v Impregilo SpA | [2005] UKHL 43, [2006] 1 AC 221 | ArbitrationChallenging and enforcing awards, and investment arbitration | An error of law by a tribunal in deciding the currency of the award is not an excess of power within section 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996, which is reserved for extreme cases of serious irregularity. |
| Letang v Cooper | [1965] 1 QB 232 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | Where injury is caused unintentionally, the claim lies in negligence, not trespass, so trespass to the person requires an intentional act. |
| Levin v Staatssecretaris van Justitie | Case 53/81, [1982] ECR 1035 | EU LawFree movement of workers | A part time worker is a worker for the purposes of EU law, as long as the work is effective and genuine and not marginal and ancillary, whatever the worker's motives. |
| Lewis v Averay | [1972] 1 QB 198 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | In face to face dealings there is a strong presumption that a party intends to contract with the person in front of them. |
| Lewis v Averay | [1972] 1 QB 198 | Contract LawMistake | In face to face dealings there is a strong presumption that a party intends to contract with the person in front of them. |
| Lewis v Chief Constable of the South Wales Constabulary | [1991] 1 All ER 206 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | An arrest which is unlawful because the person was not told the reason becomes lawful once the reason is given, so the person can recover damages only for the period before being told. |
| Lewis v Motorworld Garages Ltd | [1986] ICR 157 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | A course of conduct by the employer can cumulatively amount to a breach of the implied term of trust and confidence, so that the last straw entitles the employee to resign and claim constructive dismissal. |
| Lexi Holdings plc v Luqman | [2009] EWCA Civ 117 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | Non executive directors who failed to disclose a co-director's criminal convictions for dishonesty, and failed to supervise him, were liable for the losses caused by his misappropriation of money. |
| Lexington Insurance Co v AGF Insurance Ltd | [2009] UKHL 40, [2010] 1 AC 180 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | A reinsurance contract governed by English law, which is back to back with a primary insurance, does not necessarily respond to an unexpected foreign judgment on the primary policy that differs from the English interpretation. |
| Leyland Shipping Co Ltd v Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd | [1918] AC 350 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | The proximate cause of a loss is the cause which is proximate in efficiency, not necessarily the last in time, so the loss of a torpedoed ship which sank later in harbour was caused by a war risk. |
| Libertel Groep BV v Benelux-Merkenbureau | Case C-104/01, [2003] ECR I-3793 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | A colour on its own can be registered as a trade mark if it is represented by an internationally recognised colour code and has acquired, or has, distinctive character. |
| Libyan Arab Foreign Bank v Bankers Trust Co | [1989] QB 728 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | A deposit account held at the London branch of an American bank was governed by English law, so a US presidential order freezing Libyan assets did not prevent payment of the balance in London. |
| Libyan Arab Foreign Bank v Bankers Trust Co | [1989] QB 728 | Conflict of LawsChoice of law in contract and tort | A deposit account held at the London branch of an American bank was governed by English law, so a US presidential order freezing Libyan assets did not prevent payment of the balance in London. |
| Limpus v London General Omnibus Co | (1862) 1 H & C 526 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | An employer is vicariously liable for an employee's negligent way of doing his job, even if the employee was acting contrary to express instructions. |
| Linden Gardens Trust Ltd v Lenesta Sludge Disposals Ltd | [1994] 1 AC 85 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | A contracting party may recover substantial damages for a breach that causes loss to a third party who has acquired the property, where the parties contemplated a transfer. |
| Lindqvist | (2003) Case C-101/01 | Data Protection and Technology LawPersonal data, controllers and the scope of data protection | Referring to people on an internet page by name or other identifying details is processing of personal data, which is not covered by the exemption for purely personal or household activity. |
| Lingens v Austria | (1986) 8 EHRR 407 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | The limits of acceptable criticism are wider for a politician than for a private individual, and value judgments, unlike facts, are not susceptible of proof. |
| Link Lending Ltd v Bustard | [2010] EWCA Civ 424 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | A woman living in a psychiatric hospital was still in actual occupation of her home, because she intended to return and her belongings remained there. |
| Lion Laboratories Ltd v Evans | [1985] QB 526 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | The publication of confidential information is justified in the public interest if it reveals matters that the public has a legitimate interest in knowing, not only wrongdoing. |
| Re Lipinski's Will Trusts | [1976] Ch 235 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | A gift to an association for a stated purpose can be valid as a gift to the members, where the members can decide to use the property as they wish. |
| Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd | [1991] 2 AC 548 | Banking and Finance LawPayments, mandates and the Quincecare duty | A recipient of stolen money is liable to repay it as unjust enrichment, unless he can rely on the defence of change of position. |
| Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd | [1991] 2 AC 548 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | A recipient of stolen money is liable to repay it as unjust enrichment, unless he can rely on the defence of change of position. |
| Lipkin Gorman v Karpnale Ltd | [1991] 2 AC 548 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPrinciples of unjust enrichment | A recipient of stolen money is liable to repay it as unjust enrichment, unless he can rely on the defence of change of position. |
| Lister v Hesley Hall Ltd | [2001] UKHL 22, [2002] 1 AC 215 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | An employer is vicariously liable for an employee's wrongful act if it was so closely connected with the employment that it would be fair and just to hold the employer liable. |
| Litster v Forth Dry Dock & Engineering Co Ltd | [1990] 1 AC 546 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | Regulations implementing an EU directive were read as applying to workers dismissed shortly before the transfer of a business, to achieve the directive's purpose. |
| Litster v Forth Dry Dock & Engineering Co Ltd | [1990] 1 AC 546 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | Regulations implementing an EU directive were read as applying to workers dismissed shortly before the transfer of a business, to achieve the directive's purpose. |
| Littlewoods Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2017] UKSC 70 | Tax LawVAT and indirect taxes | A taxpayer which had overpaid VAT could not recover compound interest in restitution, because the statutory scheme for repayment with simple interest excluded common law claims and satisfied EU law. |
| Liverpool City Council v Irwin | [1977] AC 239 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Terms can be implied in law into a whole category of contract, such as tenancies of flats in a tower block. |
| Liverpool City Council v Irwin | [1977] AC 239 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | Terms can be implied in law into a whole category of contract, such as tenancies of flats in a tower block. |
| Liversidge v Anderson | [1942] AC 206 | Public LawRule of law | A wartime decision that the Home Secretary's belief about detention need not be objectively reasonable, famous for Lord Atkin's powerful dissent. |
| Liyanage v The Queen | [1967] 1 AC 259 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | Legislation directed at particular individuals in pending criminal proceedings was an unconstitutional interference with the judicial power. |
| Lliuya v RWE AG | (2025) I-5 U 15/17 | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | A Peruvian farmer's claim against a German energy company for a share of the cost of protecting his town from glacial flooding failed on the facts, but the court accepted that major emitters could in principle be liable. |
| Lloyd Schuhfabrik Meyer & Co GmbH v Klijsen Handel BV | Case C-342/97, [1999] ECR I-3819 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | The average consumer is reasonably well informed, observant and circumspect, but rarely has the chance to compare marks directly, and his level of attention varies with the category of goods. |
| Lloyd v Google LLC | [2021] UKSC 50, [2022] AC 1217 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | A representative action claiming damages for millions of iPhone users for loss of control of their data could not proceed without proof of individual damage. |
| Lloyd v Google LLC | [2021] UKSC 50, [2022] AC 1217 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | A representative action claiming damages for millions of iPhone users for loss of control of their data could not proceed without proof of individual damage. |
| Lloyd v McMahon | [1987] AC 625 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | The requirements of fairness depend on the character of the decision making body, the kind of decision and the statutory framework. |
| Lloyds Bank Ltd v Bundy | [1975] QB 326 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | A transaction can be set aside for undue influence where a customer relied on the bank's advice, though Lord Denning's wider doctrine of inequality of bargaining power was later rejected. |
| Lloyds Bank Ltd v Bundy | [1975] QB 326 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | A transaction can be set aside for undue influence where a customer relied on the bank's advice, though Lord Denning's wider doctrine of inequality of bargaining power was later rejected. |
| Lloyds Bank plc v Rosset | [1991] 1 AC 107 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | A common intention constructive trust requires either express discussions about sharing the property, or direct contributions to the purchase price from which such an intention can be inferred. |
| Lloyds Bank plc v Rosset | [1991] 1 AC 107 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | A common intention constructive trust requires either express discussions about sharing the property, or direct contributions to the purchase price from which such an intention can be inferred. |
| Lloyds Bank plc v Rosset | [1991] 1 AC 107 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | A common intention constructive trust requires either express discussions about sharing the property, or direct contributions to the purchase price from which such an intention can be inferred. |
| Re Lo-Line Electric Motors Ltd | [1988] Ch 477 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | The purpose of disqualification is to protect the public, and ordinary commercial misjudgment is not enough to make a director unfit, but conduct showing a lack of commercial probity or gross negligence may be. |
| Locabail (UK) Ltd v Bayfield Properties Ltd | [2000] QB 451 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | Guidance on when a judge should stand down because of a connection with a party or a case, giving rise to apparent bias. |
| Loch v John Blackwood Ltd | [1924] AC 783 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | A company may be wound up on the just and equitable ground where there is a justifiable lack of confidence in the conduct of the company's affairs, based on the management's lack of probity. |
| Logdon v Director of Public Prosecutions | [1976] Crim LR 121 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | An assault can be committed with an imitation gun, because the question is whether the victim apprehended immediate unlawful force. |
| Lomas v JFB Firth Rixson Inc | [2012] EWCA Civ 419 | Banking and Finance LawInsolvency of financial institutions and client assets | Under the ISDA Master Agreement, a non defaulting party's payment obligations are suspended while an event of default continues, and the suspension is not limited in time and does not offend the anti deprivation principle. |
| Lombard North Central plc v Butterworth | [1987] QB 527 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Where a hire purchase or hire agreement makes timely payment of the essence, the owner can terminate for any late payment and recover damages for the loss of the whole bargain. |
| London and North Eastern Railway Co v Berriman | [1946] AC 278 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | A strict literal interpretation denied compensation to the widow of a railway worker killed while doing maintenance work. |
| London County Council v Allen | [1914] 3 KB 642 | Land LawFreehold covenants | A restrictive covenant can be enforced in equity against a successor only if the covenantee retains land benefited by the covenant. |
| London Joint Stock Bank Ltd v Macmillan and Arthur | [1918] AC 777 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | A customer owes the bank a duty to take reasonable care in drawing cheques so as not to facilitate fraud, and is liable for a cheque fraudulently altered because of careless drafting. |
| London Taxi Corp Ltd v Frazer-Nash Research Ltd | [2017] EWCA Civ 1729, [2018] FSR 7 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | The shape of the traditional London black taxi was not registrable, because it lacked inherent distinctive character and had not acquired it, since it was perceived as the shape of a taxi. |
| Re London Wine Co (Shippers) Ltd | [1986] PCC 121 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | A trust of a quantity of wine forming part of a larger stock fails for uncertainty of subject matter if the wine has not been separated or identified. |
| Re London Wine Co (Shippers) Ltd | [1986] PCC 121 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | A trust of a quantity of wine forming part of a larger stock fails for uncertainty of subject matter if the wine has not been separated or identified. |
| Re Londonderry's Settlement | [1965] Ch 918 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | Trustees of a discretionary trust are not obliged to disclose to beneficiaries the reasons for their decisions or documents revealing their deliberations. |
| Lonsdale v Howard & Hallam Ltd | [2007] UKHL 32, [2007] 1 WLR 2055 | Commercial LawAgency | The compensation payable to a commercial agent on termination of the agency is the value of the agency business at the date of termination, as it would have been sold on the open market. |
| Lord Advocate v Dean | [2017] UKSC 44, [2017] 1 WLR 2721 | Immigration and Asylum LawExtradition | Extradition will not be barred by poor prison conditions in the requesting state where it has given assurances that remove the real risk of treatment contrary to article 3, assessed in the light of the state's record. |
| Lord Napier and Ettrick v Hunter | [1993] AC 713 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | An insurer who has paid a claim is entitled, by subrogation, to an equitable proprietary right over damages later recovered by the insured from a third party in respect of the insured loss. |
| Lubbe v Cape plc | [2000] 1 WLR 1545 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | Proceedings by thousands of South African asbestos victims against an English parent company were not stayed, because the lack of legal aid and expert evidence in South Africa meant that they would be denied substantial justice there. |
| Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth | [2011] UKSC 39, [2012] 1 AC 208 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | The helmets of stormtroopers in Star Wars were not sculptures protected by copyright, but the English courts could hear a claim for infringement of US copyright. |
| Lucasfilm Ltd v Ainsworth | [2011] UKSC 39, [2012] 1 AC 208 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | The helmets of stormtroopers in Star Wars were not sculptures protected by copyright, but the English courts could hear a claim for infringement of US copyright. |
| Lucena v Craufurd | (1806) 2 Bos & PNR 269 | Insurance LawUtmost good faith, disclosure, warranties and insurable interest | A person has an insurable interest in property if he has a legal or equitable right in it, or would suffer loss from its destruction, though Lawrence J's wider test of moral certainty of advantage was also influential. |
| Re Lucking's Will Trusts | [1968] 1 WLR 866 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | A trustee who holds a controlling shareholding in a company must supervise its management, and is liable for losses caused by failing to do so. |
| Luisi and Carbone v Ministero del Tesoro | Joined Cases 286/82 and 26/83, [1984] ECR 377 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | The freedom to provide services includes the freedom for the recipients of services, such as tourists, patients and students, to go to another Member State to receive them. |
| Luxor (Eastbourne) Ltd v Cooper | [1941] AC 108 | Commercial LawAgency | There is no implied term in an estate agent's contract that the principal will not prevent the agent from earning commission by refusing to sell. |
| Lyckeskog | Case C-99/00, [2002] ECR I-4839 | EU LawPreliminary references | A national court whose decisions can be appealed only with permission from a higher court is not a court of last instance, because the higher court can refer when deciding whether to grant permission. |
| Lysaght v Edwards | (1876) 2 Ch D 499 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | Once a specifically enforceable contract for the sale of land is made, the seller holds the land on constructive trust for the buyer. |
| Lyus v Prowsa Developments Ltd | [1982] 1 WLR 1044 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | A purchaser who bought land expressly subject to a contract with a third party held it on constructive trust to give effect to that contract. |
| Re M (A Minor) (Care Order: Threshold Conditions) | [1994] 2 AC 424 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | The time at which the court must decide whether a child is suffering significant harm is the time when the local authority first took protective measures, not the time of the hearing. |
| Re M (Children) (Abduction: Rights of Custody) | [2007] UKHL 55, [2008] 1 AC 1288 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | Where abducted children have become settled in their new environment, the court has a discretion whether to order their return, in which the policy of the Convention must be weighed with the children's interests. |
| Re M (Children) (Ultra-Orthodox Judaism: Transgender Parent) | [2017] EWCA Civ 2164 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | In deciding contact between children and a transgender parent who had left the ultra orthodox Jewish community, the court must assess the children's welfare by the standards of a reasonable parent in modern society. |
| M v Home Office | [1994] 1 AC 377 | Public LawRule of law | Ministers and government departments are subject to the courts' orders, and a minister can be found in contempt of court. |
| M'Naghten's Case | (1843) 10 Cl & F 200 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | The M'Naghten Rules: the test for the defence of insanity. |
| Mabon v Mabon | [2005] EWCA Civ 634, [2005] Fam 366 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | Articulate teenagers who are mature enough to instruct a solicitor should be allowed separate legal representation in family proceedings about their future, in recognition of their autonomy. |
| Macarthys Ltd v Smith | Case 129/79, [1980] ECR 1275 | Employment LawEqual pay | A woman can claim equal pay by comparing herself with a man who previously did the same job, not merely with a man employed at the same time. |
| Macaura v Northern Assurance Co Ltd | [1925] AC 619 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | A shareholder has no insurable interest in the company's property, because the property belongs to the company and not to its members. |
| Macaura v Northern Assurance Co Ltd | [1925] AC 619 | Insurance LawUtmost good faith, disclosure, warranties and insurable interest | A shareholder has no insurable interest in the company's property, because the property belongs to the company and not to its members. |
| MacCormick v Lord Advocate | 1953 SC 396 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | A Scottish court suggested that the Acts of Union may impose limits on Parliament, while declining to decide the point. |
| MacNiven v Westmoreland Investments Ltd | [2001] UKHL 6, [2003] 1 AC 311 | Tax LawTax avoidance, statutory interpretation and the Ramsay principle | The Ramsay principle is a principle of statutory construction, and does not apply where the statutory concept in question is a legal concept which is satisfied by the transaction, such as the payment of interest. |
| MacPherson v European Strategic Bureau Ltd | [2000] 2 BCLC 683 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | A scheme to distribute a company's assets to its shareholders in the guise of payments for consultancy services, when the company was insolvent, was an unlawful return of capital. |
| Maduro Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela v Guaidó Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela | [2021] UKSC 57 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | Under the one voice principle, the English courts are bound by the executive's recognition of Juan Guaidó as interim President of Venezuela, and cannot question the validity of his executive acts within Venezuela. |
| Maduro Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela v Guaidó Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela | [2021] UKSC 57 | Public International LawStatehood, territory, recognition and self determination | Under the one voice principle, the English courts are bound by the executive's recognition of Juan Guaidó as interim President of Venezuela, and cannot question the validity of his executive acts within Venezuela. |
| Madzimbamuto v Lardner-Burke | [1969] 1 AC 645 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | Constitutional conventions, however strong, do not limit the legal power of Parliament to legislate. |
| Magor and St Mellons Rural District Council v Newport Corp | [1952] AC 189 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The House of Lords rejected Lord Denning's attempt to fill in the gaps in legislation as a naked usurpation of the legislative function. |
| Re Mahmoud and Ispahani | [1921] 2 KB 716 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | A contract that is prohibited by statute cannot be enforced, even by a party who did not know of the illegality. |
| Majrowski v Guy's and St Thomas's NHS Trust | [2006] UKHL 34, [2007] 1 AC 224 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | An employer can be vicariously liable for harassment by an employee under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, as for other statutory torts. |
| Makin v Attorney General for New South Wales | [1894] AC 57 | EvidenceCharacter evidence | Evidence that the accused committed other crimes is inadmissible to show a propensity to commit crime, but may be admissible if relevant to an issue before the jury, such as rebutting a defence of accident. |
| Malik v Bank of Credit and Commerce International SA | [1998] AC 20 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | Every contract of employment contains an implied term that the employer will not, without reasonable and proper cause, conduct itself in a manner likely to destroy or seriously damage the relationship of trust and confidence. |
| Mallalieu v Drummond | [1983] 2 AC 861 | Tax LawIncome and corporation tax: employment, trading and residence | The cost of ordinary clothes worn by a barrister in court was not deductible, because the expenditure was not incurred wholly and exclusively for the purpose of her profession. |
| Malone v Metropolitan Police Commissioner | [1979] Ch 344 | Public LawRule of law | Under the old approach, the state could do anything not prohibited by law, so telephone tapping without legal authority was lawful. |
| Malory Enterprises Ltd v Cheshire Homes (UK) Ltd | [2002] EWCA Civ 151, [2002] Ch 216 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | A true owner whose land was transferred by a forged transfer, and who was in actual occupation, could have the register rectified against the purchaser. |
| Manbre Saccharine Co Ltd v Corn Products Co Ltd | [1919] 1 KB 198 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | Under a CIF contract, the seller performs by tendering the shipping documents, so the buyer must pay against the documents even if the goods have been lost. |
| Manchester Airport plc v Dutton | [2000] QB 133 | Land LawLeases and licences | A licensee with a contractual right to occupy land can bring an action for possession against trespassers, even though it is not in possession itself. |
| Manchester Building Society v Grant Thornton UK LLP | [2021] UKSC 20, [2022] AC 783 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A professional is liable only for losses within the scope of the duty assumed, which depends on the purpose of the duty, and the bank could recover its losses on swap contracts. |
| Manchester City Council v Pinnock | [2010] UKSC 45, [2011] 2 AC 104 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | A court considering possession proceedings against a local authority tenant must be able to consider the proportionality of eviction, following Strasbourg case law. |
| Manchester City Council v Pinnock | [2010] UKSC 45, [2011] 2 AC 104 | Land LawLeases and licences | A court considering possession proceedings against a local authority tenant must be able to consider the proportionality of eviction, following Strasbourg case law. |
| Manchester City Council v Pinnock | [2010] UKSC 45, [2011] 2 AC 104 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | A court considering possession proceedings against a local authority tenant must be able to consider the proportionality of eviction, following Strasbourg case law. |
| Manchester Ship Canal Co Ltd v United Utilities Water Ltd (No 2) | [2024] UKSC 22 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | A sewerage undertaker that discharges untreated sewage into private watercourses can be sued in nuisance and trespass, because the Water Industry Act 1991 does not authorise polluting discharges. |
| Mandla v Dowell Lee | [1983] 2 AC 548 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | Sikhs are an ethnic group, because they have a long shared history and a cultural tradition of their own, so refusing a Sikh boy a school place unless he removed his turban was unlawful race discrimination. |
| Manfredi v Lloyd Adriatico Assicurazioni SpA | Joined Cases C-295/04 to C-298/04, [2006] ECR I-6619 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | Any individual can claim compensation for harm caused by a competition law infringement where there is a causal relationship, including for actual loss, loss of profit and interest. |
| Mangold v Helm | Case C-144/04, [2005] ECR I-9981 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | The principle of non discrimination on grounds of age is a general principle of EU law, which a national court must apply even in a dispute between private parties. |
| Manifest Shipping Co Ltd v Uni-Polaris Shipping Co Ltd (The Star Sea) | [2001] UKHL 1, [2003] 1 AC 469 | Insurance LawUtmost good faith, disclosure, warranties and insurable interest | The duty of utmost good faith continues after the contract is made, but the remedy of avoidance is so drastic that a post contractual breach requires fraud by the insured. |
| Manifest Shipping Co Ltd v Uni-Polaris Shipping Co Ltd (The Star Sea) | [2001] UKHL 1, [2003] 1 AC 469 | Shipping and Maritime LawMarine insurance | The duty of utmost good faith continues after the contract is made, but the remedy of avoidance is so drastic that a post contractual breach requires fraud by the insured. |
| Re Manisty's Settlement | [1974] Ch 17 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | A wide power to add beneficiaries to a class is not void merely because it may be exercised in favour of anyone in the world except a specified group. |
| Manuel v Attorney General | [1983] Ch 77 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | A court will not question a statute that states on its face that a dominion has requested and consented to it. |
| Marcic v Thames Water Utilities Ltd | [2003] UKHL 66, [2004] 2 AC 42 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | A householder whose property was repeatedly flooded by an overloaded public sewer could not sue the sewerage undertaker in nuisance, because the claim would conflict with the statutory scheme of regulation. |
| Marckx v Belgium | (1979) 2 EHRR 330 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | Laws which discriminated against children born outside marriage, by requiring their mothers to take steps to establish legal parentage, breached the right to respect for family life. |
| Mardorf Peach & Co Ltd v Attica Sea Carriers Corp of Liberia (The Laconia) | [1977] AC 850 | Banking and Finance LawPayments, mandates and the Quincecare duty | A payment made by bank transfer is made when the funds are unconditionally at the disposal of the payee, and acceptance by the payee's bank as agent can amount to payment. |
| Mardorf Peach & Co Ltd v Attica Sea Carriers Corp of Liberia (The Laconia) | [1977] AC 850 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | A payment made by bank transfer is made when the funds are unconditionally at the disposal of the payee, and acceptance by the payee's bank as agent can amount to payment. |
| Mareva Compania Naviera SA v International Bulkcarriers SA (The Mareva) | [1975] 2 Lloyd's Rep 509 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | The court can freeze a defendant's assets before trial to stop them being removed from the jurisdiction: the freezing injunction. |
| Mareva Compania Naviera SA v International Bulkcarriers SA (The Mareva) | [1975] 2 Lloyd's Rep 509 | Shipping and Maritime LawSalvage, general average, collisions, arrest and limitation | The court can freeze a defendant's assets before trial to stop them being removed from the jurisdiction: the freezing injunction. |
| Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea (Romania v Ukraine) | (2009) ICJ Reports 61 | Public International LawLaw of the sea, international environmental law and dispute settlement | The court set out a three stage method for delimiting maritime boundaries: drawing a provisional equidistance line, adjusting it for relevant circumstances, and checking for disproportionality. |
| Maritime National Fish Ltd v Ocean Trawlers Ltd | [1935] AC 524 | Contract LawFrustration | A party cannot rely on frustration caused by its own choice. |
| Mark v Mark | [2005] UKHL 42, [2006] 1 AC 98 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | A person whose presence in England was unlawful under immigration law could nevertheless be habitually resident and domiciled in England, so the English court had jurisdiction to grant her a divorce. |
| Market Investigations Ltd v Minister of Social Security | [1969] 2 QB 173 | Employment LawEmployment status | The fundamental test of employment status is whether the person is performing services as a person in business on his own account, and no single factor is decisive. |
| Marks & Spencer plc v Halsey | (2005) Case C-446/03 | Tax LawIncome and corporation tax: employment, trading and residence | A member state must allow a parent company to set off losses of a foreign subsidiary against its profits where the subsidiary has exhausted all possibilities of using the losses in its own state. |
| Marks and Spencer plc v BNP Paribas Securities Services Trust Co (Jersey) Ltd | [2015] UKSC 72, [2016] AC 742 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | A term will be implied in fact only if it is necessary for business efficacy or so obvious that it goes without saying, not merely because it is reasonable. |
| Marleasing SA v La Comercial Internacional de Alimentación SA | Case C-106/89, [1990] ECR I-4135 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | The duty to interpret national law in line with a directive applies to all national law, whether passed before or after the directive, and applies in disputes between private parties. |
| Marley v Rawlings | [2014] UKSC 2, [2015] AC 129 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFormalities, execution, undue influence and rectification | A will which a husband mistakenly signed instead of his own, in a mix up of mirror wills, could be rectified under section 20 of the Administration of Justice Act 1982 as a clerical error. |
| Marr v Collie | [2017] UKPC 17, [2018] AC 631 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | The common intention approach in Stack v Dowden is not limited to domestic homes, and may apply to investment properties bought by a couple. |
| Marren v Ingles | [1980] 1 WLR 983 | Tax LawCapital gains, inheritance tax and property taxes | A right to receive unascertainable deferred consideration on a sale of shares is a separate asset, so that the later receipt of money under it is a disposal of that right for capital gains tax. |
| Marshall v Southampton and South West Hampshire Area Health Authority (No 1) | Case 152/84, [1986] ECR 723 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | A directive cannot of itself impose obligations on an individual, so it has vertical but not horizontal direct effect, although it can be relied on against the state as employer. |
| Marten v Flight Refuelling Ltd | [1962] Ch 115 | Land LawFreehold covenants | A covenant that protects the use of a large agricultural estate can benefit the whole estate, and the court will accept that it does unless it is clearly not so. |
| Martin v Most | [2010] UKSC 10 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | An Act of the Scottish Parliament increasing sheriffs' sentencing powers was within competence even though it affected sentences for reserved road traffic offences. |
| Martínez Sala v Freistaat Bayern | Case C-85/96, [1998] ECR I-2691 | EU LawEU citizenship | An EU citizen lawfully resident in another Member State can rely on the citizenship provisions to claim equal treatment in access to social benefits. |
| Mascall v Mascall | (1984) 50 P & CR 119 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A gift of registered land is complete in equity once the donor has executed the transfer and handed it and the land certificate to the donee, even before registration. |
| Masefield AG v Amlin Corporate Member Ltd (The Bunga Melati Dua) | [2011] EWCA Civ 24 | Shipping and Maritime LawMarine insurance | The seizure of a ship and cargo by pirates, who were expected to release them on payment of a ransom, did not amount to an actual total loss, because the owner was not irretrievably deprived of the cargo. |
| Mason v Provident Clothing and Supply Co Ltd | [1913] AC 724 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | Restraints on employees are scrutinised more strictly than restraints on the seller of a business, and the court will not rewrite an unreasonable covenant. |
| Massachusetts v Environmental Protection Agency | 549 US 497 (2007) | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | Greenhouse gases are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act, so the Environmental Protection Agency had authority to regulate emissions from new motor vehicles and had to give proper reasons for refusing to do so. |
| Mathieu-Mohin and Clerfayt v Belgium | (1988) 10 EHRR 1 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | Article 3 of Protocol No 1 guarantees individual rights to vote and stand for election, but states have a wide margin of appreciation in choosing their electoral systems. |
| Maxine Footwear Co Ltd v Canadian Government Merchant Marine Ltd | [1959] AC 589 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | The obligation to exercise due diligence to make a ship seaworthy is an overriding obligation, so a carrier is liable if the loss is caused by its failure, even if the cause would otherwise fall within an exception such as fire. |
| Maynard v West Midlands Regional Health Authority | [1984] 1 WLR 634 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | A doctor is not negligent if he acts in accordance with a practice accepted as proper by a responsible body of medical opinion, even if another body of opinion takes a different view. |
| Re MB (Medical Treatment) | [1997] 2 FLR 426 | Medical Law and EthicsConsent, capacity and refusal of treatment | A competent pregnant woman may refuse a caesarean section even if her decision may lead to the death of her unborn child, but a phobia of needles may temporarily deprive a person of capacity. |
| Re MC Bacon Ltd | [1990] BCLC 324 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | A transaction is not a voidable preference unless the company was influenced by a desire to put the creditor in a better position, and granting security to a bank to keep trading is not such a desire. |
| Re McArdle | [1951] Ch 669 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Past consideration is no consideration. |
| McCann v United Kingdom | (1996) 21 EHRR 97 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | The killing of three IRA members by soldiers in Gibraltar breached the right to life, because the operation was not planned and controlled so as to minimise the use of lethal force. |
| McCarthy v Secretary of State for the Home Department | Case C-434/09, [2011] ECR I-3375 | EU LawEU citizenship | An EU citizen who has never exercised free movement rights cannot rely on EU law to obtain a right of residence for a non EU spouse, unless the refusal deprives her of the substance of her citizenship rights. |
| McCormick v Grogan | (1869) LR 4 HL 82 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | A fully secret trust is enforced to prevent fraud, but only where there is clear evidence of an intention to impose a binding obligation on the legatee. |
| McCulloch v Forth Valley Health Board | [2023] UKSC 26 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | Whether an alternative treatment is reasonable, so that a doctor must tell the patient about it under Montgomery, is decided by the professional practice test, not by what the patient would want to know. |
| McFarlane v Tayside Health Board | [2000] 2 AC 59 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | Parents of a healthy child born after a negligent vasectomy cannot recover the costs of bringing up the child, although the mother can recover damages for the pain and suffering of pregnancy and birth. |
| McGhee v National Coal Board | [1973] 1 WLR 1 | Tort LawCausation | Where the defendant's breach materially increased the risk of the injury that occurred, this may be treated as a material contribution to the injury. |
| McGovern v Attorney General | [1982] Ch 321 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A trust set up by Amnesty International to secure the release of prisoners of conscience and to change the laws of foreign countries was not charitable, because its purposes were political. |
| McInnes v Onslow-Fane | [1978] 1 WLR 1520 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | What fairness requires depends on the type of decision: forfeiture, application or expectation cases. |
| Re McKerr | [2004] UKHL 12, [2004] 1 WLR 807 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | The Human Rights Act 1998 does not apply retrospectively, so it did not impose a duty to investigate a death which occurred before the Act came into force. |
| McKew v Holland & Hannen & Cubitts (Scotland) Ltd | [1969] 3 All ER 1621 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A claimant's own unreasonable conduct after an accident may break the chain of causation, so that the defendant is not liable for a further injury. |
| McLoughlin v O'Brian | [1983] 1 AC 410 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | A mother who saw her injured family in hospital about two hours after a road accident, before they had been cleaned up, could recover for psychiatric illness as she came within the immediate aftermath. |
| McPhail v Doulton | [1971] AC 424 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | A discretionary trust is valid if it can be said with certainty that any given individual is or is not a member of the class, the same test as for powers. |
| Meadows v Khan | [2021] UKSC 21, [2022] AC 852 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | A doctor who negligently told a woman that she was not a carrier of the haemophilia gene was not liable for the costs of her son's unrelated autism, because they were outside the scope of her duty. |
| Meadows v Khan | [2021] UKSC 21, [2022] AC 852 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A doctor who negligently told a woman that she was not a carrier of the haemophilia gene was not liable for the costs of her son's unrelated autism, because they were outside the scope of her duty. |
| Meca-Medina and Majcen v Commission | Case C-519/04 P, [2006] ECR I-6991 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | Sporting rules are subject to the competition rules where the sport is an economic activity, but anti doping rules whose restrictions are inherent in and proportionate to their legitimate objectives fall outside article 101. |
| Medcalf v Mardell | [2002] UKHL 27, [2003] 1 AC 120 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | A wasted costs order should not be made against barristers where legal professional privilege prevents them from explaining their conduct. |
| Meering v Grahame-White Aviation Co Ltd | (1919) 122 LT 44 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | A person can be falsely imprisoned even if he does not know that he is being detained. |
| Meilicke v ADV/ORGA AG | Case C-83/91, [1992] ECR I-4871 | EU LawPreliminary references | The Court of Justice will not answer hypothetical questions that have no relation to the actual facts or purpose of the main proceedings. |
| Melloni v Ministerio Fiscal | Case C-399/11, EU:C:2013:107 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | A Member State cannot rely on a higher standard of fundamental rights protection in its own constitution to refuse to apply EU law that is consistent with the Charter of Fundamental Rights. |
| Melluish v BMI (No 3) Ltd | [1996] AC 454 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | Central heating systems installed in council houses became fixtures and so part of the land, whatever the parties had agreed. |
| Mercury Communications Ltd v Scott-Garner | [1984] Ch 37 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | Industrial action aimed mainly at opposing government policy, rather than at the terms and conditions of the workers, was not in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute. |
| Meridian Global Funds Management Asia Ltd v Securities Commission | [1995] 2 AC 500 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | Whether the knowledge of an employee is attributed to a company depends on the construction of the particular rule, considering its language, content and policy. |
| Meroni & Co, Industrie Metallurgiche SAS v High Authority | Case 9/56, [1957 and 1958] ECR 133 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | EU institutions may delegate only clearly defined executive powers to other bodies, and may not delegate discretionary powers involving wide policy choices. |
| Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc v HN Norton & Co Ltd | [1996] RPC 76 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | A substance that was inevitably made in the body when a known drug was taken was not new, so a later patent for it was invalid for lack of novelty. |
| Merricks v Mastercard Inc | [2020] UKSC 51 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | The Supreme Court set a relatively low threshold for certifying collective proceedings for competition claims on behalf of millions of consumers. |
| Merricks v Mastercard Inc | [2020] UKSC 51 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | The Supreme Court set a relatively low threshold for certifying collective proceedings for competition claims on behalf of millions of consumers. |
| Merritt v Merritt | [1970] 1 WLR 1211 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | The presumption against legal intention does not apply to agreements between spouses who have separated. |
| Meta Platforms Inc v Bundeskartellamt | Case C-252/21, EU:C:2023:537 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | A competition authority may consider whether a dominant undertaking's data processing complies with the GDPR in assessing abuse, and Meta's combination of users' off Facebook data without valid consent could be examined. |
| Meta Platforms Inc v Bundeskartellamt | Case C-252/21, EU:C:2023:537 | Data Protection and Technology LawLawful processing, data subject rights and the right to be forgotten | A competition authority may consider whether a dominant undertaking's data processing complies with the GDPR in assessing abuse, and Meta's combination of users' off Facebook data without valid consent could be examined. |
| Meta Platforms Inc v Competition and Markets Authority | [2022] CAT 26 | Competition LawMerger control | The CMA's decision requiring Meta to sell Giphy was upheld on the merits of its competition analysis, though quashed on procedural grounds and later remade by the CMA. |
| Metock v Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform | Case C-127/08, [2008] ECR I-6241 | EU LawEU citizenship | A non EU spouse of an EU citizen who has moved to another Member State has a right of residence under the Citizens' Rights Directive, whether or not he was previously lawfully resident in the EU. |
| Metock v Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform | Case C-127/08, [2008] ECR I-6241 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | A non EU spouse of an EU citizen who has moved to another Member State has a right of residence under the Citizens' Rights Directive, whether or not he was previously lawfully resident in the EU. |
| Metrobus Ltd v Unite the Union | [2009] EWCA Civ 829, [2010] ICR 173 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | A trade union must comply strictly with the statutory requirements for industrial action ballots and notices, and the requirements did not breach article 11. |
| Metropolitan Resources Ltd v Churchill Dulwich Ltd | [2009] ICR 1380 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | The service provision change rules in the 2006 TUPE Regulations should be applied in a straightforward and common sense way, and the activities need only be fundamentally or essentially the same after the change. |
| Metropolitan Water Board v Dick Kerr & Co Ltd | [1918] AC 119 | Contract LawFrustration | A contract is frustrated where a government order interrupts it for so long that, if resumed, it would be a fundamentally different contract. |
| Mew v Tristmire Ltd | [2011] EWCA Civ 912, [2012] 1 WLR 852 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | Houseboats resting on wooden platforms in a harbour remained chattels, because they could be removed without being destroyed. |
| Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales Police | [2015] UKSC 2, [2015] AC 1732 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | The police owed no duty of care to a woman who was murdered after a delay in responding to her emergency call, because there is no general duty to protect people from criminals. |
| Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales Police | [2015] UKSC 2, [2015] AC 1732 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | The police owed no duty of care to a woman who was murdered after a delay in responding to her emergency call, because there is no general duty to protect people from criminals. |
| Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales Police | [2015] UKSC 2, [2015] AC 1732 | Tort LawDuty of care | The police owed no duty of care to a woman who was murdered after a delay in responding to her emergency call, because there is no general duty to protect people from criminals. |
| Mickelsson and Roos | Case C-142/05, [2009] ECR I-4273 | EU LawFree movement of goods | Restrictions on the use of personal watercraft, such as jet skis, could be caught by article 34, but could be justified on environmental grounds if proportionate. |
| Microban International Ltd v Commission | Case T-262/10, [2011] ECR II-7697 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | A Commission decision of general application, adopted under its implementing powers, is a regulatory act that a directly concerned person can challenge without showing individual concern. |
| Microbeads AG v Vinhurst Road Markings Ltd | [1975] 1 WLR 218 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | The implied warranty of quiet possession is a continuing obligation, so a seller is liable if a patent granted after the sale interferes with the buyer's use of the goods. |
| Microsoft Corp v Commission | Case T-201/04, [2007] ECR II-3601 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | Microsoft abused its dominance by refusing to supply interoperability information to rival work group server makers, and by tying Windows Media Player to the Windows operating system. |
| Micula v Romania | [2020] UKSC 5 | ArbitrationChallenging and enforcing awards, and investment arbitration | The United Kingdom's obligations under the ICSID Convention to enforce an investment award took priority over its EU law duty of sincere cooperation, because they predated its EU membership. |
| Midland Bank plc v Cooke | [1995] 4 All ER 562 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | Once a common intention to share is established, the court can look at the whole course of dealing between the parties to quantify the shares. |
| Midland Bank plc v Wyatt | [1995] 1 FLR 697 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | A declaration of trust that was never intended to take effect, and was made only to protect property from creditors, is a sham and is void. |
| Midland Bank Trust Co Ltd v Green | [1981] AC 513 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | An unregistered land charge is void against a purchaser for money or money's worth, even if the purchaser knew of it and paid a gross undervalue. |
| Mihalis Angelos (Maredelanto Compania Naviera SA v Bergbau-Handel GmbH) | [1971] 1 QB 164 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | An expected ready to load clause in a charterparty is a condition, so a charterer may terminate if the owner did not honestly and on reasonable grounds believe the ship would be ready by the stated date. |
| Mikeover Ltd v Brady | [1989] 3 All ER 618 | Land LawLeases and licences | Two occupiers of a flat who each agreed to pay a separate sum, and were not jointly liable for the whole rent, were licensees, not joint tenants. |
| Miliangos v George Frank (Textiles) Ltd | [1976] AC 443 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The House of Lords departed from an earlier decision to allow judgments in foreign currency, but rebuked the Court of Appeal for refusing to follow it. |
| Milieudefensie v Royal Dutch Shell plc | (2021) ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2021:5339 | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | The District Court ordered Shell to reduce the emissions of the Shell group by 45 percent by 2030, holding that it owed an unwritten duty of care to reduce emissions, though the order was set aside on appeal. |
| Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v United States) | (1986) ICJ Reports 14 | Public International LawState responsibility, nationality and international organisations | The United States violated the prohibition on the use of force and the principle of non intervention by supporting the contras in Nicaragua, but the contras' acts were not attributable to it without effective control. |
| Miller v Jackson | [1977] QB 966 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | A cricket club was liable in nuisance and negligence for cricket balls hit into a neighbour's garden, but the court refused an injunction because of the public interest in cricket. |
| Miller v Miller; McFarlane v McFarlane | [2006] UKHL 24, [2006] 2 AC 618 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | Fairness in financial remedies is achieved through the three principles of needs, compensation and sharing, and sharing applies to all matrimonial property even after a short marriage. |
| Miller v Minister of Pensions | [1947] 2 All ER 372 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | Proof beyond reasonable doubt does not mean proof beyond the shadow of a doubt, and the civil standard of proof is satisfied if the tribunal can say that the matter is more probable than not. |
| Mills v Mills | [2018] UKSC 38, [2018] 3 WLR 1170 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | On an application to vary periodical payments, the court is not obliged to increase them to meet needs that arose because the recipient had mismanaged a capital award meant to meet her housing needs. |
| Mills v Silver | [1991] Ch 271 | Land LawEasements | Use of a track that the owner merely tolerated, without objection, can give rise to a prescriptive easement. |
| Milroy v Lord | (1862) 4 De GF & J 264 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | To make an effective gift or trust, the donor must do everything necessary to transfer the property, and equity will not treat a failed gift as a declaration of trust. |
| Minister for Justice and Equality v LM | Case C-216/18 PPU, EU:C:2018:586 | Immigration and Asylum LawExtradition | An executing authority may refuse to surrender a person under a European arrest warrant where systemic deficiencies in the independence of the issuing state's judiciary create a real risk that his right to a fair trial will be breached. |
| Ministry of Health v Simpson | [1951] AC 251 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | Next of kin who have not been paid because of a wrongful distribution of an estate can recover the money from the recipients, even if they received it innocently. |
| Ministry of Health v Simpson | [1951] AC 251 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | Next of kin who have not been paid because of a wrongful distribution of an estate can recover the money from the recipients, even if they received it innocently. |
| Ministry of Health v Simpson | [1951] AC 251 | Wills, Succession and ProbateIntestacy, personal representatives and administration of estates | Next of kin who have not been paid because of a wrongful distribution of an estate can recover the money from the recipients, even if they received it innocently. |
| Mirage Studios v Counter-Feat Clothing Co Ltd (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) | [1991] FSR 145 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | The creators of cartoon characters who licensed their images for merchandise could prevent unlicensed use of the characters, because the public would think the goods were licensed. |
| Mission Capital plc v Sinclair | [2008] EWHC 1339 (Ch), [2010] 1 BCLC 304 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | Permission to continue a derivative claim by dismissed directors was refused because a hypothetical director would not attach much importance to the claim, and they had an adequate alternative remedy. |
| Mitchell v Glasgow City Council | [2009] UKHL 11, [2009] 1 AC 874 | Tort LawDuty of care | A landlord that did not warn a tenant that his violent neighbour had been told he might be evicted did not owe him a duty of care to protect him from the neighbour. |
| Mitchell v News Group Newspapers Ltd | [2013] EWCA Civ 1537, [2014] 1 WLR 795 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | After the Jackson reforms, the courts took a strict approach to relief from sanctions for failure to comply with rules and orders. |
| Mohamud v WM Morrison Supermarkets plc | [2016] UKSC 11, [2016] AC 677 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | A supermarket was vicariously liable for an assault by an employee on a customer, because there was a sufficient connection between his job and the assault. |
| Momm v Barclays Bank International Ltd | [1977] QB 790 | Banking and Finance LawPayments, mandates and the Quincecare duty | Where a bank makes an internal transfer between two customers' accounts, the payment is complete when the bank decides to credit the payee's account and the necessary computer processes are set in motion. |
| Moncrieff v Jamieson | [2007] UKHL 42, [2007] 1 WLR 2620 | Land LawEasements | A right to park vehicles can exist as an easement ancillary to a right of way, and the test is whether the servient owner retains reasonable use of its land. |
| Monroe v Hopkins | [2017] EWHC 433 (QB), [2017] 4 WLR 68 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | Tweets falsely suggesting that a food writer had approved of the vandalism of a war memorial were defamatory and caused serious harm to her reputation. |
| Monsanto Technology LLC v Cefetra BV | Case C-428/08, [2010] ECR I-6765 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | A patent for a DNA sequence is infringed only where the sequence is performing its function, so imports of soy meal containing dead DNA did not infringe. |
| Re Montagu's Settlement Trusts | [1987] Ch 264 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | A recipient of trust property who has forgotten that it was trust property, and did not want to know, is not liable for knowing receipt unless he had actual knowledge or deliberately shut his eyes. |
| Montgomery v Johnson Underwood Ltd | [2001] EWCA Civ 318, [2001] ICR 819 | Employment LawEmployment status | An agency worker was not an employee of the employment agency, because the agency did not exercise sufficient control over her, which is an essential element of a contract of employment. |
| Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board | [2015] UKSC 11, [2015] AC 1430 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | A doctor must take reasonable care to ensure that the patient is aware of any material risks involved in recommended treatment, and of reasonable alternatives. |
| Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board | [2015] UKSC 11, [2015] AC 1430 | Tort LawBreach of duty | A doctor must take reasonable care to ensure that the patient is aware of any material risks involved in recommended treatment, and of reasonable alternatives. |
| Moohan v Lord Advocate | [2014] UKSC 67, [2015] AC 901 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | The ban on convicted prisoners voting in the Scottish independence referendum was lawful, because article 3 of Protocol No 1 applies only to elections to the legislature, not referendums. |
| The Moorcock | (1889) 14 PD 64 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | A term will be implied in fact where it is necessary to give the contract business efficacy. |
| Re Moore & Co Ltd and Landauer & Co | [1921] 2 KB 519 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | Goods that are packed differently from the contract description do not correspond with it, so the buyer can reject them, even if the total quantity is correct. |
| Moorgate Mercantile Co Ltd v Twitchings | [1977] AC 890 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | A finance company that failed to register a hire purchase agreement with a voluntary registry was not estopped from denying a dealer's title, because it owed no duty to register. |
| Morgan v Hinton Organics (Wessex) Ltd | [2009] EWCA Civ 107 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | The Aarhus Convention principles on the cost of environmental litigation may be relevant to a private nuisance claim brought by residents complaining of pollution. |
| Morice v Bishop of Durham | (1805) 10 Ves 522 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | A trust must have ascertainable beneficiaries who can enforce it, so a trust for objects of benevolence and liberality was void because it was not wholly charitable. |
| Morris v Bank of India | [2005] EWCA Civ 693 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | A third party, such as a bank, which knowingly participates in the carrying on of a company's business with intent to defraud creditors can be liable for fraudulent trading. |
| Morris v Murray | [1991] 2 QB 6 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A passenger who agreed to fly in a light aircraft with a pilot he knew was very drunk had voluntarily accepted the risk of injury. |
| Morris-Garner v One Step (Support) Ltd | [2018] UKSC 20, [2019] AC 649 | Contract LawRemedies | Negotiating damages are available only where the loss is the economic value of the right breached, treated as an asset. |
| Morrison Steamship Co Ltd v Greystoke Castle (Cargo Owners) | [1947] AC 265 | Shipping and Maritime LawSalvage, general average, collisions, arrest and limitation | Cargo owners whose goods were not physically damaged in a collision could recover from the other ship their liability to contribute in general average, because they were engaged in a common adventure with the carrying ship. |
| Mortensen v Peters | (1906) 8 F (J) 93 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | Courts must apply an Act of Parliament even if it conflicts with international law. |
| Mortgage Corporation v Shaire | [2001] Ch 743 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | Section 15 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 changed the law, giving the court more discretion to refuse sale at the request of a creditor. |
| Moschi v Lep Air Services Ltd | [1973] AC 331 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A guarantor's obligation is to see to it that the principal debtor performs, so when the debtor's contract is terminated for repudiatory breach, the guarantor remains liable for the resulting damages. |
| Moses v Macferlan | (1760) 2 Burr 1005 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPrinciples of unjust enrichment | Lord Mansfield held that an action for money had and received lies where the defendant is obliged by the ties of natural justice and equity to refund money, laying the foundation of the law of restitution. |
| Mosley v News Group Newspapers Ltd | [2008] EWHC 1777 (QB) | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | The publication of an article and video about the private sexual activities of a public figure was a misuse of private information, and there was no public interest justification because the allegation of a Nazi theme was untrue. |
| Movitex Ltd v Bulfield | [1988] BCLC 104 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | The rule against conflicts of interest is a disability rather than a duty, so a company's articles can validly allow directors to have interests in transactions with the company if they disclose them. |
| MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co SA v Cottonex Anstalt | [2016] EWCA Civ 789, [2017] 1 All ER (Comm) 483 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | An innocent party cannot keep a contract alive to claim payment once the commercial purpose of the contract has been frustrated by the other party's breach. |
| MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co SA v Cottonex Anstalt | [2016] EWCA Civ 789, [2017] 1 All ER (Comm) 483 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | An innocent party cannot keep a contract alive to claim payment once the commercial purpose of the contract has been frustrated by the other party's breach. |
| Mullin v Richards | [1998] 1 WLR 1304 | Tort LawBreach of duty | A child is judged by the standard of an ordinarily careful and reasonable child of the same age, not by the standard of an adult. |
| Multiservice Bookbinding Ltd v Marden | [1979] Ch 84 | Land LawMortgages | A term in a mortgage is not invalid just because it is unreasonable, but only if it is unfair and unconscionable, and a clause linking repayments to the Swiss franc was valid. |
| Murphy v Brentwood District Council | [1991] 1 AC 398 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A local authority is not liable in negligence to a house owner for the cost of repairing defects in a house caused by negligent approval of its plans, because the loss is pure economic loss. |
| Murray v Express Newspapers plc | [2008] EWCA Civ 446, [2009] Ch 481 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | A child of a famous person may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in respect of photographs taken of him in a public street. |
| Murray v Foyle Meats Ltd | [1999] UKHL 30, [2000] 1 AC 51 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | An employee is dismissed by reason of redundancy if the dismissal is attributable to a diminution in the employer's need for employees to do work of a particular kind, whatever the terms of his contract. |
| Murray v Ministry of Defence | [1988] 1 WLR 692 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | A person may be falsely imprisoned without knowing it, although if he suffers no harm he may receive only nominal damages, and the police may lawfully hold someone briefly before formally arresting her. |
| Murray v United Kingdom | (1996) 22 EHRR 29 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | Drawing adverse inferences from a suspect's silence is not in itself a breach of the right to a fair trial, but denying access to a lawyer at the start of police questioning was. |
| Murray v United Kingdom | (1996) 22 EHRR 29 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Drawing adverse inferences from a suspect's silence is not in itself a breach of the right to a fair trial, but denying access to a lawyer at the start of police questioning was. |
| Murray v United Kingdom | (1996) 22 EHRR 29 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | Drawing adverse inferences from a suspect's silence is not in itself a breach of the right to a fair trial, but denying access to a lawyer at the start of police questioning was. |
| Muñoz y Cia SA v Frumar Ltd | Case C-253/00, [2002] ECR I-7289 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | A regulation can be enforced by one private trader against another, through civil proceedings in a national court. |
| MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd v Rock Advertising Ltd | [2018] UKSC 24, [2019] AC 119 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | A no oral modification clause is legally effective, so an oral variation that does not comply with it is invalid. |
| Myers v Director of Public Prosecutions | [1965] AC 1001 | EvidenceHearsay | Records compiled by employees of a car manufacturer were inadmissible hearsay at common law, and the House of Lords refused to create new exceptions to the hearsay rule, leaving reform to Parliament. |
| N Joachimson v Swiss Bank Corp | [1921] 3 KB 110 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | A bank is not obliged to repay money standing to the credit of a current account until the customer demands repayment, which affects when time begins to run. |
| N v Poole Borough Council | [2019] UKSC 25, [2020] AC 780 | Tort LawDuty of care | A local authority did not owe a duty of care to protect children from harassment by neighbours merely because it had statutory powers to protect children, but it could owe a duty if it assumed responsibility. |
| Napp Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd v Director General of Fair Trading | [2002] CAT 1, [2002] Comp AR 13 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | The first major UK abuse case under the Competition Act 1998 upheld a finding that a pharmaceutical company abused its dominance by deep discounting to hospitals and charging excessive prices in the community. |
| National Anti-Vivisection Society v IRC | [1948] AC 31 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A society whose main object was to abolish vivisection was not charitable, because its purposes were political and its benefit to the public was outweighed by harm to medical research. |
| National Carriers Ltd v Panalpina (Northern) Ltd | [1981] AC 675 | Contract LawFrustration | The doctrine of frustration can apply to leases of land, although it will very rarely do so. |
| National Coal Board v Gamble | [1959] 1 QB 11 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | A person who knowingly supplies the means to commit an offence may be guilty of aiding and abetting it, even if he is indifferent as to whether it is committed. |
| National Crime Agency v Baker | [2020] EWHC 822 (Admin) | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | Unexplained wealth orders over London properties held through foundations were discharged, because the National Crime Agency had failed properly to investigate the respondents' explanation of the source of funds. |
| National Crime Agency v Hajiyeva | [2020] EWCA Civ 108 | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | The Court of Appeal upheld the first unexplained wealth order made in England, against the wife of a jailed Azerbaijani banker who had spent large sums at Harrods. |
| National Employers' Mutual General Insurance Association Ltd v Jones | [1990] 1 AC 24 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | A thief cannot pass good title, and a person who buys from a thief cannot pass good title under the buyer in possession exception. |
| National Rivers Authority v Yorkshire Water Services Ltd | [1995] 1 AC 444 | Environmental LawAir and water quality | A sewerage undertaker that received a pollutant into its sewers and discharged it into a river caused the pollution, but had a statutory defence because it could not reasonably have prevented the unlawful discharge into its sewers. |
| National Trustees Co of Australasia Ltd v General Finance Co of Australasia Ltd | [1905] AC 373 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | A professional trustee that is paid for its services is less likely to be relieved of liability for breach of trust, even if it acted honestly and on legal advice. |
| National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers v Serco Ltd | [2011] EWCA Civ 226, [2011] ICR 848 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | The statutory requirements for industrial action ballots are not to be interpreted against trade unions, and minor or accidental failures in balloting should not lead to injunctions. |
| National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers v United Kingdom | (2015) 60 EHRR 10 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | The United Kingdom's ban on secondary industrial action did not breach article 11, because it fell within the state's margin of appreciation. |
| National Westminster Bank plc v Morgan | [1985] AC 686 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A transaction will be set aside for presumed undue influence only if it is manifestly disadvantageous, and there is no general doctrine of inequality of bargaining power. |
| National Westminster Bank plc v Morgan | [1985] AC 686 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | A transaction will be set aside for presumed undue influence only if it is manifestly disadvantageous, and there is no general doctrine of inequality of bargaining power. |
| Nederlandsche Banden-Industrie Michelin NV v Commission (Michelin I) | Case 322/81, [1983] ECR 3461 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | A dominant undertaking has a special responsibility not to allow its conduct to impair genuine undistorted competition, and target rebates that tie dealers can be abusive. |
| Nestle v National Westminster Bank plc | [1993] 1 WLR 1260 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | A beneficiary claiming that trustees invested imprudently must prove that the trust suffered a loss as a result of their breach. |
| Nethermere (St Neots) Ltd v Gardiner | [1984] ICR 612 | Employment LawEmployment status | Home workers who had regularly done work for a company over a period of years could be employees, because a course of dealing could give rise to mutual obligations. |
| Nettleship v Weston | [1971] 2 QB 691 | Tort LawBreach of duty | A learner driver must meet the same objective standard of care as a reasonably competent and experienced driver. |
| Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Morris | [2004] EWCA Civ 172 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | Interference with electronic equipment caused by signalling equipment was not an actionable nuisance, because the interference was not reasonably foreseeable. |
| Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Williams | [2018] EWCA Civ 1514, [2019] QB 601 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | The presence of Japanese knotweed on neighbouring land, which interferes with the use and enjoyment of the claimant's land, can be an actionable nuisance even before it causes physical damage. |
| Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Williams | [2018] EWCA Civ 1514, [2019] QB 601 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | The presence of Japanese knotweed on neighbouring land, which interferes with the use and enjoyment of the claimant's land, can be an actionable nuisance even before it causes physical damage. |
| Neubauer v Germany | (2021) 1 BvR 2656/18 | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | Germany's climate legislation was partly unconstitutional because it postponed emissions reductions after 2030, placing an excessive burden on the freedoms of future generations. |
| Neville Estates Ltd v Madden | [1962] Ch 832 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | A gift to an unincorporated association can take effect in three ways: as a gift to the present members as joint tenants, as a gift to the members subject to the rules of the association, or as a purpose trust. |
| Neville v Wilson | [1997] Ch 144 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | An oral agreement between the beneficial owners of shares to divide them between themselves gave rise to a constructive trust, so no writing was needed. |
| New Zealand Shipping Co Ltd v AM Satterthwaite & Co Ltd (The Eurymedon) | [1975] AC 154 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | A carefully drafted clause can allow a stevedore to rely on a limitation in a contract of carriage, through a unilateral contract. |
| New Zealand Shipping Co Ltd v AM Satterthwaite & Co Ltd (The Eurymedon) | [1975] AC 154 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | A carefully drafted clause can allow a stevedore to rely on a limitation in a contract of carriage, through a unilateral contract. |
| Newborne v Sensolid (Great Britain) Ltd | [1954] 1 QB 45 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | Where a contract is made in the name of a company not yet formed, signed by a person as the company's officer, the contract is a nullity, and the signatory cannot enforce it personally. |
| Newgate Stud Co v Penfold | [2004] EWHC 2993 (Ch) | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | A nominee director appointed to represent a shareholder must still act in the interests of the company, although he may take account of the appointing shareholder's interests where they are not in conflict. |
| Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd v Marks & Spencer plc | [2001] UKHL 38, [2003] 1 AC 551 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | The copyright in the typographical arrangement of a published edition protects the whole edition, such as a newspaper, and is not infringed by copying individual articles. |
| Newtons of Wembley Ltd v Williams | [1965] 1 QB 560 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | A buyer in possession of goods who sells them in a market in a way that a mercantile agent would do passes good title, even after the original seller has rescinded the contract. |
| Niblett Ltd v Confectioners' Materials Co Ltd | [1921] 3 KB 387 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | A seller who sells goods that infringe a third party's trade mark is in breach of the implied condition that he has the right to sell them. |
| Nickerson v Barraclough | [1981] Ch 426 | Land LawEasements | An easement of necessity rests on the presumed intention of the parties, and cannot be implied on grounds of public policy contrary to the terms of the grant. |
| Nisshin Shipping Co Ltd v Cleaves & Co Ltd | [2003] EWHC 2602 (Comm), [2004] 1 Lloyd's Rep 38 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | A third party can enforce a contractual term under the 1999 Act if the term purports to confer a benefit on it and the parties did not intend otherwise. |
| Noakes & Co Ltd v Rice | [1902] AC 24 | Land LawMortgages | A collateral advantage in a mortgage that continues after the mortgage has been redeemed is a clog on the equity of redemption and is void. |
| Nold v Commission | Case 4/73, [1974] ECR 491 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | In protecting fundamental rights, the Court of Justice draws inspiration from the constitutional traditions of the Member States and from international human rights treaties. |
| Nordenfelt v Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Co Ltd | [1894] AC 535 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | A restraint of trade is void unless it is reasonable between the parties and in the public interest. |
| Norris v Government of the United States of America | [2008] UKHL 16, [2008] 1 AC 920 | Competition LawInvestigations, cartels and penalties | Price fixing was not a criminal offence in English law before the cartel offence was introduced in 2003, and could not be treated as a conspiracy to defraud merely because it involved secret agreements. |
| Norris v Government of the United States of America | [2008] UKHL 16, [2008] 1 AC 920 | Immigration and Asylum LawExtradition | Price fixing was not a criminal offence in English law before the cartel offence was introduced in 2003, and could not be treated as a conspiracy to defraud merely because it involved secret agreements. |
| North Ocean Shipping Co Ltd v Hyundai Construction Co Ltd (The Atlantic Baron) | [1979] QB 705 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | A threat to break a contract unless more is paid can be economic duress, but a party who affirms the contract by delay loses the right to avoid it. |
| North Ocean Shipping Co Ltd v Hyundai Construction Co Ltd (The Atlantic Baron) | [1979] QB 705 | Shipping and Maritime LawSalvage, general average, collisions, arrest and limitation | A threat to break a contract unless more is paid can be economic duress, but a party who affirms the contract by delay loses the right to avoid it. |
| North Sea Continental Shelf Cases (Germany v Denmark; Germany v Netherlands) | (1969) ICJ Reports 3 | Public International LawSources of international law and its place in domestic courts | A rule of customary international law requires both extensive and virtually uniform state practice and opinio juris, a belief that the practice is required by law, so the equidistance principle was not binding on Germany. |
| Nottebohm Case (Liechtenstein v Guatemala) | (1955) ICJ Reports 4 | Public International LawState responsibility, nationality and international organisations | A state may exercise diplomatic protection on behalf of a national only if there is a genuine connection between them, so Liechtenstein could not protect a man naturalised there to avoid enemy alien status. |
| Nowak v Data Protection Commissioner | (2017) Case C-434/16 | Data Protection and Technology LawPersonal data, controllers and the scope of data protection | The written answers given by a candidate in a professional examination, and any comments made by the examiner on them, are the candidate's personal data. |
| NT1 v Google LLC | [2018] EWHC 799 (QB) | Data Protection and Technology LawLawful processing, data subject rights and the right to be forgotten | In the first English trial of a claim under the right to be forgotten, one businessman with a spent conviction obtained the delisting of search results about it, but another did not. |
| NWL Ltd v Woods | [1979] 1 WLR 1294 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | In deciding whether to grant an interim injunction against industrial action, the court must consider the likelihood that the union will establish its statutory immunity at trial. |
| Nwogbe v Nwogbe | [2000] 2 FLR 744 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | A provision in an occupation order requiring the respondent to pay the rent and outgoings cannot be enforced by committal, which exposed a gap in the Family Law Act 1996. |
| Re O and N (Minors); Re B (Minors) | [2003] UKHL 18, [2004] 1 AC 523 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | Where the perpetrator of a child's injuries cannot be identified, the court must proceed at the welfare stage on the footing that each person in the pool of possible perpetrators is a possible perpetrator. |
| O'Donnell v Shanahan | [2009] EWCA Civ 751 | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | The no profit rule applies to any opportunity that comes to a director in his capacity as director, even if it is outside the scope of the company's business. |
| O'Hara v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary | [1997] AC 286 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | Reasonable suspicion for an arrest requires that the arresting officer personally suspects the person and that there are objectively reasonable grounds for that suspicion. |
| O'Hara v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary | [1997] AC 286 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | Reasonable suspicion for an arrest requires that the arresting officer personally suspects the person and that there are objectively reasonable grounds for that suspicion. |
| O'Kelly v Trusthouse Forte plc | [1984] QB 90 | Employment LawEmployment status | Regular casual waiters were not employees, because there was no obligation on the employer to provide work or on the waiters to accept it, even though they worked regularly. |
| O'Neill v Phillips | [1999] 1 WLR 1092 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | Unfair prejudice requires a breach of the terms on which the members agreed the company's affairs should be conducted, or the use of rules in a way that equity would regard as contrary to good faith. |
| O'Reilly v Mackman | [1983] 2 AC 237 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | Public law challenges must normally be brought by judicial review, and using an ordinary claim to avoid its safeguards is an abuse of process. |
| Re Oatway | [1903] 2 Ch 356 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | Where a trustee withdraws money from a mixed account to buy an investment and then dissipates the rest, the beneficiaries can claim the investment. |
| Obligations of States in respect of Climate Change | (2025) Advisory Opinion of 23 July 2025 | Public International LawLaw of the sea, international environmental law and dispute settlement | States have obligations under the climate treaties and customary international law to protect the climate system from greenhouse gas emissions, and a breach of those obligations is an internationally wrongful act. |
| Occidental Worldwide Investment Corp v Skibs A/S Avanti (The Siboen and The Sibotre) | [1976] 1 Lloyd's Rep 293 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | Kerr J recognised that economic duress could make a contract voidable, although the pressure on the facts was only commercial. |
| Office of Communications v Information Commissioner | Case C-71/10, [2011] ECR I-7205 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | Where several exceptions to the duty to disclose environmental information apply, the public authority may weigh the interests served by them cumulatively against the public interest in disclosure. |
| Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National plc | [2009] UKSC 6, [2010] 1 AC 696 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | Charges that form part of the price paid for a package of services cannot be assessed for fairness against the value of what is provided. |
| Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National plc | [2009] UKSC 6, [2010] 1 AC 696 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | Charges that form part of the price paid for a package of services cannot be assessed for fairness against the value of what is provided. |
| Office of the King's Prosecutor, Brussels v Cando Armas | [2005] UKHL 67, [2006] 2 AC 1 | Immigration and Asylum LawExtradition | Under the Extradition Act 2003, conduct which occurred partly in the United Kingdom could still be an extradition offence, and the Act must be interpreted in the light of the European arrest warrant framework. |
| Official Solicitor v Yemoh | [2010] EWHC 3727 (Ch) | Wills, Succession and ProbateIntestacy, personal representatives and administration of estates | Where a man domiciled in Ghana died intestate leaving several wives under valid polygamous marriages, each widow was a surviving spouse sharing the statutory legacy and life interest under the intestacy rules. |
| Officier van Justitie v Kolpinghuis Nijmegen BV | Case 80/86, [1987] ECR 3969 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | The duty of consistent interpretation is limited by general principles of law, such as legal certainty and non retroactivity, so it cannot be used to create or aggravate criminal liability. |
| Ofulue v Bossert | [2009] UKHL 16, [2009] 1 AC 990 | Land LawAdverse possession | An offer to buy land, made without prejudice in settlement negotiations, could not be used as an acknowledgment of the owner's title to stop time running. |
| Oil Platforms (Iran v United States) | (2003) ICJ Reports 161 | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | United States attacks on Iranian oil platforms could not be justified as self defence, because the United States had not shown that it had been the victim of an armed attack by Iran or that the attacks were necessary and proportionate. |
| Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell plc | [2021] UKSC 3, [2021] 1 WLR 1294 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | Nigerian communities had an arguable case that the parent company of the Shell group owed them a duty of care for oil spills by its Nigerian subsidiary, applying Vedanta. |
| Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell plc | [2021] UKSC 3, [2021] 1 WLR 1294 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | Nigerian communities had an arguable case that the parent company of the Shell group owed them a duty of care for oil spills by its Nigerian subsidiary, applying Vedanta. |
| Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell plc | [2021] UKSC 3, [2021] 1 WLR 1294 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | Nigerian communities had an arguable case that the parent company of the Shell group owed them a duty of care for oil spills by its Nigerian subsidiary, applying Vedanta. |
| Re Oldham | [1925] Ch 75 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | Wills made at the same time in identical terms are not mutual wills unless there is evidence of an agreement that they would not be revoked. |
| Olins v Walters | [2008] EWCA Civ 782, [2009] Ch 212 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | For mutual wills, it is enough that there is a contract not to revoke the wills, and the claimant does not need to identify precisely which property is subject to the trust. |
| Olins v Walters | [2008] EWCA Civ 782, [2009] Ch 212 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | For mutual wills, it is enough that there is a contract not to revoke the wills, and the claimant does not need to identify precisely which property is subject to the trust. |
| Oliver Brüstle v Greenpeace eV | Case C-34/10, [2011] ECR I-9821 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | An invention cannot be patented if it requires the prior destruction of human embryos, because the use of human embryos for industrial or commercial purposes is excluded. |
| Olley v Marlborough Court Ltd | [1949] 1 KB 532 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | An exclusion clause brought to a party's attention after the contract is made is not part of the contract. |
| Omega Spielhallen und Automatenaufstellungs GmbH v Oberbürgermeisterin der Bundesstadt Bonn | Case C-36/02, [2004] ECR I-9609 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | A Member State can restrict the freedom to provide services to protect human dignity, as understood in its own constitution, even if other Member States take a different view. |
| Ooregum Gold Mining Co of India Ltd v Roper | [1892] AC 125 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | A company cannot issue shares at a discount, that is, for less than their nominal value. |
| Opinion 2/13 (Accession of the European Union to the European Convention on Human Rights) | Opinion 2/13, EU:C:2014:2454 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | The draft agreement for the EU's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights was incompatible with the EU Treaties, because it threatened the autonomy of EU law. |
| Oppenheim v Tobacco Securities Trust Co Ltd | [1951] AC 297 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A trust for the education of the children of employees of a group of companies was not charitable, because the beneficiaries did not form a section of the public. |
| Oppenheimer v Cattermole | [1976] AC 249 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | The English courts would refuse to recognise a Nazi decree depriving Jewish emigrants of German nationality and their property, because it was a grave infringement of human rights contrary to public policy. |
| Opuz v Turkey | (2010) 50 EHRR 28 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | A state that failed to protect a woman and her mother from repeated and escalating domestic violence breached the rights to life and freedom from ill treatment, and the discriminatory failure breached article 14. |
| Opuz v Turkey | (2010) 50 EHRR 28 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | A state that failed to protect a woman and her mother from repeated and escalating domestic violence breached the rights to life and freedom from ill treatment, and the discriminatory failure breached article 14. |
| OQ v Land Hessen (SCHUFA Holding) | (2023) Case C-634/21 | Data Protection and Technology LawLawful processing, data subject rights and the right to be forgotten | The automated calculation of a credit score is itself an automated decision under article 22 of the GDPR where a third party, such as a lender, draws strongly on it in deciding whether to enter into a contract. |
| Orchard v Lee | [2009] EWCA Civ 295 | Tort LawBreach of duty | A 13 year old boy playing tag in a school playground was not liable for injuring a supervisor, because his conduct was not careless or reckless to a high degree. |
| Orkem SA v Commission | Case 374/87, [1989] ECR 3283 | Competition LawInvestigations, cartels and penalties | The Commission may compel an undertaking to provide factual information in an investigation, but cannot compel it to provide answers which might involve an admission of an infringement. |
| The Oropesa | [1943] P 32 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | Reasonable conduct by a person acting in an emergency created by the defendant's negligence does not break the chain of causation. |
| Oscar Bronner GmbH & Co KG v Mediaprint | Case C-7/97, [1998] ECR I-7791 | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | A refusal by a dominant undertaking to give a competitor access to its facilities is an abuse only where access is indispensable, there is no realistic alternative, and refusal would eliminate all competition. |
| Oscar Chess Ltd v Williams | [1957] 1 WLR 370 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | A statement by a seller with no special knowledge is more likely to be a representation than a contractual term. |
| Osman v United Kingdom | (2000) 29 EHRR 245 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | The state has a positive obligation to take preventive measures to protect a person whose life is at real and immediate risk from another, where the authorities knew or ought to have known of the risk. |
| Re Osoba | [1979] 1 WLR 247 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | A gift for the maintenance and education of a person, where the purpose is only the motive for the gift, gives the person an absolute interest, so there is no resulting trust when the purpose has been fulfilled. |
| Othman (Abu Qatada) v United Kingdom | (2012) 55 EHRR 1 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | Deporting Abu Qatada to Jordan would breach article 6, because there was a real risk that he would face a flagrant denial of justice through the use of evidence obtained by torture at his retrial. |
| Ottaway v Norman | [1972] Ch 698 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | A fully secret trust requires the testator's intention to subject the legatee to an obligation, communication of that intention to the legatee, and the legatee's acceptance. |
| Oughtred v IRC | [1960] AC 206 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | An oral contract to transfer an equitable interest in shares creates a constructive trust, but the later written transfer is still liable to stamp duty. |
| Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Miller Steamship Co Pty Ltd (The Wagon Mound (No 2)) | [1967] 1 AC 617 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A defendant is liable for damage caused by a foreseeable risk, even if it was small, where there was no good reason for not eliminating it. |
| Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd (The Wagon Mound (No 1)) | [1961] AC 388 | Shipping and Maritime LawSalvage, general average, collisions, arrest and limitation | A defendant is liable only for damage of a kind that was reasonably foreseeable, not for all the direct consequences of his negligence. |
| Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd (The Wagon Mound (No 1)) | [1961] AC 388 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A defendant is liable only for damage of a kind that was reasonably foreseeable, not for all the direct consequences of his negligence. |
| Owens Bank Ltd v Bracco | [1992] 2 AC 443 | Conflict of LawsRecognition and enforcement of foreign judgments | A foreign judgment may be challenged in England on the ground that it was obtained by fraud, even if the allegation of fraud was raised and rejected in the foreign court, and the defendant need not produce new evidence. |
| Owens v Brimmell | [1977] QB 859 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A passenger who accepts a lift from a driver he knows has been drinking heavily is contributorily negligent, and his damages may be reduced. |
| Owens v Owens | [2018] UKSC 41, [2018] AC 899 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | Under the old law, a wife who could not prove that her husband's behaviour was such that she could not reasonably be expected to live with him was refused a divorce, which led to the introduction of no fault divorce. |
| Owners of the Motor Vessel Tojo Maru v NV Bureau Wijsmuller (The Tojo Maru) | [1972] AC 242 | Shipping and Maritime LawSalvage, general average, collisions, arrest and limitation | A salvor who negligently causes damage to the salved property in the course of salvage operations is liable for that damage, and may have to set it off against the salvage reward. |
| Owusu v Jackson | Case C-281/02, [2005] ECR I-1383 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | Under the Brussels Convention, an English court could not stay proceedings against an English domiciled defendant on the ground that a non member state was a more appropriate forum. |
| Oxford v Moss | (1979) 68 Cr App R 183 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | Confidential information is not property that can be stolen. |
| Oxley v Hiscock | [2004] EWCA Civ 546, [2005] Fam 211 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | Where there is no evidence of an agreed share, each party is entitled to the share the court considers fair, having regard to the whole course of dealing between them. |
| Oxley v Hiscock | [2004] EWCA Civ 546, [2005] Fam 211 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | Where there is no evidence of an agreed share, each party is entitled to the share the court considers fair, having regard to the whole course of dealing between them. |
| P & A Swift Investments v Combined English Stores Group plc | [1989] AC 632 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | A surety's covenant guaranteeing a tenant's obligations touches and concerns the land, so the benefit passes to a new landlord. |
| P v Cheshire West and Chester Council | [2014] UKSC 19, [2014] AC 896 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | A person who lacks capacity and is under continuous supervision and control and not free to leave is deprived of liberty, however comfortable or appropriate the arrangements, the so called acid test. |
| P v Cheshire West and Chester Council | [2014] UKSC 19, [2014] AC 896 | Medical Law and EthicsConsent, capacity and refusal of treatment | A person who lacks capacity and is under continuous supervision and control and not free to leave is deprived of liberty, however comfortable or appropriate the arrangements, the so called acid test. |
| Pacific Motor Auctions Pty Ltd v Motor Credits (Hire Finance) Ltd | [1965] AC 867 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | A seller who remains in possession of goods after selling them can pass good title to a second buyer who takes in good faith, whatever the capacity in which the seller retains possession. |
| Paddington Building Society v Mendelsohn | (1985) 50 P & CR 244 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | A person who contributed to a purchase knowing that a mortgage would be needed is taken to have consented to the mortgage, so their interest does not bind the lender. |
| Padfield v Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food | [1968] AC 997 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A minister's statutory discretion must be used to promote the policy and objects of the Act, not to frustrate them. |
| Page v Smith | [1996] AC 155 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | A primary victim who was within the range of foreseeable physical injury can recover for psychiatric injury, even if physical injury did not occur and psychiatric injury was not itself foreseeable. |
| Painer v Standard VerlagsGmbH | Case C-145/10, [2011] ECR I-12533 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | A portrait photograph can be protected by copyright as an original work, because the photographer makes free and creative choices in taking it. |
| Pakistan International Airline Corp v Times Travel (UK) Ltd | [2021] UKSC 40, [2023] AC 101 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | Lawful act economic duress exists but is very narrow, and hard commercial bargaining does not amount to it. |
| Palin Granit Oy | Case C-9/00, [2002] ECR I-3533 | Environmental LawPollution offences, contaminated land and waste | Leftover stone from a quarry, stored for an indefinite period pending possible use, was waste, but a by product can escape the definition if its reuse is certain, without further processing and as part of the continuing production process. |
| Palk v Mortgage Services Funding plc | [1993] Ch 330 | Land LawMortgages | The court can order the sale of a mortgaged property at the request of the mortgagor, even though the proceeds will not repay the loan in full, where it would be unfair to the mortgagor to refuse. |
| Pallant v Morgan | [1953] Ch 43 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | Where one party agreed not to bid at an auction in return for a promise to share the property, the successful bidder held it on trust for both. |
| Palmer v Simmonds | (1854) 2 Drew 221 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | A gift of the bulk of a person's estate is too uncertain to create a trust. |
| Pan Atlantic Insurance Co Ltd v Pine Top Insurance Co Ltd | [1995] 1 AC 501 | Insurance LawUtmost good faith, disclosure, warranties and insurable interest | A circumstance is material if it would have an effect on the mind of a prudent insurer, but the insurer can avoid the policy for non disclosure only if it was in fact induced to enter into the contract by the non disclosure. |
| Pan Atlantic Insurance Co Ltd v Pine Top Insurance Co Ltd | [1995] 1 AC 501 | Shipping and Maritime LawMarine insurance | A circumstance is material if it would have an effect on the mind of a prudent insurer, but the insurer can avoid the policy for non disclosure only if it was in fact induced to enter into the contract by the non disclosure. |
| Re Panama, New Zealand and Australian Royal Mail Co | (1870) LR 5 Ch App 318 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | A charge over the company's undertaking, including its future property, was a valid floating charge that allowed the company to carry on business until it was wound up. |
| Pao On v Lau Yiu Long | [1980] AC 614 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | An act done at the promisor's request can be good consideration, a promise to perform a duty owed to a third party can be consideration, and commercial pressure is not duress unless illegitimate. |
| Paradine v Jane | (1647) Aleyn 26 | Contract LawFrustration | The old rule of absolute contracts: a party who undertakes an obligation is bound to perform it whatever happens. |
| Paragon Finance plc v DB Thakerar & Co | [1999] 1 All ER 400 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | There are two kinds of constructive trust: those where the defendant was a true trustee who assumed fiduciary duties, and those where the trust is a remedy for wrongdoing. |
| Paragon Finance plc v Nash | [2001] EWCA Civ 1466, [2002] 1 WLR 685 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A lender's discretion to vary the interest rate on a mortgage is subject to an implied term that it will not be exercised dishonestly, for an improper purpose, capriciously, arbitrarily or in a way no reasonable lender would. |
| Paris v Stepney Borough Council | [1951] AC 367 | Tort LawBreach of duty | An employer must take into account the seriousness of the injury that would result if a risk materialised, especially where the employee has a known disability. |
| Parker v British Airways Board | [1982] QB 1004 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | A finder of a lost item in a building has a better right to it than the occupier, unless the occupier had manifested an intention to exercise control over the building and things in it. |
| Parker v Clark | [1960] 1 WLR 286 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | A family arrangement can be legally binding where the circumstances and the seriousness of what was agreed show an intention to be bound. |
| Parker v Felgate | (1883) 8 PD 171 | Wills, Succession and ProbateTestamentary capacity, knowledge and approval | A will is valid if the testator had capacity when giving instructions to a solicitor, and at execution understood that she was executing a will prepared in accordance with those instructions, even if she could no longer understand each clause. |
| Parker v South Eastern Railway Co | (1877) 2 CPD 416 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | Terms on a ticket are incorporated if reasonable steps were taken to bring them to the customer's notice. |
| ParkingEye Ltd v Somerfield Stores Ltd | [2012] EWCA Civ 1338, [2013] QB 840 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | A party whose performance of a lawful contract involved some illegality can still enforce it if denying the claim would be disproportionate. |
| Parkinson v St James and Seacroft University Hospital NHS Trust | [2001] EWCA Civ 530, [2002] QB 266 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | Where a child born after a negligent sterilisation is disabled, the parents can recover the additional costs of bringing up the child attributable to the disability, but not the basic costs. |
| Parti écologiste Les Verts v European Parliament | Case 294/83, [1986] ECR 1339 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | Acts of the European Parliament intended to have legal effects can be challenged, because the EU is a community based on the rule of law. |
| Pascoe v Turner | [1979] 1 WLR 431 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | Where a man told his partner that the house was hers and she spent her savings on it, the court ordered him to transfer the house to her. |
| Patel v Mirza | [2016] UKSC 42, [2017] AC 467 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | Illegality is decided by weighing the purpose of the rule broken, other public policies and proportionality, not by a reliance test. |
| Patel v Mirza | [2016] UKSC 42, [2017] AC 467 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | Illegality is decided by weighing the purpose of the rule broken, other public policies and proportionality, not by a reliance test. |
| Patel v Mirza | [2016] UKSC 42, [2017] AC 467 | Tort LawDefences and damages | Illegality is decided by weighing the purpose of the rule broken, other public policies and proportionality, not by a reliance test. |
| Paton v British Pregnancy Advisory Service Trustees | [1979] QB 276 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | A husband cannot obtain an injunction to prevent his wife from having a lawful abortion, because the foetus has no legal personality and the father has no right to be consulted. |
| Re Patrick and Lyon Ltd | [1933] Ch 786 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | Fraudulent trading requires actual dishonesty, involving real moral blame, according to current notions of fair trading. |
| Paul v Constance | [1977] 1 WLR 527 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | Words and conduct showing an intention that money in a bank account should be shared can create an express trust, even without any technical language. |
| Paul v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | [2024] UKSC 1 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | Close relatives who suffer psychiatric injury from witnessing the death or injury of a relative from an illness negligently left undiagnosed by doctors cannot recover as secondary victims. |
| Paul v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust | [2024] UKSC 1 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | Close relatives who suffer psychiatric injury from witnessing the death or injury of a relative from an illness negligently left undiagnosed by doctors cannot recover as secondary victims. |
| Re Pauling's Settlement Trusts | [1964] Ch 303 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | Trustees exercising a power of advancement must ensure that the money is applied for the stated purpose, and a beneficiary's consent to a breach of trust must be fully informed. |
| Pavlides v Jensen | [1956] Ch 565 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | A minority shareholder cannot bring a derivative action for mere negligence by directors from which they did not benefit, because the majority can ratify it. |
| Payne v Payne | [2001] EWCA Civ 166, [2001] Fam 473 | Family LawPrivate law disputes about children and child abduction | In deciding whether to allow a parent to relocate abroad with a child, the welfare of the child is paramount, and the effect of a refusal on the parent who wishes to relocate is an important factor. |
| Re Peachdart Ltd | [1984] Ch 131 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A seller's claim to ownership of handbags made from its leather was a charge, which was void because it was not registered. |
| Pearce v Brooks | (1866) LR 1 Ex 213 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | A contract made to help another person carry out an immoral purpose, with knowledge of that purpose, is unenforceable. |
| Pearson v Lehman Brothers Finance SA | [2010] EWHC 2914 (Ch) | Banking and Finance LawInsolvency of financial institutions and client assets | A trust of intermediated securities held in a mixed pool can be sufficiently certain if the beneficiaries' interests can be identified by reference to the pool. |
| Pearson v Lehman Brothers Finance SA | [2010] EWHC 2914 (Ch) | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | A trust of intermediated securities held in a mixed pool can be sufficiently certain if the beneficiaries' interests can be identified by reference to the pool. |
| Pearson v Rose & Young Ltd | [1951] 1 KB 275 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | A mercantile agent who sells a car without its registration document, which the owner did not consent to his having, does not pass good title. |
| Peck v United Kingdom | (2003) 36 EHRR 41 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | The disclosure to the media by a local council of CCTV footage showing a man in a distressed state in a public street, shortly after he had tried to take his own life, breached his right to respect for private life. |
| Peekay Intermark Ltd v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd | [2006] EWCA Civ 386 | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | An investor who signs contractual documents which accurately describe the investment is bound by them, and cannot rely on an earlier inaccurate oral description, because the documents form the basis of the contract. |
| Pender v Lushington | (1877) 6 Ch D 70 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A member's right to vote is a personal right, which he can enforce in his own name, and members may vote in their own interests. |
| Pennington v Waine | [2002] EWCA Civ 227, [2002] 1 WLR 2075 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A gift of shares was complete in equity, although the share transfer was never delivered to the donee or the company, because it would have been unconscionable for the donor to change her mind. |
| People Over Wind and Sweetman v Coillte Teoranta | Case C-323/17, EU:C:2018:244 | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | Measures intended to avoid or reduce the harmful effects of a project on a protected site cannot be taken into account when deciding whether an appropriate assessment is required. |
| Pepper v Hart | [1993] AC 593 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | The courts may refer to statements in Parliament, recorded in Hansard, to interpret ambiguous legislation, in limited circumstances. |
| Pepper v Hart | [1993] AC 593 | Tax LawIncome and corporation tax: employment, trading and residence | The courts may refer to statements in Parliament, recorded in Hansard, to interpret ambiguous legislation, in limited circumstances. |
| Percival v Wright | [1902] 2 Ch 421 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | Directors do not owe fiduciary duties to individual shareholders, so a director who buys shares from a shareholder without disclosing negotiations for a sale of the company is not liable. |
| Performance Cars Ltd v Abraham | [1962] 1 QB 33 | Tort LawCausation | A defendant who damages property that has already been damaged by someone else is not liable for the cost of repairing damage that already existed. |
| Perrin v Morgan | [1943] AC 399 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | Words in a will must be given the meaning which the testator intended, in the light of the will as a whole and the surrounding circumstances, so a gift of all moneys included the testatrix's investments. |
| Perrin v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2018] UKUT 156 (TCC) | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | The Upper Tribunal set out a structured approach to deciding whether a taxpayer has a reasonable excuse for a failure, such as the late filing of a return, asking whether the excuse was objectively reasonable for that taxpayer. |
| Peskin v Anderson | [2001] 1 BCLC 372 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | Directors owe their fiduciary duties to the company, not to the shareholders individually, unless there is a special factual relationship that gives rise to a duty to them. |
| Pettitt v Pettitt | [1970] AC 777 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | A husband's do it yourself improvements to a house owned by his wife did not give him a beneficial interest in it, and there is no special doctrine of family assets. |
| Pfeiffer v Deutsches Rotes Kreuz, Kreisverband Waldshut eV | Joined Cases C-397/01 to C-403/01, [2004] ECR I-8835 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | A national court must consider the whole body of national law and use all the methods of interpretation it recognises to achieve the result required by a directive. |
| Pfleiderer AG v Bundeskartellamt | Case C-360/09, [2011] ECR I-5161 | Competition LawInvestigations, cartels and penalties | Whether victims of a cartel may access leniency documents must be decided by national courts case by case, weighing the interest in damages claims against the protection of leniency programmes. |
| Pham v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2015] UKSC 19, [2015] 1 WLR 1591 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | Deprivation of British citizenship is a serious matter, and the courts may apply a proportionality analysis under the common law. |
| Pham v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2015] UKSC 19, [2015] 1 WLR 1591 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | Deprivation of British citizenship is a serious matter, and the courts may apply a proportionality analysis under the common law. |
| Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Boots Cash Chemists (Southern) Ltd | [1953] 1 QB 401 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | Goods displayed on shelves in a self service shop are an invitation to treat, not an offer. |
| Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v Storkwain Ltd | [1986] 1 WLR 903 | Criminal LawStrict liability | A pharmacist who supplied drugs on a forged prescription was guilty even though he did not know and could not have known it was forged. |
| Philip Collins Ltd v Davis | [2000] 3 All ER 808 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | The defence of change of position applies where the defendant has altered his lifestyle in reliance on an overpayment, but only to the extent that the change was causally linked to the payment. |
| Philip Head & Sons Ltd v Showfronts Ltd | [1970] 1 Lloyd's Rep 140 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Where goods are to be delivered and laid by the seller, property does not pass until they have been installed, so the seller bears the risk of loss before then. |
| Philipp v Barclays Bank UK plc | [2023] UKSC 25, [2024] AC 346 | Banking and Finance LawPayments, mandates and the Quincecare duty | The Quincecare duty does not apply where a customer personally authorises a payment as a result of an authorised push payment fraud, because the bank's duty is to carry out the customer's instructions. |
| Phillips v Brooks Ltd | [1919] 2 KB 243 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | In face to face dealings, a seller is presumed to intend to contract with the person in front of him, so a fraudster's identity fraud makes the contract voidable, not void. |
| Phillips v Brooks Ltd | [1919] 2 KB 243 | Contract LawMistake | In face to face dealings, a seller is presumed to intend to contract with the person in front of him, so a fraudster's identity fraud makes the contract voidable, not void. |
| Phipps v Pears | [1965] 1 QB 76 | Land LawEasements | There is no easement to be protected from the weather by a neighbouring building. |
| Phipps v Rochester Corporation | [1955] 1 QB 450 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier is entitled to assume that the parents of young children will not allow them to go to dangerous places unaccompanied. |
| Phonogram Ltd v Lane | [1982] QB 938 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | A person who contracts on behalf of a company not yet formed is personally liable under the statute, unless the contract clearly excludes his liability, regardless of the form of signature. |
| Photo Production Ltd v Securicor Transport Ltd | [1980] AC 827 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | There is no rule of law that a fundamental breach prevents reliance on an exclusion clause: it is a question of construction. |
| Pickin v British Railways Board | [1974] AC 765 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | The courts will not inquire whether Parliament was misled when it passed an Act: there is no power to disregard an Act on that ground. |
| Pickstone v Freemans plc | [1989] AC 66 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | The House of Lords read words into regulations implementing EU law, so as to give effect to the Treaty principle of equal pay for work of equal value. |
| Pickstone v Freemans plc | [1989] AC 66 | Employment LawEqual pay | The House of Lords read words into regulations implementing EU law, so as to give effect to the Treaty principle of equal pay for work of equal value. |
| Pierre Fabre Dermo-Cosmétique SAS v Président de l'Autorité de la concurrence | Case C-439/09, [2011] ECR I-9419 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | A contractual clause in a selective distribution system which in effect bans all internet sales restricts competition by object, unless it is objectively justified. |
| Pilkington v IRC | [1964] AC 612 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | Trustees can exercise their power of advancement by transferring money to a new settlement for the beneficiary, as long as it is for the beneficiary's benefit. |
| Pimlico Plumbers Ltd v Smith | [2018] UKSC 29, [2018] ICR 1511 | Employment LawEmployment status | A plumber who was required to perform work personally, and was subject to tight control, was a worker, even though he was treated as self employed for tax purposes. |
| Ping Europe Ltd v Competition and Markets Authority | [2020] EWCA Civ 13 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | A golf club manufacturer's ban on retailers selling its clubs online restricted competition by object, even though it was intended to promote in store custom fitting. |
| Re Pinion | [1965] Ch 85 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A trust to display a collection of objects as a museum was not charitable, because the collection had no educational or artistic value. |
| Pioneer Shipping Ltd v BTP Tioxide Ltd (The Nema) | [1982] AC 724 | ArbitrationChallenging and enforcing awards, and investment arbitration | Leave to appeal against an arbitration award on a point of law should be granted only sparingly, and in one off cases only if the arbitrator was obviously wrong, to respect the finality of arbitration. |
| Pitt v Holt | [2013] UKSC 26, [2013] 2 AC 108 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | Trustees' decisions are voidable for inadequate deliberation only if they were in breach of fiduciary duty, and a voluntary disposition can be set aside for a serious mistake. |
| Pitt v Holt | [2013] UKSC 26, [2013] 2 AC 108 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | Trustees' decisions are voidable for inadequate deliberation only if they were in breach of fiduciary duty, and a voluntary disposition can be set aside for a serious mistake. |
| Pitt v Holt | [2013] UKSC 26, [2013] 2 AC 108 | Tax LawCapital gains, inheritance tax and property taxes | Trustees' decisions are voidable for inadequate deliberation only if they were in breach of fiduciary duty, and a voluntary disposition can be set aside for a serious mistake. |
| Pitts v Hunt | [1991] 1 QB 24 | Tort LawDefences and damages | A pillion passenger who encouraged a drunk, unlicensed rider to drive dangerously could not recover for his injuries, because of the defence of illegality. |
| PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd | [2016] UKSC 26, [2016] AC 1081 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | An injunction protecting private information could be maintained even after the information had been widely published online and abroad, because further publication would cause further intrusion. |
| PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd | [2016] UKSC 26, [2016] AC 1081 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | An injunction protecting private information could be maintained even after the information had been widely published online and abroad, because further publication would cause further intrusion. |
| PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd | [2016] UKSC 26, [2016] AC 1081 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | An injunction protecting private information could be maintained even after the information had been widely published online and abroad, because further publication would cause further intrusion. |
| PJS v News Group Newspapers Ltd | [2016] UKSC 26, [2016] AC 1081 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | An injunction protecting private information could be maintained even after the information had been widely published online and abroad, because further publication would cause further intrusion. |
| Planché v Colburn | (1831) 8 Bing 14 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | An author who had done work on a book for a series which the publishers abandoned, in breach of contract, could recover a reasonable sum for his work on a quantum meruit. |
| Platt v Crouch | [2003] EWCA Civ 1110, [2004] 1 P & CR 18 | Land LawEasements | Section 62 can create an easement without prior diversity of occupation, where the right was continuous and apparent. |
| Plaumann & Co v Commission | Case 25/62, [1963] ECR 95 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | A private applicant is individually concerned by an EU act only if it affects him by reason of attributes peculiar to him, which differentiate him from all other persons. |
| Plevin v Paragon Personal Finance Ltd | [2014] UKSC 61, [2014] 1 WLR 4222 | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | A lender's failure to disclose that most of a payment protection insurance premium was paid as commission to the lender and broker made the relationship between lender and borrower unfair. |
| Polish Judicial Authority v Celinski | [2015] EWHC 1274 (Admin), [2016] 1 WLR 551 | Immigration and Asylum LawExtradition | In deciding whether extradition would be a disproportionate interference with article 8, the judge should conduct a balancing exercise, setting out the factors for and against extradition in a balance sheet. |
| Politi SAS v Ministry for Finance of the Italian Republic | Case 43/71, [1971] ECR 1039 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | EU regulations are directly applicable and may create rights for individuals that national courts must protect. |
| Polkey v AE Dayton Services Ltd | [1988] AC 344 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | A failure to follow a fair procedure can make a dismissal unfair, even if following the procedure would have made no difference, although compensation may be reduced to reflect that. |
| Re Polly Peck International plc (In Administration) (No 3) | [1996] 2 All ER 433 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | A finance subsidiary that raised money for its parent company was a separate legal person, and was entitled to prove in the parent's insolvency for the money it had lent. |
| Re Polly Peck International plc (No 2) | [1998] 3 All ER 812 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | English law does not recognise the remedial constructive trust, under which the court can grant a proprietary remedy at its discretion to avoid injustice. |
| Port of London Authority v Ashmore | [2010] EWCA Civ 30, [2010] 1 All ER 1139 | Land LawAdverse possession | A person whose boat rested on the bed of a tidal river could be in adverse possession of that part of the river bed. |
| Porter v Magill | [2001] UKHL 67, [2002] 2 AC 357 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | The test for apparent bias is whether a fair minded and informed observer would conclude that there was a real possibility that the tribunal was biased. |
| Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust v Wyatt | [2005] EWCA Civ 1181, [2005] 1 WLR 3995 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | In deciding whether to authorise the withholding of ventilation from a seriously ill baby, the court must decide what is in the child's best interests in the widest sense, not apply a test of whether life would be intolerable. |
| Post Danmark A/S v Konkurrencerådet (Post Danmark I) | Case C-209/10, EU:C:2012:172 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | Not every exclusionary effect is detrimental to competition, because competition on the merits may lead to the departure of less efficient competitors, and selective low prices are not abusive unless they exclude as efficient competitors. |
| Post Office v Foley; HSBC Bank plc v Madden | [2000] ICR 1283 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | The band of reasonable responses test remains the correct approach to the fairness of a dismissal, and tribunals must not substitute their own view for that of the employer. |
| Post Office v Norwich Union Fire Insurance Society Ltd | [1967] 2 QB 363 | Insurance LawLiability insurance and third party rights | Under the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Act 1930, a third party takes the insured's rights against the insurer only when the insured's liability has been established, by judgment, award or agreement. |
| Poussard v Spiers and Pond | (1876) 1 QBD 410 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Breach of a condition that goes to the root of the contract entitles the innocent party to terminate. |
| Powell v Kempton Park Racecourse Co Ltd | [1899] AC 143 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The ejusdem generis rule: general words following a list of specific words are limited to things of the same kind. |
| Powell v McFarlane | (1977) 38 P & CR 452 | Land LawAdverse possession | Grazing a cow and cutting hay on land was not enough to show factual possession or an intention to possess, especially by a boy who was 14 when he began. |
| Pozzoli SpA v BDMO SA | [2007] EWCA Civ 588, [2007] FSR 37 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | The Windsurfing test for obviousness was restated in four steps, beginning with identifying the notional skilled person and his common general knowledge. |
| Practice Statement (Judicial Precedent) | [1966] 1 WLR 1234 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The House of Lords announced that it would depart from its own previous decisions when it appeared right to do so. |
| Prebble v Television New Zealand Ltd | [1995] 1 AC 321 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | A party to a defamation claim cannot rely on what was said in Parliament to show that an MP was dishonest, because that would question proceedings in Parliament. |
| Precision Dippings Ltd v Precision Dippings Marketing Ltd | [1986] Ch 447 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | A dividend paid without the relevant accounts required by statute is unlawful, and the recipient holds it on constructive trust for the company. |
| President of India v Lips Maritime Corp (The Lips) | [1988] AC 395 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | Damages cannot be recovered for the late payment of demurrage, which is itself liquidated damages for delay, so an owner could not claim for currency losses caused by the delay in payment. |
| Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd | [2013] UKSC 34, [2013] 2 AC 415 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | Properties held in the names of companies controlled by a husband were held on resulting trust for him, so they could be transferred to his wife on divorce. |
| Prest v Petrodel Resources Ltd | [2013] UKSC 34, [2013] 2 AC 415 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | Properties held in the names of companies controlled by a husband were held on resulting trust for him, so they could be transferred to his wife on divorce. |
| Pretty v United Kingdom | (2002) 35 EHRR 1 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | Article 2 does not confer a right to die, so the refusal to guarantee that a husband would not be prosecuted for assisting his wife's suicide did not breach the Convention. |
| Pretty v United Kingdom | (2002) 35 EHRR 1 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | Article 2 does not confer a right to die, so the refusal to guarantee that a husband would not be prosecuted for assisting his wife's suicide did not breach the Convention. |
| PreussenElektra AG v Schleswag AG | Case C-379/98, [2001] ECR I-2099 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A national law requiring electricity suppliers to buy renewable electricity produced locally was a restriction on trade, but was justified by the protection of the environment. |
| Priest v Last | [1903] 2 KB 148 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | Where goods have only one normal purpose, the buyer impliedly makes that purpose known to the seller, so the seller is liable if they are not fit for it. |
| Prince Albert v Strange | (1849) 1 Mac & G 25 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | Equity will restrain the publication of information obtained through a breach of confidence, such as a catalogue of private etchings made by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. |
| Privacy International v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | (2020) Case C-623/17 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | National legislation requiring providers to transmit communications data in bulk to the security and intelligence agencies falls within the scope of EU law, and general and indiscriminate transmission is precluded. |
| Pro Sieben Media AG v Carlton UK Television Ltd | [1999] 1 WLR 605 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Fair dealing for criticism or review extends to criticism of the ideas and philosophy underlying a work, and the purpose of the use is judged objectively. |
| Procter & Gamble Co v OHIM (Baby-Dry) | Case C-383/99 P, [2001] ECR I-6251 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | A word combination that is a syntactically unusual juxtaposition of descriptive words, such as Baby-Dry for nappies, is not excluded from registration as purely descriptive. |
| Procureur du Roi v Dassonville | Case 8/74, [1974] ECR 837 | EU LawFree movement of goods | All trading rules enacted by Member States which are capable of hindering, directly or indirectly, actually or potentially, intra EU trade are measures having equivalent effect to quantitative restrictions. |
| Re Produce Marketing Consortium Ltd (No 2) | [1989] BCLC 520 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | Directors who continue trading when they ought to have concluded that the company had no reasonable prospect of avoiding insolvent liquidation are liable for wrongful trading. |
| Progress Property Co Ltd v Moorgarth Group Ltd | [2010] UKSC 55, [2011] 1 WLR 1 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | Whether a transaction between a company and its shareholder is an unlawful distribution depends on its substance, and a genuine arm's length sale at a price the directors believed to be fair is not a distribution. |
| Prohibitions del Roy | (1607) 12 Co Rep 63 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The King cannot personally act as a judge: judicial power is exercised by the courts according to law. |
| Pronuptia de Paris GmbH v Pronuptia de Paris Irmgard Schillgalis | Case 161/84, [1986] ECR 353 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | Clauses in a distribution franchise which are necessary to protect the franchisor's know how and the identity and reputation of the network do not restrict competition, but resale price fixing and market sharing clauses do. |
| Property Alliance Group Ltd v Royal Bank of Scotland plc | [2018] EWCA Civ 355 | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | By proposing a swap referenced to LIBOR, a bank impliedly represented that it was not itself manipulating LIBOR, but the customer failed to prove that the bank had manipulated the relevant rate. |
| Prosecutor v Akayesu | Case No ICTR-96-4-T (1998) | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | The first conviction for genocide by an international tribunal held that rape and sexual violence can constitute genocide when committed with intent to destroy a protected group. |
| Prosecutor v Furundžija | Case No IT-95-17/1-T (1998) | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | The prohibition of torture is a peremptory norm of international law, jus cogens, from which no derogation is permitted, and rape in the course of interrogation can amount to torture. |
| Prosecutor v Lubanga Dyilo | Case No ICC-01/04-01/06 (2012) | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | In the first judgment of the International Criminal Court, a Congolese militia leader was convicted of the war crimes of enlisting, conscripting and using child soldiers. |
| Prosecutor v Tadić | Case No IT-94-1-AR72 (1995) and IT-94-1-A (1999) | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | The ICTY held that it was lawfully established, defined an armed conflict, extended war crimes to internal conflicts, and adopted an overall control test for when a state is responsible for armed groups. |
| Protheroe v Protheroe | [1968] 1 WLR 519 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | A trustee who buys the freehold reversion of a lease held on trust holds the freehold on trust for the beneficiaries, subject to being repaid. |
| Provimi Ltd v Aventis Animal Nutrition SA | [2003] EWHC 961 (Comm) | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | Claimants can sue a United Kingdom subsidiary of a cartel member as an anchor defendant, so as to bring claims against foreign members of the cartel in the English courts. |
| Provimi Ltd v Aventis Animal Nutrition SA | [2003] EWHC 961 (Comm) | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | Claimants can sue a United Kingdom subsidiary of a cartel member as an anchor defendant, so as to bring claims against foreign members of the cartel in the English courts. |
| Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v London Residuary Body | [1992] 2 AC 386 | Land LawLeases and licences | A lease must have a certain maximum duration, so a lease until the land was required for road widening was void as a term, although a yearly periodic tenancy arose. |
| Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v Newman Industries Ltd (No 2) | [1982] Ch 204 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | A shareholder can bring a derivative action only if he shows a prima facie case that the company is entitled to relief and that the action falls within the fraud on the minority exception, and shareholders cannot recover for loss that merely reflects the company's loss. |
| Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2018] UKSC 39, [2019] AC 929 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | The Supreme Court overruled Sempra Metals on restitution, holding that a claimant who pays money by mistake can recover the principal and simple interest, but not compound interest as the value of the use of the money. |
| Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2018] UKSC 39, [2019] AC 929 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | The Supreme Court overruled Sempra Metals on restitution, holding that a claimant who pays money by mistake can recover the principal and simple interest, but not compound interest as the value of the use of the money. |
| Re Pryce | [1917] 1 Ch 234 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | Trustees should not sue to enforce a covenant to settle property for the benefit of volunteers. |
| PST Energy 7 Shipping LLC v OW Bunker Malta Ltd (The Res Cogitans) | [2016] UKSC 23, [2016] AC 1034 | Commercial LawRetention of title clauses | A contract for the supply of fuel to a ship, with a retention of title clause and permission to use the fuel before payment, was not a contract of sale, so the supplier could recover the price even though property never passed. |
| Pubblico Ministero v Ratti | Case 148/78, [1979] ECR 1629 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | A directive can be relied on against the state only once the deadline for implementing it has passed, and a Member State cannot rely on its own failure to implement it. |
| Public Relations Consultants Association Ltd v Newspaper Licensing Agency Ltd | [2013] UKSC 18, [2013] 2 All ER 852 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Viewing a web page on screen, which involves temporary copies being made in the computer's memory, does not infringe copyright, because the temporary copies exception applies. |
| Pulp Mills on the River Uruguay (Argentina v Uruguay) | (2010) ICJ Reports 14 | Public International LawLaw of the sea, international environmental law and dispute settlement | There is a requirement under general international law to undertake an environmental impact assessment where a proposed industrial activity may have a significant adverse impact in a transboundary context. |
| Pwllbach Colliery Co Ltd v Woodman | [1915] AC 634 | Land LawEasements | An easement will be implied on the basis of the common intention of the parties only where it is necessary for the use of the land that the parties had in mind. |
| Pyrene Co Ltd v Scindia Navigation Co Ltd | [1954] 2 QB 402 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | Under an FOB contract, a seller who was not a party to the contract of carriage could still rely on the limitation of liability in the bill of lading. |
| Pyrene Co Ltd v Scindia Steam Navigation Co Ltd | [1954] 2 QB 402 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | The Hague Rules apply to a contract of carriage covered by a bill of lading from the time loading begins, even before the bill is issued, and an FOB seller can take the benefit of the limitation of liability. |
| Pál Aranyosi and Robert Căldăraru | Joined Cases C-404/15 and C-659/15 PPU, EU:C:2016:198 | Immigration and Asylum LawExtradition | A judicial authority executing a European arrest warrant must postpone surrender where there is a real risk, specifically affecting the requested person, of inhuman or degrading treatment because of prison conditions in the issuing state. |
| Quennell v Maltby | [1979] 1 WLR 318 | Land LawMortgages | Equity will restrain a mortgagee from taking possession for a purpose other than enforcing its security. |
| Quin & Axtens Ltd v Salmon | [1909] AC 442 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | Where the articles give a director a power of veto over certain decisions, the shareholders cannot override it by an ordinary resolution. |
| Quoine Pte Ltd v B2C2 Ltd | [2020] SGCA(I) 02 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | Where contracts are made by algorithms without human involvement, the knowledge relevant to the doctrine of unilateral mistake is that of the programmer at the time of programming. |
| Re R (A Minor) (Wardship: Consent to Treatment) | [1992] Fam 11 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | The court, in its wardship jurisdiction, can override the refusal of a competent child to consent to medical treatment where treatment is in the child's best interests. |
| Re R (A Minor) (Wardship: Consent to Treatment) | [1992] Fam 11 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | The court, in its wardship jurisdiction, can override the refusal of a competent child to consent to medical treatment where treatment is in the child's best interests. |
| R (A) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2021] UKSC 37, [2021] 1 WLR 3931 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A policy is unlawful if it authorises or approves unlawful conduct by those who apply it, but not merely because it fails to remove all risk of unlawful decisions. |
| R (AAA) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2023] UKSC 42 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | The government's policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful, because there were substantial grounds for believing that they would face a real risk of being returned to countries where they would face persecution. |
| R (AAA) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2023] UKSC 42 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | The government's policy of removing asylum seekers to Rwanda was unlawful, because there were substantial grounds for believing that they would face a real risk of being returned to countries where they would face persecution. |
| R (AB) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2021] UKSC 28 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | UK courts should not go further than the clear Strasbourg case law in developing Convention rights under the Human Rights Act. |
| R (AB) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2021] UKSC 28 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | UK courts should not go further than the clear Strasbourg case law in developing Convention rights under the Human Rights Act. |
| R (Abbasi) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | [2002] EWCA Civ 1598 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The government's decisions about diplomatic protection for British nationals abroad are reviewable only in very limited circumstances. |
| R (Adams) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2011] UKSC 18, [2012] 1 AC 48 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | Compensation for a miscarriage of justice is payable where a new fact shows that the evidence against the defendant has been so undermined that no conviction could possibly be based on it. |
| R (Adams) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2011] UKSC 18, [2012] 1 AC 48 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | Compensation for a miscarriage of justice is payable where a new fact shows that the evidence against the defendant has been so undermined that no conviction could possibly be based on it. |
| R (Al-Skeini) v Secretary of State for Defence | [2007] UKHL 26, [2008] 1 AC 153 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | The Human Rights Act applied to the death of an Iraqi man in a British military detention facility, but not to deaths in the streets in areas patrolled by British troops. |
| R (Al-Skeini) v Secretary of State for Defence | [2007] UKHL 26, [2008] 1 AC 153 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | The Human Rights Act applied to the death of an Iraqi man in a British military detention facility, but not to deaths in the streets in areas patrolled by British troops. |
| R (Alconbury Developments Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions | [2001] UKHL 23, [2003] 2 AC 295 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | The Secretary of State's power to decide planning appeals himself was compatible with the right to a fair hearing, because his decisions were subject to judicial review by an independent court. |
| R (Alvi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2012] UKSC 33, [2012] 1 WLR 2208 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | Any requirement which, if not satisfied, will lead to an application for leave to enter or remain being refused is a rule which must be laid before Parliament, and cannot be imposed through guidance. |
| R (Amin) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2003] UKHL 51, [2004] 1 AC 653 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | Where a person dies in state custody, article 2 requires an effective, independent public investigation in which the family can participate, which an internal inquiry did not provide. |
| R (Anderson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2002] UKHL 46, [2003] 1 AC 837 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | It was incompatible with the right to a fair trial for the Home Secretary, a member of the executive, to set the minimum term for prisoners serving mandatory life sentences. |
| R (Animal Defenders International) v Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport | [2008] UKHL 15, [2008] 1 AC 1312 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | The statutory ban on political advertising on television and radio was compatible with freedom of expression. |
| R (Animal Defenders International) v Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport | [2008] UKHL 15, [2008] 1 AC 1312 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | The statutory ban on political advertising on television and radio was compatible with freedom of expression. |
| R (Axon) v Secretary of State for Health | [2006] EWHC 37 (Admin), [2006] QB 539 | Medical Law and EthicsConfidentiality and medical information | Guidance allowing doctors to give confidential advice and treatment on contraception and abortion to young people under 16 without informing their parents was lawful, applying Gillick. |
| R (Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2) | [2008] UKHL 61, [2009] 1 AC 453 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | Prerogative Orders in Council are subject to judicial review, but the order preventing the Chagos Islanders from returning to their homeland was lawful. |
| R (Begum) v Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High School | [2006] UKHL 15, [2007] 1 AC 100 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | In Human Rights Act cases the court asks whether the decision actually breached a Convention right, not whether the decision maker followed the correct decision making process. |
| R (Begum) v Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High School | [2006] UKHL 15, [2007] 1 AC 100 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | In Human Rights Act cases the court asks whether the decision actually breached a Convention right, not whether the decision maker followed the correct decision making process. |
| R (Begum) v Special Immigration Appeals Commission | [2021] UKSC 7, [2021] AC 765 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | Shamima Begum was not entitled to return to the United Kingdom to pursue her appeal against the deprivation of her citizenship, because the right to a fair hearing does not trump national security. |
| R (Best) v Chief Land Registrar | [2015] EWCA Civ 17, [2016] QB 23 | Land LawAdverse possession | A squatter's possession of a residential building can be adverse possession even though occupying it is a criminal offence under the 2012 Act. |
| R (Bibi) v Newham London Borough Council | [2001] EWCA Civ 607, [2002] 1 WLR 237 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | Where a public body fails to honour a legitimate expectation, the court may require it to reconsider the matter taking the expectation into account. |
| R (Bidar) v London Borough of Ealing | Case C-209/03, [2005] ECR I-2119 | EU LawEU citizenship | Students who are EU citizens and have a sufficient degree of integration in the host Member State are entitled to equal treatment in access to student maintenance support. |
| R (Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police | [2020] EWCA Civ 1058, [2020] 1 WLR 5037 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | The police use of live automated facial recognition technology was unlawful because the legal framework left too much discretion to individual officers. |
| R (Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police | [2020] EWCA Civ 1058, [2020] 1 WLR 5037 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | The police use of live automated facial recognition technology was unlawful because the legal framework left too much discretion to individual officers. |
| R (Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police | [2020] EWCA Civ 1058, [2020] 1 WLR 5037 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | The police use of live automated facial recognition technology was unlawful because the legal framework left too much discretion to individual officers. |
| R (British Bankers Association) v Financial Services Authority | [2011] EWHC 999 (Admin) | Banking and Finance LawAdvice, mis-selling and financial regulation | The regulator and the Financial Ombudsman Service could require banks to handle payment protection insurance complaints by reference to general principles, without being limited to breaches of specific rules. |
| R (Burke) v General Medical Council | [2005] EWCA Civ 1003, [2006] QB 273 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | A patient cannot require a doctor to provide treatment which the doctor considers is not clinically indicated, but a competent patient's wish to receive artificial nutrition and hydration must be respected while it is in his best interests. |
| R (Carson) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | [2005] UKHL 37, [2006] 1 AC 173 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | Differences in treatment based on grounds such as place of residence or age require less intense scrutiny than those based on suspect grounds such as race or sex, and the refusal to uprate pensions paid abroad was justified. |
| R (Cart) v Upper Tribunal | [2011] UKSC 28, [2012] 1 AC 663 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | Refusals of permission to appeal by the Upper Tribunal are subject to judicial review only where there is an important point of principle or some other compelling reason. |
| R (Catt) v Association of Chief Police Officers | [2015] UKSC 9, [2015] AC 1065 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | Keeping information about a peaceful protester on a police database of domestic extremism was a justified interference with private life. |
| R (Catt) v Association of Chief Police Officers | [2015] UKSC 9, [2015] AC 1065 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | Keeping information about a peaceful protester on a police database of domestic extremism was a justified interference with private life. |
| R (Catt) v Association of Chief Police Officers | [2015] UKSC 9, [2015] AC 1065 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | Keeping information about a peaceful protester on a police database of domestic extremism was a justified interference with private life. |
| R (Catt) v Association of Chief Police Officers | [2015] UKSC 9, [2015] AC 1065 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | Keeping information about a peaceful protester on a police database of domestic extremism was a justified interference with private life. |
| R (Champion) v North Norfolk District Council | [2015] UKSC 52, [2015] 1 WLR 3710 | Environmental LawEnvironmental impact assessment and planning | Where a planning authority's procedural errors in failing to screen a development for environmental impact assessment made no difference to the outcome, the court could refuse to quash the permission. |
| R (Chester) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2013] UKSC 63, [2014] AC 271 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | The Supreme Court declined to make a further declaration of incompatibility about prisoner voting, and refused to apply EU law to the issue. |
| R (Chester) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2013] UKSC 63, [2014] AC 271 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | The Supreme Court declined to make a further declaration of incompatibility about prisoner voting, and refused to apply EU law to the issue. |
| R (ClientEarth) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | [2015] UKSC 28 | Environmental LawAir and water quality | The government was ordered to prepare new air quality plans to bring nitrogen dioxide levels within the limits set by the EU Air Quality Directive in the shortest possible time. |
| R (ClientEarth) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (No 2) | [2016] EWHC 2740 (Admin) | Environmental LawAir and water quality | The government's 2015 air quality plan was unlawful because it was based on over optimistic modelling of vehicle emissions and aimed at compliance by the most convenient date rather than the soonest possible date. |
| R (Collins) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2016] EWHC 33 (Admin), [2016] QB 862 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | The householder defence allows force that is disproportionate, but not grossly disproportionate, and it is compatible with the right to life. |
| R (Conway) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2018] EWCA Civ 1431, [2020] QB 1 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | The blanket ban on assisted suicide in section 2 of the Suicide Act 1961 was a justified interference with the article 8 rights of a man with motor neurone disease. |
| R (Conway) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2018] EWCA Civ 1431, [2020] QB 1 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | The blanket ban on assisted suicide in section 2 of the Suicide Act 1961 was a justified interference with the article 8 rights of a man with motor neurone disease. |
| R (Corner House Research) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office | [2008] UKHL 60, [2009] 1 AC 756 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | The Director of the Serious Fraud Office acted lawfully in stopping a corruption investigation after a threat to national security from a foreign state. |
| R (Corner House Research) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office | [2008] UKHL 60, [2009] 1 AC 756 | Public LawRule of law | The Director of the Serious Fraud Office acted lawfully in stopping a corruption investigation after a threat to national security from a foreign state. |
| R (DA) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | [2019] UKSC 21, [2019] 1 WLR 3289 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | The benefit cap, as applied to lone parents with young children, was not unlawful discrimination, because the government's justification was not manifestly without reasonable foundation. |
| R (Detention Action) v First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) | [2015] EWCA Civ 840 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | The fast track rules for asylum appeals by detained applicants were unlawful, because their tight timetable was structurally unfair and created an unacceptable risk of injustice. |
| R (E) v Governing Body of JFS | [2009] UKSC 15, [2010] 2 AC 728 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | A school's admission policy which gave priority to children who were Jewish by matrilineal descent was direct discrimination on grounds of ethnic origin, whatever the religious motive. |
| R (Edwards) v Environment Agency | [2008] UKHL 22, [2008] 1 WLR 1587 | Environmental LawEnvironmental impact assessment and planning | A failure to disclose internal reports on air quality during consultation on a permit was unfair, but the House of Lords refused to quash the permit because the information was out of date and quashing would serve no purpose. |
| R (Edwards) v Environment Agency (No 2) | [2013] UKSC 78, [2014] 1 WLR 55 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | Applying the ruling of the Court of Justice, the Supreme Court held that a costs order of about 25,000 pounds against an environmental claimant was not prohibitively expensive. |
| R (Elan-Cane) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2021] UKSC 56 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | Domestic courts should not go further than the Strasbourg case law clearly requires in developing Convention rights, so the refusal to issue passports with an X marker did not breach article 8. |
| R (Evans) v Attorney General | [2015] UKSC 21, [2015] AC 1787 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | A minister could not use a statutory veto to override a judicial decision simply because he disagreed with it. |
| R (Evans) v Attorney General | [2015] UKSC 21, [2015] AC 1787 | Public LawRule of law | A minister could not use a statutory veto to override a judicial decision simply because he disagreed with it. |
| R (F) v Director of Public Prosecutions | [2013] EWHC 945 (Admin), [2014] QB 581 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | A woman who agreed to sex on condition that her husband would not ejaculate inside her did not consent when he deliberately did so. |
| R (Finch) v Surrey County Council | [2024] UKSC 20 | Environmental LawEnvironmental impact assessment and planning | An environmental impact assessment for a new oil well must assess the greenhouse gas emissions from the eventual burning of the oil extracted, because those combustion emissions are effects of the project. |
| R (Friends of the Earth Ltd) v Heathrow Airport Ltd | [2020] UKSC 52 | Environmental LawEnvironmental impact assessment and planning | The government's failure to take into account the Paris Agreement when designating the Airports National Policy Statement for a third runway at Heathrow was not unlawful. |
| R (Friends of the Earth Ltd) v Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | [2022] EWHC 1841 (Admin) | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | The government's Net Zero Strategy was unlawful because it did not contain enough information about how its policies would deliver the carbon budgets set under the Climate Change Act 2008. |
| R (Friends of the Earth Ltd) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero | [2024] EWHC 995 (Admin) | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | The government's Carbon Budget Delivery Plan was unlawful because the Secretary of State had no adequate evidential basis for concluding that the policies would be delivered in full. |
| R (Gaines-Cooper) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2011] UKSC 47 | Tax LawIncome and corporation tax: employment, trading and residence | HMRC's published guidance on residence did not create a legitimate expectation that a taxpayer would be treated as non resident without a distinct break in his pattern of life in the UK. |
| R (Gallaher Group Ltd) v Competition and Markets Authority | [2018] UKSC 25, [2019] AC 96 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | Unequal treatment is not a separate ground of judicial review in domestic law, but is relevant to rationality. |
| R (Gentle) v Prime Minister | [2008] UKHL 20, [2008] 1 AC 1356 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | Article 2 does not impose a duty on the state to hold an inquiry into the lawfulness of a decision to go to war, so the families of soldiers killed in Iraq could not compel such an inquiry. |
| R (Gentle) v Prime Minister | [2008] UKHL 20, [2008] 1 AC 1356 | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | Article 2 does not impose a duty on the state to hold an inquiry into the lawfulness of a decision to go to war, so the families of soldiers killed in Iraq could not compel such an inquiry. |
| R (Ghai) v Newcastle City Council | [2010] EWCA Civ 59 | Wills, Succession and ProbateIntestacy, personal representatives and administration of estates | Open air funeral pyres were not prohibited by the cremation legislation, provided that they took place within a building, which could include a structure with an opening to the sky. |
| R (Gudanaviciene) v Director of Legal Aid Casework | [2014] EWCA Civ 1622, [2015] 1 WLR 2247 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | Guidance on exceptional case funding for legal aid after the 2012 cuts, and the Lord Chancellor's guidance was unlawful. |
| R (Hallam) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2019] UKSC 2, [2020] AC 279 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | Restricting compensation for miscarriages of justice to those who can show they are innocent was compatible with the presumption of innocence. |
| R (Hallam) v Secretary of State for Justice | [2019] UKSC 2, [2020] AC 279 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | Restricting compensation for miscarriages of justice to those who can show they are innocent was compatible with the presumption of innocence. |
| R (Haworth) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2021] UKSC 25 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | HMRC may issue a follower notice only where it reasonably considers that a previous judicial ruling would deny the taxpayer the tax advantage, and a ruling which depends on different facts does not qualify. |
| R (Hicks) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis | [2017] UKSC 9, [2017] AC 256 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | The preventive detention of people suspected of planning to cause a breach of the peace at the royal wedding, for a few hours and then released without charge, was compatible with article 5. |
| R (Hillside Parks Ltd) v Snowdonia National Park Authority | [2022] UKSC 30 | Environmental LawEnvironmental impact assessment and planning | Where a later planning permission is implemented which makes it physically impossible to carry out an earlier permission for a larger development, the earlier permission cannot lawfully continue to be relied on for the rest of the site. |
| R (HS2 Action Alliance Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport | [2014] UKSC 3, [2014] 1 WLR 324 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | EU law could not require the courts to scrutinise parliamentary proceedings, because some constitutional principles may be more fundamental than EU law. |
| R (HS2 Action Alliance Ltd) v Secretary of State for Transport | [2014] UKSC 3, [2014] 1 WLR 324 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | EU law could not require the courts to scrutinise parliamentary proceedings, because some constitutional principles may be more fundamental than EU law. |
| R (Independent Schools Council) v Charity Commission for England and Wales | [2011] UKUT 421 (TCC), [2012] Ch 214 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | Independent schools that charge fees can be charitable, but must provide some benefit to the poor beyond a token amount, with the trustees deciding how to do so. |
| R (Jackson) v Attorney General | [2005] UKHL 56, [2006] 1 AC 262 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | The Parliament Act 1949 and the Hunting Act 2004 passed under it were valid, and several Law Lords suggested that sovereignty may have limits. |
| R (Kambadzi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2011] UKSC 23, [2011] 1 WLR 1299 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | A failure to carry out the reviews of immigration detention required by the Home Office's published policy made the detention unlawful, giving rise to a claim for false imprisonment. |
| R (Keyu) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | [2015] UKSC 69, [2016] AC 1355 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | The Supreme Court declined to replace the Wednesbury test with a general test of proportionality in judicial review. |
| R (Keyu) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | [2015] UKSC 69, [2016] AC 1355 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | The Supreme Court declined to replace the Wednesbury test with a general test of proportionality in judicial review. |
| R (Laporte) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary | [2006] UKHL 55, [2007] 2 AC 105 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | Police can act to prevent a breach of the peace only when it is imminent, and stopping protesters from reaching a demonstration was disproportionate. |
| R (Laporte) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary | [2006] UKHL 55, [2007] 2 AC 105 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | Police can act to prevent a breach of the peace only when it is imminent, and stopping protesters from reaching a demonstration was disproportionate. |
| R (Laporte) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire Constabulary | [2006] UKHL 55, [2007] 2 AC 105 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | Police can act to prevent a breach of the peace only when it is imminent, and stopping protesters from reaching a demonstration was disproportionate. |
| R (Liberty) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2018] EWHC 975 (Admin) | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | Part 4 of the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, on the retention of communications data, was incompatible with EU law because access to the data was not limited to serious crime and not subject to prior independent review. |
| R (Limbuela) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2005] UKHL 66, [2006] 1 AC 396 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | Denying all support to asylum seekers who had not claimed asylum promptly, leaving them destitute and sleeping rough, amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment for which the state was responsible. |
| R (Limbuela) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2005] UKHL 66, [2006] 1 AC 396 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | Denying all support to asylum seekers who had not claimed asylum promptly, leaving them destitute and sleeping rough, amounted to inhuman and degrading treatment for which the state was responsible. |
| R (Lumba) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2011] UKSC 12, [2012] 1 AC 245 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | A detention under an unlawful and unpublished policy was false imprisonment, even though the claimants would have been detained anyway under a lawful policy, but they received only nominal damages. |
| R (Lumba) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2011] UKSC 12, [2012] 1 AC 245 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | A detention under an unlawful and unpublished policy was false imprisonment, even though the claimants would have been detained anyway under a lawful policy, but they received only nominal damages. |
| R (McConnell) v Registrar General for England and Wales | [2020] EWCA Civ 559, [2021] Fam 77 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | A transgender man who gave birth to a child after obtaining a gender recognition certificate must be registered as the child's mother, because motherhood is defined by the role of giving birth. |
| R (Middleton) v West Somerset Coroner | [2004] UKHL 10, [2004] 2 AC 182 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | Where article 2 requires an investigation into a death, the inquest must be able to express its conclusion on the central factual issues, including in what circumstances the deceased came by his death. |
| R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union | [2017] UKSC 5, [2018] AC 61 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | The government could not use prerogative powers to trigger withdrawal from the EU, because that would change domestic law and remove rights created by Parliament. |
| R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union | [2017] UKSC 5, [2018] AC 61 | Public International LawSources of international law and its place in domestic courts | The government could not use prerogative powers to trigger withdrawal from the EU, because that would change domestic law and remove rights created by Parliament. |
| R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union | [2017] UKSC 5, [2018] AC 61 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | The government could not use prerogative powers to trigger withdrawal from the EU, because that would change domestic law and remove rights created by Parliament. |
| R (Miller) v The Prime Minister; Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland | [2019] UKSC 41, [2020] AC 373 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The Prime Minister's advice to the Queen to prorogue Parliament for five weeks in the run up to Brexit was justiciable and unlawful. |
| R (MM (Lebanon)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2017] UKSC 10, [2017] 1 WLR 771 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | The minimum income requirement for the sponsorship of foreign spouses was lawful in principle, but the rules and guidance failed properly to take into account the best interests of children and alternative sources of funding. |
| R (Morge) v Hampshire County Council | [2011] UKSC 2, [2011] 1 WLR 268 | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | A deliberate disturbance of a protected species under the Habitats Directive is one that is likely to have a detrimental impact on the conservation status of the species, considered at the level of the population. |
| R (Moseley) v Haringey London Borough Council | [2014] UKSC 56, [2014] 1 WLR 3947 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | Where a public body must consult, the consultation must be fair, and must explain the alternative options that were rejected where fairness requires it. |
| R (National Grid Gas plc) v Environment Agency | [2007] UKHL 30, [2007] 1 WLR 1780 | Environmental LawPollution offences, contaminated land and waste | The contaminated land regime does not make a company liable for contamination caused by a predecessor before the regime existed, merely because the company succeeded to the predecessor's statutory undertaking. |
| R (Nicklinson) v Ministry of Justice | [2014] UKSC 38, [2015] AC 657 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | The courts were reluctant to declare the ban on assisted suicide incompatible with human rights while Parliament was considering the issue. |
| R (Nicklinson) v Ministry of Justice | [2014] UKSC 38, [2015] AC 657 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | The courts were reluctant to declare the ban on assisted suicide incompatible with human rights while Parliament was considering the issue. |
| R (Nicklinson) v Ministry of Justice | [2014] UKSC 38, [2015] AC 657 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | The courts were reluctant to declare the ban on assisted suicide incompatible with human rights while Parliament was considering the issue. |
| R (O) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2022] UKSC 3, [2023] AC 255 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The modern approach to statutory interpretation: the words of the statute, read in context, are the primary source of meaning, with external aids playing a secondary role. |
| R (Open Rights Group) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2021] EWCA Civ 800 | Data Protection and Technology LawLawful processing, data subject rights and the right to be forgotten | The immigration exemption in the Data Protection Act 2018 was unlawful, because it did not contain the specific safeguards which the GDPR requires for any restriction of data subjects' rights. |
| R (Osborn) v Parole Board | [2013] UKSC 61, [2014] AC 1115 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | The Parole Board should hold an oral hearing whenever fairness to the prisoner requires one, and the common law duty of fairness should be considered before the Human Rights Act. |
| R (OSS Group Ltd) v Environment Agency | [2007] EWCA Civ 611, [2008] QB 132 | Environmental LawPollution offences, contaminated land and waste | Waste lubricating oil which has been processed into fuel oil can cease to be waste when it is ready to be used as fuel in the same way as a virgin fuel, without special environmental precautions. |
| R (PACCAR Inc) v Competition Appeal Tribunal | [2023] UKSC 28 | English Legal SystemCivil justice and procedure | Litigation funding agreements under which the funder receives a percentage of the damages are damages based agreements and are unenforceable unless they comply with the statutory rules. |
| R (Privacy International) v Investigatory Powers Tribunal | [2019] UKSC 22, [2020] AC 491 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | Clear words are needed to oust judicial review, and several Justices suggested that Parliament may not be able to oust it completely. |
| R (Privacy International) v Investigatory Powers Tribunal | [2019] UKSC 22, [2020] AC 491 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | Clear words are needed to oust judicial review, and several Justices suggested that Parliament may not be able to oust it completely. |
| R (Project for the Registration of Children as British Citizens) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2022] UKSC 3 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | The fee for registering a child as a British citizen, which was set at a level well above the administrative cost and was unaffordable for many families, was lawful because Parliament had authorised it. |
| R (ProLife Alliance) v British Broadcasting Corp | [2003] UKHL 23, [2004] 1 AC 185 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | Broadcasters were entitled to refuse to show graphic images of abortion in a party election broadcast, applying statutory standards of taste and decency. |
| R (ProLife Alliance) v British Broadcasting Corp | [2003] UKHL 23, [2004] 1 AC 185 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | Broadcasters were entitled to refuse to show graphic images of abortion in a party election broadcast, applying statutory standards of taste and decency. |
| R (Prudential plc) v Special Commissioner of Income Tax | [2013] UKSC 1, [2013] 2 AC 185 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | Legal advice privilege does not extend to legal advice given by accountants on tax law, because the privilege is confined to members of the legal profession, and any extension is a matter for Parliament. |
| R (Prudential plc) v Special Commissioner of Income Tax | [2013] UKSC 1, [2013] 2 AC 185 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | Legal advice privilege does not extend to legal advice given by accountants on tax law, because the privilege is confined to members of the legal profession, and any extension is a matter for Parliament. |
| R (Purdy) v Director of Public Prosecutions | [2009] UKHL 45, [2010] 1 AC 345 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | The Director of Public Prosecutions was required to publish a policy identifying the factors he would consider in deciding whether to prosecute someone for assisting a suicide abroad. |
| R (Purdy) v Director of Public Prosecutions | [2009] UKHL 45, [2010] 1 AC 345 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | The Director of Public Prosecutions was required to publish a policy identifying the factors he would consider in deciding whether to prosecute someone for assisting a suicide abroad. |
| R (Quila) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2011] UKSC 45, [2012] 1 AC 621 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | Raising the minimum age for spouse visas to 21, to deter forced marriages, was a disproportionate interference with the family life of the large majority of couples whose marriages were genuine. |
| R (Quila) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2011] UKSC 45, [2012] 1 AC 621 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | Raising the minimum age for spouse visas to 21, to deter forced marriages, was a disproportionate interference with the family life of the large majority of couples whose marriages were genuine. |
| R (Quintavalle) v Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority | [2005] UKHL 28, [2005] 2 AC 561 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority had power to license tissue typing of embryos, to select an embryo which could provide stem cells for a seriously ill sibling. |
| R (Quintavalle) v Secretary of State for Health | [2003] UKHL 13, [2003] 2 AC 687 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | A statute is always speaking, and a purposive interpretation allowed the Act regulating human embryos to apply to embryos created by cloning. |
| R (Quintavalle) v Secretary of State for Health | [2003] UKHL 13, [2003] 2 AC 687 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | A statute is always speaking, and a purposive interpretation allowed the Act regulating human embryos to apply to embryos created by cloning. |
| R (Razgar) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2004] UKHL 27, [2004] 2 AC 368 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | Removal of a person to a country where his mental health would deteriorate could engage article 8, and the House of Lords set out five questions for deciding whether removal is compatible with article 8. |
| R (Rights of Women) v Lord Chancellor | [2016] EWCA Civ 91, [2016] 1 WLR 2543 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | Regulations restricting legal aid for domestic violence victims were outside the statutory power because they frustrated the purpose of the Act. |
| R (Roberts) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis | [2015] UKSC 79, [2016] 1 WLR 210 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | The power to stop and search without reasonable suspicion in a designated area under section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 was compatible with article 8, because it was subject to sufficient safeguards. |
| R (Rogers) v Swindon NHS Primary Care Trust | [2006] EWCA Civ 392, [2006] 1 WLR 2649 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | A policy of funding a drug only in exceptional circumstances is irrational if there is no rational basis for distinguishing between patients. |
| R (Rowe) v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2017] EWCA Civ 2105 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | Accelerated payment notices, which require participants in tax avoidance schemes to pay the disputed tax before the dispute is resolved, were lawful and did not breach natural justice or human rights. |
| R (Sandiford) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs | [2014] UKSC 44, [2014] 1 WLR 2697 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | A government policy made under the prerogative need not have exceptions, but must be applied rationally and the decision maker must be willing to consider exceptional cases where appropriate. |
| R (SC) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | [2021] UKSC 26, [2022] AC 223 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | Limiting child tax credit to two children was not unlawful discrimination, and the courts should respect Parliament's judgment on social and economic policy. |
| R (SC) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | [2021] UKSC 26, [2022] AC 223 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | Limiting child tax credit to two children was not unlawful discrimination, and the courts should respect Parliament's judgment on social and economic policy. |
| R (Steinfeld and Keidan) v Secretary of State for International Development | [2018] UKSC 32, [2020] AC 1 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | Restricting civil partnerships to same sex couples, after same sex marriage was introduced, discriminated against opposite sex couples, leading to a declaration of incompatibility. |
| R (Steinfeld and Keidan) v Secretary of State for International Development | [2018] UKSC 32, [2020] AC 1 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | Restricting civil partnerships to same sex couples, after same sex marriage was introduced, discriminated against opposite sex couples, leading to a declaration of incompatibility. |
| R (Steinfeld and Keidan) v Secretary of State for International Development | [2018] UKSC 32, [2020] AC 1 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | Restricting civil partnerships to same sex couples, after same sex marriage was introduced, discriminated against opposite sex couples, leading to a declaration of incompatibility. |
| R (Tigere) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills | [2015] UKSC 57, [2015] 1 WLR 3820 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | A rule excluding young people without settled immigration status from student loans, though they had lived in the United Kingdom most of their lives, was a disproportionate interference with the right to education. |
| R (Ullah) v Special Adjudicator | [2004] UKHL 26, [2004] 2 AC 323 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | UK courts should keep pace with the Strasbourg jurisprudence as it evolves over time: no more, but certainly no less. |
| R (Ullah) v Special Adjudicator | [2004] UKHL 26, [2004] 2 AC 323 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | UK courts should keep pace with the Strasbourg jurisprudence as it evolves over time: no more, but certainly no less. |
| R (Ullah) v Special Adjudicator | [2004] UKHL 26, [2004] 2 AC 323 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | UK courts should keep pace with the Strasbourg jurisprudence as it evolves over time: no more, but certainly no less. |
| R (UNISON) v Lord Chancellor | [2017] UKSC 51, [2020] AC 869 | Public LawRule of law | Employment tribunal fees that prevented people from bringing claims were unlawful because they interfered with the constitutional right of access to justice. |
| R (Venn) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government | [2014] EWCA Civ 1539, [2015] 1 WLR 2328 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | A local resident challenging a planning decision on environmental grounds was entitled to costs protection, because the challenge fell within the Aarhus Convention even though it did not involve EU law. |
| R (Walton) v Scottish Ministers | [2012] UKSC 44 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | A person can have standing to challenge a decision affecting the environment even if they are not personally affected more than others, depending on the context. |
| R (Walton) v Scottish Ministers | [2012] UKSC 44 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | A person can have standing to challenge a decision affecting the environment even if they are not personally affected more than others, depending on the context. |
| R (Watts) v Bedford Primary Care Trust | Case C-372/04, [2006] ECR I-4325 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | A patient in the NHS who faces an undue delay in receiving hospital treatment can go to another Member State for treatment and claim the cost, and the NHS must apply objective criteria. |
| R (Weaver) v London & Quadrant Housing Trust | [2009] EWCA Civ 587, [2010] 1 WLR 363 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | A housing association that received substantial public funding and worked closely with local authorities was performing a public function when terminating a tenancy. |
| R (Weaver) v London & Quadrant Housing Trust | [2009] EWCA Civ 587, [2010] 1 WLR 363 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | A housing association that received substantial public funding and worked closely with local authorities was performing a public function when terminating a tenancy. |
| R (Wells) v Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions | Case C-201/02, [2004] ECR I-723 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | An individual can rely on a directive against the state, even if this has adverse consequences for a third party, as long as it does not directly impose an obligation on that third party. |
| R (Wells) v Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions | Case C-201/02, [2004] ECR I-723 | Environmental LawEnvironmental impact assessment and planning | An individual can rely on a directive against the state, even if this has adverse consequences for a third party, as long as it does not directly impose an obligation on that third party. |
| R (Wheeler) v Office of the Prime Minister | [2008] EWHC 1409 (Admin) | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | A government promise to hold a referendum on a treaty was a political matter that the courts would not enforce. |
| R (Wilkinson) v Inland Revenue Commissioners | [2005] UKHL 30 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | The power of the Inland Revenue to care for and manage taxes does not allow it to grant a concession which extends a tax allowance to people to whom Parliament has not given it. |
| R v A (No 2) | [2001] UKHL 25, [2002] 1 AC 45 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | Section 3 of the Human Rights Act allows the courts to read words into a statute to make it compatible with Convention rights, going beyond ordinary interpretation. |
| R v A (No 2) | [2001] UKHL 25, [2002] 1 AC 45 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | Section 3 of the Human Rights Act allows the courts to read words into a statute to make it compatible with Convention rights, going beyond ordinary interpretation. |
| R v Abdroikov | [2007] UKHL 37, [2007] 1 WLR 2679 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | Police officers and prosecutors can serve on juries, but not where their connection with the case gives rise to an appearance of bias. |
| R v Abdroikov | [2007] UKHL 37, [2007] 1 WLR 2679 | English Legal SystemJuries | Police officers and prosecutors can serve on juries, but not where their connection with the case gives rise to an appearance of bias. |
| R v Abu Hamza | [2006] EWCA Crim 2918, [2007] QB 659 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | Extensive adverse publicity about a defendant does not necessarily make a fair trial impossible, because juries can be trusted to follow directions to decide the case on the evidence. |
| R v Adams (Bodkin) | [1957] Crim LR 365 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | A doctor is entitled to do all that is proper and necessary to relieve pain and suffering, even if the measures incidentally shorten life, which is the basis of the doctrine of double effect. |
| R v Adomako | [1995] 1 AC 171 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | The leading test for gross negligence manslaughter: a duty of care, breach, causation, and negligence so bad as to be criminal. |
| R v Ahluwalia | [1992] 4 All ER 889 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | Battered woman syndrome could support a defence of diminished responsibility, and a delay before killing did not automatically defeat provocation. |
| R v Allen | (1872) LR 1 CCR 367 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The golden rule was used to interpret the word marry in the offence of bigamy as going through a ceremony of marriage. |
| R v Anderson | [1986] AC 27 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | A person can be guilty of conspiracy if he agrees to play some part in a criminal plan, even if he does not intend the offence to be committed. |
| R v Andrews | [1987] AC 281 | EvidenceHearsay | A statement made by the victim of an attack identifying his attackers was admissible under the res gestae exception, because his mind was so dominated by the event that the possibility of concoction could be disregarded. |
| R v Argent | [1997] 2 Cr App R 27 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Lord Bingham set out six conditions which must be satisfied before a jury may draw an adverse inference from a defendant's failure to mention a fact when questioned under caution. |
| R v Asfaw | [2008] UKHL 31, [2008] 1 AC 1061 | Immigration and Asylum LawRefugee status and asylum | The protection against penalising refugees for illegal entry under article 31 of the Refugee Convention extends to refugees who use false documents while in transit through the United Kingdom to claim asylum elsewhere. |
| R v Asmelash | [2013] EWCA Crim 157, [2014] QB 103 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | Voluntary intoxication must be ignored when assessing how a person of normal tolerance and self restraint would have reacted in the loss of control defence. |
| R v B | [2006] EWCA Crim 2945, [2007] 1 WLR 1567 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | Failing to disclose HIV positive status does not in itself vitiate consent to sexual intercourse for the offence of rape. |
| R v Bailey | [1983] 1 WLR 760 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | Self induced automatism is a defence to specific intent offences, and to basic intent offences unless the defendant was reckless in bringing it about. |
| R v Bainbridge | [1960] 1 QB 129 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | An accessory need not know the precise details of the crime to be committed, as long as he knows the type of crime intended. |
| R v Barker | [2010] EWCA Crim 4 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | A very young child can be a competent witness if she can understand questions and give intelligible answers, and the trial process must be adapted to enable children to give their best evidence. |
| R v Barton and Booth | [2020] EWCA Crim 575, [2021] QB 685 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | The Court of Appeal held that an obiter statement of the Supreme Court in Ivey had replaced the Ghosh test for dishonesty in criminal law. |
| R v Barton and Booth | [2020] EWCA Crim 575, [2021] QB 685 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The Court of Appeal held that an obiter statement of the Supreme Court in Ivey had replaced the Ghosh test for dishonesty in criminal law. |
| R v Bateman | (1925) 19 Cr App R 8 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | Negligence must go beyond a mere matter of compensation and show such disregard for life and safety as to deserve punishment, for gross negligence manslaughter. |
| R v Bawa-Garba | [2016] EWCA Crim 1841 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | A junior doctor's conviction for gross negligence manslaughter was upheld, despite failings in the hospital's systems, raising concerns about the criminalisation of medical error. |
| R v Becerra and Cooper | (1975) 62 Cr App R 212 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | A secondary party who wishes to withdraw from a joint enterprise must clearly communicate his withdrawal, and simply leaving the scene may not be enough. |
| R v Bentley (Deceased) | [2001] 1 Cr App R 21 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | Derek Bentley's conviction for murder, for which he was hanged in 1953, was quashed posthumously because the trial judge's summing up was so unfair that he was denied a fair trial. |
| R v Blastland | [1986] AC 41 | EvidenceHearsay | Evidence that another man had made statements showing knowledge of a murder before it was publicly known was inadmissible hearsay, because the relevant inference depended on the truth of his statements. |
| R v Blaue | [1975] 1 WLR 1411 | Criminal LawCausation | A defendant must take his victim as he finds him, including the victim's religious beliefs: the thin skull rule. |
| R v BM | [2018] EWCA Crim 560 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | Body modification procedures such as removing an ear were not covered by the consent exception for tattooing and piercing. |
| R v Bollom | [2003] EWCA Crim 2846, [2004] 2 Cr App R 6 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | Whether injuries amount to grievous bodily harm should be judged taking into account the victim's age and health. |
| R v Bouchereau | Case 30/77, [1977] ECR 1999 | EU LawFree movement of workers | A previous criminal conviction can justify deportation on public policy grounds only if it is evidence of personal conduct that is a present threat to the requirements of public policy. |
| R v Bournewood Community and Mental Health NHS Trust, ex p L | [1999] 1 AC 458 | Medical Law and EthicsConsent, capacity and refusal of treatment | A compliant mental patient who was kept in hospital informally was not falsely imprisoned, because he had not been prevented from leaving, a decision later held to breach the European Convention on Human Rights. |
| R v Bournewood Community and Mental Health NHS Trust, ex p L | [1999] 1 AC 458 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | A compliant mental patient who was kept in hospital informally was not falsely imprisoned, because he had not been prevented from leaving, a decision later held to breach the European Convention on Human Rights. |
| R v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, ex p Government of the United States of America | [2000] 2 AC 216 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | An employee who is authorised to access some data on a computer, but accesses other data which she is not authorised to access, commits the offence of unauthorised access under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. |
| R v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, ex p Pinochet Ugarte (No 2) | [2000] 1 AC 119 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | Automatic disqualification for bias extends to a judge who is closely connected with a party promoting a cause in the case, not only to financial interests. |
| R v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, ex p Pinochet Ugarte (No 2) | [2000] 1 AC 119 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | Automatic disqualification for bias extends to a judge who is closely connected with a party promoting a cause in the case, not only to financial interests. |
| R v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrate, ex p Pinochet Ugarte (No 3) | [2000] 1 AC 147 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | A former head of state is not immune from extradition proceedings for torture committed in office after the Torture Convention came into force, because torture cannot be an official function protected by immunity. |
| R v Bowen | [1997] 1 WLR 372 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | Characteristics relevant to the reasonable firmness test in duress include those that make a person less able to resist pressure, such as age or recognised mental illness, but not low IQ alone. |
| R v Bree | [2007] EWCA Crim 804, [2008] QB 131 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | A drunken person can still consent to sex, but if she has temporarily lost the capacity to choose whether to have sex, she does not consent. |
| R v Brewster | [2010] EWCA Crim 1194 | EvidenceCharacter evidence | Evidence of a prosecution witness's previous convictions may have substantial probative value as to credibility under section 100 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, even if they do not involve untruthfulness. |
| R v Brown | [1994] 1 AC 212 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | Consent is not a defence to actual bodily harm or more serious injury inflicted for sexual gratification in sadomasochistic activities. |
| R v Burgess | [1991] 2 QB 92 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | Violence committed while sleepwalking, caused by an internal factor, falls within the insanity defence. |
| R v Byrne | [1960] 2 QB 396 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | Abnormality of mind for diminished responsibility includes the inability to exercise willpower to control physical acts. |
| R v Caldwell | [1982] AC 341 | Criminal LawMens rea | The House of Lords introduced an objective test of recklessness for criminal damage, later overruled in R v G. |
| R v Caley | [2012] EWCA Crim 2821 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | The reduction in sentence for a guilty plea depends on the stage at which the plea is indicated, and a defendant who delays pleading to see how strong the prosecution case is will receive a smaller reduction. |
| R v Cambridge Health Authority, ex p B | [1995] 1 WLR 898 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | The courts will not interfere with a health authority's difficult decisions about allocating limited resources unless they are irrational. |
| R v Campbell | (1991) 93 Cr App R 350 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | A man arrested outside a post office with an imitation gun had not yet gone beyond mere preparation for robbery, because he had not entered the building. |
| R v Cannings | [2004] EWCA Crim 1 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | Where there is a serious disagreement between reputable experts about the cause of death of an infant, and no other cogent evidence, the prosecution should not generally proceed. |
| R v Cannings | [2004] EWCA Crim 1 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | Where there is a serious disagreement between reputable experts about the cause of death of an infant, and no other cogent evidence, the prosecution should not generally proceed. |
| R v Cato | [1976] 1 WLR 110 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | Injecting another person with heroin, with his consent, was an unlawful act for the purposes of manslaughter. |
| R v Chalkley | [1998] QB 848 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | A conviction based on a guilty plea, entered after a ruling admitting evidence obtained by a police trespass, was not unsafe, because the court is concerned with the safety of the conviction, not with disciplining the police. |
| R v Challen | [2019] EWCA Crim 916 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | Fresh evidence of coercive control and mental disorders led the Court of Appeal to quash the murder conviction of a woman who killed her controlling husband. |
| R v Chan-Fook | [1994] 1 WLR 689 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | Actual bodily harm includes psychiatric injury, but not mere emotions such as fear, distress or panic. |
| R v Chaytor | [2010] UKSC 52, [2011] 1 AC 684 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | MPs accused of submitting false expenses claims could be prosecuted, because claiming expenses is not a proceeding in Parliament protected by privilege. |
| R v Cheshire | [1991] 1 WLR 844 | Criminal LawCausation | Negligent medical treatment breaks the chain of causation only if it is so independent of the defendant's acts, and so potent, that the defendant's contribution is insignificant. |
| R v Chief Constable of Sussex, ex p International Trader's Ferry Ltd | [1999] 2 AC 418 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | A chief constable's decision to limit policing of a port facing protests, because of limited resources, was lawful and proportionate. |
| R v Chief National Insurance Commissioner, ex p Connor | [1981] QB 758 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | The forfeiture rule applies to manslaughter as well as murder, so a woman convicted of the manslaughter of her husband was not entitled to a widow's allowance. |
| R v Church | [1966] 1 QB 59 | Criminal LawMens rea | The single transaction principle applies to manslaughter, and the unlawful act must be one that a sober and reasonable person would recognise as dangerous. |
| R v Clark (Sally) | [2003] EWCA Crim 1020 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | The conviction of a mother for the murder of her two babies was quashed, because a pathologist had failed to disclose evidence of infection and an expert's misleading statistical evidence may have influenced the jury. |
| R v Clark (Sally) | [2003] EWCA Crim 1020 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | The conviction of a mother for the murder of her two babies was quashed, because a pathologist had failed to disclose evidence of infection and an expert's misleading statistical evidence may have influenced the jury. |
| R v Clarkson | [1971] 1 WLR 1402 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | Mere presence at the scene of a crime is not enough for accessorial liability; the defendant must intend to encourage, and actually encourage, the principal. |
| R v Clegg | [1995] 1 AC 482 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | A soldier who used excessive force in self defence was guilty of murder, because there is no partial defence of excessive self defence. |
| R v Clinton | [2012] EWCA Crim 2, [2013] QB 1 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | Sexual infidelity cannot by itself be a qualifying trigger for loss of control, but it can be taken into account as part of the context. |
| R v Coley; R v McGhee; R v Harris | [2013] EWCA Crim 223 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | A defendant who becomes violent after voluntary intoxication cannot rely on automatism, and the distinction between insanity and automatism depends on the cause of the condition. |
| R v Collins | [1973] QB 100 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | For burglary, the defendant must enter as a trespasser, knowing or being reckless that he is trespassing, and the entry must be effective and substantial. |
| R v Collins, ex p Brady | [2000] Lloyd's Rep Med 355 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | The force feeding of a detained psychiatric patient on hunger strike was lawful as medical treatment for his mental disorder under section 63 of the Mental Health Act 1983. |
| R v Constanza | [1997] 2 Cr App R 492 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | Written words, such as letters, can amount to an assault if they cause the victim to fear violence at some time not excluding the immediate future. |
| R v Conway | [1989] QB 290 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | Duress of circumstances is available where the defendant reasonably believes there is a threat of death or serious injury, and is subject to the same limits as duress by threats. |
| R v Cooper | [1969] 1 QB 267 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | The Court of Appeal may quash a conviction where it has a lurking doubt about its safety, even if there was no error at the trial. |
| R v Cooper | [1969] 1 QB 267 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | The Court of Appeal may quash a conviction where it has a lurking doubt about its safety, even if there was no error at the trial. |
| R v Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd | [2011] EWCA Crim 1337 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | The first company convicted of the statutory offence of corporate manslaughter. |
| R v Cowan | [1996] QB 373 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | Guidance on when a jury may draw adverse inferences from a defendant's failure to give evidence at trial. |
| R v Cowan | [1996] QB 373 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Guidance on when a jury may draw adverse inferences from a defendant's failure to give evidence at trial. |
| R v Cox | (1992) 12 BMLR 38 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | A consultant who gave a terminally ill patient a lethal injection of potassium chloride, at her request, to end her suffering, was convicted of attempted murder, because his primary purpose was to end her life. |
| R v Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, ex p Lain | [1967] 2 QB 864 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | Bodies exercising prerogative powers, such as the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, are subject to judicial review. |
| R v Cunningham | [1957] 2 QB 396 | Criminal LawMens rea | Malice in a statute means intention or subjective recklessness, that is, foreseeing a risk and going on to take it. |
| R v Da Silva | [2006] EWCA Crim 1654, [2007] 1 WLR 303 | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | For the purposes of money laundering offences, suspicion means a possibility that is more than fanciful that the relevant facts exist, and a vague feeling of unease is not enough. |
| R v Dallagher | [2002] EWCA Crim 1903 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | A murder conviction based mainly on expert evidence identifying ear prints on a window was quashed, because fresh evidence showed that the reliability of ear print identification was disputed among experts. |
| R v Dallagher | [2002] EWCA Crim 1903 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | A murder conviction based mainly on expert evidence identifying ear prints on a window was quashed, because fresh evidence showed that the reliability of ear print identification was disputed among experts. |
| R v Dalloway | (1847) 2 Cox CC 273 | Criminal LawCausation | A defendant is not liable for a death that would have happened even if he had been taking proper care. |
| R v Davis | [2008] UKHL 36, [2008] 1 AC 1128 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | A conviction based solely or decisively on the evidence of anonymous witnesses, whose identity the defence could not test, was unfair. |
| R v Davis | [2008] UKHL 36, [2008] 1 AC 1128 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | A conviction based solely or decisively on the evidence of anonymous witnesses, whose identity the defence could not test, was unfair. |
| R v Dawes; R v Hatter; R v Bowyer | [2013] EWCA Crim 322, [2014] 1 WLR 947 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | Guidance on the loss of control defence, including that a defendant who incites violence cannot rely on it, and that the loss of control need not be sudden. |
| R v Dawson | (1985) 81 Cr App R 150 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | The reasonable person in the dangerousness test has the same knowledge as the defendant, and harm includes physical harm caused by shock. |
| R v Dear | [1996] Crim LR 595 | Criminal LawCausation | A victim's failure to treat his wounds, or even his deliberate reopening of them, did not break the chain of causation. |
| R v Derby Magistrates' Court, ex p B | [1996] AC 487 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | Legal professional privilege is absolute and is not subject to any balancing exercise, so it could not be overridden even to assist the defence of a person charged with murder. |
| R v Devonald | [2008] EWCA Crim 527 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | Deceiving a young man into performing a sexual act on camera, for a purpose he did not know of, was a deception about the purpose of the act. |
| R v Dica | [2004] EWCA Crim 1103, [2004] QB 1257 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | A person who knows he is HIV positive and recklessly infects a sexual partner who did not know of his condition can be guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm. |
| R v Dietschmann | [2003] UKHL 10, [2003] 1 AC 1209 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | A defendant who was intoxicated and also suffered from an abnormality of mind can rely on diminished responsibility if the abnormality substantially impaired his responsibility, even without the drink. |
| R v Disciplinary Committee of the Jockey Club, ex p Aga Khan | [1993] 1 WLR 909 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | The Jockey Club's disciplinary decisions were not subject to judicial review, because its powers came from contract and it was not exercising governmental functions. |
| R v District Auditor, ex p West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council | (1986) 26 RVR 24 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | A discretionary trust for the benefit of all or any of the inhabitants of a county was administratively unworkable and therefore void. |
| R v Dowds | [2012] EWCA Crim 281, [2012] 1 WLR 2576 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | Acute voluntary intoxication is not a recognised medical condition for diminished responsibility, even though it appears in international medical classifications. |
| R v Dudley and Stephens | (1884) 14 QBD 273 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | Necessity is not a defence to murder, even where killing one person was necessary to save the lives of others. |
| R v Duffy | [1949] 1 All ER 932 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | The classic definition of provocation as a sudden and temporary loss of self control, under the old common law defence. |
| R v Dunlop | [2006] EWCA Crim 1354, [2007] 1 WLR 1657 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | The first retrial ordered after a person had been acquitted of murder, under the double jeopardy exception in the Criminal Justice Act 2003. |
| R v Dunlop | [2006] EWCA Crim 1354, [2007] 1 WLR 1657 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | The first retrial ordered after a person had been acquitted of murder, under the double jeopardy exception in the Criminal Justice Act 2003. |
| R v Dytham | [1979] QB 722 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A police officer who deliberately failed to intervene to stop a fatal attack was guilty of misconduct in a public office. |
| R v Edwards | [1975] QB 27 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | Where a defendant relies on an exception, such as holding a licence, which the statute provides, the burden of proving that he falls within it is on him, as reflected in the rule now in section 101 of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980. |
| R v Evans (Gemma) | [2009] EWCA Crim 650, [2009] 1 WLR 1999 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A person who contributes to a life threatening situation is under a duty to take reasonable steps to save the victim, which can found gross negligence manslaughter. |
| R v Forbes | [2001] 1 AC 473 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | The requirement in the code of practice to hold an identification parade where identification is disputed is mandatory, but a breach does not necessarily make a conviction unsafe if the jury is properly directed. |
| R v Ford | [1989] QB 868 | English Legal SystemJuries | A judge has no power to order that a jury should be racially balanced. |
| R v Fulling | [1987] QB 426 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Oppression in section 76 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 bears its ordinary meaning of the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, harsh or wrongful manner, and normally involves impropriety by the interrogator. |
| R v G | [2003] UKHL 50, [2004] 1 AC 1034 | Criminal LawMens rea | The House of Lords used the Practice Statement to overrule its own decision on recklessness in criminal damage. |
| R v G | [2003] UKHL 50, [2004] 1 AC 1034 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The House of Lords used the Practice Statement to overrule its own decision on recklessness in criminal damage. |
| R v G (2008) | [2008] UKHL 37, [2009] 1 AC 92 | Criminal LawStrict liability | The strict liability offence of rape of a child under 13 was compatible with the right to a fair trial, and prosecuting it in a case of apparently consensual sex between teenagers was not a breach of human rights. |
| R v Galbraith | [1981] 1 WLR 1039 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | The test for a submission of no case to answer at the end of the prosecution case. |
| R v Galbraith | [1981] 1 WLR 1039 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | The test for a submission of no case to answer at the end of the prosecution case. |
| R v Galbraith | [1981] 1 WLR 1039 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | The test for a submission of no case to answer at the end of the prosecution case. |
| R v Geddes | (1996) 160 JP 697 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | Being found in a school toilet with a kidnapping kit was not an attempt, because the defendant had not had any contact with a pupil. |
| R v GH | [2015] UKSC 24, [2015] 1 WLR 2126 | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | Money is criminal property for the purposes of money laundering offences only if it was criminal property before the act of arrangement, so funds paid by fraud victims into an account were not laundered by opening the account. |
| R v Ghosh | [1982] QB 1053 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | The former two stage test for dishonesty, combining an objective and a subjective element, later replaced by the test in Ivey. |
| R v Gibbins and Proctor | (1918) 13 Cr App R 134 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A parent, and a partner who has assumed responsibility for a child, may be guilty of murder by deliberately starving the child. |
| R v Gleeson | [2003] EWCA Crim 3357 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | The defence must not take advantage of defects in the prosecution case by ambush at trial, and the judge may allow the prosecution to amend the indictment to correct an error identified late by the defence. |
| R v Gloucestershire County Council, ex p Barry | [1997] AC 584 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A local authority may take its resources into account when assessing a disabled person's needs for services under the relevant statute. |
| R v Gnango | [2011] UKSC 59, [2012] 1 AC 827 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | Where two people agree to a shoot out, and one accidentally kills a bystander, the other may be guilty of murder. |
| R v Golds | [2016] UKSC 61, [2016] 1 WLR 5231 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | In diminished responsibility, substantially impaired means a significant or appreciable impairment, not merely one that is more than trivial. |
| R v Gomez | [1993] AC 442 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | An act can be an appropriation even if it is done with the owner's consent, including consent obtained by deception. |
| R v Goodfellow | (1986) 83 Cr App R 23 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | Unlawful act manslaughter does not require an act directed at the victim. |
| R v Goodyear | [2005] EWCA Crim 888, [2005] 1 WLR 2532 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | A judge may, at the defendant's request, give an advance indication of the maximum sentence that would be imposed if the defendant pleaded guilty at that stage, subject to strict safeguards. |
| R v Gotts | [1992] 2 AC 412 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | Duress is not a defence to attempted murder, because the defendant must have intended to kill, which is more culpable than many murders. |
| R v Gould | [1968] 2 QB 65 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) may depart from its own previous decisions more readily, where a person's liberty is at stake. |
| R v Governor of Durham Prison, ex p Hardial Singh | [1984] 1 WLR 704 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | The power to detain a person pending deportation is limited to the period reasonably necessary for that purpose, and the Home Secretary must act with reasonable diligence and release the person if removal cannot be achieved within a reasonable time. |
| R v Graham | [1982] 1 WLR 294 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | The two stage test for duress: whether the defendant was compelled by threats of death or serious injury, and whether a sober person of reasonable firmness would have acted in the same way. |
| R v Grant | [2005] EWCA Crim 1089, [2006] QB 60 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | Deliberate interference by the police with a suspect's right to confidential legal advice, by covertly recording conversations with his solicitor, was so serious that the prosecution should have been stayed as an abuse of process. |
| R v Grant | [2005] EWCA Crim 1089, [2006] QB 60 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Deliberate interference by the police with a suspect's right to confidential legal advice, by covertly recording conversations with his solicitor, was so serious that the prosecution should have been stayed as an abuse of process. |
| R v Gullefer | [1990] 1 WLR 1063 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | An attempt begins when the defendant embarks on the crime proper, and acts that are merely preparatory are not enough. |
| R v H | [2005] EWCA Crim 732, [2005] 1 WLR 2005 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | Touching a person's clothing can be touching for the purposes of sexual assault under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. |
| R v H and C | [2004] UKHL 3, [2004] 2 AC 134 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | The prosecution must disclose material which weakens its case or strengthens the defence, and a court considering a public interest immunity claim must apply a structured series of questions, appointing special counsel only exceptionally. |
| R v H and C | [2004] UKHL 3, [2004] 2 AC 134 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | The prosecution must disclose material which weakens its case or strengthens the defence, and a court considering a public interest immunity claim must apply a structured series of questions, appointing special counsel only exceptionally. |
| R v Hale | (1978) 68 Cr App R 415 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | Appropriation is a continuing act, so force used after property is first taken can still be used in order to steal for robbery. |
| R v Hall | [1973] QB 126 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | A person who receives money must be under an obligation to deal with that particular money in a particular way for it to belong to another under section 5(3). |
| R v Hancock and Shankland | [1986] AC 455 | Criminal LawMens rea | The greater the probability of a consequence, the more likely it is that it was foreseen and intended, so juries must be told about probability. |
| R v Hanratty | [2002] EWCA Crim 1141, [2002] 3 All ER 534 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | DNA evidence obtained decades later confirmed the guilt of a man hanged in 1962, and the Court of Appeal can consider fresh evidence that supports a conviction. |
| R v Hanratty | [2002] EWCA Crim 1141, [2002] 3 All ER 534 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | DNA evidence obtained decades later confirmed the guilt of a man hanged in 1962, and the Court of Appeal can consider fresh evidence that supports a conviction. |
| R v Hanson | [2005] EWCA Crim 824 | EvidenceCharacter evidence | Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, evidence of a defendant's previous convictions may be admitted to show propensity, but the judge must consider whether the propensity makes guilt more likely and whether admission would be unjust. |
| R v Hardie | [1985] 1 WLR 64 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | Taking a sedative drug, which is not normally associated with aggression, is not necessarily reckless voluntary intoxication. |
| R v Hasan | [2005] UKHL 22, [2005] 2 AC 467 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | Duress is not available to a defendant who voluntarily associated with criminals in circumstances where he ought reasonably to have foreseen the risk of being subjected to compulsion by threats of violence. |
| R v Hayes | [2015] EWCA Crim 1944 | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | A trader who sought to manipulate LIBOR submissions to benefit his trading positions was rightly convicted of conspiracy to defraud, and his sentence was reduced to 11 years. |
| R v Hayes and Palombo | [2025] UKSC 29 | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | The convictions of two traders for manipulating benchmark interest rates were quashed, because the juries had been wrongly directed that submitters could not take traders' commercial interests into account. |
| R v Hayes and Palombo | [2025] UKSC 29 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | The convictions of two traders for manipulating benchmark interest rates were quashed, because the juries had been wrongly directed that submitters could not take traders' commercial interests into account. |
| R v Henn and Darby | Case 34/79, [1979] ECR 3795 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A Member State can ban imports of indecent or obscene material on grounds of public morality, as long as there is no lawful trade in such goods within the state. |
| R v Hennessy | [1989] 1 WLR 287 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | Hyperglycaemia caused by failing to take insulin is an internal factor, so it falls within the insanity defence, not automatism. |
| R v Highton | [2005] EWCA Crim 1985 | EvidenceCharacter evidence | Once evidence of bad character has been admitted under any gateway in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, the jury may use it for any purpose for which it is relevant, not only the purpose for which it was admitted. |
| R v Hinks | [2001] 2 AC 241 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | A person can appropriate property for theft even if she receives it as a valid gift. |
| R v HM Treasury, ex p British Telecommunications plc | Case C-392/93, [1996] ECR I-1631 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | A Member State that implemented a directive incorrectly, but in good faith on an interpretation that was reasonable, was not liable for a sufficiently serious breach. |
| R v Holland | (1841) 2 Mood & R 351 | Criminal LawCausation | A defendant remains liable for a death even if the victim unreasonably refused medical treatment that might have saved his life. |
| R v Horncastle | [2009] UKSC 14, [2010] 2 AC 373 | EvidenceHearsay | UK courts may decline to follow a Strasbourg decision that does not sufficiently appreciate or accommodate particular aspects of the domestic process. |
| R v Horncastle | [2009] UKSC 14, [2010] 2 AC 373 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | UK courts may decline to follow a Strasbourg decision that does not sufficiently appreciate or accommodate particular aspects of the domestic process. |
| R v Horncastle | [2009] UKSC 14, [2010] 2 AC 373 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | UK courts may decline to follow a Strasbourg decision that does not sufficiently appreciate or accommodate particular aspects of the domestic process. |
| R v Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court, ex p Bennett | [1994] 1 AC 42 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | The courts can stop a prosecution as an abuse of process where the defendant was brought into the country by unlawful means in disregard of extradition procedures. |
| R v Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court, ex p Bennett | [1994] 1 AC 42 | Public LawRule of law | The courts can stop a prosecution as an abuse of process where the defendant was brought into the country by unlawful means in disregard of extradition procedures. |
| R v Howe | [1987] AC 417 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | Duress is not a defence to murder, whether as principal or secondary party. |
| R v Hughes | [2013] UKSC 56, [2013] 1 WLR 2461 | Criminal LawCausation | The offence of causing death by driving while uninsured or unlicensed requires some act or omission in the defendant's driving that contributed to the death. |
| R v Hull University Visitor, ex p Page | [1993] AC 682 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | Since Anisminic, any error of law by a public decision maker is reviewable, but a university visitor's decisions on the university's internal law are not. |
| R v Hunt | [1987] AC 352 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | A statute may place the legal burden of proof on the defendant expressly or by necessary implication, and the court must construe the provision in the light of the mischief and the ease of proof. |
| R v Hunter | [2015] EWCA Crim 631 | EvidenceCharacter evidence | A defendant with previous convictions or other bad character is not entitled to a good character direction as of right, though the judge has a discretion to give one where the bad character is minor or irrelevant. |
| R v Immigration Appeal Tribunal, ex p Antonissen | Case C-292/89, [1991] ECR I-745 | EU LawFree movement of workers | Work seekers have a right to enter and remain in another Member State to look for work for a reasonable period, and may be required to leave only if they have no genuine chance of being employed. |
| R v Inglis | [2010] EWCA Crim 2637, [2011] 1 WLR 1110 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | A mother who killed her severely injured son out of love was guilty of murder, because the law does not recognise mercy killing as a defence. |
| R v Inhabitants of Sedgley | (1831) 2 B & Ad 65 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The expressio unius est exclusio alterius rule: express mention of one thing implies the exclusion of others. |
| R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex p MFK Underwriting Agents Ltd | [1990] 1 WLR 1545 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | A legitimate expectation based on an assurance requires that the assurance was clear, unambiguous and devoid of relevant qualification, and that full disclosure was made. |
| R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex p MFK Underwriting Agents Ltd | [1990] 1 WLR 1545 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | A legitimate expectation based on an assurance requires that the assurance was clear, unambiguous and devoid of relevant qualification, and that full disclosure was made. |
| R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex p National Federation of Self-Employed and Small Businesses Ltd | [1982] AC 617 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | Standing to bring judicial review depends on the claimant's sufficient interest, assessed in the light of the legal and factual context of the case. |
| R v Inland Revenue Commissioners, ex p National Federation of Self-Employed and Small Businesses Ltd | [1982] AC 617 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | Standing to bring judicial review depends on the claimant's sufficient interest, assessed in the light of the legal and factual context of the case. |
| R v Inspectorate of Pollution, ex p Greenpeace Ltd (No 2) | [1994] 4 All ER 329 | Environmental LawPublic participation, information and access to justice | An established, responsible pressure group with local members and expertise had standing to challenge a decision affecting the environment. |
| R v Inspectorate of Pollution, ex p Greenpeace Ltd (No 2) | [1994] 4 All ER 329 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | An established, responsible pressure group with local members and expertise had standing to challenge a decision affecting the environment. |
| R v Instan | [1893] 1 QB 450 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A person who voluntarily undertakes to care for a dependant may be liable for manslaughter if she fails to do so. |
| R v Ireland; R v Burstow | [1998] AC 147 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | Silent telephone calls can amount to an assault, and psychiatric injury can amount to actual or grievous bodily harm. |
| R v James and Karimi | [2006] EWCA Crim 14, [2006] QB 588 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | In exceptional circumstances, the Court of Appeal followed a decision of the Privy Council in preference to one of the House of Lords. |
| R v Jewell | [2014] EWCA Crim 414 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | A planned killing carried out in a calm and controlled way showed no loss of self control, so the defence was rightly withdrawn from the jury. |
| R v Jheeta | [2007] EWCA Crim 1699, [2008] 1 WLR 2582 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | Deception that does not relate to the nature or purpose of the act may still vitiate consent under the general definition, if it means the complainant did not freely agree. |
| R v Jogee | [2016] UKSC 8, [2017] AC 387 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | The Supreme Court corrected a wrong turn in the law of joint enterprise taken 30 years earlier, departing from Privy Council and House of Lords authority. |
| R v Jogee | [2016] UKSC 8, [2017] AC 387 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The Supreme Court corrected a wrong turn in the law of joint enterprise taken 30 years earlier, departing from Privy Council and House of Lords authority. |
| R v Johnson (Lewis) | [2016] EWCA Crim 1613 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | After the Supreme Court changed the law of joint enterprise in R v Jogee, defendants convicted under the old law could appeal out of time only if they could show that they would suffer substantial injustice. |
| R v Johnstone | [2003] UKHL 28, [2003] 1 WLR 1736 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | The reverse burden in the defence to the offence of selling counterfeit goods bearing a registered trade mark was justified, because the defence concerned matters within the defendant's knowledge. |
| R v Jones (Kenneth) | [1990] 1 WLR 1057 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | A defendant who pointed a loaded gun at his victim had gone beyond mere preparation, even though he still had to release the safety catch and pull the trigger. |
| R v Jones (Margaret) | [2006] UKHL 16, [2007] 1 AC 136 | Public International LawSources of international law and its place in domestic courts | The crime of aggression in customary international law is not automatically a crime in English law, so protesters who damaged military bases could not rely on preventing the invasion of Iraq as a defence. |
| R v Jordan | (1956) 40 Cr App R 152 | Criminal LawCausation | Palpably wrong medical treatment that was the sole cause of death broke the chain of causation. |
| R v K | [2001] UKHL 41, [2002] 1 AC 462 | Criminal LawStrict liability | A man who honestly believed a girl was 16 or over was not guilty of indecent assault on a girl under 16, because the offence required mens rea as to age. |
| R v Karakaya | [2005] EWCA Crim 346, [2005] 2 Cr App R 5 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | A conviction was quashed because a juror had researched the case on the internet and brought the results into the jury room. |
| R v Karakaya | [2005] EWCA Crim 346, [2005] 2 Cr App R 5 | English Legal SystemJuries | A conviction was quashed because a juror had researched the case on the internet and brought the results into the jury room. |
| R v Kearley | [1992] 2 AC 228 | EvidenceHearsay | Telephone calls and visits by people asking to buy drugs from the defendant were inadmissible hearsay as implied assertions that he was a drug dealer, a decision reversed by the Criminal Justice Act 2003. |
| R v Keenan | [1990] 2 QB 54 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Significant and substantial breaches of the codes of practice governing police interviews, such as failing to make a contemporaneous record, may justify the exclusion of the evidence under section 78. |
| R v Kemp | [1957] 1 QB 399 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | A disease of the mind can be a physical disease that affects the functioning of the mind, such as arteriosclerosis. |
| R v Kennedy (No 2) | [2007] UKHL 38, [2008] 1 AC 269 | Criminal LawCausation | A drug supplier is not guilty of manslaughter where a fully informed and responsible adult freely chooses to inject himself with the drug and dies. |
| R v Khan (Sultan) | [1997] AC 558 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Evidence obtained by a covert listening device installed by the police without statutory authority was admissible, because there is no rule excluding improperly obtained evidence and its admission was not unfair. |
| R v Khan and Khan | [1998] Crim LR 830 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | Drug dealers who left a young woman to die after supplying her with heroin were not automatically under a duty to summon help. |
| R v Killick | [2011] EWCA Crim 1608 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | Victims have a right to seek a review of a decision by the Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute, which led to the Victims' Right to Review scheme. |
| R v Kingston | [1995] 2 AC 355 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | Involuntary intoxication is no defence if the defendant still formed the intention required for the offence, even if he would not have formed it if sober. |
| R v Kuddus | [2019] EWCA Crim 837 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | A restaurant owner was not guilty of gross negligence manslaughter of a customer with a food allergy, because a serious and obvious risk of death was not shown on the facts known to him. |
| R v Lamb | [1967] 2 QB 981 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | Unlawful act manslaughter requires an act that is unlawful in itself, such as an assault, which requires mens rea. |
| R v Lambert | [2001] UKHL 37, [2002] 2 AC 545 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | A reverse burden requiring a defendant charged with drug possession to prove that he did not know that a bag contained drugs was read down under the Human Rights Act to impose only an evidential burden. |
| R v Larsonneur | (1933) 24 Cr App R 74 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A defendant was convicted of being found in the UK as an illegal alien even though she had been brought there against her will. |
| R v Latimer | (1886) 17 QBD 359 | Criminal LawMens rea | Under the doctrine of transferred malice, a defendant who intends to harm one person but harms another instead is guilty of the same offence. |
| R v Lawrance | [2020] EWCA Crim 971, [2020] 1 WLR 5025 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | A lie about having had a vasectomy did not vitiate consent to sexual intercourse, because it was not closely connected to the nature or purpose of the act. |
| R v Le Brun | [1992] QB 61 | Criminal LawMens rea | A defendant who assaulted his wife and then accidentally caused her death while trying to move her or cover up the assault was guilty of manslaughter. |
| R v Linekar | [1995] QB 250 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | Deception about whether the complainant will be paid for sex does not vitiate consent to the act itself. |
| R v Lipman | [1970] 1 QB 152 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | A defendant who killed while hallucinating on LSD was guilty of manslaughter, because voluntary intoxication is no defence to a basic intent offence. |
| R v Liverpool Corp, ex p Liverpool Taxi Fleet Operators' Association | [1972] 2 QB 299 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | A public body that gives an undertaking to consult before changing a policy must honour it unless overriding public interest requires otherwise. |
| R v Lloyd | [1985] QB 829 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | Borrowing property is an intention to permanently deprive only if the property is returned with all its goodness or virtue gone. |
| R v Looseley; Attorney General's Reference (No 3 of 2000) | [2001] UKHL 53, [2001] 1 WLR 2060 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | Entrapment is not a defence, but a court may stay a prosecution where state agents have lured a person into committing a crime he would not otherwise have committed. |
| R v Looseley; Attorney General's Reference (No 3 of 2000) | [2001] UKHL 53, [2001] 1 WLR 2060 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Entrapment is not a defence, but a court may stay a prosecution where state agents have lured a person into committing a crime he would not otherwise have committed. |
| R v Lord Chancellor, ex p Witham | [1998] QB 575 | Public LawRule of law | Delegated legislation that effectively denies people access to the courts by imposing court fees they cannot afford is unlawful. |
| R v Lowe | [1973] QB 702 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A failure to act, such as neglecting a child, cannot be the unlawful act for constructive manslaughter. |
| R v Lucas | [1981] QB 720 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | A lie told by a defendant can support the prosecution case only if it is deliberate, relates to a material issue, is motivated by a realisation of guilt and fear of the truth, and is proved by independent evidence. |
| R v Maguire | [1992] QB 936 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | The convictions of the Maguire Seven for handling explosives were quashed because of the possibility of innocent contamination and the failure to disclose scientific evidence. |
| R v Makanjuola | [1995] 1 WLR 1348 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | After the abolition of the mandatory corroboration warning for complainants in sexual cases, it is for the judge's discretion whether to warn the jury to be cautious, depending on the evidence. |
| R v Malcherek; R v Steel | [1981] 1 WLR 690 | Criminal LawCausation | Turning off a life support machine after brain death does not break the chain of causation between the defendant's attack and the victim's death. |
| R v Martin (Anthony) | [2001] EWCA Crim 2245, [2003] QB 1 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | Psychiatric conditions are not generally relevant to whether the force used in self defence was reasonable, but may support diminished responsibility. |
| R v Mason | [1988] 1 WLR 139 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | A confession obtained after the police falsely told the suspect and his solicitor that his fingerprints had been found at the scene was excluded under section 78 as unfair. |
| R v Matthews and Alleyne | [2003] EWCA Crim 192, [2003] 2 Cr App R 30 | Criminal LawMens rea | Woollin sets out a rule of evidence: foresight of virtual certainty allows the jury to find intention, but does not require it. |
| R v Maxwell | [2010] UKSC 48, [2011] 1 WLR 1837 | Criminal ProcedureProsecution decisions, abuse of process and pre-trial matters | Where a conviction is quashed because of serious prosecutorial misconduct, the court must balance the public interest in a retrial against the need to maintain the integrity of the justice system, and may order a retrial. |
| R v McIlkenny | [1992] 2 All ER 417 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | The convictions of the Birmingham Six for the 1974 pub bombings were quashed after fresh evidence showed that police evidence had been fabricated and the scientific evidence was unreliable. |
| R v McKenna | [1960] 1 QB 411 | English Legal SystemJuries | A conviction will be quashed if the judge put pressure on the jury to reach a verdict quickly. |
| R v McNally | [2013] EWCA Crim 1051, [2014] QB 593 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | Deception as to gender can vitiate consent to sexual activity. |
| R v Miller | [1983] 2 AC 161 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A person who accidentally creates a dangerous situation is under a duty to take reasonable steps to counteract it once he becomes aware of it. |
| R v Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex p Fedesa | Case C-331/88, [1990] ECR I-4023 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | The principle of proportionality is a general principle of EU law, but where the EU legislature has a broad discretion, a measure is unlawful only if it is manifestly inappropriate. |
| R v Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, ex p Hedley Lomas (Ireland) Ltd | Case C-5/94, [1996] ECR I-2553 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | Where a Member State has little or no discretion, the mere infringement of EU law may be enough to amount to a sufficiently serious breach. |
| R v Ministry of Defence, ex p Smith | [1996] QB 517 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | Where a decision interferes with human rights, the more substantial the interference, the more the court will require by way of justification before it is satisfied that the decision is reasonable. |
| R v Mirza | [2004] UKHL 2, [2004] 1 AC 1118 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | The common law rule that the courts will not inquire into jury deliberations after the verdict was compatible with the right to a fair trial. |
| R v Mirza | [2004] UKHL 2, [2004] 1 AC 1118 | English Legal SystemJuries | The common law rule that the courts will not inquire into jury deliberations after the verdict was compatible with the right to a fair trial. |
| R v Misra and Srivastava | [2004] EWCA Crim 2375, [2005] 1 Cr App R 21 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | Gross negligence manslaughter is sufficiently certain to comply with the European Convention on Human Rights, and the risk must be a risk of death. |
| R v Mohan | [1976] QB 1 | Criminal LawMens rea | Direct intention means a decision to bring about the result, whether or not the defendant desired it. |
| R v Moloney | [1985] AC 905 | Criminal LawMens rea | Foresight of consequences is not the same as intention, but is evidence from which intention may be inferred. |
| R v Morris | [1984] AC 320 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | Appropriation involves an assumption of any of the rights of the owner, such as switching price labels in a shop. |
| R v Mowatt | [1968] 1 QB 421 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | For section 20, the defendant need only foresee that some physical harm might result, not serious harm. |
| R v Muhamad | [2002] EWCA Crim 1856, [2003] QB 1031 | Criminal LawStrict liability | The offence of materially contributing to insolvency by gambling was a strict liability offence, and strict liability was compatible with the presumption of innocence. |
| R v Mullen | [2000] QB 520 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | A conviction was quashed as unsafe because the defendant had been brought to the UK by unlawful collusion between British and foreign authorities. |
| R v Mullen | [2000] QB 520 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | A conviction was quashed as unsafe because the defendant had been brought to the UK by unlawful collusion between British and foreign authorities. |
| R v Mushtaq | [2005] UKHL 25, [2005] 1 WLR 1513 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Where a confession is admitted but the jury considers that it was or may have been obtained by oppression or in circumstances making it unreliable, the jury must disregard it. |
| R v Nedrick | [1986] 1 WLR 1025 | Criminal LawMens rea | A jury may infer intention only if death or serious injury was a virtual certainty and the defendant appreciated that this was the case. |
| R v North and East Devon Health Authority, ex p Coughlan | [2001] QB 213 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | A clear promise can create a substantive legitimate expectation, and the court will decide whether frustrating it would be so unfair as to amount to an abuse of power. |
| R v North Yorkshire County Council, ex p Brown | [2000] 1 AC 397 | Environmental LawEnvironmental impact assessment and planning | The determination of conditions for an old mining permission was a development consent requiring environmental impact assessment, because it decided whether the development could proceed. |
| R v O'Grady | [1987] QB 995 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | A defendant cannot rely on a mistaken belief in the need to use force that was caused by voluntary intoxication. |
| R v Olugboja | [1982] QB 320 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | Rape does not require force or the threat of force: the question is whether there was real consent or mere submission. |
| R v Owino | [1996] 2 Cr App R 128 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | The defendant's honest belief determines the circumstances, but whether the force used was reasonable is judged objectively. |
| R v Pagett | (1983) 76 Cr App R 279 | Criminal LawCausation | A defendant who used a girl as a human shield was the legal cause of her death, even though she was shot by police officers acting in self defence. |
| R v Panel on Take-overs and Mergers, ex p Datafin plc | [1987] QB 815 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | A non statutory body performing public functions, such as the Takeover Panel, is subject to judicial review. |
| R v Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, ex p Al Fayed | [1998] 1 WLR 669 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | Decisions of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards are not subject to judicial review, because they form part of Parliament's internal proceedings. |
| R v Pembliton | (1874) LR 2 CCR 119 | Criminal LawMens rea | Malice cannot be transferred from one kind of offence to a different kind of offence. |
| R v Pendleton | [2001] UKHL 66, [2002] 1 WLR 72 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | When considering fresh evidence, the Court of Appeal should ask whether it might reasonably have affected the jury's decision to convict. |
| R v Pendleton | [2001] UKHL 66, [2002] 1 WLR 72 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | When considering fresh evidence, the Court of Appeal should ask whether it might reasonably have affected the jury's decision to convict. |
| R v Pittwood | (1902) 19 TLR 37 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A contractual duty can give rise to criminal liability for an omission towards people who are not parties to the contract. |
| R v Ponting | [1985] Crim LR 318 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | A jury acquitted a civil servant who leaked documents, despite the judge's direction that he had no defence, illustrating jury equity. |
| R v Ponting | [1985] Crim LR 318 | English Legal SystemJuries | A jury acquitted a civil servant who leaked documents, despite the judge's direction that he had no defence, illustrating jury equity. |
| R v Powell; R v English | [1999] 1 AC 1 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | Under joint enterprise, a secondary party who foresaw that the principal might kill with intent was guilty of murder, a rule later overruled in R v Jogee. |
| R v Prince | (1875) LR 2 CCR 154 | Criminal LawStrict liability | A defendant was guilty of taking a girl under 16 out of her father's possession even though he reasonably believed she was 18. |
| R v Quick | [1973] QB 910 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | Automatism caused by an external factor, such as an injection of insulin, is non insane automatism, which leads to a complete acquittal. |
| R v R | [1992] 1 AC 599 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | The courts abolished the marital rape exemption, showing how judges can develop the common law to reflect changing social conditions. |
| R v R | [1992] 1 AC 599 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The courts abolished the marital rape exemption, showing how judges can develop the common law to reflect changing social conditions. |
| R v Rejmanski; R v Gassman | [2017] EWCA Crim 2061 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | A mental disorder that affects the defendant's general capacity for tolerance and self restraint must be disregarded when applying the normal person test in loss of control. |
| R v Riat | [2012] EWCA Crim 1509 | EvidenceHearsay | The Court of Appeal set out the steps a trial judge must follow in deciding whether to admit hearsay under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, emphasising that hearsay is not to be admitted merely because it is convenient. |
| R v Roberts | (1971) 56 Cr App R 95 | Criminal LawCausation | A victim's escape from an attack does not break the chain of causation unless it is so daft as to be unforeseeable. |
| R v Robinson | [1977] Crim LR 173 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | A defendant who honestly believes he has a legal right to property is not guilty of theft, and so not guilty of robbery, even if he uses force. |
| R v Rose (Honey Maria) | [2017] EWCA Crim 1168, [2018] QB 328 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | For gross negligence manslaughter, the risk of death must be obvious from the information known to the defendant at the time, not from what she would have known if she had acted properly. |
| R v Ruffell | [2003] EWCA Crim 122 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A friend who had taken some steps to care for an overdose victim had assumed a duty of care towards him. |
| R v Ryan | (1996) 160 JP 610 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | Partial entry into a building can be enough for burglary, even if the defendant could not have stolen anything in that position. |
| R v Saik | [2006] UKHL 18, [2007] 1 AC 18 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | For statutory conspiracy, the defendant must intend or know that the relevant facts will exist, and suspicion that money is the proceeds of crime is not enough. |
| R v Samuel | [1988] QB 615 | Criminal ProcedurePolice powers: arrest, stop and search and detention | A confession obtained after a suspect was wrongly denied access to a solicitor should have been excluded. |
| R v Samuel | [1988] QB 615 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | A confession obtained after a suspect was wrongly denied access to a solicitor should have been excluded. |
| R v Samuel | [1988] QB 615 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | A confession obtained after a suspect was wrongly denied access to a solicitor should have been excluded. |
| R v Sang | [1980] AC 402 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | At common law, a judge has no discretion to exclude relevant evidence merely because it was obtained improperly, except confessions and similar evidence. |
| R v Sang | [1980] AC 402 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | At common law, a judge has no discretion to exclude relevant evidence merely because it was obtained improperly, except confessions and similar evidence. |
| R v Savage; DPP v Parmenter | [1992] 1 AC 699 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | For assault occasioning actual bodily harm, no mens rea is required as to the harm; for section 20, the defendant must foresee some harm, though not serious harm. |
| R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, ex p Everett | [1989] QB 811 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The issue and refusal of passports under the prerogative is subject to judicial review. |
| R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, ex p Rees-Mogg | [1994] QB 552 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The courts will not review the government's use of the prerogative to ratify a treaty, except to consider whether it is acting within the law. |
| R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, ex p World Development Movement Ltd | [1995] 1 WLR 386 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | Funding for the Pergau Dam was unlawful because it was not for the statutory purpose of promoting development, and a campaigning group had standing to challenge it. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex p Nottinghamshire County Council | [1986] AC 240 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | The courts will rarely find irrational a decision on public expenditure that has been approved by the House of Commons. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex p Ostler | [1977] QB 122 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | A time limited ouster clause, allowing challenges only within six weeks, is effective to bar later challenges. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex p Rose Theatre Trust Co | [1990] 1 QB 504 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | A group formed to campaign on an issue did not have standing merely because its members were concerned about it. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex p Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (Lappel Bank) | Case C-44/95, [1996] ECR I-3805 | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | In classifying special protection areas under the Birds Directive, a member state may not take economic requirements into account, but must decide on the basis of ornithological criteria alone. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Environment, ex p Standley | Case C-293/97, [1999] ECR I-2603 | Environmental LawAir and water quality | The Nitrates Directive, which required farmers in vulnerable zones to limit their use of fertilisers even though other sources also contributed to nitrate pollution, was consistent with the polluter pays principle. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, ex p Spath Holme Ltd | [2001] 2 AC 349 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The House of Lords limited the use of Hansard under Pepper v Hart to cases where the statute is truly ambiguous and the ministerial statement is clear. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Bentley | [1994] QB 349 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | Some aspects of the prerogative of mercy are subject to judicial review, such as a failure to consider the full range of options. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Brind | [1991] 1 AC 696 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | Before the Human Rights Act, the courts would not review the exercise of a broad statutory discretion for compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights or for proportionality. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Bugdaycay | [1987] AC 514 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | Where a decision may put a person's life at risk, the court will subject it to the most anxious scrutiny. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Daly | [2001] UKHL 26, [2001] 2 AC 532 | Public LawJudicial review: irrationality and proportionality | Where Convention rights are engaged, the court applies a proportionality test, which is more intensive than Wednesbury review. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Doody | [1994] 1 AC 531 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | Fairness required that life sentence prisoners be told the judges' recommendations on their tariff and given the opportunity to make representations, and be given reasons. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Fire Brigades Union | [1995] 2 AC 513 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | A minister cannot use the prerogative to frustrate a statutory scheme that Parliament has enacted but not yet brought into force. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Khan | [1984] 1 WLR 1337 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | A public body that publishes criteria for a decision creates a legitimate expectation that it will apply those criteria unless it gives fair notice of a change. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Khawaja | [1984] AC 74 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | Where the power to detain or remove depends on a fact, such as whether a person is an illegal entrant, the court decides for itself whether the fact exists. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Khawaja | [1984] AC 74 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | Where the power to detain or remove depends on a fact, such as whether a person is an illegal entrant, the court decides for itself whether the fact exists. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Northumbria Police Authority | [1989] QB 26 | Public LawRoyal prerogative | The Crown has a prerogative power to keep the peace, which allowed the Home Secretary to supply police forces with equipment. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Pierson | [1998] AC 539 | Public LawRule of law | Under the principle of legality, a statutory discretion is presumed to be exercisable only in accordance with fundamental principles such as the rule against retrospectively increasing a punishment. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Simms | [2000] 2 AC 115 | Public LawRule of law | The principle of legality: fundamental rights cannot be overridden by general or ambiguous words in legislation. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Sivakumaran | [1988] AC 958 | Immigration and Asylum LawRefugee status and asylum | A well founded fear of persecution under the Refugee Convention requires a reasonable degree of likelihood that the applicant will be persecuted if returned, assessed objectively. |
| R v Secretary of State for the Home Department, ex p Venables | [1998] AC 407 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | When setting the tariff for a young offender, the Home Secretary was performing a function like a judge and could not take into account public petitions. |
| R v Secretary of State for Transport, ex p Factortame Ltd (Case C-213/89) | Case C-213/89, [1990] ECR I-2433 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | A national court must set aside a national rule that prevents it from granting interim relief to protect rights claimed under EU law. |
| R v Secretary of State for Transport, ex p Factortame Ltd (No 2) | [1991] 1 AC 603 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | While the UK was in the EU, UK courts had to disapply Acts of Parliament that conflicted with directly effective EU law. |
| R v Secretary of State for Transport, ex p Factortame Ltd (No 2) | [1991] 1 AC 603 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | While the UK was in the EU, UK courts had to disapply Acts of Parliament that conflicted with directly effective EU law. |
| R v Secretary of State for Transport, ex p Factortame Ltd (No 5) | [2000] 1 AC 524 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | The United Kingdom was liable to pay damages to Spanish fishermen for its sufficiently serious breach of EU law in passing the Merchant Shipping Act 1988. |
| R v Shayler | [2001] EWCA Crim 1977, [2001] 1 WLR 2206 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | Duress of circumstances requires a threat to specific identifiable people, and was not available to a former MI5 officer who disclosed secrets to the press. |
| R v Shivpuri | [1987] AC 1 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | The House of Lords overruled its own decision of a year earlier, showing that the Practice Statement can be used even in criminal law. |
| R v Shivpuri | [1987] AC 1 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The House of Lords overruled its own decision of a year earlier, showing that the Practice Statement can be used even in criminal law. |
| R v Smith | [1959] 2 QB 35 | Criminal LawCausation | A defendant remains liable if his act was still an operating and substantial cause of death, even if the victim's treatment was poor. |
| R v Smith (Morgan) | [2001] 1 AC 146 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | Under the old law of provocation, the jury could take into account the defendant's characteristics in deciding whether his loss of self control was reasonable, a decision later rejected in Holley. |
| R v Smith (Wallace Duncan) (No 4) | [2004] EWCA Crim 631, [2004] QB 1418 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | A jury's verdict cannot be impugned by evidence of its deliberations, but the court can inquire into alleged irregularities of an extraneous nature, such as pressure from other jurors to reach a verdict quickly. |
| R v Somerset County Council, ex p Fewings | [1995] 1 WLR 1037 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A council must exercise its statutory powers for the purposes for which they were given, not on the basis of its members' moral views. |
| R v Spencer | [1985] QB 771 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The Criminal Division generally follows its own decisions in the same way as the Civil Division, except where departing would avoid an injustice to the defendant. |
| R v Stone and Dobinson | [1977] QB 354 | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | People who take a relative into their home and attempt to care for her may assume a duty of care, breach of which can found manslaughter. |
| R v Sullivan | [1984] AC 156 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | Epilepsy is a disease of the mind for the insanity defence, however unfair that label seems. |
| R v Sussex Justices, ex p McCarthy | [1924] 1 KB 256 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | Justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done. |
| R v Tabassum | [2000] 2 Cr App R 328 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | Women who consented to touching for a medical purpose did not consent to touching by a man who was not medically qualified. |
| R v Taj | [2018] EWCA Crim 1743, [2019] QB 655 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | A defendant cannot rely on a mistaken belief caused by intoxication, even where the intoxication had worn off but its effects, such as a psychotic episode, continued. |
| R v Thames Water Utilities Ltd | [2015] EWCA Crim 960 | Environmental LawPollution offences, contaminated land and waste | Courts sentencing very large organisations for environmental offences may impose fines large enough to bring home to management and shareholders the need to comply with the law, potentially up to 100 percent of pre tax profit. |
| R v Thornton (No 2) | [1996] 1 WLR 1174 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | Battered woman syndrome could be relevant to provocation, both to whether there was a loss of self control and to the reasonable person test. |
| R v Turnbull | [1977] QB 224 | English Legal SystemCriminal justice, evidence and appeals | Judges must warn juries of the special need for caution before convicting on identification evidence. |
| R v Turnbull | [1977] QB 224 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | Judges must warn juries of the special need for caution before convicting on identification evidence. |
| R v Turner | [1975] QB 834 | EvidenceWitnesses, identification and expert evidence | Psychiatric evidence about how an ordinary person without mental illness would be likely to react to the stress of events is inadmissible, because it concerns matters within the jury's own experience. |
| R v Turner (Frank Richard) | [1970] 2 QB 321 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | A defendant must have complete freedom of choice whether to plead guilty or not guilty, so a plea entered after counsel conveyed what appeared to be the judge's view on sentence was a nullity. |
| R v Turner (No 2) | [1971] 1 WLR 901 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | A person can steal his own property from someone who has possession or control of it. |
| R v Twomey | [2009] EWCA Crim 1035, [2010] 1 WLR 630 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | The first criminal trial in England and Wales for centuries to be ordered without a jury, because of the danger of jury tampering. |
| R v Twomey | [2009] EWCA Crim 1035, [2010] 1 WLR 630 | English Legal SystemJuries | The first criminal trial in England and Wales for centuries to be ordered without a jury, because of the danger of jury tampering. |
| R v Vickers | [1957] 2 QB 664 | Criminal LawMurder and voluntary manslaughter | An intention to cause grievous bodily harm is sufficient mens rea for murder. |
| R v Vye | [1993] 1 WLR 471 | EvidenceCharacter evidence | A defendant of good character is entitled to a direction that his good character is relevant to his credibility, if he has given evidence or made pre trial statements, and to the likelihood that he committed the offence. |
| R v Wacker | [2002] EWCA Crim 1944, [2003] QB 1207 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | The civil law rule that one criminal cannot sue another for injury caused during a joint criminal enterprise does not apply in gross negligence manslaughter. |
| R v Walkington | [1979] 1 WLR 1169 | Criminal LawTheft, robbery, burglary and fraud | Entering a part of a building from which one is excluded, such as behind a shop counter, can be burglary. |
| R v Wallace | [2018] EWCA Crim 690, [2018] 2 Cr App R 22 | Criminal LawCausation | A victim's decision to undergo lawful euthanasia abroad did not necessarily break the chain of causation from the defendant's acid attack. |
| R v Wang | [2005] UKHL 9, [2005] 1 WLR 661 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | A judge can never direct a jury to convict, even where there appears to be no defence. |
| R v Wang | [2005] UKHL 9, [2005] 1 WLR 661 | English Legal SystemJuries | A judge can never direct a jury to convict, even where there appears to be no defence. |
| R v Ward (Judith) | [1993] 1 WLR 619 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | The conviction of Judith Ward for the M62 coach bombing was quashed because the prosecution and scientists had failed to disclose material evidence, and the prosecution has a duty to disclose all material evidence to the defence. |
| R v Watson | [1989] 1 WLR 684 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | The reasonable person in the dangerousness test acquires the knowledge that the defendant would have gained during the unlawful act, such as the victim's frailty. |
| R v White | [1910] 2 KB 124 | Criminal LawCausation | A defendant is not guilty of murder if the victim would have died anyway, because his act was not a factual cause of death. |
| R v Whybrow | (1951) 35 Cr App R 141 | Criminal LawInchoate offences and accessorial liability | For attempted murder, an intention to kill is required, and an intention to cause grievous bodily harm is not enough. |
| R v Willer | (1986) 83 Cr App R 225 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | Duress of circumstances: a driver who drove on the pavement to escape a gang threatening violence could rely on a defence of necessity. |
| R v Williams | [1923] 1 KB 340 | Criminal LawSexual offences and consent | Consent obtained by deceiving a person about the nature of the act is not real consent. |
| R v Williams (Gladstone) | (1984) 78 Cr App R 276 | Criminal LawDefences: self defence, duress and necessity | A defendant who uses force in self defence or defence of another is judged on the facts as he honestly believed them to be, even if his belief was unreasonable. |
| R v Williams and Davis | [1992] 1 WLR 380 | Criminal LawCausation | A victim's escape will break the chain of causation only if it was not within the range of responses that might be expected from a victim in that situation. |
| R v Willoughby | [2004] EWCA Crim 3365, [2005] 1 WLR 1880 | Criminal LawInvoluntary manslaughter | Whether a duty of care exists in gross negligence manslaughter may be a question for the jury, depending on the facts. |
| R v Wilson | [1997] QB 47 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | Consensual branding of a wife by her husband at her request was not an offence, because it was akin to tattooing. |
| R v Windle | [1952] 2 QB 826 | Criminal LawDefences: insanity, automatism and intoxication | For the insanity defence, wrong means legally wrong, so a defendant who knows his act is against the law cannot rely on the defence. |
| R v Woollin | [1999] 1 AC 82 | Criminal LawMens rea | A jury is entitled to find intention where death or serious harm was a virtual certainty and the defendant appreciated this: the leading test for oblique intention. |
| R v Y | [2008] EWCA Crim 10 | EvidenceHearsay | The interests of justice gateway in section 114(1)(d) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 can be used to admit an out of court confession by one defendant against a co-accused, though it should be used with caution. |
| R v Young (Stephen) | [1995] QB 324 | Criminal ProcedureTrial, pleas, juries and sentencing | Evidence of what happened outside the jury room, such as some jurors using a Ouija board in a hotel, can be admitted and lead to a retrial. |
| R v Young (Stephen) | [1995] QB 324 | English Legal SystemJuries | Evidence of what happened outside the jury room, such as some jurors using a Ouija board in a hotel, can be admitted and lead to a retrial. |
| R v Z | [2000] 2 AC 483 | EvidenceCharacter evidence | Evidence of earlier offences of which the defendant had been acquitted could be admitted as similar fact evidence, because the principle of double jeopardy did not prevent the use of such evidence in a later trial. |
| Rabone v Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust | [2012] UKSC 2, [2012] 2 AC 72 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | A hospital owed an operational duty under article 2 to protect a voluntary psychiatric patient who was at real and immediate risk of suicide, and her parents were victims entitled to damages. |
| Rabone v Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust | [2012] UKSC 2, [2012] 2 AC 72 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | A hospital owed an operational duty under article 2 to protect a voluntary psychiatric patient who was at real and immediate risk of suicide, and her parents were victims entitled to damages. |
| Re Racal Communications Ltd | [1981] AC 374 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | An ouster clause can prevent appeals from a High Court judge's decision, because the Anisminic principle applies to inferior tribunals, not to the High Court. |
| Radio Telefis Eireann v Commission (Magill) | Joined Cases C-241/91 P and C-242/91 P, [1995] ECR I-743 | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | A refusal to license copyright in television listings can be an abuse in exceptional circumstances, where it prevents the emergence of a new product for which there is consumer demand. |
| Radmacher v Granatino | [2010] UKSC 42, [2011] 1 AC 534 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | The court should give effect to a prenuptial agreement that is freely entered into by each party with a full appreciation of its implications, unless it would not be fair to hold the parties to it. |
| Raffles v Wichelhaus | (1864) 2 H & C 906 | Contract LawMistake | Where an ambiguity means the parties intended different things and neither meaning is objectively preferable, there is no contract. |
| Rainy Sky SA v Kookmin Bank | [2011] UKSC 50, [2011] 1 WLR 2900 | Banking and Finance LawDerivatives, bonds and capital markets | Where a contractual term has two possible meanings, the court should prefer the one that is more consistent with business common sense. |
| Rainy Sky SA v Kookmin Bank | [2011] UKSC 50, [2011] 1 WLR 2900 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Where a contractual term has two possible meanings, the court should prefer the one that is more consistent with business common sense. |
| Ralli Brothers v Compañía Naviera Sota y Aznar | [1920] 2 KB 287 | Conflict of LawsChoice of law in contract and tort | An English contract will not be enforced insofar as its performance would be illegal under the law of the place where it must be performed. |
| Re Ralli's Will Trusts | [1964] Ch 288 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | Where the trustee of a covenant to settle property comes to hold the property in another capacity, the trust is completely constituted, however he acquired it. |
| Rama Corp Ltd v Proved Tin and General Investments Ltd | [1952] 2 QB 147 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | A person cannot rely on apparent authority, or on the indoor management rule, if he did not know of and rely on the provisions in the articles that could have authorised the agent. |
| Ramsay v Liverpool Royal Infirmary | [1930] AC 588 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | A domicile of origin is not easily displaced, and a man who lived in Liverpool for the last 36 years of his life did not acquire an English domicile of choice because he had not formed the necessary intention. |
| Ramsden v Dyson | (1866) LR 1 HL 129 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | Lord Kingsdown's statement that a person who builds on another's land in the expectation of an interest, created or encouraged by the landowner, can enforce that expectation. |
| Rantsev v Cyprus and Russia | (2010) 51 EHRR 1 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | Human trafficking falls within article 4, and states have positive obligations to put in place a legal and administrative framework to prevent trafficking, protect victims and investigate. |
| Ratcliff v McConnell | [1999] 1 WLR 670 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier owes no duty under the 1984 Act to warn an adult trespasser of an obvious risk, such as diving into shallow water. |
| Ratten v The Queen | [1972] AC 378 | EvidenceHearsay | A telephone call made by a terrified woman shortly before she was shot was admissible, both as original evidence that a call was made and as part of the res gestae. |
| Ravenseft Properties Ltd v Davstone (Holdings) Ltd | [1980] QB 12 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | Work to remedy a defect in the design of a building can fall within a tenant's repairing covenant, as long as it does not change the whole character of the building. |
| Rayfield v Hands | [1960] Ch 1 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A provision in the articles requiring the directors to buy the shares of a member who wished to sell was enforceable by the member against the directors personally. |
| Raymond v Honey | [1983] 1 AC 1 | Public LawRule of law | A prisoner keeps all civil rights not taken away expressly or by necessary implication, including the right of access to the courts. |
| RBRG Trading (UK) Ltd v Sinocore International Co Ltd | [2018] EWCA Civ 838 | ArbitrationChallenging and enforcing awards, and investment arbitration | An award was enforced although the claimant had presented forged bills of lading under a letter of credit, because the award was based on the respondent's repudiation of the contract, not on the fraud. |
| Read v Coker | (1853) 13 CB 850 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | A threat of violence by people who were in a position to carry it out immediately was an assault, even though no blow was struck. |
| Read v J Lyons & Co Ltd | [1947] AC 156 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | The rule in Rylands v Fletcher requires an escape from land under the defendant's control to a place outside it. |
| Ready Mixed Concrete (South East) Ltd v Minister of Pensions and National Insurance | [1968] 2 QB 497 | Employment LawEmployment status | Whether a person is an employee depends on whether he provides his own work and skill in return for a wage, is subject to the other's control, and the other terms of the contract are consistent with employment. |
| Ready Mixed Concrete (South East) Ltd v Minister of Pensions and National Insurance | [1968] 2 QB 497 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | Whether a person is an employee depends on whether he provides his own work and skill in return for a wage, is subject to the other's control, and the other terms of the contract are consistent with employment. |
| Reardon Smith Line Ltd v Yngvar Hansen-Tangen (The Diana Prosperity) | [1976] 1 WLR 989 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Words in a contract identifying the goods, such as the yard number of a ship, are not necessarily part of the description, and a buyer cannot reject for a technical breach that does not affect the substance. |
| Re Recher's Will Trusts | [1972] Ch 526 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | A gift to an unincorporated association can take effect as an accretion to its funds, held by the members subject to the contract between them under the association's rules. |
| Reckitt & Colman Products Ltd v Borden Inc (Jif Lemon) | [1990] 1 WLR 491 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | Passing off requires goodwill, a misrepresentation by the defendant likely to lead the public to believe that his goods are the claimant's, and damage, and the shape of a lemon shaped container could be protected. |
| Recovery of Medical Costs for Asbestos Diseases (Wales) Bill: Reference by the Counsel General for Wales | [2015] UKSC 3, [2015] AC 1016 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | A Welsh Bill requiring employers and insurers to pay the NHS costs of treating asbestos related diseases was outside the Assembly's competence. |
| Red House Farms (Thorndon) Ltd v Catchpole | [1977] 2 EGLR 125 | Land LawAdverse possession | Shooting over land can be sufficient for adverse possession where the land is suitable for little else. |
| Red Sea Insurance Co Ltd v Bouygues SA | [1995] 1 AC 190 | Conflict of LawsChoice of law in contract and tort | The flexible exception to the double actionability rule could be applied to allow a claim to be governed entirely by the law of the place of the wrong, even if it would not be actionable under the law of the forum. |
| Redgrave v Hurd | (1881) 20 Ch D 1 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | A claimant induced by a misrepresentation can rescind even if they could have discovered the truth by making enquiries. |
| Reed Executive plc v Reed Business Information Ltd | [2004] EWCA Civ 159, [2004] RPC 40 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | The use of a company's own name can be a defence to trade mark infringement if it is in accordance with honest practices, and the scope of protection depends on the similarity of the services. |
| Rees v Darlington Memorial Hospital NHS Trust | [2003] UKHL 52, [2004] 1 AC 309 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | A disabled mother whose healthy child was born after a negligent sterilisation could not recover the costs of bringing up the child, but was awarded a conventional sum of 15,000 pounds for the loss of autonomy. |
| Reeves v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis | [2000] 1 AC 360 | Tort LawDefences and damages | The police, who owed a duty to prevent a prisoner from committing suicide, were liable for his death, but the damages were reduced by half for his contributory negligence. |
| Refah Partisi (Welfare Party) v Turkey | (2003) 37 EHRR 1 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | The dissolution of a political party which advocated the introduction of sharia law and a plurality of legal systems did not breach article 11, because its aims were incompatible with democracy. |
| Reference by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill | [2021] UKSC 42 | Public International LawSources of international law and its place in domestic courts | Scottish Bills that would have restricted the UK Parliament's power to legislate for Scotland were outside competence. |
| Reference by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland: United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill | [2021] UKSC 42 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | Scottish Bills that would have restricted the UK Parliament's power to legislate for Scotland were outside competence. |
| Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland: Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) (Northern Ireland) Bill | [2022] UKSC 32 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | A Northern Ireland Bill creating safe access zones around abortion clinics was a proportionate restriction on protesters' rights and within competence. |
| Reference by the Lord Advocate of devolution issues (Scottish Independence Referendum Bill) | [2022] UKSC 31 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | The Scottish Parliament has no power to legislate for a referendum on Scottish independence without the agreement of the UK Parliament. |
| Reference re a Resolution to Amend the Constitution | [1981] 1 SCR 753 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | The courts can recognise that a constitutional convention exists, even though they cannot enforce it. |
| Reference re Secession of Quebec | [1998] 2 SCR 217 | Public International LawStatehood, territory, recognition and self determination | Quebec had no right to secede unilaterally under Canadian constitutional law or international law, because the right of self determination does not give a right of unilateral secession to a people within a democratic state. |
| Regal (Hastings) Ltd v Gulliver | [1967] 2 AC 134n | Company LawDirectors' duties: conflicts of interest | Directors who made a profit from an opportunity that came to them because of their position were liable to account for it, even though the company could not have taken the opportunity itself. |
| Regal (Hastings) Ltd v Gulliver | [1967] 2 AC 134n | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | Directors who made a profit from an opportunity that came to them because of their position were liable to account for it, even though the company could not have taken the opportunity itself. |
| Regency Villas Title Ltd v Diamond Resorts (Europe) Ltd | [2018] UKSC 57, [2019] AC 553 | Land LawEasements | A right to use recreational facilities, such as a swimming pool and golf course, on neighbouring land can be an easement. |
| Relfo Ltd v Varsani | [2014] EWCA Civ 360 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | A defendant who received money which could be traced back through a series of transactions to the claimant was enriched at the claimant's expense, even though the money did not pass directly from the claimant to him. |
| Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the United Nations | (1949) ICJ Reports 174 | Public International LawState responsibility, nationality and international organisations | The United Nations has international legal personality, and so has the capacity to bring an international claim against a state for injury to its agents. |
| Republic of Ecuador v Occidental Exploration and Production Co | [2005] EWCA Civ 1116, [2006] QB 432 | ArbitrationChallenging and enforcing awards, and investment arbitration | The English courts have jurisdiction to hear a challenge to an investment treaty award made in London, because the treaty dispute resolution provisions create an arbitration agreement governed by English law, and the issues are justiciable. |
| Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law | (2024) ITLOS Case No 31 | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere are pollution of the marine environment under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states must take all necessary measures to prevent, reduce and control. |
| Request for an Advisory Opinion submitted by the Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law | (2024) ITLOS Case No 31 | Public International LawLaw of the sea, international environmental law and dispute settlement | Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere are pollution of the marine environment under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states must take all necessary measures to prevent, reduce and control. |
| Re Resch's Will Trusts | [1969] 1 AC 514 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A private hospital that charged fees was charitable, because it provided a benefit to the public, and it was not run for profit. |
| Reservations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide | (1951) ICJ Reports 15 | Public International LawSources of international law and its place in domestic courts | A state which makes a reservation to a treaty can be regarded as a party if the reservation is compatible with the object and purpose of the treaty, even if some parties object to it. |
| Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Lockyer | [2013] UKUT 50 (TCC) | Tax LawCapital gains, inheritance tax and property taxes | A business of letting a holiday property was mainly one of holding an investment, so business property relief from inheritance tax was not available on the deceased's share of the property. |
| Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Procter & Gamble UK | [2009] EWCA Civ 407 | Tax LawVAT and indirect taxes | Pringles were similar to potato crisps and were made from the potato, so they were standard rated for VAT, even though they contained only about 42 per cent potato flour. |
| Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Tooth | [2021] UKSC 17 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | A taxpayer's inaccurate entry in a tax return is a deliberate inaccuracy, allowing a late discovery assessment, only if he intended to mislead HMRC, and a full explanation in the return prevents that finding. |
| Revill v Newbery | [1996] QB 567 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier who shot a trespasser through a hole in his shed door was liable, because he owed the trespasser a duty of care, although the trespasser's damages were reduced for his contributory negligence. |
| Rewe-Zentral AG v Bundesmonopolverwaltung für Branntwein (Cassis de Dijon) | Case 120/78, [1979] ECR 649 | EU LawFree movement of goods | Goods lawfully produced and marketed in one Member State must in principle be allowed into other Member States, although indistinctly applicable rules may be justified by mandatory requirements. |
| Reyners v Belgium | Case 2/74, [1974] ECR 631 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | The Treaty provision on freedom of establishment has direct effect from the end of the transitional period, even though the EU had not adopted the directives envisaged to implement it. |
| Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd | [2001] 2 AC 127 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | A newspaper can rely on qualified privilege for publishing a defamatory statement on a matter of public interest, if it acted responsibly, applying a list of factors. |
| RFC 2012 plc v Advocate General for Scotland | [2017] UKSC 45 | Tax LawIncome and corporation tax: employment, trading and residence | Remuneration paid to employees through an employee benefit trust, under which the money was lent to them, was taxable earnings, because income from employment is taxable even if it is paid to a third party. |
| Rheinmühlen-Düsseldorf v Einfuhr und Vorratsstelle für Getreide und Futtermittel | Case 166/73, [1974] ECR 33 | EU LawPreliminary references | A lower national court is free to refer questions to the Court of Justice even if it is bound by a ruling of a higher national court on the point. |
| Rhodes v OPO | [2015] UKSC 32, [2016] AC 219 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | The tort in Wilkinson v Downton requires conduct directed at the claimant, without justification, with an intention to cause physical or psychiatric harm or severe distress, and the publication of a memoir was justified. |
| Rhone v Stephens | [1994] 2 AC 310 | Land LawFreehold covenants | A covenant to keep a roof in repair is positive, and its burden does not pass to successors in title of freehold land, even though this produces inconvenient results. |
| Richard v British Broadcasting Corporation | [2018] EWHC 1837 (Ch) | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | A person under police investigation generally has a reasonable expectation of privacy in respect of that fact, and the BBC was liable for its broadcast of a police search of Sir Cliff Richard's home. |
| Ridehalgh v Horsefield | [1994] Ch 205 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | Guidance on when lawyers can be personally ordered to pay wasted costs caused by their improper, unreasonable or negligent conduct. |
| Ridge v Baldwin | [1964] AC 40 | Public LawJudicial review: procedural impropriety and legitimate expectations | The rules of natural justice apply to administrative decisions affecting a person's rights, not only to judicial decisions: a landmark in the revival of judicial review. |
| Riverstone Meat Co Pty Ltd v Lancashire Shipping Co Ltd (The Muncaster Castle) | [1961] AC 807 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | A carrier's obligation to exercise due diligence to make the ship seaworthy is non delegable, so the carrier is liable for the negligence of a competent independent contractor employed to repair the ship. |
| Roake v Chadha | [1984] 1 WLR 40 | Land LawFreehold covenants | Section 78 does not annex the benefit of a covenant where the covenant itself shows that the benefit is not to pass unless expressly assigned. |
| Roberts v Hopwood | [1925] AC 578 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A statutory discretion must be exercised reasonably and for proper purposes, not according to the council's own social or political views. |
| Robinson v Balmain New Ferry Co Ltd | [1910] AC 295 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | It is not false imprisonment to require a person to comply with the reasonable conditions on which he entered premises before allowing him to leave. |
| Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police | [2018] UKSC 4, [2018] AC 736 | Tort LawDuty of care | Caparo does not create a universal three stage test for duty of care, and the police owe a duty to avoid causing physical injury through their own positive acts. |
| Robinson v Davison | (1871) LR 6 Ex 269 | Contract LawFrustration | A contract for personal services is frustrated if the person who is to perform becomes too ill to do so. |
| Robinson v Harman | (1848) 1 Exch 850 | Contract LawRemedies | Damages for breach of contract aim to put the claimant in the position it would have been in if the contract had been performed. |
| Robinson v Kilvert | (1889) 41 Ch D 88 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | A claimant cannot complain of a nuisance that affects him only because of his abnormally sensitive use of his property. |
| Robinson v Post Office | [1974] 1 WLR 1176 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A defendant must take the victim as he finds him, including an allergy, and was liable for the claimant's reaction to an injection given after an injury at work. |
| Robinson v Secretary of State for Northern Ireland | [2002] UKHL 32 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | The Northern Ireland Act 1998 is a constitution for Northern Ireland and should be interpreted generously and purposively. |
| Rochefoucauld v Boustead | [1897] 1 Ch 196 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | Equity will not allow the statute requiring writing for trusts of land to be used as an instrument of fraud, so an oral trust of land may be enforced against the trustee. |
| Rodway v Landy | [2001] EWCA Civ 471, [2001] Ch 703 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | Trustees of land can divide the use of a building between beneficiaries, giving each exclusive occupation of part of it. |
| Roe v Minister of Health | [1954] 2 QB 66 | Tort LawBreach of duty | A defendant is judged by the state of knowledge at the time of the alleged negligence, not with hindsight. |
| Rogers v Parish (Scarborough) Ltd | [1987] QB 933 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | A new car with defects to the engine, gearbox and bodywork was not of merchantable quality, even though the defects were repairable, because a buyer of such a car expects more. |
| Roles v Nathan | [1963] 1 WLR 1117 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier is not liable to specialist workers who are injured by a risk that is ordinarily incident to their calling, where they have been warned of the danger. |
| Rolfe v Veale Wasbrough Vizards LLP | [2021] EWHC 2809 (QB) | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | A claim for damages for a trivial data breach, in which an email was sent to the wrong person who promptly deleted it, failed because the claimants could not show more than de minimis distress. |
| Rolled Steel Products (Holdings) Ltd v British Steel Corp | [1986] Ch 246 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A transaction within the company's capacity but entered into by the directors for an improper purpose is not ultra vires, but an abuse of the directors' powers, which a third party with notice cannot enforce. |
| Rondel v Worsley | [1969] 1 AC 191 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | Barristers were immune from claims in negligence for their conduct of a case in court, a rule later abolished. |
| Ropaigealach v Barclays Bank plc | [2000] QB 263 | Land LawMortgages | A mortgagee can take possession of a residential property without a court order, if it can do so peaceably, and the court's statutory powers to delay possession do not then apply. |
| Roquette Frères SA v Council (Isoglucose) | Case 138/79, [1980] ECR 3333 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | Where the Treaty requires the Council to consult the European Parliament, failure to wait for its opinion is a breach of an essential procedural requirement, which makes the measure void. |
| Roscoe (James) (Bolton) Ltd v Winder | [1915] 1 Ch 62 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | Beneficiaries cannot trace into a mixed account beyond the lowest intermediate balance, because later payments in are not treated as repaying the trust. |
| Re Rose | [1952] Ch 499 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A gift of shares is complete in equity once the donor has done everything within his own power to transfer them, even before the company registers the transfer. |
| Rose and Frank Co v JR Crompton & Bros Ltd | [1925] AC 445 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | Commercial parties can expressly agree that an arrangement is not legally binding. |
| Rose v Plenty | [1976] 1 WLR 141 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | An employer was vicariously liable for an employee who allowed a boy to help him deliver milk, contrary to instructions, because the boy was helping with the employer's business. |
| Ross v Caunters | [1980] Ch 297 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A solicitor who negligently failed to warn a testator that a will should not be witnessed by the spouse of a beneficiary was liable to the beneficiary who lost her gift. |
| Rothwell v Chemical & Insulating Co Ltd | [2007] UKHL 39, [2008] 1 AC 281 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | Pleural plaques caused by exposure to asbestos are not damage that gives rise to a claim in negligence, and nor is anxiety about the risk of future disease. |
| Rottmann v Freistaat Bayern | Case C-135/08, [2010] ECR I-1449 | EU LawEU citizenship | A decision withdrawing a person's nationality of a Member State, which causes him to lose EU citizenship, falls within EU law and must be proportionate. |
| Re Rowland | [1963] Ch 1 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | A gift to take effect if a wife's death preceded or coincided with the testator's did not take effect where both died in a shipwreck, because it could not be shown that they died at the same moment. |
| Rowland v Divall | [1923] 2 KB 500 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | A buyer who receives goods to which the seller had no title can recover the whole price for total failure of consideration, even after using them for months. |
| Rowland v Divall | [1923] 2 KB 500 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | A buyer who receives goods to which the seller had no title can recover the whole price for total failure of consideration, even after using them for months. |
| Roy v Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster Family Practitioner Committee | [1992] 1 AC 624 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | A claimant asserting private law rights may use an ordinary claim even if a public law issue arises, relaxing the rule in O'Reilly v Mackman. |
| Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge (No 2) | [2001] UKHL 44, [2002] 2 AC 773 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | The leading case on undue influence and the steps a lender must take when a wife guarantees her husband's debts. |
| Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge (No 2) | [2001] UKHL 44, [2002] 2 AC 773 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | The leading case on undue influence and the steps a lender must take when a wife guarantees her husband's debts. |
| Royal Bank of Scotland plc v Etridge (No 2) | [2001] UKHL 44, [2002] 2 AC 773 | Land LawMortgages | The leading case on undue influence and the steps a lender must take when a wife guarantees her husband's debts. |
| Royal British Bank v Turquand | (1856) 6 E & B 327 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | A person dealing with a company in good faith is entitled to assume that its internal procedures have been properly followed. |
| Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd v Tan | [1995] 2 AC 378 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | A person who dishonestly assists in a breach of trust is liable for the loss, whether or not the trustee was dishonest. |
| Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom v Department of Health and Social Security | [1981] AC 800 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The mischief rule allowed nurses to carry out part of an abortion procedure under a doctor's supervision. |
| Royal College of Nursing of the United Kingdom v Department of Health and Social Security | [1981] AC 800 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | The mischief rule allowed nurses to carry out part of an abortion procedure under a doctor's supervision. |
| Royal Mail Group Ltd v DAF Trucks Ltd | [2023] CAT 6 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | In the first trucks cartel damages trial, the tribunal found that Royal Mail and BT had paid an overcharge of 5 percent on trucks and awarded damages, rejecting the defence that the overcharge had been passed on. |
| Royal Mail Group Ltd v Efobi | [2021] UKSC 33, [2021] 1 WLR 3863 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | Under section 136 of the Equality Act 2010, the claimant still bears the initial burden of proving facts from which discrimination could be inferred, as under the earlier legislation. |
| Royal Mail Group Ltd v Jhuti | [2019] UKSC 55, [2020] ICR 731 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | Where a manager hides the real reason for a dismissal behind an invented reason which the decision maker adopts, the court can look behind the invented reason to find the true reason for the dismissal. |
| Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake | [2021] UKSC 8, [2021] ICR 758 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | Care workers on sleep in shifts, who were required to be available to provide assistance if needed but were permitted to sleep, were not entitled to the national minimum wage for the whole shift. |
| Royal Products Ltd v Midland Bank Ltd | [1981] 2 Lloyd's Rep 194 | Banking and Finance LawPayments, mandates and the Quincecare duty | In a bank transfer, the banks involved act as agents of the payer, and a bank which uses a correspondent bank owes its customer a duty of care in carrying out the instruction. |
| Royscot Trust Ltd v Rogerson | [1991] 2 QB 297 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | Damages under section 2(1) of the Misrepresentation Act 1967 are assessed as if the misrepresentation were fraudulent. |
| RT (Zimbabwe) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2012] UKSC 38, [2013] 1 AC 152 | Immigration and Asylum LawRefugee status and asylum | The principle in HJ (Iran) applies to political opinion, so a person who has no political views cannot be required to lie and feign loyalty to a regime in order to avoid persecution. |
| RTS Flexible Systems Ltd v Molkerei Alois Müller GmbH & Co KG | [2010] UKSC 14, [2010] 1 WLR 753 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | Whether parties have made a contract is judged objectively from their words and conduct, and they can waive a subject to contract condition. |
| Rubin v Eurofinance SA | [2012] UKSC 46, [2013] 1 AC 236 | Conflict of LawsRecognition and enforcement of foreign judgments | Judgments in avoidance proceedings in a foreign insolvency are subject to the ordinary common law rules for the enforcement of foreign judgments, and are not enforceable against defendants who did not submit to the foreign court. |
| Ruiz Zambrano v Office national de l'emploi (ONEm) | Case C-34/09, [2011] ECR I-1177 | EU LawEU citizenship | A Member State cannot refuse residence to a non EU parent of young children who are EU citizens if this would deprive the children of the genuine enjoyment of the substance of their rights as EU citizens. |
| Ruiz Zambrano v Office national de l'emploi (ONEm) | Case C-34/09, [2011] ECR I-1177 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | A Member State cannot refuse residence to a non EU parent of young children who are EU citizens if this would deprive the children of the genuine enjoyment of the substance of their rights as EU citizens. |
| Rush & Tompkins Ltd v Greater London Council | [1989] AC 1280 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | Without prejudice communications made in an attempt to settle a dispute are inadmissible not only between the negotiating parties but also in later proceedings with third parties connected with the same subject matter. |
| Russell v Northern Bank Development Corp Ltd | [1992] 1 WLR 588 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A company cannot contract not to exercise its statutory power to increase its capital, but a shareholders' agreement binding the shareholders personally in how they vote is valid. |
| Ruxley Electronics and Construction Ltd v Forsyth | [1996] AC 344 | Contract LawRemedies | Cost of cure damages are not awarded where they would be out of all proportion to the benefit, but damages for loss of amenity may be. |
| RV Ward Ltd v Bignall | [1967] 1 QB 534 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Where an unpaid seller lawfully resells goods after the buyer's default, the original contract is rescinded, and the seller can claim damages for the loss. |
| Ryanair Holdings plc v Competition and Markets Authority | [2015] EWCA Civ 83 | Competition LawMerger control | Ryanair's minority shareholding of about 29 percent in Aer Lingus gave it material influence over Aer Lingus, so it was a relevant merger situation, and the order to reduce the stake to 5 percent was lawful. |
| Rylands v Fletcher | (1868) LR 3 HL 330 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | A person who brings onto his land something likely to do mischief if it escapes, in the course of a non natural use of the land, is strictly liable for the damage caused if it escapes. |
| Rylands v Fletcher | (1868) LR 3 HL 330 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | A person who brings onto his land something likely to do mischief if it escapes, in the course of a non natural use of the land, is strictly liable for the damage caused if it escapes. |
| Re Rymer | [1895] 1 Ch 19 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A gift to a particular seminary that had closed before the testator's death lapsed, because he intended to benefit that institution only. |
| Ryneš v Úřad pro ochranu osobních údajů | (2014) Case C-212/13 | Data Protection and Technology LawPersonal data, controllers and the scope of data protection | The use of a home CCTV camera which records a public space, such as the street outside the house, is not covered by the exemption for purely personal or household activity. |
| Re S (Minors) (Care Order: Implementation of Care Plan) | [2002] UKHL 10, [2002] 2 AC 291 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | Section 3 cannot be used to read into a statute a provision that departs substantially from a fundamental feature of the legislative scheme. |
| Re S (Minors) (Care Order: Implementation of Care Plan) | [2002] UKHL 10, [2002] 2 AC 291 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | Section 3 cannot be used to read into a statute a provision that departs substantially from a fundamental feature of the legislative scheme. |
| Re S (Minors) (Care Order: Implementation of Care Plan) | [2002] UKHL 10, [2002] 2 AC 291 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | Section 3 cannot be used to read into a statute a provision that departs substantially from a fundamental feature of the legislative scheme. |
| S and Marper v United Kingdom | (2009) 48 EHRR 50 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | The blanket and indefinite retention of DNA profiles and fingerprints of people who had been arrested but not convicted was a disproportionate interference with private life. |
| S and Marper v United Kingdom | (2009) 48 EHRR 50 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | The blanket and indefinite retention of DNA profiles and fingerprints of people who had been arrested but not convicted was a disproportionate interference with private life. |
| Re S-B (Children) (Care Proceedings: Standard of Proof) | [2009] UKSC 17, [2010] 1 AC 678 | Family LawCare proceedings and adoption | Where it is possible to identify the perpetrator of injuries to a child, the court should do so on the balance of probabilities, but if it cannot, it may identify a pool of possible perpetrators. |
| Saadi v Italy | (2009) 49 EHRR 30 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | The Grand Chamber reaffirmed that the risk of ill treatment on deportation cannot be weighed against the danger the person poses to the community, rejecting the United Kingdom's argument for a balancing test. |
| Saadi v Italy | (2009) 49 EHRR 30 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | The Grand Chamber reaffirmed that the risk of ill treatment on deportation cannot be weighed against the danger the person poses to the community, rejecting the United Kingdom's argument for a balancing test. |
| SABEL BV v Puma AG, Rudolf Dassler Sport | Case C-251/95, [1997] ECR I-6191 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | Likelihood of confusion must be assessed globally, taking into account all the relevant factors, and the mere association of two marks by the public is not enough. |
| Safeway Stores plc v Burrell | [1997] ICR 523 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | The statutory definition of redundancy turns on whether the employer's requirement for employees to do work of a particular kind has diminished, not on whether the work itself has diminished. |
| Said v Butt | [1920] 3 KB 497 | Commercial LawAgency | An undisclosed principal cannot enforce a contract where the third party would not have contracted with him if he had known who he was. |
| Saif Ali v Sydney Mitchell & Co | [1980] AC 198 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | The advocate's immunity from negligence claims extended only to work intimately connected with the conduct of the case in court. |
| Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd v Hitt | [2002] EWCA Civ 1588, [2003] ICR 111 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | The band of reasonable responses test applies to the adequacy of the employer's investigation as well as to the decision to dismiss. |
| Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd v Visa Europe Services LLC | [2020] UKSC 24 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | The default multilateral interchange fees set by Visa and Mastercard restricted competition, and a defendant can reduce damages by proving that the claimant passed on the overcharge to its customers. |
| Saint Prix v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions | Case C-507/12, EU:C:2014:2007 | EU LawFree movement of workers | A woman who gives up work because of the physical constraints of the late stages of pregnancy keeps her status as a worker, as long as she returns to work within a reasonable period after the birth. |
| Salabiaku v France | (1988) 13 EHRR 379 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | Presumptions of fact or law are not in principle contrary to article 6(2) of the Convention, but states must confine them within reasonable limits which take into account what is at stake and maintain the rights of the defence. |
| Salduz v Turkey | (2009) 49 EHRR 19 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | Access to a lawyer should be provided from the first police interrogation of a suspect, and the use of incriminating statements made without legal advice will in principle breach article 6. |
| Salduz v Turkey | (2009) 49 EHRR 19 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | Access to a lawyer should be provided from the first police interrogation of a suspect, and the use of incriminating statements made without legal advice will in principle breach article 6. |
| Sallis v Jones | [1936] P 43 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | A statement that a will is made in contemplation of marriage generally, without naming the intended spouse, did not prevent the will being revoked by the testator's later marriage. |
| Salomon v A Salomon & Co Ltd | [1897] AC 22 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | A company is a separate legal person from its members, even where one person owns almost all the shares, so the members are not liable for its debts. |
| Saltman Engineering Co Ltd v Campbell Engineering Co Ltd | (1948) 65 RPC 203 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | Technical drawings given to a contractor for a limited purpose were confidential, even though they were of tools that could be copied by anyone who took the trouble. |
| Salvesen v Riddell | [2013] UKSC 22 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | An Act of the Scottish Parliament was outside its competence because it breached a landlord's Convention right to property, and the court suspended the effect of its decision to allow the Parliament to correct it. |
| Re Sam Weller & Sons Ltd | [1990] Ch 682 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | The payment of very low dividends by a family company, while the controlling director drew a salary from it, could be unfairly prejudicial, even though it affected all the shareholders equally. |
| Samuel v Jarrah Timber and Wood Paving Corporation Ltd | [1904] AC 323 | Land LawMortgages | An option for the lender to buy the mortgaged property, granted as part of the mortgage, is void as a clog on the equity of redemption. |
| Sander v United Kingdom | (2001) 31 EHRR 44 | English Legal SystemJuries | A judge's direction was not enough to remedy evidence that jurors had made racist jokes, so the trial was unfair. |
| Sander v United Kingdom | (2001) 31 EHRR 44 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | A judge's direction was not enough to remedy evidence that jurors had made racist jokes, so the trial was unfair. |
| Sargeant v National Westminster Bank plc | (1990) 61 P & CR 518 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | Where a settlor created the conflict of interest by appointing trustees who were his tenants, the trustees could keep their tenancies and were not required to sell the property with vacant possession. |
| SAS Institute Inc v World Programming Ltd | Case C-406/10, EU:C:2012:259 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | The functionality of a computer program, its programming language and data file formats are not protected by copyright, so a competitor can write a program that replicates its functions. |
| SAS Institute Inc v World Programming Ltd | Case C-406/10, EU:C:2012:259 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | The functionality of a computer program, its programming language and data file formats are not protected by copyright, so a competitor can write a program that replicates its functions. |
| SAS v France | (2015) 60 EHRR 11 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | A French law banning the wearing of face coverings in public, which prevented Muslim women from wearing the full face veil, did not breach articles 8 or 9, because it pursued the aim of living together. |
| Re Saul D Harrison & Sons plc | [1995] 1 BCLC 14 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | Conduct is unfairly prejudicial only if it departs from the terms on which the member agreed the company should be run, and a member's legitimate expectations are normally found in the articles. |
| Saunders v Anglia Building Society | [1971] AC 1004 | Contract LawMistake | The defence of non est factum is available only where the document signed is radically different from what the signer believed and the signer was not careless. |
| Saunders v United Kingdom | (1997) 23 EHRR 313 | EvidenceSilence, confessions and improperly obtained evidence | The use at a criminal trial of answers obtained from the accused under compulsory powers in a company investigation breached the privilege against self incrimination protected by article 6. |
| Saunders v United Kingdom | (1997) 23 EHRR 313 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | The use at a criminal trial of answers obtained from the accused under compulsory powers in a company investigation breached the privilege against self incrimination protected by article 6. |
| Saunders v Vautier | (1841) 4 Beav 115 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | Adult beneficiaries of full capacity who are together absolutely entitled to the trust property can end the trust and call for the property to be transferred to them. |
| Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | [2008] UKHL 74, [2009] 1 AC 681 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | Health authorities owe an operational duty under article 2 to take reasonable steps to protect a detained psychiatric patient from a real and immediate risk of suicide, in addition to their general systemic duties. |
| Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | [2008] UKHL 74, [2009] 1 AC 681 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | Health authorities owe an operational duty under article 2 to take reasonable steps to protect a detained psychiatric patient from a real and immediate risk of suicide, in addition to their general systemic duties. |
| Sawkins v Hyperion Records Ltd | [2005] EWCA Civ 565, [2005] 1 WLR 3281 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | A musicologist who produced performing editions of old music, adding figured bass and other elements, created original musical works protected by copyright. |
| Scala House & District Property Co Ltd v Forbes | [1974] QB 575 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | A breach of a covenant against subletting by granting an unlawful sublease is incapable of remedy. |
| Scally v Southern Health and Social Services Board | [1992] 1 AC 294 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | An employer has an implied duty to take reasonable steps to bring to employees' attention a valuable contractual right which they could lose if they did not take action. |
| Scammell and Nephew Ltd v Ouston | [1941] AC 251 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | An agreement whose key terms are too vague to be given a definite meaning is not a binding contract. |
| Re Scarisbrick | [1951] Ch 622 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A trust for the relief of poverty among a testator's relatives is charitable, as long as it is a trust for the relief of poverty among a class, rather than a gift to particular individuals. |
| Schering Chemicals Ltd v Falkman Ltd | [1982] QB 1 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | A person who received confidential information to help train a company's staff was not entitled to use it to make a television documentary, even though some of the information was publicly available. |
| Schibsby v Westenholz | (1870) LR 6 QB 155 | Conflict of LawsRecognition and enforcement of foreign judgments | Foreign judgments are enforced in England because they impose an obligation on the defendant to pay, which arises only if the foreign court had jurisdiction over the defendant according to English rules. |
| Schmidberger v Austria | Case C-112/00, [2003] ECR I-5659 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A Member State's decision to allow a demonstration that blocked a motorway was justified by the protection of freedom of expression and assembly. |
| Schmidt v Rosewood Trust Ltd | [2003] UKPC 26, [2003] 2 AC 709 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | A beneficiary's right to see trust documents is not a proprietary right, but part of the court's supervisory jurisdiction over trusts, and objects of a discretionary power may also apply. |
| Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner | Case C-362/14, EU:C:2015:650 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | The Commission's decision that the United States provided adequate protection for personal data transferred from the EU, known as Safe Harbour, was invalid. |
| Schrems v Data Protection Commissioner | Case C-362/14, EU:C:2015:650 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | The Commission's decision that the United States provided adequate protection for personal data transferred from the EU, known as Safe Harbour, was invalid. |
| Schuler AG v Wickman Machine Tool Sales Ltd | [1974] AC 235 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Calling a term a condition does not necessarily make it one in the technical sense if that would produce an unreasonable result. |
| Schütz (UK) Ltd v Werit (UK) Ltd | [2013] UKSC 16, [2013] RPC 16 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | Whether replacing a part of a patented product amounts to making it depends on whether the part replaced is a significant part of the inventive concept, so replacing a worn bottle in a container was not infringement. |
| Scott v Avery | (1856) 5 HL Cas 811 | ArbitrationThe arbitration agreement: validity, scope and governing law | A clause making an arbitration award a condition precedent to any action on the contract is valid, and does not oust the jurisdiction of the courts. |
| Scott v Scott | [1913] AC 417 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | Justice must be administered in public, and the court can sit in private only where this is strictly necessary to achieve justice. |
| Scott v Southern Pacific Mortgages Ltd | [2014] UKSC 52, [2015] AC 385 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | Promises made by a purchaser to a vendor before completion were only personal rights until the purchase was completed, so they could not bind a lender whose charge was created at the same time. |
| Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd v Meyer | [1959] AC 324 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | A parent company that deliberately ran down a subsidiary's business, to the detriment of its minority shareholders, was acting oppressively, and was ordered to buy their shares at a fair value. |
| Scout Association v Barnes | [2010] EWCA Civ 1476 | Tort LawBreach of duty | A scout leader was negligent in allowing boys to play a game in the dark, because the risk of injury was increased without any sufficient additional benefit. |
| Scriven Bros & Co v Hindley & Co | [1913] 3 KB 564 | Contract LawMistake | There is no contract where the parties were at cross purposes because of misleading conduct by the party seeking to enforce it. |
| Scruttons Ltd v Midland Silicones Ltd | [1962] AC 446 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | A third party, such as a stevedore, cannot rely on a limitation clause in a contract to which it is not a party. |
| Scruttons Ltd v Midland Silicones Ltd | [1962] AC 446 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | A third party, such as a stevedore, cannot rely on a limitation clause in a contract to which it is not a party. |
| Seager v Copydex Ltd | [1967] 1 WLR 923 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | A company that unconsciously used confidential information given to it in negotiations was liable for breach of confidence, and the damages are the market value of the information. |
| Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform v Neufeld | [2009] EWCA Civ 280, [2009] ICR 1183 | Employment LawEmployment status | A controlling shareholder and director of a company can also be its employee, and the question is whether there was a genuine contract of employment. |
| Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF (No 3) | [2009] UKHL 28, [2010] 2 AC 269 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | A person subject to a control order must be given sufficient information about the allegations against him to give effective instructions to his special advocate. |
| Secretary of State for the Home Department v AF (No 3) | [2009] UKHL 28, [2010] 2 AC 269 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | A person subject to a control order must be given sufficient information about the allegations against him to give effective instructions to his special advocate. |
| Secretary of State for the Home Department v JJ | [2007] UKHL 45, [2008] 1 AC 385 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | Control orders confining suspected terrorists to small flats for 18 hours a day, with severe restrictions on visitors, amounted to a deprivation of liberty contrary to article 5. |
| Sedleigh-Denfield v O'Callaghan | [1940] AC 880 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | An occupier who knows of a nuisance created on his land by a trespasser, and continues or adopts it by failing to take reasonable steps to end it, is liable. |
| Seldon v Clarkson Wright and Jakes | [2012] UKSC 16, [2012] ICR 716 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | Direct age discrimination can be justified only by reference to legitimate aims of a social policy nature, such as intergenerational fairness and dignity, and the means must be proportionate. |
| Re Selectmove Ltd | [1995] 1 WLR 474 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | The practical benefit principle in Williams v Roffey does not apply to promises to accept part payment of a debt. |
| Semco Salvage & Marine Pte Ltd v Lancer Navigation Co Ltd (The Nagasaki Spirit) | [1997] AC 455 | Shipping and Maritime LawSalvage, general average, collisions, arrest and limitation | The special compensation payable to salvors under article 14 of the Salvage Convention for preventing environmental damage covers their expenses and a fair rate for equipment and personnel, but not an element of profit. |
| Sempra Metals Ltd v Inland Revenue Commissioners | [2007] UKHL 34, [2008] 1 AC 561 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | The House of Lords held that compound interest could be awarded as restitution of the time value of money paid early, a decision on restitution later overruled by the Supreme Court in Prudential Assurance v HMRC. |
| Sempra Metals Ltd v Inland Revenue Commissioners | [2007] UKHL 34, [2008] 1 AC 561 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | The House of Lords held that compound interest could be awarded as restitution of the time value of money paid early, a decision on restitution later overruled by the Supreme Court in Prudential Assurance v HMRC. |
| Sen v Headley | [1991] Ch 425 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A gift of land can be made by way of a donatio mortis causa, by giving the donee the keys to a box containing the title deeds. |
| Sen v Headley | [1991] Ch 425 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | A gift of land can be made by way of a donatio mortis causa, by giving the donee the keys to a box containing the title deeds. |
| Sepet v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2003] UKHL 15, [2003] 1 WLR 856 | Immigration and Asylum LawRefugee status and asylum | Punishment for refusing to perform compulsory military service is not persecution for a Convention reason where the law applies to all and there is no internationally recognised right of conscientious objection. |
| Serafin v Malkiewicz | [2020] UKSC 23, [2020] 1 WLR 2455 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | The statutory defence of publication on a matter of public interest requires a reasonable belief that publishing the statement was in the public interest, judged by reference to what the publisher did. |
| Serdar Mohammed v Ministry of Defence | [2017] UKSC 1, [2017] AC 649 | Public International LawUse of force, armed conflict and international criminal law | British forces in Afghanistan had power under Security Council resolutions to detain individuals for imperative reasons of security, but the detention of Mr Mohammed breached article 5 because there was no adequate review. |
| Serious Fraud Office v Standard Bank plc | (2015) Southwark Crown Court, 30 November 2015 | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | The first deferred prosecution agreement in the United Kingdom was approved in respect of a bank's failure to prevent bribery by an associated person, under section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010. |
| Re Sevenoaks Stationers (Retail) Ltd | [1991] Ch 164 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | The Court of Appeal set out three brackets for the length of a disqualification order, according to the seriousness of the director's conduct. |
| Sevilleja v Marex Financial Ltd | [2020] UKSC 31, [2021] AC 39 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | The rule against reflective loss is limited to claims by shareholders for a fall in the value of their shares or distributions, and does not apply to creditors of the company. |
| Shah v HSBC Private Bank (UK) Ltd | [2010] EWCA Civ 31 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | A bank is entitled to refuse to execute a customer's instructions while it seeks consent after making a suspicious activity report under the money laundering legislation, and owes no duty to explain. |
| Shamoon v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary | [2003] UKHL 11, [2003] ICR 337 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | A comparator for direct discrimination must be in the same relevant circumstances as the claimant, and tribunals may often do better to ask first why the claimant was treated as she was. |
| Shanklin Pier Ltd v Detel Products Ltd | [1951] 2 KB 854 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | A promise made in return for a party entering into a contract with someone else can be enforced as a collateral contract. |
| Shanks & McEwan (Teesside) Ltd v Environment Agency | [1999] QB 333 | Environmental LawPollution offences, contaminated land and waste | A company operating a waste site knowingly permits the deposit of waste in breach of its licence if it knows of the deposit, even if it does not know that the deposit breaches a licence condition. |
| Sharland v Sharland | [2015] UKSC 60, [2016] AC 871 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | A financial remedies order obtained by fraudulent non disclosure will be set aside unless the court is satisfied that the fraud would not have made a difference to the order. |
| Re Sharpe (A Bankrupt) | [1980] 1 WLR 219 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | An elderly aunt who lent money to her nephew to buy a house, on the basis that she could live there, had an interest that bound his trustee in bankruptcy. |
| Re Shaw | [1957] 1 WLR 729 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | George Bernard Shaw's trust to research a new phonetic alphabet was not charitable, because it was not for education, and failed as a non charitable purpose trust. |
| Shaw v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis | [1987] 1 WLR 1332 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | The exception for sales by a mercantile agent, and the estoppel exception, apply only to a completed sale, not to an agreement to sell under which property has not yet passed. |
| Shaw v Director of Public Prosecutions | [1962] AC 220 | Public LawRule of law | The House of Lords recognised an offence of conspiracy to corrupt public morals, which was criticised for offending the rule against retrospective criminal law. |
| Sheeran v Chokri | [2022] EWHC 827 (Ch) | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Ed Sheeran did not copy his song Shape of You from another song, because he had not heard it and the similarities were commonplace. |
| Sheffield City Council v E | [2004] EWHC 2808 (Fam), [2005] Fam 326 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | The capacity to marry depends on whether a person understands the nature of the marriage contract and its duties and responsibilities, which is not a demanding test. |
| Sheldrake v Director of Public Prosecutions; Attorney General's Reference (No 4 of 2002) | [2004] UKHL 43, [2005] 1 AC 264 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | Whether a reverse burden of proof is compatible with the presumption of innocence depends on whether it is reasonable and proportionate, considering the seriousness of the offence and the difficulty of proof. |
| Shephard v Cartwright | [1955] AC 431 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | The presumption of advancement can be rebutted only by evidence of the transferor's intention at the time of the transfer, and later acts or statements are admissible only against the person who makes them. |
| Sherras v De Rutzen | [1895] 1 QB 918 | Criminal LawStrict liability | There is a presumption that mens rea is required, and a publican who reasonably believed a police officer was off duty was not guilty of serving him while on duty. |
| Shevill v Presse Alliance SA | Case C-68/93, [1995] ECR I-415 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | In a cross border defamation claim, the victim may sue the publisher either where it is established, for all the damage, or in each state where the publication was distributed and the victim's reputation harmed, for the damage in that state. |
| Shield Mark BV v Joost Kist | Case C-283/01, [2003] ECR I-14313 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | A sound can be registered as a trade mark if it is represented graphically by a musical stave with notes, but not by a mere description in words. |
| Shiloh Spinners Ltd v Harding | [1973] AC 691 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | Equity has a general jurisdiction to relieve against forfeiture of a proprietary interest where the right to forfeit was intended to secure payment of money or performance of an obligation. |
| Shilton v Wilmshurst | [1991] 1 AC 684 | Tax LawIncome and corporation tax: employment, trading and residence | A payment made by a third party to induce a person to enter into an employment is an emolument from that employment, so a payment by a football club to a player to agree to a transfer was taxable. |
| Shirlaw v Southern Foundries (1926) Ltd | [1939] 2 KB 206 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A term is implied in fact if it is so obvious that it goes without saying, the officious bystander test. |
| Shirlaw v Southern Foundries (1926) Ltd | [1939] 2 KB 206 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | A term is implied in fact if it is so obvious that it goes without saying, the officious bystander test. |
| Shogun Finance Ltd v Hudson | [2003] UKHL 62, [2004] 1 AC 919 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | Where a contract is made in writing with a named person, a rogue who impersonates that person is not a party to it. |
| Shogun Finance Ltd v Hudson | [2003] UKHL 62, [2004] 1 AC 919 | Contract LawMistake | Where a contract is made in writing with a named person, a rogue who impersonates that person is not a party to it. |
| Shvidler v Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs | [2025] UKSC 30 | Banking and Finance LawFinancial crime, sanctions and market misconduct | The designation of a businessman under the Russia sanctions regime, because of his association with Roman Abramovich, was a proportionate interference with his Convention rights. |
| Sidaway v Board of Governors of the Bethlem Royal Hospital | [1985] AC 871 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | The House of Lords held that a doctor's duty to disclose the risks of treatment was governed by the Bolam test, an approach later replaced by the patient centred test in Montgomery. |
| Sidebottom v Kershaw, Leese & Co Ltd | [1920] 1 Ch 154 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | An alteration of the articles allowing the directors to require a member who competed with the company to sell his shares was valid, because it was for the benefit of the company. |
| Sieckmann v Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt | Case C-273/00, [2002] ECR I-11737 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | A sign can be registered as a trade mark only if it can be represented graphically in a way that is clear, precise, self contained, easily accessible, intelligible, durable and objective, which a smell could not. |
| Sienkiewicz v Greif (UK) Ltd | [2011] UKSC 10, [2011] 2 AC 229 | Tort LawCausation | The Fairchild exception applies to a claimant exposed to asbestos by only one negligent defendant, where the other exposure was from the general environment. |
| Re Sigma Finance Corp | [2009] UKSC 2 | Banking and Finance LawInsolvency of financial institutions and client assets | The security trust deed of a structured investment vehicle had to be construed as a whole, so that its assets were to be distributed among all creditors at the end of the realisation period, not paid first to creditors whose debts fell due early. |
| Re Sigsworth | [1935] Ch 89 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The golden rule prevented a son who murdered his mother from inheriting her estate under the intestacy rules. |
| Re Sigsworth | [1935] Ch 89 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | The golden rule prevented a son who murdered his mother from inheriting her estate under the intestacy rules. |
| Re Sigsworth | [1935] Ch 89 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | The golden rule prevented a son who murdered his mother from inheriting her estate under the intestacy rules. |
| Siliadin v France | (2006) 43 EHRR 16 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | A young girl made to work as an unpaid domestic servant was held in servitude, and France breached article 4 because its criminal law did not adequately protect her. |
| Silven Properties Ltd v Royal Bank of Scotland plc | [2003] EWCA Civ 1409, [2004] 1 WLR 997 | Land LawMortgages | A mortgagee or receiver selling the property is not required to improve it, for example by seeking planning permission, before selling. |
| Sim v Stretch | [1936] 2 All ER 1237 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | A statement is defamatory if it tends to lower the claimant in the estimation of right thinking members of society generally. |
| Simba Toys GmbH & Co KG v EUIPO (Rubik's Cube) | Case C-30/15 P, EU:C:2016:849 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | The shape of the Rubik's Cube could not be registered as a trade mark, because its essential characteristics were necessary to obtain a technical result, its rotating capability. |
| Simon v Byford | [2014] EWCA Civ 280 | Wills, Succession and ProbateTestamentary capacity, knowledge and approval | Testamentary capacity requires the ability to understand the effect of the will being made, but not the ability to recall the reasons for previous wills or every potential consequence of the new will for other arrangements. |
| Simpkins v Pays | [1955] 1 WLR 975 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | A shared competition entry between members of a household can be a binding agreement where there is mutuality in the arrangement. |
| Re Sinclair | [1985] Ch 446 | Wills, Succession and ProbateRevocation, construction and failure of gifts | Before the law was changed, a gift over in a will to take effect if the testator's former wife predeceased him did not take effect where the gift to her lapsed because of divorce, since she had not in fact predeceased him. |
| Sinclair Investments (UK) Ltd v Versailles Trade Finance Ltd | [2011] EWCA Civ 347, [2012] Ch 453 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | A fiduciary's unauthorised profit, which is not derived from the principal's property or opportunity, was held not to be held on trust, a view later rejected in FHR European Ventures. |
| Singh v Singh | [1971] P 226 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | A young woman who went through an arranged marriage out of a sense of duty to her parents, rather than through fear, could not have the marriage annulled for duress. |
| Singularis Holdings Ltd v Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd | [2019] UKSC 50, [2020] AC 1189 | Banking and Finance LawPayments, mandates and the Quincecare duty | A bank that negligently paid out a company's money on the fraudulent instructions of its dominant director was liable to the company, and the director's fraud was not attributed to the company. |
| Singularis Holdings Ltd v Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd | [2019] UKSC 50, [2020] AC 1189 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | A bank that negligently paid out a company's money on the fraudulent instructions of its dominant director was liable to the company, and the director's fraud was not attributed to the company. |
| Sirros v Moore | [1975] QB 118 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | Judges are immune from civil liability for acts done in their judicial capacity, even if they act outside their jurisdiction, provided they act in good faith. |
| Siu Yin Kwan v Eastern Insurance Co Ltd | [1994] 2 AC 199 | Commercial LawAgency | An undisclosed principal can sue and be sued on a contract made by his agent within his actual authority, unless the terms of the contract expressly or impliedly exclude this. |
| Sky Petroleum Ltd v VIP Petroleum Ltd | [1974] 1 WLR 576 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | An interim injunction may be granted to enforce a contract to supply goods where, because of exceptional market conditions, the buyer cannot obtain them elsewhere. |
| SkyKick UK Ltd v Sky Ltd | [2024] UKSC 36 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | Applying for a trade mark for a very broad range of goods and services, without any intention to use it for many of them, can amount to bad faith in relation to those goods and services. |
| Slater v Finning Ltd | [1997] AC 473 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | A seller is not liable for goods being unfit for a purpose that arises from an abnormal feature of the buyer's equipment that was not made known to the seller. |
| Slovak Republic v Achmea BV | Case C-284/16, EU:C:2018:158 | ArbitrationChallenging and enforcing awards, and investment arbitration | An arbitration clause in an investment treaty between two Member States is incompatible with EU law, because it removes disputes involving EU law from the EU judicial system. |
| Slovak Republic v Achmea BV | Case C-284/16, EU:C:2018:158 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | An arbitration clause in an investment treaty between two Member States is incompatible with EU law, because it removes disputes involving EU law from the EU judicial system. |
| Smedleys Ltd v Breed | [1974] AC 839 | Criminal LawStrict liability | A food manufacturer was guilty of selling food not of the substance demanded, even though one caterpillar in millions of tins had got through its quality controls. |
| Re Smith & Fawcett Ltd | [1942] Ch 304 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | Directors must exercise their discretion bona fide in what they consider, not what a court may consider, is in the interests of the company, and not for any collateral purpose. |
| Smith and Snipes Hall Farm Ltd v River Douglas Catchment Board | [1949] 2 KB 500 | Land LawFreehold covenants | The benefit of a covenant that touches and concerns the land can run at law to a successor of the covenantee, including a tenant, under section 78 of the Law of Property Act 1925. |
| Smith Kline & French Laboratories Ltd v Evans Medical Ltd | [1989] FSR 513 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | The importation of a patented product for the purpose of obtaining a licence to market it is not an experimental use, and is an infringement. |
| Smith New Court Securities Ltd v Scrimgeour Vickers (Asset Management) Ltd | [1997] AC 254 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | Damages for fraudulent misrepresentation cover all loss directly flowing from the transaction, whether or not foreseeable. |
| Smith v Croft (No 2) | [1988] Ch 114 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | The court may refuse to allow a derivative action to continue where the majority of the minority shareholders, who are independent of the wrongdoers, do not want it to proceed. |
| Smith v East Elloe Rural District Council | [1956] AC 736 | Public LawJudicial review: scope, standing and ouster clauses | A statutory ouster clause preventing challenges to a compulsory purchase order after six weeks was effective even against allegations of bad faith. |
| Smith v Eric S Bush | [1990] 1 AC 831 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | A surveyor's disclaimer of liability to a house buyer is subject to the Unfair Contract Terms Act and may be unreasonable. |
| Smith v Eric S Bush | [1990] 1 AC 831 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A surveyor's disclaimer of liability to a house buyer is subject to the Unfair Contract Terms Act and may be unreasonable. |
| Smith v Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd | [2024] NZSC 5 | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | A Māori elder's claim in tort against major New Zealand emitters for contributing to climate change was not struck out, because it was not clearly untenable. |
| Smith v Hughes | (1871) LR 6 QB 597 | Contract LawMistake | One party's mistake about the quality of the goods, not induced by the other party, does not affect the contract. |
| Smith v Hughes (1960) | [1960] 1 WLR 830 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The mischief rule meant that prostitutes soliciting from balconies and windows were soliciting in a street. |
| Smith v Land and House Property Corp | (1884) 28 Ch D 7 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | A statement of opinion by a party who knows the facts can imply that he knows facts justifying it, and may be a misrepresentation. |
| Smith v Leech Brain & Co Ltd | [1962] 2 QB 405 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A defendant must take his victim as he finds him, so he is liable for the full extent of an injury even if it is greater than could have been foreseen because of the claimant's condition. |
| Smith v Littlewoods Organisation Ltd | [1987] AC 241 | Tort LawDuty of care | An occupier is not generally liable for damage caused to neighbouring property by trespassers who enter its land, unless it knew or ought to have known of a specific risk. |
| Smith v Ministry of Defence | [2013] UKSC 41, [2014] AC 52 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | British soldiers serving abroad are within the UK's jurisdiction under the Convention, and claims for negligence in equipping them were not barred by combat immunity. |
| Smith v Ministry of Defence | [2013] UKSC 41, [2014] AC 52 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | British soldiers serving abroad are within the UK's jurisdiction under the Convention, and claims for negligence in equipping them were not barred by combat immunity. |
| Smith v Ministry of Defence | [2013] UKSC 41, [2014] AC 52 | Tort LawDuty of care | British soldiers serving abroad are within the UK's jurisdiction under the Convention, and claims for negligence in equipping them were not barred by combat immunity. |
| Snelling v John G Snelling Ltd | [1973] QB 87 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | An agreement between family members about their business can be intended to be legally binding. |
| Re Snowden | [1979] Ch 528 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | The standard of proof for a secret trust is the ordinary civil standard, unless fraud is alleged. |
| Sociaal Fonds voor de Diamantarbeiders v SA Ch Brachfeld & Sons | Joined Cases 2/69 and 3/69, [1969] ECR 211 | EU LawFree movement of goods | Any pecuniary charge imposed on goods because they cross a frontier is a charge having equivalent effect to a customs duty, whatever its purpose or name. |
| Socimer International Bank Ltd v Standard Bank London Ltd | [2008] EWCA Civ 116 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | Where a contract gives one party the power to value assets on termination, the valuation must be made honestly and not arbitrarily, capriciously or irrationally, but need not be objectively reasonable. |
| Société des Produits Nestlé SA v Cadbury UK Ltd | [2013] EWCA Civ 1174, [2014] FSR 12 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | An application to register the colour purple for chocolate was invalid, because the description allowed for a combination of colour with other things, so it was not a single sign represented clearly and precisely. |
| Société des Produits Nestlé SA v Mars UK Ltd (Have a Break) | Case C-353/03, [2005] ECR I-6135 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | A mark can acquire distinctive character through use as part of another registered mark, such as Have a Break as part of Have a Break, Have a KitKat. |
| Société des Produits Nestlé SA v Mondelez UK Holdings & Services Ltd (KitKat) | [2017] EWCA Civ 358, [2017] FSR 34 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | The shape of the four finger KitKat bar had not acquired distinctive character, because consumers did not rely on the shape alone to identify the origin of the product. |
| Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale v Lee Kui Jak | [1987] AC 871 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction agreements and anti-suit injunctions | An anti-suit injunction restraining foreign proceedings will be granted where the pursuit of those proceedings would be vexatious or oppressive, and where the English or local forum is the natural forum. |
| Société Technique Minière v Maschinenbau Ulm GmbH | Case 56/65, [1966] ECR 235 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | Where an agreement does not have an anticompetitive object, its effects must be assessed in their economic context, and an exclusive distribution agreement may be necessary to penetrate a new market. |
| Soering v United Kingdom | (1989) 11 EHRR 439 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | Extraditing a person to a country where he faces a real risk of treatment contrary to article 3, such as the death row phenomenon, would breach the Convention. |
| Soering v United Kingdom | (1989) 11 EHRR 439 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | Extraditing a person to a country where he faces a real risk of treatment contrary to article 3, such as the death row phenomenon, would breach the Convention. |
| The Software Incubator Ltd v Computer Associates (UK) Ltd | (2021) Case C-410/19 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | Computer software supplied electronically to customers under a perpetual licence in return for a fee is a sale of goods, so an agent who markets it is a commercial agent. |
| Solle v Butcher | [1950] 1 KB 671 | Contract LawMistake | Lord Denning's equitable jurisdiction to rescind for common mistake, later held to be wrong in Great Peace Shipping. |
| Re Somerset | [1894] 1 Ch 231 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | A beneficiary's interest can be impounded to indemnify the trustee only where the beneficiary instigated, requested or consented in writing to the specific breach. |
| Soproma SpA v Marine & Animal By-Products Corp | [1966] 1 Lloyd's Rep 367 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | Where documents tendered under a letter of credit do not comply with its terms, the seller can make a second tender of conforming documents only if there is still time under the credit. |
| Sotgiu v Deutsche Bundespost | Case 152/73, [1974] ECR 153 | EU LawFree movement of workers | The public service exception to the free movement of workers applies only to access to posts, not to the conditions of employment once a worker has been admitted. |
| South Australia Asset Management Corp v York Montague Ltd (SAAMCO) | [1997] AC 191 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A valuer who negligently overvalues property is liable only for the loss attributable to the overvaluation, not for all losses caused by a fall in the property market. |
| South China Sea Arbitration (Philippines v China) | (2016) PCA Case No 2013-19 | Public International LawLaw of the sea, international environmental law and dispute settlement | China's claim to historic rights within the nine dash line had no legal basis under the Law of the Sea Convention, and none of the features in the Spratly Islands could generate an exclusive economic zone. |
| Re South Place Ethical Society | [1980] 1 WLR 1565 | Equity and TrustsCharitable trusts | A society promoting ethical principles without belief in a god was not for the advancement of religion, but was charitable as being for education and the public benefit. |
| Southern Foundries (1926) Ltd v Shirlaw | [1940] AC 701 | Company LawThe company's constitution and decision making | A company cannot be prevented from altering its articles, but if it does so in breach of a contract with a third party, it is liable in damages. |
| Southwark London Borough Council v Mills | [2001] 1 AC 1 | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | A landlord's covenant for quiet enjoyment does not apply to the ordinary noise of neighbours caused by poor sound insulation that existed when the lease was granted. |
| Southwell v Blackburn | [2014] EWCA Civ 1347 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | A cohabitant who gave up her own secure home in reliance on an assurance of security was awarded a sum restoring her to her former position, rather than a share of the house. |
| Sovmots Investments Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment | [1979] AC 144 | Land LawEasements | Section 62 of the Law of Property Act 1925 does not create easements unless there was diversity of occupation of the two parts of the land before the conveyance. |
| Spar Shipping AS v Grand China Logistics Holding (Group) Co Ltd | [2016] EWCA Civ 982 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | The obligation to pay hire punctually under a time charter is not a condition, but persistent non payment can amount to a renunciation entitling the owners to terminate and claim damages for the rest of the charter. |
| Spartan Steel & Alloys Ltd v Martin & Co (Contractors) Ltd | [1973] QB 27 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | Economic loss that is consequential on physical damage is recoverable in negligence, but pure economic loss is not. |
| Specsavers International Healthcare Ltd v Asda Stores Ltd | [2012] EWCA Civ 24, [2012] FSR 19 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: infringement | An advertising campaign by Asda that used a logo similar to Specsavers's mark took unfair advantage of its reputation, because it was intended to remind consumers of Specsavers. |
| Re Spectrum Plus Ltd | [2005] UKHL 41, [2005] 2 AC 680 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A charge over book debts that allows the company to use the proceeds in the ordinary course of business is a floating charge, whatever the parties call it. |
| Re Spectrum Plus Ltd | [2005] UKHL 41, [2005] 2 AC 680 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | A charge over book debts that allows the company to use the proceeds in the ordinary course of business is a floating charge, whatever the parties call it. |
| Speight v Gaunt | (1883) 9 App Cas 1 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | A trustee must act as an ordinary prudent man of business would act in managing his own affairs, and may employ an agent where that is the ordinary course of business. |
| Spencer v Wincanton Holdings Ltd | [2009] EWCA Civ 1404 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A claimant's unwise conduct, which was not wholly unreasonable, did not break the chain of causation, but reduced his damages for contributory negligence. |
| Spencer's Case | (1583) 5 Co Rep 16a | Land LawLeasehold covenants and forfeiture | The burden of a leasehold covenant that touches and concerns the land passes to an assignee of the lease, but at common law a covenant about something not yet in existence bound an assignee only if assigns were mentioned. |
| Spice Girls Ltd v Aprilia World Service BV | [2002] EWCA Civ 15, [2002] EMLR 27 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | A misrepresentation can be made by conduct, such as taking part in an advertising campaign while knowing a member of a group is about to leave. |
| Spijkers v Gebroeders Benedik Abattoir CV | Case 24/85, [1986] ECR 1119 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | The decisive criterion for a transfer of an undertaking is whether the business retains its identity, which depends on all the circumstances, including whether its operation is actually continued or resumed by the new employer. |
| Spiliada Maritime Corp v Cansulex Ltd (The Spiliada) | [1987] AC 460 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | An English court will stay proceedings on the ground of forum non conveniens where another forum is clearly more appropriate for the trial of the action, in the interests of all the parties and the ends of justice. |
| Spiro v Glencrown Properties Ltd | [1991] Ch 537 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | An option to buy land is validly exercised by a notice signed only by the grantee, because section 2 applies to the grant of the option, not to its exercise. |
| Sporrong and Lönnroth v Sweden | (1983) 5 EHRR 35 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | Long term expropriation permits and building prohibitions on land, which left owners in uncertainty for many years without compensation, failed to strike a fair balance and breached the right to property. |
| Sprange v Barnard | (1789) 2 Bro CC 585 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of intention and subject matter | Where a person is given property absolutely, a direction that whatever remains on her death should pass to others fails for uncertainty. |
| Spring v Guardian Assurance plc | [1995] 2 AC 296 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | An employer who gives a reference for a former employee owes the employee a duty to take reasonable care in preparing it. |
| Spring v Guardian Assurance plc | [1995] 2 AC 296 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | An employer who gives a reference for a former employee owes the employee a duty to take reasonable care in preparing it. |
| Spurling v Bradshaw | [1956] 1 WLR 461 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | Terms can be incorporated by a consistent course of dealing, and the more unreasonable a clause, the greater the notice required. |
| Srl CILFIT v Ministry of Health | Case 283/81, [1982] ECR 3415 | EU LawPreliminary references | A national court of last instance must refer a question of EU law to the Court of Justice unless the question is irrelevant, has already been decided, or the answer is so obvious as to leave no scope for reasonable doubt. |
| The SS Lotus (France v Turkey) | (1927) PCIJ Series A No 10 | Public International LawJurisdiction and immunities | Restrictions on the independence of states cannot be presumed, so Turkey was entitled to prosecute a French officer for a collision on the high seas which caused deaths on a Turkish ship. |
| St Albans City and District Council v International Computers Ltd | [1996] 4 All ER 481 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | A clause limiting a software supplier's liability for a defective system to 100,000 pounds was unreasonable under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977, and software may be subject to implied terms as to quality and fitness. |
| St George's Healthcare NHS Trust v S | [1999] Fam 26 | Medical Law and EthicsConsent, capacity and refusal of treatment | A pregnant woman with capacity was entitled to refuse treatment, and her detention under the Mental Health Act 1983 and the caesarean section carried out on her without consent were unlawful. |
| Stack v Dowden | [2007] UKHL 17, [2007] 2 AC 432 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | Where a home is bought in joint names, the starting point is that the beneficial interest is shared equally, and only an unusual case will displace that presumption. |
| Stack v Dowden | [2007] UKHL 17, [2007] 2 AC 432 | Family LawCohabitants, family property and family provision | Where a home is bought in joint names, the starting point is that the beneficial interest is shared equally, and only an unusual case will displace that presumption. |
| Stack v Dowden | [2007] UKHL 17, [2007] 2 AC 432 | Land LawTrusts of the family home | Where a home is bought in joint names, the starting point is that the beneficial interest is shared equally, and only an unusual case will displace that presumption. |
| Stadium Finance Ltd v Robbins | [1962] 2 QB 664 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | A sale by a mercantile agent of a car without the ignition key and registration document is not in the ordinary course of business, so the buyer does not obtain good title. |
| Stadt Wuppertal v Bauer; Willmeroth v Broßonn | Joined Cases C-569/16 and C-570/16, EU:C:2018:871 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | The right to paid annual leave in the Charter of Fundamental Rights can be relied on against private employers, so that heirs of a deceased worker can claim payment for untaken leave. |
| Stafford v Director of Public Prosecutions | [1974] AC 878 | Criminal ProcedureAppeals and miscarriages of justice | When fresh evidence is received on appeal, the question for the Court of Appeal is whether it considers the conviction unsafe, not what effect the evidence might have had on the jury. |
| Re Stapylton Fletcher Ltd | [1994] 1 WLR 1181 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Where a wine merchant set aside wine for customers in a separate store, so that their wine was ascertained, even though not allocated to individuals, the customers owned it as tenants in common. |
| Starbucks (HK) Ltd v British Sky Broadcasting Group plc | [2015] UKSC 31, [2015] 1 WLR 2628 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | A claimant in passing off must have goodwill in the form of customers in the UK, so a foreign business with only a reputation in the UK cannot sue. |
| Starrs v Ruxton | 2000 JC 208 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | Temporary sheriffs, appointed for one year at a time by the Lord Advocate who also prosecuted, were not an independent and impartial tribunal. |
| Startup v Macdonald | (1843) 6 Man & G 593 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | A valid tender of performance that is wrongly refused is treated as performance, and the refusing party is in breach. |
| State of the Netherlands v Urgenda Foundation | (2019) ECLI:NL:HR:2019:2007 | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | The Dutch state was ordered to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent by the end of 2020, because its duty to protect life and private life under the European Convention required it. |
| Statoil ASA v Louis Dreyfus Energy Services LP (The Harriette N) | [2008] EWHC 2257 (Comm), [2009] 1 All ER (Comm) 1035 | Contract LawMistake | A unilateral mistake about a fact, as opposed to a term of the contract, does not affect the contract, even if the other party knows of it. |
| Stauder v City of Ulm | Case 29/69, [1969] ECR 419 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | Fundamental human rights are enshrined in the general principles of EU law and protected by the Court of Justice. |
| Re Stead | [1900] 1 Ch 237 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | Where property is left to two joint tenants and only one has accepted a secret trust, whether the other is bound depends on when the trust was communicated. |
| Re Steed's Will Trusts | [1960] Ch 407 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | The court will not approve a variation of a protective trust where it would defeat the settlor's purpose of protecting the beneficiary against her own weakness. |
| Steel and Morris v United Kingdom | (2005) 41 EHRR 22 | English Legal SystemJudiciary, legal profession and access to justice | Denying legal aid to campaigners sued for libel by McDonald's breached their right to a fair trial and their freedom of expression. |
| Steel and Morris v United Kingdom | (2005) 41 EHRR 22 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | Denying legal aid to campaigners sued for libel by McDonald's breached their right to a fair trial and their freedom of expression. |
| Steel and Morris v United Kingdom | (2005) 41 EHRR 22 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | Denying legal aid to campaigners sued for libel by McDonald's breached their right to a fair trial and their freedom of expression. |
| Steel v NRAM Ltd | [2018] UKSC 13, [2018] 1 WLR 1190 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A solicitor acting for one party to a transaction does not normally assume responsibility to the other party, which is expected to take its own advice and check information itself. |
| Stephens v Avery | [1988] Ch 449 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | Information about a person's sexual conduct, disclosed in confidence to a friend, can be protected by the law of confidence, even without a contract. |
| Stephens v Myers | (1830) 4 C & P 349 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | An attempt to strike another person, by a person who is close enough to do so if not prevented, is an assault, even if the blow does not land. |
| Stergios Delimitis v Henninger Bräu AG | Case C-234/89, [1991] ECR I-935 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | A beer supply agreement tying a pub to a brewery restricts competition only if, in the context of similar networks of agreements, it forecloses access to the market and makes a significant contribution to that effect. |
| Sterns Ltd v Vickers Ltd | [1923] 1 KB 78 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | The buyer of an undivided part of a bulk may bear the risk of loss of the goods, even though property has not passed, if the parties so intended. |
| Stevenson v Rogers | [1999] QB 1028 | Commercial LawImplied terms: title, description, quality and fitness | A sale is in the course of a business for the purposes of the implied term of quality even if the seller does not normally sell goods of that kind. |
| Stichting Brein v Ziggo BV (The Pirate Bay) | Case C-610/15, EU:C:2017:456 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | The operators of a peer to peer file sharing platform, which indexed and classified torrent files, made a communication to the public of the works shared on it. |
| Stilk v Myrick | (1809) 2 Camp 317 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Performing an existing contractual duty owed to the promisor is not good consideration for a promise of extra pay. |
| Stockdale v Hansard | (1839) 9 Ad & E 1 | Public LawSeparation of powers and parliamentary privilege | A resolution of one House of Parliament cannot change the law, and the courts decide the extent of parliamentary privilege. |
| Stocker v Stocker | [2019] UKSC 17, [2020] AC 593 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | In deciding the meaning of a post on social media, the court must consider how an ordinary reader would understand it in the context of the medium, rather than relying on dictionary definitions. |
| Stoffel & Co v Grondona | [2020] UKSC 42 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | A mortgage fraudster could sue her negligent solicitors, because denying the claim would not serve the purpose of the law against mortgage fraud. |
| Stone & Rolls Ltd v Moore Stephens | [2009] UKHL 39, [2009] 1 AC 1391 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | A one man company that was used for fraud could not sue its auditors for failing to detect the fraud, because the fraud was attributed to the company and its claim was barred by illegality. |
| Stovin v Wise | [1996] AC 923 | Tort LawDuty of care | A public authority that failed to exercise a statutory power to remove a hazard on a road did not owe a duty of care to a road user injured as a result. |
| Strand Securities Ltd v Caswell | [1965] Ch 958 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | A tenant is not in actual occupation through a relative who lives in the property rent free, unless that person is his agent or employee. |
| Strathclyde Regional Council v Wallace | [1998] 1 WLR 259 | Employment LawEqual pay | An employer can rely on a material factor defence where the pay difference is due to a factor which is not tainted by sex, and need not show that the factor is objectively justified. |
| Street v Mountford | [1985] AC 809 | Land LawLeases and licences | An occupier who has exclusive possession of residential accommodation for a term at a rent is a tenant, whatever label the parties give the agreement. |
| Streetmap.EU Ltd v Google Inc | [2016] EWHC 253 (Ch) | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | Google's display of its own map in search results was not an abuse of its dominance in search, because it was not reasonably likely to harm competition appreciably in the market for online maps and was objectively justified. |
| Strong v Bird | (1874) LR 18 Eq 315 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | An imperfect gift can be completed if the donor appoints the donee as executor, the donor's intention having continued until death. |
| Strong v Bird | (1874) LR 18 Eq 315 | Wills, Succession and ProbateIntestacy, personal representatives and administration of estates | An imperfect gift can be completed if the donor appoints the donee as executor, the donor's intention having continued until death. |
| Sturges v Bridgman | (1879) 11 Ch D 852 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | It is no defence to a claim in nuisance that the claimant came to the nuisance, and what is a nuisance depends on the character of the neighbourhood. |
| Subramaniam v Public Prosecutor | [1956] 1 WLR 965 | EvidenceHearsay | Evidence of a statement made to a witness by another person is not hearsay where it is tendered not to prove the truth of the statement but the fact that it was made, such as to support a defence of duress. |
| Suisse Atlantique Société d'Armement Maritime SA v NV Rotterdamsche Kolen Centrale | [1967] 1 AC 361 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | There is no rule of law that a fundamental breach prevents reliance on an exemption or limitation clause, and a demurrage clause limited the damages recoverable for delays caused by the charterers. |
| Sumal SL v Mercedes Benz Trucks España SL | Case C-882/19, EU:C:2021:800 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | A victim of a cartel can sue a subsidiary for damages caused by its parent company's infringement, where the parent and subsidiary form a single economic unit and the subsidiary sells the products concerned. |
| Sumpter v Hedges | [1898] 1 QB 673 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | A party who abandons an entire contract part way through cannot recover payment for the work done unless the other party freely accepts it. |
| Sunday Times v United Kingdom | (1979) 2 EHRR 245 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | An injunction restraining a newspaper from publishing an article about the thalidomide litigation breached article 10, because it was not necessary in a democratic society. |
| Sussex Peerage Case | (1844) 11 Cl & F 85 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | The literal rule: where the words of a statute are clear, they must be given their natural and ordinary meaning. |
| Svensson v Retriever Sverige AB | Case C-466/12, EU:C:2014:76 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | Providing a clickable link to a work that is freely available on another website is not a communication to a new public, so it does not infringe copyright. |
| SW v United Kingdom; CR v United Kingdom | (1996) 21 EHRR 363 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | The abolition by the courts of the marital rape exemption did not breach article 7, because it was a reasonably foreseeable development of the law, consistent with the essence of the offence. |
| Sweet v Parsley | [1970] AC 132 | Criminal LawStrict liability | There is a strong presumption that Parliament intends mens rea to be required for criminal offences, especially truly criminal offences. |
| Sweetman v An Bord Pleanála | Case C-258/11, EU:C:2013:220 | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | A project which would cause the lasting and irreparable loss of part of a priority natural habitat adversely affects the integrity of the site and cannot be authorised under article 6(3) of the Habitats Directive. |
| Swift 1st Ltd v Chief Land Registrar | [2015] EWCA Civ 330, [2015] Ch 602 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | A lender whose charge was granted by a fraudster and later removed from the register was entitled to an indemnity from the Land Registry. |
| Swynson Ltd v Lowick Rose LLP | [2017] UKSC 32, [2018] AC 313 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPrinciples of unjust enrichment | A lender which was repaid by a third party could not recover from negligent accountants by subrogation, because the repayment was not made on a mistaken basis that failed. |
| Symbian Ltd v Comptroller General of Patents | [2008] EWCA Civ 1066, [2009] RPC 1 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | A computer program that improves the way a computer itself works is not excluded from patentability, because it makes a technical contribution. |
| Synetairismos Farmakopoion Aitolias & Akarnanias (Syfait) v GlaxoSmithKline plc | Case C-53/03, [2005] ECR I-4609 | EU LawPreliminary references | A national competition authority that is subject to the supervision of a government minister is not a court or tribunal that can refer questions to the Court of Justice. |
| Synthon BV v SmithKline Beecham plc | [2005] UKHL 59, [2006] RPC 10 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | A prior disclosure anticipates a patent only if it both discloses the invention and enables a skilled person to perform it, which are distinct requirements. |
| Sze Hai Tong Bank Ltd v Rambler Cycle Co Ltd | [1959] AC 576 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | A carrier which delivers goods without production of the bill of lading does so at its peril, and is liable for breach of contract and conversion, even if it acts on an indemnity. |
| Szechter v Szechter | [1971] P 286 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | A marriage entered into to escape imprisonment and danger to health was voidable for duress, because the petitioner's consent was obtained by fear of immediate danger to life, limb or liberty. |
| Säger v Dennemeyer & Co Ltd | Case C-76/90, [1991] ECR I-4221 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | The freedom to provide services requires the abolition of any restriction, even if it applies without distinction to national providers, which is liable to prohibit or otherwise impede the activities of a provider established in another Member State. |
| Süzen v Zehnacker Gebäudereinigung GmbH Krankenhausservice | Case C-13/95, [1997] ECR I-1259 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | The mere loss of a service contract to a competitor is not by itself a transfer of an undertaking, unless there is also a transfer of significant tangible or intangible assets or of a major part of the workforce. |
| Re T (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) | [1997] 1 WLR 242 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | The court refused to order a liver transplant for a baby against the wishes of his parents, both health care professionals, taking into account the impact on the family of forcing the treatment. |
| Re T (A Minor) (Wardship: Medical Treatment) | [1997] 1 WLR 242 | Medical Law and EthicsEnd of life decisions | The court refused to order a liver transplant for a baby against the wishes of his parents, both health care professionals, taking into account the impact on the family of forcing the treatment. |
| Re T (Adult: Refusal of Treatment) | [1993] Fam 95 | Medical Law and EthicsConsent, capacity and refusal of treatment | An adult with capacity has an absolute right to refuse medical treatment, but doctors must be satisfied that a refusal is genuine, applies to the situation, and is not the product of undue influence. |
| T v Director of Public Prosecutions | [2003] EWHC 266 (Admin) | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | A brief loss of consciousness caused by a kick to the head was actual bodily harm. |
| T-Mobile Netherlands BV v Raad van bestuur van de Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit | Case C-8/08, [2009] ECR I-4529 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | A single meeting between competitors at which confidential information about future pricing is exchanged can amount to a concerted practice with an anticompetitive object. |
| Taff Vale Railway Co v Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants | [1901] AC 426 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | A registered trade union could be sued in its own name for damages caused by its officials during a strike, a decision reversed by the Trade Disputes Act 1906. |
| Tai Hing Cotton Mill Ltd v Liu Chong Hing Bank Ltd | [1986] AC 80 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | A customer owes no general duty to the bank to check its bank statements or to run its business so as to prevent forgery, beyond the duties in Macmillan and Greenwood. |
| Taittinger SA v Allbev Ltd (Elderflower Champagne) | [1993] FSR 641 | Intellectual Property LawPassing off | Selling a non alcoholic drink called Elderflower Champagne was passing off, because it would erode the distinctiveness of the name champagne, even though no one would confuse the drinks. |
| Target Holdings Ltd v Redferns | [1996] AC 421 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | A trustee who commits a breach of trust is liable to compensate the trust only for losses caused by the breach, judged with the benefit of hindsight. |
| Taylor v Caldwell | (1863) 3 B & S 826 | Contract LawFrustration | A contract is discharged if its performance becomes impossible because the subject matter is destroyed without fault. |
| Taylor v OCS Group Ltd | [2006] EWCA Civ 702, [2006] ICR 1602 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | A procedural defect in an initial disciplinary hearing can be cured by a later appeal, and the tribunal should consider the fairness of the whole disciplinary process. |
| Taylors Fashions Ltd v Liverpool Victoria Trustees Co Ltd | [1982] QB 133 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | Proprietary estoppel depends on whether it would be unconscionable for the defendant to deny the claimant's expectation, not on a strict set of requirements. |
| Tehidy Minerals Ltd v Norman | [1971] 2 QB 528 | Land LawEasements | Grazing rights could be acquired by the doctrine of lost modern grant, and were not abandoned merely because they were not used during a period of requisition. |
| Tekdata Communications Ltd v Amphenol Ltd | [2009] EWCA Civ 1209, [2010] 1 Lloyd's Rep 357 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | The traditional offer and acceptance analysis governs a battle of the forms unless the parties clearly intended otherwise. |
| Tele2 Sverige AB v Post- och telestyrelsen | (2016) Joined Cases C-203/15 and C-698/15 | Data Protection and Technology LawInternational transfers, surveillance and data retention | EU law precludes national legislation requiring the general and indiscriminate retention of communications data, and access to retained data must be limited to fighting serious crime and subject to prior independent review. |
| Telefónica SA v Commission | Case C-274/12 P, EU:C:2013:852 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | A regulatory act entails implementing measures, so that it cannot be challenged without showing individual concern, if it requires national measures to give effect to it, even if they are mechanical. |
| Tennant v Smith | [1892] AC 150 | Tax LawIncome and corporation tax: employment, trading and residence | A benefit in kind received by an employee is taxable as income only if it can be converted into money, so the value of accommodation which an employee was required to occupy was not taxable. |
| Tennessee Valley Authority v Hill | 437 US 153 (1978) | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | Under the United States Endangered Species Act, a federal dam which would destroy the critical habitat of an endangered fish could not be completed, whatever the cost already incurred. |
| Terrapin Ltd v Builders Supply Co (Hayes) Ltd | [1967] RPC 375 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | A person who has received confidential information cannot use it as a springboard for activities detrimental to the confider, even after the information becomes public. |
| Tesco Stores Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment | [1995] 1 WLR 759 | Environmental LawEnvironmental impact assessment and planning | The weight to be given to a relevant consideration is a matter for the decision maker, not the court, unless the decision is irrational. |
| Tesco Stores Ltd v Secretary of State for the Environment | [1995] 1 WLR 759 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | The weight to be given to a relevant consideration is a matter for the decision maker, not the court, unless the decision is irrational. |
| Tesco Supermarkets Ltd v Nattrass | [1972] AC 153 | Company LawCorporate contracts, agency and attribution | For criminal offences requiring a state of mind, a company is identified only with those who represent its directing mind and will, not with a store manager. |
| Test Claimants in the Franked Investment Income Group Litigation v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2020] UKSC 47 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | The extended limitation period for mistake runs from when the claimant discovered, or could with reasonable diligence have discovered, the mistake, which is when it knew or should have known enough to bring a claim with confidence. |
| Test Claimants in the Franked Investment Income Group Litigation v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2020] UKSC 47 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | The extended limitation period for mistake runs from when the claimant discovered, or could with reasonable diligence have discovered, the mistake, which is when it knew or should have known enough to bring a claim with confidence. |
| Tetra Pak International SA v Commission (Tetra Pak II) | Case C-333/94 P, [1996] ECR I-5951 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | Conduct on a market where an undertaking is not dominant can be an abuse where there are close associative links with a market which it dominates. |
| Thabo Meli v The Queen | [1954] 1 WLR 228 | Criminal LawMens rea | Where the defendant's acts form a single transaction, it is enough that the mens rea existed at some point during the series of acts. |
| Thaler v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks | [2023] UKSC 49 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | An inventor named on a patent application must be a natural person, so an artificial intelligence system called DABUS could not be named as the inventor. |
| Thaler v Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks | [2023] UKSC 49 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | An inventor named on a patent application must be a natural person, so an artificial intelligence system called DABUS could not be named as the inventor. |
| Thamesmead Town Ltd v Allotey | (1998) 30 HLR 1052 | Land LawFreehold covenants | Under the benefit and burden principle, the burden must be relevant to the exercise of the right, and the successor must have the opportunity to choose whether to take the benefit. |
| Thieffry v Conseil de l'Ordre des Avocats à la Cour de Paris | Case 71/76, [1977] ECR 765 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | A professional body cannot refuse to admit a national of another Member State solely because his qualification was obtained abroad, if it has been recognised as equivalent. |
| Thlimmenos v Greece | (2001) 31 EHRR 15 | Human Rights LawDiscrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) | Article 14 is also breached where states fail without objective and reasonable justification to treat differently persons whose situations are significantly different. |
| Thoburn v Sunderland City Council | [2002] EWHC 195 (Admin), [2003] QB 151 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | Constitutional statutes, such as the European Communities Act 1972, cannot be impliedly repealed, only expressly or by clear words. |
| Thoburn v Sunderland City Council | [2002] EWHC 195 (Admin), [2003] QB 151 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | Constitutional statutes, such as the European Communities Act 1972, cannot be impliedly repealed, only expressly or by clear words. |
| Thomas v National Union of Mineworkers (South Wales Area) | [1986] Ch 20 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | Abuse and threats shouted at working miners by pickets standing behind a police cordon were not an assault, because the pickets could not carry out the threats immediately. |
| Thomas v Thomas | (1842) 2 QB 851 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Consideration must have some value in the eyes of the law but need not be adequate, and motive is not consideration. |
| Re Thompson's Settlement | [1986] Ch 99 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | The self dealing rule makes any purchase of trust property by a trustee voidable by the beneficiaries, however fair the transaction. |
| Thorner v Major | [2009] UKHL 18, [2009] 1 WLR 776 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | An assurance need not be express, as long as it is clear enough in its context, and a man who worked unpaid on his father's cousin's farm for decades was entitled to it. |
| Thorner v Major | [2009] UKHL 18, [2009] 1 WLR 776 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | An assurance need not be express, as long as it is clear enough in its context, and a man who worked unpaid on his father's cousin's farm for decades was entitled to it. |
| Thornton v Shoe Lane Parking Ltd | [1971] 2 QB 163 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | Terms first seen on a ticket from an automatic machine come too late, and an unusual term needs especially clear notice. |
| Thorpe v Frank | [2019] EWCA Civ 150 | Land LawAdverse possession | Paving over a front garden and treating it as one's own could amount to adverse possession, even though the land remained open to the street. |
| Three Rivers District Council v Governor and Company of the Bank of England (No 6) | [2004] UKHL 48, [2005] 1 AC 610 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | Legal advice privilege covers advice about the client's rights and liabilities in a relevant legal context, including advice on how to present evidence to an inquiry. |
| Tidal Energy Ltd v Bank of Scotland plc | [2014] EWCA Civ 1107 | Banking and Finance LawPayments, mandates and the Quincecare duty | A bank making a CHAPS payment is entitled to rely on the sort code and account number alone, without checking that the beneficiary's name matches, in accordance with normal banking practice. |
| Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd | [2019] UKSC 32, [2020] AC 154 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | Words in an unreasonable restraint of trade can be severed if removing them does not change the overall effect of the restraint. |
| Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd | [2019] UKSC 32, [2020] AC 154 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | Words in an unreasonable restraint of trade can be severed if removing them does not change the overall effect of the restraint. |
| Timis v Osipov | [2018] EWCA Civ 2321, [2019] ICR 655 | Employment LawWhistleblowing, working time and pay | Co-workers who subject a whistleblower to the detriment of dismissal can be personally liable, and the employer can be vicariously liable for their acts. |
| Tinsley v Milligan | [1994] 1 AC 340 | Contract LawIllegality and restraint of trade | The former reliance test: a claimant could recover property if it did not need to rely on its own illegality to establish its claim. |
| Tinsley v Milligan | [1994] 1 AC 340 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | The former reliance test: a claimant could recover property if it did not need to rely on its own illegality to establish its claim. |
| Tito v Waddell (No 2) | [1977] Ch 106 | Equity and TrustsFiduciary duties | The self dealing rule and the fair dealing rule are distinct: a trustee who buys a beneficiary's interest must show that he acted fairly and disclosed everything. |
| Tolley v JS Fry & Sons Ltd | [1931] AC 333 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | An advertisement implying that an amateur golfer had been paid to endorse a product was capable of being defamatory, because it suggested that he had compromised his amateur status. |
| Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council | [2003] UKHL 47, [2004] 1 AC 46 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier is not liable to a person injured by a danger arising from his own choice to take an obvious risk, such as diving into shallow water. |
| Torfaen Borough Council v B&Q plc | Case 145/88, [1989] ECR 3851 | EU LawFree movement of goods | A national ban on Sunday trading was compatible with the free movement of goods, because it reflected national choices about the organisation of working hours, if its effects were proportionate. |
| Tournier v National Provincial and Union Bank of England | [1924] 1 KB 461 | Banking and Finance LawThe banker and customer relationship | A bank owes its customer a contractual duty of confidentiality, subject to four qualifications: compulsion by law, a duty to the public, the bank's own interests, and the customer's consent. |
| Traghetti del Mediterraneo SpA v Italy | Case C-173/03, [2006] ECR I-5177 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | A Member State cannot exclude its liability for breaches of EU law by its highest courts by limiting liability to intentional fault or serious misconduct. |
| Trail Smelter Arbitration (United States v Canada) | (1941) 3 RIAA 1905 | Public International LawLaw of the sea, international environmental law and dispute settlement | No state has the right to use or permit the use of its territory in such a manner as to cause serious injury by fumes in or to the territory of another state, a foundation of international environmental law. |
| Transco plc v Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council | [2003] UKHL 61, [2004] 2 AC 1 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | The rule in Rylands v Fletcher applies only where the defendant has brought onto his land something which is exceptionally dangerous, and the use of the land is extraordinary and unusual. |
| Transco plc v Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council | [2003] UKHL 61, [2004] 2 AC 1 | Tort LawNuisance and Rylands v Fletcher | The rule in Rylands v Fletcher applies only where the defendant has brought onto his land something which is exceptionally dangerous, and the use of the land is extraordinary and unusual. |
| Transfield Shipping Inc v Mercator Shipping Inc (The Achilleas) | [2008] UKHL 48, [2009] 1 AC 61 | Contract LawRemedies | A party is liable only for types of loss it can reasonably be taken to have assumed responsibility for. |
| Transfield Shipping Inc v Mercator Shipping Inc (The Achilleas) | [2008] UKHL 48, [2009] 1 AC 61 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | A party is liable only for types of loss it can reasonably be taken to have assumed responsibility for. |
| Transocean Marine Paint Association v Commission | Case 17/74, [1974] ECR 1063 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | Before an EU institution takes a decision that significantly affects a person's interests, it must give that person an opportunity to make known his views. |
| Treloar v Nute | [1976] 1 WLR 1295 | Land LawAdverse possession | A squatter can acquire title by adverse possession even if the owner was not inconvenienced by the squatter's acts. |
| Trendtex Trading Corp v Central Bank of Nigeria | [1977] QB 529 | Public International LawSources of international law and its place in domestic courts | Rules of customary international law are automatically incorporated into English common law, so the English courts applied the restrictive doctrine of state immunity as it had developed in international law. |
| Trevor v Whitworth | (1887) 12 App Cas 409 | Company LawShare capital and distributions | A company cannot buy its own shares, because this would reduce its capital and harm its creditors, a rule now subject to statutory exceptions. |
| Triodos Bank NV v Dobbs | [2005] EWCA Civ 630 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A guarantee which permits the creditor to vary the principal agreement does not extend to a new agreement which is substantially different from the one guaranteed. |
| Triple Point Technology Inc v PTT Public Co Ltd | [2021] UKSC 29, [2021] AC 1148 | Contract LawRemedies | Liquidated damages for delay accrue up to termination even if the work is never completed by the original contractor. |
| Trojani v Centre Public d'Aide Sociale de Bruxelles | Case C-456/02, [2004] ECR I-7573 | EU LawEU citizenship | An EU citizen who is lawfully resident in a Member State under national law can rely on the principle of equal treatment to claim social assistance, even if he has no right of residence under EU law. |
| Truk (UK) Ltd v Tokmakidis GmbH | [2000] 1 Lloyd's Rep 543 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Where goods are bought for resale, a reasonable time for acceptance includes the time needed for the buyer to resell them and for the sub buyer to examine them. |
| Trustor AB v Smallbone (No 2) | [2001] 1 WLR 1177 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | The court will pierce the corporate veil where a company is used as a device to receive money in breach of a person's duties, so that the person is treated as receiving the money himself. |
| Tsakiroglou & Co Ltd v Noblee Thorl GmbH | [1962] AC 93 | Contract LawFrustration | The closure of the Suez Canal did not frustrate a contract for the shipment of goods, because the longer route round the Cape was still possible. |
| Tsakiroglou & Co Ltd v Noblee Thorl GmbH | [1962] AC 93 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | The closure of the Suez Canal did not frustrate a contract for the shipment of goods, because the longer route round the Cape was still possible. |
| Tse Kwong Lam v Wong Chit Sen | [1983] 1 WLR 1349 | Land LawMortgages | Where a mortgagee sells the property to a company in which it has an interest, it must show that it took reasonable precautions to obtain the best price. |
| Tuberville v Savage | (1669) 1 Mod Rep 3 | Criminal LawNon-fatal offences against the person | Words can negate what would otherwise be an assault, if they show that no violence is intended. |
| Tuberville v Savage | (1669) 1 Mod Rep 3 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | Words can negate what would otherwise be an assault, if they show that no violence is intended. |
| Re Tuck's Settlement Trusts | [1978] Ch 49 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | A condition that a beneficiary must marry a person of Jewish blood and faith was valid, because disputes about its meaning were to be decided by the Chief Rabbi. |
| Tulip Trading Ltd v Van Der Laan | [2023] EWCA Civ 83 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | It was arguable that the developers who control the software of a bitcoin network owe fiduciary duties to the owners of bitcoin on the network, so the claim could go to trial. |
| Tulk v Moxhay | (1848) 2 Ph 774 | Land LawFreehold covenants | A restrictive covenant binds a later purchaser of the land in equity if the purchaser had notice of it. |
| Turner v Grovit | Case C-159/02, [2004] ECR I-3565 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction agreements and anti-suit injunctions | Under the Brussels Convention, an English court could not grant an anti-suit injunction to restrain proceedings in another contracting state, even where they were brought in bad faith to frustrate English proceedings. |
| Turner v Turner | [1984] Ch 100 | Equity and TrustsCertainty of objects and discretionary trusts | Trustees who simply signed documents put before them by the settlor, without considering what they were doing, had not exercised their discretion, so the appointments were void. |
| TWD Textilwerke Deggendorf GmbH v Germany | Case C-188/92, [1994] ECR I-833 | EU LawPreliminary references | A person who could clearly have challenged an EU decision directly, but did not do so within the time limit, cannot challenge its validity later through a preliminary reference. |
| Tweddle v Atkinson | (1861) 1 B & S 393 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | A person who is not a party to a contract, and has given no consideration, cannot sue on it. |
| Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp v Newzbin Ltd | [2010] EWHC 608 (Ch), [2010] FSR 21 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: infringement and defences | The operator of a website that indexed and facilitated the downloading of infringing copies of films was liable for authorising infringement and communication to the public. |
| Twinsectra Ltd v Yardley | [2002] UKHL 12, [2002] 2 AC 164 | Equity and TrustsTracing and third party liability | A Quistclose trust is a resulting trust under which the lender keeps the beneficial interest, and dishonest assistance requires conduct that is dishonest by ordinary standards. |
| Tyrer v United Kingdom | (1979) 2 EHRR 1 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | Judicial birching of a teenager on the Isle of Man was degrading punishment, and the Convention is a living instrument to be interpreted in the light of present day conditions. |
| Uber BV v Aslam | [2021] UKSC 5, [2021] ICR 657 | Data Protection and Technology LawTechnology, software, platforms and digital assets | Uber drivers were workers, not independent contractors, because Uber exercised a high degree of control over them, and the written terms did not reflect the reality of the relationship. |
| Uber BV v Aslam | [2021] UKSC 5, [2021] ICR 657 | Employment LawEmployment status | Uber drivers were workers, not independent contractors, because Uber exercised a high degree of control over them, and the written terms did not reflect the reality of the relationship. |
| UBS AG v Revenue and Customs Commissioners | [2016] UKSC 13 | Tax LawTax avoidance, statutory interpretation and the Ramsay principle | Schemes under which bank bonuses were paid in shares subject to artificial conditions, to bring them within an exemption for restricted securities, failed because the exemption was intended for conditions with a commercial purpose. |
| Udny v Udny | (1869) LR 1 Sc & Div 441 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | Every person has a domicile of origin at birth, which revives whenever a domicile of choice is abandoned without another being acquired. |
| The UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Legal Continuity) (Scotland) Bill: Reference by the Attorney General and the Advocate General for Scotland | [2018] UKSC 64, [2019] AC 1022 | Public LawConventions, ministers and devolution | A Scottish Bill on retained EU law was partly outside competence, mainly because the UK Parliament's later Act made it a protected enactment. |
| Unabhängiges Landeszentrum für Datenschutz Schleswig-Holstein v Wirtschaftsakademie Schleswig-Holstein GmbH | (2018) Case C-210/16 | Data Protection and Technology LawPersonal data, controllers and the scope of data protection | The administrator of a fan page on Facebook is a joint controller with Facebook of the processing of visitors' personal data, even though it has no access to the data itself. |
| Underwood Ltd v Burgh Castle Brick and Cement Syndicate | [1922] 1 KB 343 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Where specific goods must be dismantled or otherwise dealt with by the seller to put them in a deliverable state, property does not pass until that has been done. |
| UniCredit Bank GmbH v RusChemAlliance LLC | [2024] UKSC 30 | ArbitrationJurisdiction, the tribunal and the supervisory role of the courts | An arbitration agreement providing for arbitration in Paris but governed by English law was enforced by an anti-suit injunction restraining Russian proceedings, because England was the proper place to bring the claim. |
| Unilever Italia SpA v Central Food SpA | Case C-443/98, [2000] ECR I-7535 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | An Italian labelling law adopted in breach of the notification procedure in a directive could not be applied in a contractual dispute between two private companies. |
| Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers v WW Realisation 1 Ltd | Case C-80/14, [2015] ICR 675 | Employment LawRedundancy and transfer of undertakings | For collective redundancy consultation, the establishment means the local unit to which the redundant workers are assigned, not the whole of the employer's business, so redundancies at separate stores are not aggregated. |
| Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Bosman | Case C-415/93, [1995] ECR I-4921 | Competition LawUndertakings, agreements and concerted practices | Football transfer rules requiring a fee for out of contract players, and rules limiting the number of foreign players, were contrary to the free movement of workers. |
| Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Bosman | Case C-415/93, [1995] ECR I-4921 | EU LawFree movement of workers | Football transfer rules requiring a fee for out of contract players, and rules limiting the number of foreign players, were contrary to the free movement of workers. |
| United Brands Co v Commission | Case 27/76, [1978] ECR 207 | Competition LawDominance and exclusionary abuse | Dominance is a position of economic strength enabling an undertaking to behave to an appreciable extent independently of its competitors, customers and consumers, and bananas formed a distinct product market. |
| United City Merchants (Investments) Ltd v Royal Bank of Canada (The American Accord) | [1983] 1 AC 168 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | A bank must pay under a documentary credit against conforming documents unless the beneficiary was party to a fraud, and a fraud by a third party of which the beneficiary was unaware does not justify refusal. |
| United Kingdom v European Parliament and Council (ESMA short selling) | Case C-270/12, EU:C:2014:18 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | The EU could validly give the European Securities and Markets Authority power to regulate short selling in emergencies, because the power was clearly defined and subject to review. |
| United States Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran (United States v Iran) | (1980) ICJ Reports 3 | Public International LawState responsibility, nationality and international organisations | Iran was responsible for the occupation of the United States embassy and the detention of its staff, because its authorities failed to protect the embassy and then endorsed the occupation, making it an act of the state. |
| United Wire Ltd v Screen Repair Services (Scotland) Ltd | [2000] 4 All ER 353 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | Reconditioning a patented product, by replacing its parts so that it is in substance a new product, is making the product and infringes the patent. |
| Universe Tankships Inc of Monrovia v International Transport Workers Federation (The Universe Sentinel) | [1983] 1 AC 366 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | Money paid under economic duress, caused by illegitimate pressure that is a significant cause of the payment, can be recovered. |
| Universe Tankships Inc of Monrovia v International Transport Workers Federation (The Universe Sentinel) | [1983] 1 AC 366 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentMistake, failure of basis, duress and services | Money paid under economic duress, caused by illegitimate pressure that is a significant cause of the payment, can be recovered. |
| Universe Tankships Inc of Monrovia v International Transport Workers Federation (The Universe Sentinel) | [1983] 1 AC 366 | Shipping and Maritime LawSalvage, general average, collisions, arrest and limitation | Money paid under economic duress, caused by illegitimate pressure that is a significant cause of the payment, can be recovered. |
| University of London Press Ltd v University Tutorial Press Ltd | [1916] 2 Ch 601 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | Examination papers were original literary works protected by copyright, because originality requires only that the work originates from the author, not that it is novel or inventive. |
| Unión de Pequeños Agricultores v Council | Case C-50/00 P, [2002] ECR I-6677 | EU LawJudicial review and actions against EU institutions | The Court of Justice refused to relax the Plaumann test for individual concern, saying that it is for Member States to ensure effective judicial protection through national courts. |
| Unwired Planet International Ltd v Huawei Technologies (UK) Co Ltd | [2020] UKSC 37 | Competition LawPredatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities | The English courts can grant an injunction for infringement of a standard essential patent unless the infringer takes a worldwide licence on fair, reasonable and non discriminatory terms set by the court. |
| Unwired Planet International Ltd v Huawei Technologies (UK) Co Ltd | [2020] UKSC 37 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: claim construction and infringement | The English courts can grant an injunction for infringement of a standard essential patent unless the infringer takes a worldwide licence on fair, reasonable and non discriminatory terms set by the court. |
| Urquhart Lindsay & Co Ltd v Eastern Bank Ltd | [1922] 1 KB 318 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | A bank that has opened an irrevocable letter of credit must pay against documents that comply with the credit, and cannot refuse because of a dispute about the price under the contract of sale. |
| Van Binsbergen v Bestuur van de Bedrijfsvereniging voor de Metaalnijverheid | Case 33/74, [1974] ECR 1299 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | The Treaty provisions on freedom to provide services have direct effect, and a residence requirement for providers of services may be justified only if it is objectively necessary. |
| Van Colle v Chief Constable of Hertfordshire Police; Smith v Chief Constable of Sussex Police | [2008] UKHL 50, [2009] 1 AC 225 | Human Rights LawRight to life (article 2) | The police were not liable under article 2 for failing to protect a witness who was murdered, because they did not know and ought not to have known of a real and immediate risk to his life. |
| Van Duyn v Home Office | Case 41/74, [1974] ECR 1337 | EU LawDirect effect of directives | A directive can have direct effect, so that an individual can rely on it against the state, and a Member State can exclude a national of another Member State for membership of an organisation it considers harmful. |
| Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen | Case 26/62, [1963] ECR 1 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | Provisions of the Treaty that are clear, precise and unconditional have direct effect, creating rights for individuals that national courts must protect. |
| Vandervell v IRC | [1967] 2 AC 291 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | Where a beneficiary directs his bare trustee to transfer the legal and equitable title to a third party, no separate written disposition of the equitable interest is needed, and an option held on uncertain trusts results back to the settlor. |
| Re Vandervell's Trusts (No 2) | [1974] Ch 269 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A beneficiary under a resulting trust lost his interest when the trustees, with his money, exercised an option and declared new trusts with his consent. |
| Vantaan kaupunki v Skanska Industrial Solutions Oy | Case C-724/17, EU:C:2019:204 | Competition LawInvestigations, cartels and penalties | Where companies that participated in a cartel are taken over by another company which continues their economic activity, the acquiring company can be liable for damages caused by the cartel. |
| Vardy v Rooney | [2022] EWHC 2017 (QB) | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | A footballer's wife who had accused another of leaking private stories to a newspaper proved that the accusation was substantially true, and the claimant's libel claim failed. |
| Various Claimants v Catholic Child Welfare Society | [2012] UKSC 56, [2013] 2 AC 1 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | Vicarious liability can arise from a relationship akin to employment, and it applies to sexual abuse where the relationship created or significantly increased the risk of abuse. |
| Vauxhall Estates Ltd v Liverpool Corp | [1932] 1 KB 733 | Public LawParliamentary sovereignty | An earlier statute cannot prevent a later inconsistent statute from taking effect. |
| Vedanta Resources plc v Lungowe | [2019] UKSC 20, [2020] AC 1045 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | A parent company may owe a duty of care to people affected by its subsidiary's operations if it has taken responsibility for the relevant activities, so the claim could be tried in England. |
| Vedanta Resources plc v Lungowe | [2019] UKSC 20, [2020] AC 1045 | Conflict of LawsJurisdiction and forum non conveniens | A parent company may owe a duty of care to people affected by its subsidiary's operations if it has taken responsibility for the relevant activities, so the claim could be tried in England. |
| Vedanta Resources plc v Lungowe | [2019] UKSC 20, [2020] AC 1045 | Environmental LawEnvironmental torts and civil liability | A parent company may owe a duty of care to people affected by its subsidiary's operations if it has taken responsibility for the relevant activities, so the claim could be tried in England. |
| Vellino v Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police | [2001] EWCA Civ 1249, [2002] 1 WLR 218 | Tort LawDuty of care | The police owed no duty of care to prevent an arrested man from injuring himself while trying to escape, and his claim was in any event barred by illegality. |
| Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz v Switzerland | (2024) Application no 53600/20 | Environmental LawClimate change litigation | Article 8 of the Convention includes a right to effective protection by the state from the serious adverse effects of climate change, and Switzerland had breached it by failing to put in place an adequate framework to reduce emissions. |
| Verein KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz v Switzerland | (2024) Application no 53600/20 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | Article 8 of the Convention includes a right to effective protection by the state from the serious adverse effects of climate change, and Switzerland had breached it by failing to put in place an adequate framework to reduce emissions. |
| Vernon v Bosley (No 1) | [1997] 1 All ER 577 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | A claimant who satisfies the requirements for a secondary victim can recover damages for psychiatric illness caused by a combination of grief and shock. |
| Versloot Dredging BV v HDI Gerling Industrie Versicherung AG (The DC Merwestone) | [2016] UKSC 45, [2017] AC 1 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | An insured who tells a lie in support of a genuine claim, which turns out to be irrelevant to the insurer's liability, does not forfeit the claim under the fraudulent claims rule. |
| Versloot Dredging BV v HDI Gerling Industrie Versicherung AG (The DC Merwestone) | [2016] UKSC 45, [2017] AC 1 | Shipping and Maritime LawMarine insurance | An insured who tells a lie in support of a genuine claim, which turns out to be irrelevant to the insurer's liability, does not forfeit the claim under the fraudulent claims rule. |
| Vestergaard Frandsen A/S v Bestnet Europe Ltd | [2013] UKSC 31, [2013] 1 WLR 1556 | Intellectual Property LawBreach of confidence and trade secrets | A former employee is not liable for breach of confidence for the use of a trade secret by her new business, unless she knew or ought to have known that it was being used. |
| Viasystems (Tyneside) Ltd v Thermal Transfer (Northern) Ltd | [2005] EWCA Civ 1151, [2006] QB 510 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | Two employers can both be vicariously liable for the negligence of one employee, where both had the right to control his work. |
| Victoria Laundry (Windsor) Ltd v Newman Industries Ltd | [1949] 2 KB 528 | Contract LawRemedies | Ordinary lost profits are recoverable if reasonably foreseeable, but exceptional profits are recoverable only if the defendant knew of them. |
| Vidal-Hall v Google Inc | [2015] EWCA Civ 311, [2016] QB 1003 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | Misuse of private information is a tort, and compensation for breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 could be recovered for distress without any financial loss. |
| Re Vinogradoff | [1935] WN 68 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | A voluntary transfer of property into the name of another person, even a child, gives rise to a presumed resulting trust for the transferor. |
| Vinter v United Kingdom | (2016) 63 EHRR 1 | Human Rights LawProhibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) | A whole life sentence is compatible with article 3 only if there is a prospect of release and a possibility of review, which must be known to the prisoner at the outset. |
| Vita Food Products Inc v Unus Shipping Co Ltd | [1939] AC 277 | Conflict of LawsChoice of law in contract and tort | Parties are free to choose the law governing their contract, provided the choice is bona fide and legal and not contrary to public policy, even if the contract has no other connection with that law. |
| Vita Food Products Inc v Unus Shipping Co Ltd | [1939] AC 277 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | Parties are free to choose the law governing their contract, provided the choice is bona fide and legal and not contrary to public policy, even if the contract has no other connection with that law. |
| Vitol SA v Norelf Ltd (The Santa Clara) | [1996] AC 800 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | An innocent party can accept a repudiation simply by failing to perform, if that clearly shows it is treating the contract as at an end. |
| Vlassopoulou v Ministerium für Justiz, Bundes und Europaangelegenheiten Baden-Württemberg | Case C-340/89, [1991] ECR I-2357 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | Where a national of another Member State applies for admission to a profession, the host state must compare the qualifications and experience she has obtained with those required by national rules. |
| Volcafe Ltd v Compania Sud Americana de Vapores SA | [2018] UKSC 61, [2019] AC 358 | Shipping and Maritime LawBills of lading and carriage of goods by sea | Under the Hague Rules, the carrier bears the burden of proving that it took reasonable care of the cargo, and that loss or damage was caused by an excepted peril such as inherent vice. |
| Volvo AB and DAF Trucks NV v RM | Case C-267/20, EU:C:2022:494 | Competition LawPrivate enforcement and damages | The limitation provisions of the Damages Directive apply to claims which were not time barred when it should have been implemented, and limitation cannot begin before the infringement has ended and the claimant knows of it. |
| Von Colson and Kamann v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen | Case 14/83, [1984] ECR 1891 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | National courts must interpret national law, as far as possible, in the light of the wording and purpose of a directive, so as to achieve its result. |
| Von Hannover v Germany | (2005) 40 EHRR 1 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | The publication of photographs of Princess Caroline of Monaco going about her daily life in public breached article 8, because they made no contribution to a debate of general interest. |
| Von Hannover v Germany | (2005) 40 EHRR 1 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | The publication of photographs of Princess Caroline of Monaco going about her daily life in public breached article 8, because they made no contribution to a debate of general interest. |
| VTB Capital plc v Nutritek International Corp | [2013] UKSC 5, [2013] 2 AC 337 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | Piercing the corporate veil cannot be used to make a person who controls a company a party to the company's contract, so that he is liable on it. |
| Re W (A Minor) (Medical Treatment: Court's Jurisdiction) | [1993] Fam 64 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | The court can override the refusal of a 16 or 17 year old to consent to medical treatment where it is necessary in the young person's best interests, despite section 8 of the Family Law Reform Act 1969. |
| Re W (A Minor) (Medical Treatment: Court's Jurisdiction) | [1993] Fam 64 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | The court can override the refusal of a 16 or 17 year old to consent to medical treatment where it is necessary in the young person's best interests, despite section 8 of the Family Law Reform Act 1969. |
| Re W (Children) (Abuse: Oral Evidence) | [2010] UKSC 12, [2010] 1 WLR 701 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | There is no presumption against a child giving evidence in family proceedings, and the court must weigh the advantages of the child giving evidence against the risk of harm to the child. |
| W Devis & Sons Ltd v Atkins | [1977] AC 931 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | In deciding whether a dismissal was fair, the tribunal can consider only matters known to the employer at the time of the dismissal, and not misconduct discovered afterwards. |
| W v Egdell | [1990] Ch 359 | Medical Law and EthicsConfidentiality and medical information | A psychiatrist was entitled to disclose his confidential report on a dangerous patient to the hospital and the Home Office, because the public interest in protecting the public from violence outweighed the duty of confidence. |
| Wachauf v Bundesamt für Ernährung und Forstwirtschaft | Case 5/88, [1989] ECR 2609 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | Member States must respect fundamental rights, as general principles of EU law, when they implement EU rules. |
| Waggott v Waggott | [2018] EWCA Civ 727, [2019] Fam 357 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | The sharing principle does not apply to a spouse's earning capacity after the marriage, so a wife was not entitled to share in her former husband's future earnings beyond her needs. |
| Wainwright v Home Office | [2003] UKHL 53, [2004] 2 AC 406 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | English law does not recognise a general tort of invasion of privacy. |
| Wainwright v Home Office | [2003] UKHL 53, [2004] 2 AC 406 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | English law does not recognise a general tort of invasion of privacy. |
| Wainwright v Home Office | [2003] UKHL 53, [2004] 2 AC 406 | Public LawCivil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers | English law does not recognise a general tort of invasion of privacy. |
| Wainwright v Home Office | [2003] UKHL 53, [2004] 2 AC 406 | Tort LawDefamation and privacy | English law does not recognise a general tort of invasion of privacy. |
| Re Wait | [1927] 1 Ch 606 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | A buyer of an unascertained part of a larger bulk acquires no property in the goods, legal or equitable, until they are ascertained. |
| Walford v Miles | [1992] 2 AC 128 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | An agreement to negotiate in good faith is too uncertain to be enforced, though a lock out agreement for a fixed period can be. |
| Walker v Badmin | [2014] EWHC 71 (Ch) | Wills, Succession and ProbateTestamentary capacity, knowledge and approval | The test of testamentary capacity remains the common law test in Banks v Goodfellow, and has not been replaced by the test of capacity in the Mental Capacity Act 2005. |
| Wallersteiner v Moir (No 2) | [1975] QB 373 | Company LawDerivative claims and reflective loss | A minority shareholder who properly brings a derivative action on behalf of the company may be indemnified by the company for his costs. |
| Wallgrave v Tebbs | (1855) 2 K & J 313 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | A legatee who did not know of the testator's intended purposes during his lifetime takes the gift free of any secret trust. |
| Walrave and Koch v Association Union Cycliste Internationale | Case 36/74, [1974] ECR 1405 | EU LawDirect effect of Treaty articles and regulations | The Treaty prohibition on discrimination on grounds of nationality applies to rules of private sporting bodies that regulate employment or services collectively. |
| Walsh v Lonsdale | (1882) 21 Ch D 9 | Land LawLeases and licences | A specifically enforceable agreement for a lease creates an equitable lease on the same terms as the agreed legal lease, because equity treats as done that which ought to be done. |
| Walter v Lane | [1900] AC 539 | Intellectual Property LawCopyright: subsistence, originality and authorship | A reporter who took down a speech in shorthand and published it was the author of the report, so copyright subsisted in it, separate from the speaker's rights. |
| Walters v North Glamorgan NHS Trust | [2002] EWCA Civ 1792 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | A mother who witnessed a series of events over 36 hours, leading to her baby's death, could recover as a secondary victim, because the events were a single horrifying event. |
| Ward v Byham | [1956] 1 WLR 496 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Doing more than an existing statutory duty requires can be good consideration. |
| Wardar's (Import & Export) Co Ltd v W Norwood & Sons Ltd | [1968] 2 QB 663 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Where unascertained goods are appropriated to the contract by the seller handing them over to a carrier sent by the buyer, property and risk pass at that time. |
| Warner Bros Pictures Inc v Nelson | [1937] 1 KB 209 | Contract LawRemedies | An injunction can enforce a negative promise in a personal services contract, if it does not in effect compel the person to perform. |
| Warner-Lambert Co LLC v Generics (UK) Ltd | [2018] UKSC 56 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | A second medical use patent was invalid for insufficiency because the specification did not make it plausible that the drug would be effective for all the types of pain claimed. |
| Warren v DSG Retail Ltd | [2021] EWHC 2168 (QB) | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | A data controller which suffers a cyber attack is not liable for breach of confidence or misuse of private information, because those wrongs require positive conduct, and any claim lies under data protection law. |
| Watford Electronics Ltd v Sanderson CFL Ltd | [2001] EWCA Civ 317, [2001] 1 All ER (Comm) 696 | Contract LawExclusion clauses and unfair terms | Courts should be slow to find exclusion clauses unreasonable in contracts negotiated between experienced commercial parties of equal bargaining power. |
| Re Watson (Deceased) | [1999] 1 FLR 878 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | A woman who lived with the deceased for many years in a relationship without a sexual element could still be living as his wife for the purposes of a claim by a cohabitant under the 1975 Act. |
| Watt v Hertfordshire County Council | [1954] 1 WLR 835 | Tort LawBreach of duty | The importance of the defendant's purpose, such as saving life in an emergency, can justify taking greater risks than would otherwise be reasonable. |
| Watteau v Fenwick | [1893] 1 QB 346 | Commercial LawAgency | An undisclosed principal was held liable for purchases made by his agent within the usual authority of an agent in that position, even though he had forbidden them. |
| Waugh v British Railways Board | [1980] AC 521 | EvidencePrivilege and public interest immunity | A document is protected by litigation privilege only if it was prepared for the dominant purpose of litigation, so an internal accident report prepared for both railway safety and litigation was not privileged. |
| Waverley Borough Council v Fletcher | [1996] QB 334 | Land LawLand, fixtures and chattels | An object found buried in or attached to land belongs to the owner or occupier of the land, rather than the finder. |
| Wayne Tank and Pump Co Ltd v Employers Liability Assurance Corp Ltd | [1974] QB 57 | Insurance LawCoverage, causation, claims and subrogation | Where a loss has two proximate causes, one covered by the policy and the other excluded, the exclusion prevails and the insurer is not liable. |
| Wealden District Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government | [2017] EWHC 351 (Admin) | Environmental LawNature conservation and habitats | A plan must be assessed for its likely significant effects on a protected site in combination with other plans, so an assessment which ignored the combined traffic effects of neighbouring plans on Ashdown Forest was unlawful. |
| Webb v EMO Air Cargo (UK) Ltd (No 2) | [1995] 1 WLR 1454 | EU LawIndirect effect and state liability | The House of Lords interpreted the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 in line with a ruling of the Court of Justice, so as to hold that dismissal for pregnancy was discrimination. |
| Webb v EMO Air Cargo (UK) Ltd (No 2) | [1995] 1 WLR 1454 | Employment LawDiscrimination at work | The House of Lords interpreted the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 in line with a ruling of the Court of Justice, so as to hold that dismissal for pregnancy was discrimination. |
| Weiner v Gill | [1906] 2 KB 574 | Commercial LawPassing of property and risk | Where goods are delivered on sale or return on terms that property is not to pass until they are paid for, property does not pass when the buyer pledges them. |
| Weiss v Bundesregierung (PSPP) | 2 BvR 859/15 (5 May 2020) | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | The German Constitutional Court held that a judgment of the Court of Justice approving the European Central Bank's bond buying programme was outside the EU's powers and not binding in Germany. |
| Welch v United Kingdom | (1995) 20 EHRR 247 | Human Rights LawSlavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) | A confiscation order made under legislation which came into force after the offence was committed was a penalty imposed retrospectively, in breach of article 7. |
| Weller & Co v Foot and Mouth Disease Research Institute | [1966] 1 QB 569 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | An auctioneer whose business was disrupted by an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, caused by a negligent escape of a virus, could not recover its pure economic loss. |
| Wells v Cooper | [1958] 2 QB 265 | Tort LawBreach of duty | A person doing a household repair, such as fitting a door handle, is judged by the standard of a reasonably competent amateur carpenter, not a professional. |
| Wells v Devani | [2019] UKSC 4, [2020] AC 129 | Contract LawOffer and acceptance | The court will be slow to find that parties who intended to be bound failed to make a contract, and can imply a missing term. |
| Wells v Wells | [1999] 1 AC 345 | Tort LawDefences and damages | Damages for future losses in personal injury cases should be calculated on the assumption that the claimant will invest the money in index linked government stock, so the discount rate should be lower. |
| Re West Sussex Constabulary's Widows, Children and Benevolent (1930) Fund Trusts | [1971] Ch 1 | Equity and TrustsPurpose trusts and unincorporated associations | When a fund for the benefit of members' dependants is wound up, the surplus from different sources goes in different ways, and the members are not entitled to it. |
| Westacre Investments Inc v Jugoimport-SDPR Holding Co Ltd | [2000] QB 288 | ArbitrationChallenging and enforcing awards, and investment arbitration | An English court will enforce a foreign award upholding a contract which was alleged to involve bribery, where the tribunal has considered and rejected the allegation, because the public policy of finality outweighs that of discouraging corruption. |
| Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council | [1996] AC 669 | Banking and Finance LawDerivatives, bonds and capital markets | A resulting trust arises from the presumed intention of the transferor, and does not arise where money is paid under a contract that turns out to be void. |
| Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council | [1996] AC 669 | Equity and TrustsResulting trusts | A resulting trust arises from the presumed intention of the transferor, and does not arise where money is paid under a contract that turns out to be void. |
| Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale v Islington London Borough Council | [1996] AC 669 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPrinciples of unjust enrichment | A resulting trust arises from the presumed intention of the transferor, and does not arise where money is paid under a contract that turns out to be void. |
| Western Excavating (ECC) Ltd v Sharp | [1978] QB 761 | Employment LawThe contract of employment and implied terms | An employee is constructively dismissed only where the employer has committed a repudiatory breach of the contract, and unreasonable conduct by the employer is not enough. |
| Western Sahara | (1975) ICJ Reports 12 | Public International LawStatehood, territory, recognition and self determination | Western Sahara was not terra nullius at the time of Spanish colonisation, and the legal ties with Morocco and Mauritania were not such as to affect the right of its people to self determination. |
| Re Westmid Packing Services Ltd (No 3) (Secretary of State for Trade and Industry v Griffiths) | [1998] 2 All ER 124 | Company LawDirectors' duties: powers, judgment and care | A director cannot avoid responsibility by leaving the management of the company to a dominant colleague, because each director must inform himself about the company's affairs. |
| Westminster City Council v Clarke | [1992] 2 AC 288 | Land LawLeases and licences | A resident of a council hostel for vulnerable homeless men did not have exclusive possession of his room, and so was a licensee. |
| Re Weston's Settlements | [1969] 1 Ch 223 | Equity and TrustsTrustees: duties, powers and variation of trusts | The court refused to approve a variation of a trust that would move it abroad to avoid tax, because the benefit to the children did not outweigh the disadvantages. |
| Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v Japan: New Zealand intervening) | (2014) ICJ Reports 226 | Public International LawLaw of the sea, international environmental law and dispute settlement | Japan's whaling programme in the Antarctic was not for purposes of scientific research within the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, so the special permits it granted were unlawful. |
| Wheat v E Lacon & Co Ltd | [1966] AC 552 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | There may be more than one occupier of premises, and anyone with a sufficient degree of control over premises is an occupier. |
| Wheeldon v Burrows | (1879) 12 Ch D 31 | Land LawEasements | When land is divided, the buyer of part acquires easements over the seller's retained land that were continuous and apparent, necessary for reasonable enjoyment and used by the seller, but the seller does not impliedly reserve easements over the part sold. |
| Wheeler v Leicester City Council | [1985] AC 1054 | Public LawJudicial review: illegality | A council cannot use its statutory powers to punish a body for not doing something it was not legally required to do. |
| Whistler International Ltd v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd (The Hill Harmony) | [2001] 1 AC 638 | Shipping and Maritime LawCharterparties: hire, withdrawal, safe ports and demurrage | A charterer's instructions to a master to take the shortest route across the ocean are orders as to employment of the vessel, which the master must obey, and refusal for reasons not related to navigational safety is a breach. |
| White and Carter (Councils) Ltd v McGregor | [1962] AC 413 | Contract LawDischarge and breach | An innocent party can usually affirm a contract after repudiation and perform it, unless it has no legitimate interest in doing so. |
| White v Bluett | (1853) 23 LJ Ex 36 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | A promise to stop doing something one has no legal right to do is not good consideration. |
| White v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police | [1999] 2 AC 455 | Tort LawPsychiatric injury | Police officers who suffered psychiatric injury in helping at the Hillsborough disaster were secondary victims and could not recover, because they were not in physical danger. |
| White v Jones | [1995] 2 AC 207 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A solicitor who negligently failed to prepare a new will before the client died was liable to the intended beneficiaries who lost their legacies. |
| White v Jones | [1995] 2 AC 207 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFamily provision, forfeiture and other claims against estates | A solicitor who negligently failed to prepare a new will before the client died was liable to the intended beneficiaries who lost their legacies. |
| White v White | [2001] 1 AC 596 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | In dividing assets on divorce there must be no discrimination between the breadwinner and the homemaker, and any division should be checked against the yardstick of equality. |
| Whitehouse v Jordan | [1981] 1 WLR 246 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | An error of clinical judgment may or may not be negligent, and the question is whether it is an error that would not have been made by a reasonably competent professional acting with ordinary care. |
| Whiteley v Chappell | (1868) LR 4 QB 147 | English Legal SystemStatutory interpretation | A literal interpretation meant that a man who voted in the name of a dead person was not guilty of impersonating a person entitled to vote. |
| Wieland v Cyril Lord Carpets Ltd | [1969] 3 All ER 1006 | Tort LawRemoteness and intervening acts | A claimant who reasonably uses stairs after an injury caused by the defendant and falls can recover for the second injury, because there is no break in the chain of causation. |
| Wightman v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union | Case C-621/18, EU:C:2018:999 | EU LawSupremacy and the EU legal order | A Member State that has notified its intention to withdraw from the EU may revoke that notification unilaterally, before withdrawal takes effect. |
| Wilkinson v Downton | [1897] 2 QB 57 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | A person who wilfully does an act calculated to cause physical harm to another, including psychiatric illness, is liable if harm results. |
| Wilkinson v Kitzinger | [2006] EWHC 2022 (Fam), [2007] 1 FLR 295 | Family LawMarriage, nullity and divorce | Before same sex marriage was introduced, a same sex marriage validly entered into abroad was recognised in England only as a civil partnership, and this did not breach the couple's human rights. |
| Willers v Joyce (No 2) | [2016] UKSC 44, [2018] AC 843 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The Supreme Court explained when English courts may follow a decision of the Privy Council rather than an inconsistent domestic precedent. |
| William Sindall plc v Cambridgeshire County Council | [1994] 1 WLR 1016 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | The court's discretion to award damages instead of rescission under section 2(2) of the 1967 Act, and the limits of rescission for misrepresentation. |
| Williams & Glyn's Bank Ltd v Boland | [1981] AC 487 | Land LawRegistered and unregistered land | A wife with a beneficial interest in the matrimonial home, who was in actual occupation, had an overriding interest that bound a bank lending to her husband. |
| Williams v Bayley | (1866) LR 1 HL 200 | Contract LawDuress and undue influence | An agreement obtained by pressure on a father through a threat to prosecute his son is set aside for undue pressure. |
| Williams v Bermuda Hospitals Board | [2016] UKPC 4, [2016] AC 888 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | The material contribution principle in Bonnington applies where the defendant's negligence contributed to an indivisible injury along with other non negligent causes acting together. |
| Williams v Bermuda Hospitals Board | [2016] UKPC 4, [2016] AC 888 | Tort LawCausation | The material contribution principle in Bonnington applies where the defendant's negligence contributed to an indivisible injury along with other non negligent causes acting together. |
| Williams v Central Bank of Nigeria | [2014] UKSC 10, [2014] AC 1189 | Equity and TrustsBreach of trust and defences | The exception to the limitation period for actions against trustees for fraudulent breach of trust does not apply to dishonest assistants or knowing recipients who are not true trustees. |
| Williams v Compair Maxam Ltd | [1982] ICR 156 | Employment LawUnfair dismissal | A fair redundancy dismissal normally requires warning and consultation, objective selection criteria fairly applied, and consideration of alternative employment. |
| Williams v Hensman | (1861) 1 John & H 546 | Land LawCo-ownership and trusts of land | A joint tenancy in equity can be severed by an act operating on a joint tenant's own share, by mutual agreement, or by a course of dealing showing a common intention to sever. |
| Williams v Natural Life Health Foods Ltd | [1998] 1 WLR 830 | Tort LawPure economic loss and negligent misstatement | A director of a company is not personally liable for negligent advice given by the company unless he personally assumed responsibility to the claimant. |
| Williams v Roffey Bros & Nicholls (Contractors) Ltd | [1991] 1 QB 1 | Contract LawConsideration and promissory estoppel | Performing an existing contractual duty can be consideration if it gives the promisor a practical benefit and there is no duress. |
| Williams v Williams | (1882) 20 Ch D 659 | Wills, Succession and ProbateIntestacy, personal representatives and administration of estates | There is no property in a dead body, so a testator cannot dispose of his body by will, and the executors are entitled to possession of it for the purpose of burial. |
| Wilsher v Essex Area Health Authority | [1988] AC 1074 | Medical Law and EthicsClinical negligence, informed consent and wrongful birth | Where there are several possible causes of an injury, only one of which is the defendant's fault, the claimant must still prove on the balance of probabilities that the defendant's breach caused the injury. |
| Wilsher v Essex Area Health Authority | [1988] AC 1074 | Tort LawCausation | Where there are several possible causes of an injury, only one of which is the defendant's fault, the claimant must still prove on the balance of probabilities that the defendant's breach caused the injury. |
| Wilson v Burnett | [2007] EWCA Civ 1170 | Contract LawIntention to create legal relations | Casual conversation among friends about sharing winnings does not show an intention to create legal relations. |
| Wilson v Pringle | [1987] QB 237 | Tort LawTrespass to the person | A battery requires an intentional touching that is hostile, although hostility does not mean ill will, and the touching must go beyond what is generally acceptable in ordinary life. |
| Wilson, National Union of Journalists and Palmer v United Kingdom | (2002) 35 EHRR 20 | Employment LawTrade unions and industrial action | Allowing employers to offer financial incentives to employees to give up the right to be represented by a trade union in collective bargaining breached the right to freedom of association. |
| Wilson, National Union of Journalists and Palmer v United Kingdom | (2002) 35 EHRR 20 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | Allowing employers to offer financial incentives to employees to give up the right to be represented by a trade union in collective bargaining breached the right to freedom of association. |
| Wilsons & Clyde Coal Co Ltd v English | [1938] AC 57 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | An employer owes a personal, non delegable duty to its employees to provide competent staff, adequate plant and equipment, a safe place of work and a safe system of work. |
| Wimble, Sons & Co v Rosenberg & Sons | [1913] 3 KB 743 | Commercial LawInternational sales and documentary credits | Under an FOB contract, the seller need not give the buyer notice to enable him to insure the goods, where the buyer has enough information to insure them himself. |
| Windsurfing Chiemsee Produktions- und Vertriebs GmbH v Boots- und Segelzubehör Walter Huber | Joined Cases C-108/97 and C-109/97, [1999] ECR I-2779 | Intellectual Property LawTrade marks: registration | A geographical name cannot be registered if it is associated with the goods or may be in future, unless it has acquired distinctive character through use. |
| Windsurfing International Inc v Tabur Marine (Great Britain) Ltd | [1985] RPC 59 | Intellectual Property LawPatents: patentability and validity | Obviousness is assessed by a structured test, and an earlier public use of a sailboard by a boy at a holiday camp anticipated a patent for a windsurfer. |
| Wingrove v Wingrove | (1885) 11 PD 81 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFormalities, execution, undue influence and rectification | To establish undue influence over a will, it must be shown that the testator was coerced into making a will that he did not wish to make, and the influence of affection or kinship is not enough. |
| Winkworth v Christie Manson & Woods Ltd | [1980] Ch 496 | Conflict of LawsDomicile, property, foreign states and public policy | The validity of a transfer of movable property is governed by the law of the place where the property was situated at the time of the transfer, so the Italian purchaser of stolen goods acquired good title. |
| Winter Garden Theatre (London) Ltd v Millennium Productions Ltd | [1948] AC 173 | Land LawLeases and licences | Whether a contractual licence can be revoked depends on the terms of the contract, express or implied. |
| Wintle v Nye | [1959] 1 WLR 284 | Wills, Succession and ProbateTestamentary capacity, knowledge and approval | Where a solicitor prepares a will under which he takes a large benefit, the burden of removing the suspicion is heavy, and the jury must be directed to consider whether the testator truly knew and approved the will. |
| Winzar v Chief Constable of Kent | (1983) The Times, 28 March | Criminal LawActus reus and omissions | A drunk man removed from a hospital by police and placed on the highway was guilty of being found drunk on the highway. |
| With v O'Flanagan | [1936] Ch 575 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | A statement that was true when made becomes a misrepresentation if circumstances change before the contract and the change is not disclosed. |
| WL Thompson Ltd v Robinson (Gunmakers) Ltd | [1955] Ch 177 | Commercial LawRemedies in sale of goods | Where supply of goods exceeds demand, a seller whose buyer refuses to take the goods can recover the lost profit on the sale, even though the goods can be resold at the same price. |
| WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v Various Claimants | [2020] UKSC 12, [2020] AC 989 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | An employer was not vicariously liable for an employee who deliberately leaked staff data to harm the employer, because he was pursuing a personal vendetta. |
| WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v Various Claimants | [2020] UKSC 12, [2020] AC 989 | Tort LawEmployers' liability and vicarious liability | An employer was not vicariously liable for an employee who deliberately leaked staff data to harm the employer, because he was pursuing a personal vendetta. |
| Wong v Beaumont Property Trust Ltd | [1965] 1 QB 173 | Land LawEasements | A tenant who was required by the lease to use cellars as a restaurant, which was impossible without a ventilation duct through the landlord's premises, had an implied easement to install one. |
| Wood v Capita Insurance Services Ltd | [2017] UKSC 24, [2017] AC 1173 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | Textual and contextual analysis are tools used together to find the objective meaning of a contract. |
| Wood v Smith | [1993] Ch 90 | Wills, Succession and ProbateFormalities, execution, undue influence and rectification | A testator's signature written at the top of a handwritten will can satisfy section 9 of the Wills Act 1837, provided that the will was written and signed in one operation and the signature was intended to give effect to it. |
| Wood v Waddington | [2015] EWCA Civ 538 | Land LawEasements | Section 62 can create an easement over a track used by the owner of the whole for the benefit of the part sold, if the right was continuous and apparent, without prior diversity of occupation. |
| Woodar Investment Development Ltd v Wimpey Construction UK Ltd | [1980] 1 WLR 277 | Contract LawPrivity of contract | A contracting party generally cannot recover damages for loss suffered by a third party. |
| Woodward v Mayor of Hastings | [1945] KB 174 | Tort LawOccupiers' liability | An occupier is liable for the negligence of a contractor where the work, such as cleaning a step, required no special technical knowledge to check. |
| Woolfson v Strathclyde Regional Council | 1978 SC (HL) 90 | Company LawSeparate legal personality and the corporate veil | The corporate veil may be lifted only where special circumstances exist indicating that the company is a mere facade concealing the true facts. |
| Woolmington v Director of Public Prosecutions | [1935] AC 462 | EvidenceBurden and standard of proof | Throughout the web of the English criminal law one golden thread is always to be seen, that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove the prisoner's guilt, subject to the defence of insanity and statutory exceptions. |
| Woolwich Equitable Building Society v Inland Revenue Commissioners | [1993] AC 70 | Restitution and Unjust EnrichmentPublic authorities, defences and remedies | Money paid to a public authority in response to an unlawful demand for tax is recoverable as of right, as a matter of common justice, without any need to show mistake or duress. |
| Woolwich Equitable Building Society v Inland Revenue Commissioners | [1993] AC 70 | Tax LawTax administration, HMRC powers and taxpayer remedies | Money paid to a public authority in response to an unlawful demand for tax is recoverable as of right, as a matter of common justice, without any need to show mistake or duress. |
| Worcester Works Finance Ltd v Cooden Engineering Co Ltd | [1972] 1 QB 210 | Commercial LawNemo dat and transfer of title by non owners | A seller who remains in possession of goods after a sale, even if he obtained them fraudulently, can pass good title to the original owner when the goods are retaken. |
| Wouters v Algemene Raad van de Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten | Case C-309/99, [2002] ECR I-1577 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | A professional rule which restricts competition may fall outside article 101 if its restrictive effects are inherent in the pursuit of legitimate objectives, such as the proper practice of the legal profession. |
| Wright v Macadam | [1949] 2 KB 744 | Land LawEasements | Section 62 of the Law of Property Act 1925 can turn a permission enjoyed by a tenant into a full easement when a new lease is granted. |
| Wrotham Park Estate Co Ltd v Parkside Homes Ltd | [1974] 1 WLR 798 | Contract LawRemedies | Where a restrictive covenant is breached without causing financial loss, damages can be awarded as the sum the claimant could reasonably have demanded for releasing it. |
| Wrotham Park Estate Co Ltd v Parkside Homes Ltd | [1974] 1 WLR 798 | Land LawFreehold covenants | Where a restrictive covenant is breached without causing financial loss, damages can be awarded as the sum the claimant could reasonably have demanded for releasing it. |
| WT Ramsay Ltd v Inland Revenue Commissioners | [1982] AC 300 | Tax LawTax avoidance, statutory interpretation and the Ramsay principle | Where a pre-arranged scheme consisting of a series of transactions is intended to produce a tax loss without any real loss, the court may consider the scheme as a whole, and is not bound to consider each step in isolation. |
| Wuhan Guoyu Logistics Group Co Ltd v Emporiki Bank of Greece SA | [2012] EWCA Civ 1629 | Banking and Finance LawLending, guarantees and security | A guarantee given by a bank in a commercial context, outside the context of banking or financial instruments, is not necessarily a mere guarantee, and was here an on demand bond payable without proof of liability. |
| Wyatt v Vince | [2015] UKSC 14, [2015] 1 WLR 1228 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | There is no time limit on an application for financial remedy after divorce, so a former wife could apply decades later, although the delay would be relevant to the amount awarded. |
| Wychavon District Council v National Rivers Authority | [1993] 1 WLR 125 | Environmental LawAir and water quality | A council which failed to act promptly to clear a blocked sewer that it maintained did not cause the resulting pollution, because causing requires some active operation or chain of operations. |
| Wye Valley NHS Trust v B | [2015] EWHC 60 (COP) | Medical Law and EthicsConsent, capacity and refusal of treatment | In deciding what is in the best interests of a person who lacks capacity, the person's wishes and feelings may be decisive, so a man could not be forced to have his leg amputated against his strong wishes. |
| Re X (A Child) (Surrogacy: Time Limit) | [2014] EWHC 3135 (Fam), [2015] Fam 186 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | The six month time limit for applying for a parental order after a surrogacy arrangement is not absolute, and an order can be made where the application is late, because the child's welfare requires it. |
| Re X (A Child) (Surrogacy: Time Limit) | [2014] EWHC 3135 (Fam), [2015] Fam 186 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | The six month time limit for applying for a parental order after a surrogacy arrangement is not absolute, and an order can be made where the application is late, because the child's welfare requires it. |
| X (Minors) v Bedfordshire County Council | [1995] 2 AC 633 | Tort LawDuty of care | Local authorities exercising statutory functions in child protection and education were not generally liable in negligence, for reasons of policy that were later reconsidered. |
| X v Y | [1988] 2 All ER 648 | Medical Law and EthicsConfidentiality and medical information | A newspaper was restrained from publishing the identities of two doctors with AIDS, obtained from leaked hospital records, because the public interest in the confidentiality of patient records outweighed the public interest in publication. |
| Xydhias v Xydhias | [1999] 2 All ER 386 | Family LawFinancial remedies on divorce | Once the parties to financial remedy proceedings have reached a binding agreement in principle, the court can make an order in those terms, even if one party later tries to withdraw before the order is drawn up. |
| Re Yagerphone Ltd | [1935] Ch 392 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | Money recovered by a liquidator from a creditor who received a fraudulent preference is held for the general body of creditors, not for a debenture holder with a floating charge. |
| Yam Seng Pte Ltd v International Trade Corp Ltd | [2013] EWHC 111 (QB), [2013] 1 All ER (Comm) 1321 | Contract LawTerms of the contract | A duty of good faith may be implied in fact into a relational contract that depends on mutual trust. |
| Yaxley v Gotts | [2000] Ch 162 | Equity and TrustsConstructive trusts | An oral agreement for an interest in land that is void under section 2 of the 1989 Act may still be enforced through a constructive trust or proprietary estoppel. |
| Yaxley v Gotts | [2000] Ch 162 | Land LawContracts for land and proprietary estoppel | An oral agreement for an interest in land that is void under section 2 of the 1989 Act may still be enforced through a constructive trust or proprietary estoppel. |
| Yemshaw v Hounslow London Borough Council | [2011] UKSC 3, [2011] 1 WLR 433 | Family LawDomestic abuse and occupation orders | Domestic violence in housing legislation is not limited to physical violence, but includes threatening or intimidating behaviour and any other form of abuse which may give rise to the risk of harm. |
| Re Yenidje Tobacco Co Ltd | [1916] 2 Ch 426 | Company LawUnfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up | A company formed by two partners, which became deadlocked because they would not speak to each other, was wound up on the just and equitable ground. |
| YL v Birmingham City Council | [2007] UKHL 27, [2008] 1 AC 95 | Human Rights LawThe Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 | A private care home providing care under a contract with a local authority was not performing a public function under the Human Rights Act. |
| YL v Birmingham City Council | [2007] UKHL 27, [2008] 1 AC 95 | Public LawHuman Rights Act 1998 | A private care home providing care under a contract with a local authority was not performing a public function under the Human Rights Act. |
| Yonge v Toynbee | [1910] 1 KB 215 | Commercial LawAgency | An agent who continues to act after his authority has ended because of his principal's mental incapacity is liable for breach of warranty of authority, even if he did not know of the incapacity. |
| Re Yorkshire Woolcombers Association Ltd (Illingworth v Houldsworth) | [1903] 2 Ch 284 | Company LawCompany charges, insolvency and disqualification | A floating charge is a charge on a class of present and future assets that changes from time to time in the ordinary course of business, which the company can deal with until the charge crystallises. |
| Re Young | [1951] Ch 344 | Equity and TrustsSecret trusts and mutual wills | A beneficiary under a secret trust who witnesses the will does not lose his benefit, because the trust operates outside the will. |
| Young v Bristol Aeroplane Co Ltd | [1944] KB 718 | English Legal SystemJudicial precedent | The Court of Appeal is bound by its own previous decisions, subject to three exceptions. |
| Young, James and Webster v United Kingdom | (1982) 4 EHRR 38 | Human Rights LawReligion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) | Dismissing railway workers for refusing to join a trade union under a closed shop agreement breached their freedom of association, which includes some protection for the right not to join. |
| Re Z (A Child) (No 2) | [2016] EWHC 1191 (Fam), [2017] Fam 25 | Family LawParentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions | The rule that only couples, and not single people, could apply for a parental order after a surrogacy arrangement was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. |
| Re Z (A Child) (No 2) | [2016] EWHC 1191 (Fam), [2017] Fam 25 | Medical Law and EthicsReproduction, children and mental health | The rule that only couples, and not single people, could apply for a parental order after a surrogacy arrangement was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. |
| Z v Finland | (1998) 25 EHRR 371 | Medical Law and EthicsConfidentiality and medical information | The disclosure of a woman's HIV status in criminal proceedings against her husband, including her identity in a published judgment, breached her right to respect for private life. |
| Zarb v Parry | [2011] EWCA Civ 1306, [2012] 1 WLR 1240 | Land LawAdverse possession | Under the Land Registration Act 2002, a squatter on registered land who reasonably believed that the land belonged to him can be registered as owner under the boundary exception. |
| Zeital v Kaye | [2010] EWCA Civ 159 | Equity and TrustsFormalities and constitution of trusts | A gift of shares was not complete in equity, because the donor had not given the donee the documents needed to complete the transfer. |
| ZH (Tanzania) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2011] UKSC 4, [2011] 2 AC 166 | Human Rights LawPrivate and family life (article 8) | In deciding whether to remove a parent, the best interests of a child affected must be a primary consideration, and a child cannot be blamed for the conduct of a parent. |
| ZH (Tanzania) v Secretary of State for the Home Department | [2011] UKSC 4, [2011] 2 AC 166 | Immigration and Asylum LawDeportation, removal and human rights | In deciding whether to remove a parent, the best interests of a child affected must be a primary consideration, and a child cannot be blamed for the conduct of a parent. |
| Zhu and Chen v Secretary of State for the Home Department | Case C-200/02, [2004] ECR I-9925 | EU LawEU citizenship | A young child who is an EU citizen and has sufficient resources has a right to reside in another Member State, and her parent who is her primary carer can reside with her. |
| Zhu and Chen v Secretary of State for the Home Department | Case C-200/02, [2004] ECR I-9925 | Immigration and Asylum LawImmigration detention, nationality and the Immigration Rules | A young child who is an EU citizen and has sufficient resources has a right to reside in another Member State, and her parent who is her primary carer can reside with her. |
| Zurich Insurance Co plc v Hayward | [2016] UKSC 48, [2017] AC 142 | Contract LawMisrepresentation | A representee who suspects a representation is false can still rely on it and be induced by it. |
| Zurich Insurance Co plc v Hayward | [2016] UKSC 48, [2017] AC 142 | Insurance LawUtmost good faith, disclosure, warranties and insurable interest | A representee who suspects a representation is false can still rely on it and be induced by it. |
| Åklagaren v Åkerberg Fransson | Case C-617/10, EU:C:2013:105 | EU LawGeneral principles and fundamental rights | The Charter of Fundamental Rights applies to Member States whenever they act within the scope of EU law, including when imposing penalties for VAT fraud. |
| Établissements Consten SARL and Grundig-Verkaufs-GmbH v Commission | Joined Cases 56 and 58/64, [1966] ECR 299 | Competition LawRestrictions by object and effect, and exemption | Vertical agreements fall within article 101, and an exclusive distribution agreement giving a distributor absolute territorial protection against parallel imports restricts competition by object. |
| Österreichische Post AG v UI | (2023) Case C-300/21 | Data Protection and Technology LawCompensation, enforcement and misuse of private information | A mere infringement of the GDPR does not give rise to a right to compensation, but there is no threshold of seriousness for non material damage, which must still be proved. |
| Überseering BV v Nordic Construction Company Baumanagement GmbH (NCC) | Case C-208/00, [2002] ECR I-9919 | EU LawFreedom of establishment and services | A Member State must recognise the legal capacity of a company validly formed in another Member State, even if its central administration has moved to the first state. |
Browse by subject and topic
Our case library covers the core LLB subjects of England and Wales and a wide range of optional and specialist subjects:
- Contract Law (222 cases)
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- Privity of contract (15)
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- Human Rights Act 1998 (20)
- Civil liberties: expression, assembly, privacy and police powers (17)
- English Legal System (102 cases)
- Criminal Law (192 cases)
- Actus reus and omissions (15)
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- Defences: insanity, automatism and intoxication (16)
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- Inchoate offences and accessorial liability (19)
- Land Law (190 cases)
- Land, fixtures and chattels (15)
- Contracts for land and proprietary estoppel (18)
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- Trusts of the family home (18)
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- Equity and Trusts (199 cases)
- Certainty of intention and subject matter (15)
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- Formalities and constitution of trusts (21)
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- EU Law (172 cases)
- Supremacy and the EU legal order (15)
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- Tort Law (199 cases)
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- Nuisance and Rylands v Fletcher (18)
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- Company Law (127 cases)
- Separate legal personality and the corporate veil (16)
- The company's constitution and decision making (18)
- Corporate contracts, agency and attribution (13)
- Directors' duties: powers, judgment and care (14)
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- Unfair prejudice and just and equitable winding up (12)
- Share capital and distributions (12)
- Company charges, insolvency and disqualification (14)
- Commercial Law (113 cases)
- Intellectual Property Law (118 cases)
- Copyright: subsistence, originality and authorship (16)
- Copyright: infringement and defences (16)
- Patents: patentability and validity (14)
- Patents: claim construction and infringement (11)
- Trade marks: registration (15)
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- Family Law (96 cases)
- Marriage, nullity and divorce (15)
- Financial remedies on divorce (13)
- Cohabitants, family property and family provision (15)
- Domestic abuse and occupation orders (11)
- Parentage, parental responsibility and medical decisions (15)
- Private law disputes about children and child abduction (14)
- Care proceedings and adoption (13)
- Employment Law (110 cases)
- Environmental Law (80 cases)
- Human Rights Law (127 cases)
- The Convention and the Human Rights Act 1998 (19)
- Right to life (article 2) (18)
- Prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment (article 3) (13)
- Slavery, liberty and fair trial (articles 4 to 7) (19)
- Private and family life (article 8) (21)
- Religion, expression, assembly and association (articles 9 to 11) (21)
- Discrimination, property, education and elections (article 14 and the Protocols) (16)
- Competition Law (77 cases)
- Undertakings, agreements and concerted practices (12)
- Restrictions by object and effect, and exemption (13)
- Dominance and exclusionary abuse (11)
- Predatory and excessive pricing, refusal to supply and essential facilities (11)
- Merger control (10)
- Investigations, cartels and penalties (8)
- Private enforcement and damages (12)
- Banking and Finance Law (76 cases)
- The banker and customer relationship (11)
- Payments, mandates and the Quincecare duty (10)
- Lending, guarantees and security (15)
- Advice, mis-selling and financial regulation (11)
- Financial crime, sanctions and market misconduct (11)
- Insolvency of financial institutions and client assets (10)
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- Wills, Succession and Probate (56 cases)
- Evidence (69 cases)
- Medical Law and Ethics (70 cases)
- Public International Law (59 cases)
- Sources of international law and its place in domestic courts (9)
- Statehood, territory, recognition and self determination (9)
- State responsibility, nationality and international organisations (9)
- Jurisdiction and immunities (11)
- Use of force, armed conflict and international criminal law (12)
- Law of the sea, international environmental law and dispute settlement (9)
- Conflict of Laws (46 cases)
- Shipping and Maritime Law (49 cases)
- Immigration and Asylum Law (51 cases)
- Insurance Law (28 cases)
- Arbitration (22 cases)
- Restitution and Unjust Enrichment (35 cases)
- Criminal Procedure (56 cases)
- Data Protection and Technology Law (59 cases)
- Personal data, controllers and the scope of data protection (7)
- Lawful processing, data subject rights and the right to be forgotten (9)
- International transfers, surveillance and data retention (13)
- Compensation, enforcement and misuse of private information (15)
- Technology, software, platforms and digital assets (15)
- Tax Law (43 cases)
How to use these case summaries
A case summary is a starting point, not a substitute for reading the judgment. Use the summaries to check the facts and principle of a case quickly, to build your own case table and to revise, then read the key passages of the leading judgments, which are freely available from the National Archives and BAILII, to understand the reasoning. Citations give the neutral citation where there is one, followed by the main law report.
Disclaimer: although these case summaries have been checked for accuracy, we do not guarantee that they are free from errors or omissions. They are for study and revision and are not legal advice.
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