April 2008

Even law bloggers have holidays…

April 28, 2008

And I mean to have one now – I’m off to Austria for a week, then visiting friends and resting for a little while after that so, in a turn of phrase that sounds familiar from drafting classes some years ago, I will be blawging inadequately or not at all for at least a week, [...]

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OFT v Abbey: more misery for the banks

April 25, 2008

Here’s the vast, 450-paragraph judgment of Andrew Smith J in OFT v Abbey and others, a judgment that will depress those poor banks even more, though it will cheer up money saving experts, impoverished law students, poor pupil barristers and wealthy banking litigation partners. I always thought this campaign would succeed eventually – though of [...]

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Lords judgment: Ashley v Chief Constable of Sussex

April 23, 2008

This case is about a civil action against the police, who shot dead an unarmed man when raiding his home to arrest him. The policeman who fired the shot was acquitted of murder and manslaughter on the judge’s direction; now the family are suing the police not only for negligence and under the Fatal Accidents [...]

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The Employment Tribunal, article 6 and chronic fatigue

April 22, 2008

PJH law have spotted an interesting employment appeal case in which an employer has essentially succeeded in having a claim struck out on human rights grounds: to continue would breach its right to a fair hearing under the article 6 Convention right. PJH law links to the judgment: the key passage is from paragraph 49. [...]

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Charon’s new initiative

April 18, 2008

You have to hand it to Charon QC. He already writes what I think must be Britain’s most widely read law blog, and has taken a lead in establishing podcasts as a regular part of his offering. Now he’s launched insitelaw which comprises a newswire, which is full of links to law reports, blogs and [...]

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Joshua Rozenberg on BAe

April 18, 2008

An interesting take on the Corner House judgment from Joshua Rozenberg in the Telegraph: he thinks the government got into difficulties because the case happened to be dealt with by the SFO, when it might well have been investigated, instead, by the police, in which case the CPS would have taken Lord Goldsmith’s advice and [...]

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Smith v Asst. Deputy Coroner for Oxfordshire

April 18, 2008

I can now link to Collins J’s judgment in the case that received lots of media coverage the other day, on the right to life and troops in Iraq – although it looks as though some further observations from Collins J on the Gentle case are still being transcribed. Reading the judgment does make you [...]

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David Pannick on the Fayed farce

April 15, 2008

I completely agree with David Pannick’s view in the Times today: the Fayed farce shows us coroners need the discretion to decline to carry out an inquest in specific circumstances – where a death has already been properly investigated abroad, for instance, and when the public expense of an inquest cannot be justified. We need [...]

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Head of Legal and the Telegraph

April 15, 2008

A regular reader has let me know she’s “shocked” by my reactionary turn this last week. I suspect she may be easily shocked but I’ll risk sending her over the edge by linking to last week’s Telegraph leaders which seem at first sight to agree with the stances I’ve taken. In fact it’s worth noting [...]

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BAe: Lord Goldsmith’s intervention

April 14, 2008

I’m glad Lord Goldsmith spoke up about this in an interview on Sky News yesterday. I’m not so much interested in his defence of the decision to drop the investigation, but in the point of principle he raises (in the video clip I’ve linked to: I don’t think the written report does justice to it). [...]

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