UK Law Weekly

In one of the most high profile cases of the year the High Court had to decide whether the government could use the royal prerogative to trigger Article 50 TFEU following the EU referendum in June 2016. Music from bensound.com

Despite Winter setting in we are off to the seaside this week. After Hastings Borough Council had to shut down their pier in 2006 one of the companies who owned an amusement arcade and bingo tried to claim compensation under the Building Act 1984. However would their alleged infractions of the Occupiers' Liability Act 1957 and Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 work against them? Music from bensou...

If an insurer is sceptical about the extent of a claimant's injuries can they later set aside a settlement that has been reached once they have more evidence of the deceit? Music from bensound.com

The killer clowns craze is sweeping the nation and the police are threatening to charge those caught with public order offences. What exactly does this mean in the context of the legal system in England and Wales? Music from bensound.com

In 2012 Lee-Hirons was recalled to a secure hospital but policy was not followed meaning he had not been given a full explanation for this decision. Did this make the detention unlawful? Music from bensound.com

In this case the Supreme Court made a decision as to whether malicious prosecution should be available in civil litigation. Music from bensound.com

The row over junior doctors' contracts has spilled over to the courts as the campaign group Justice for Health took on the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in a judicial review.

In Patel v Mirza [2016] UKSC 42 a panel of nine judges were asked when illegality should bar a claim. The question goes back almost 250 years to the case of Holman v Johnson (1775) where Lord Mansfield said "no court will lend its aid to a man who founds his cause of action upon an immoral or an illegal act". This strict principle has however been loosened over the years and now the Supreme Court...

When a tenant trips up on the paved area just outside his block of flats is it the landlord who is to blame? The Supreme Court investigates with reference to section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1986. Music from bensound.com

After the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 reduced the availability of legal aid in the UK the Lord Chancellor sought to take this further by preparing a draft order that would introduce a residency test. The Public Law Project challenged this measure on the basis that it would be ultra vires and unjustifiably discriminatory.

When does criminal liability lead to civil liability? That was the question the supreme court had to answer in the Scottish case of Campbell v Gordon [2016] UKSC 38 in the context of the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969. A literalist approach to the statute would leave Campbell unable to claim from his former employer for damages while a more purposive approach would allow the...

A ferry crash off the coast of Egypt in February 2006 led to the deaths of 1,000 people. Since then families of victims have pursued the chairman of the ferry company Mamdouh Ismail for justice. Egyptian authorities requested that the Home Secretary serve the judgment of the Egyptian courts on Ismail but would doing so breach Article 6 ECHR? Music from bensound.com

The Labour party leadership contest took another turn this week as the NEC decided to appeal a decision that would have allowed as many as 150,000 new supporters to vote. Was this a simple case of contract interpretation for the Court of Appeal or are there wider issues of democracy in UK politics at play?

Jeremy Corbyn was given a huge boost to his chances of re-election to the Labour leadership position today as the High Court decided that new members who had joined after the 'freezing point' of 12th January 2016 should be allowed to vote in the upcoming leadership contest.

A bonus episode that looks at the decision in National Aids Trust v NHS England [2016] EWHC 2005 (Admin) that states the NHS are not prevented from providing the groundbreaking new drug PREP to those who are most at risk from contracting HIV. Music from bensound.com

The case of Goluchowski v District Court in Elblag, Poland [2016] UKSC 36 distinguishes between European Arrest Warrants in accusation and conviction cases.

The people of the Chagos Islands were forcibly removed from their homes in the 1960s by the British government. For the last 50 years they have been fighting a legal battle to return and this case is the latest installment from the UK Supreme Court.

A bonus flashback podcast that takes a fresh look at Carlill v Carbolic Smokeball Co. [1892] EWCA Civ 1, [1893] 1 QBD 484. Examines unilateral offers and the elements of a contract under UK law.