As Lord Phillips helpfully pointed out in his lecture last night, in which he defended the Rowan Williams line, sharia is a set of principles ultimately based on the Koran. Good to know, eh?

But did you know that, […]

Here’s the full text of Lord Phillips’s lecture last night.

There’s an eccentric side to Lord Phillips: I remember his speech to new bar students in 1992 in which he advocated our criminal justice system should adopt aspects of the French “investigative” approach to finding truth. Then there was his […]

You don’t often get TV criticism at Head of Legal, but last night’s episode of Criminal Justice, the BBC’s new five-part drama about a murder trial, requires comment. Lindsay Duncan played Alison Slaughter, leading counsel […]

Before my post yesterday, Nearly Legal wrote extensive comments on the case – I recommend a visit for anyone interested in the case. Nearly Legal has also commented here at Head of Legal.

I think the amendment […]

Jut over a year ago, the Lords settled the debate about whether care homes carry out functions of a public nature, and so are public authorities subject the the Human Rights Act; it decided, in YL v […]

The other reader request comes from an equally esteemed legal chap whose legal interests closely match those of Head of Legal and who finds early mornings equally or perhaps even more challenging. He asks what I […]

In my blawg radio silence earlier this week I received a couple of reader requests to deal with vital topics of the day. The first, from an estimable legal lady whose handbag bulges with law reports and Heat […]

Iain Dale picked up this morning on a surprising move from the Austrian Chancellor Gusenbauer: he’s promised a referendum on any new EU Treaty which “affects Austrian interests”.

This is a bit more complicated than it sounds. […]

You’ll know by now that Stuart Wheeler’s judicial review of the government’s refusal to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty has failed: here’s the judgment. This is hardly a surprise: it was always a hopeless case. The real […]