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News, analysis, comment and updates from ICLR's case law and UK legislation platform
At a time when Parliament is considering whether to legalise same-sex marriage, and when modern medicine has severed the links between sex and procreation, Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division, giving the latest ICLR Annual Lecture, pointed to the “immense gulf” which separates our world from that of the Victorians, and asked how… Continue reading
The news that a judge has held himself to be in contempt of court – and fined himself – has yet again brought to public attention the issue of judicial conduct. The incident occurred in America, where there are plenty of examples of judicial eccentricity, to put it mildly; but that great nation is by… Continue reading
The passion for justice is something that runs from generation to generation. It is the writing that permeates the stick of rock that we call society. Even when it isn’t there, perhaps especially when it isn’t there, its absence makes its presence felt. Today we take the right to a fair trial for granted. Magna Carta,… Continue reading
It’s often said that a lawyer who represents himself in court has a fool for a client.* But a lay person who cannot get legal aid or insurance to cover the cost of a lawyer is not a fool – merely a victim of the new regime under LASPO (the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment… Continue reading
It’s often said that a lawyer who represents himself in court has a fool for a client. The trouble is, when it’s your own case, you are more likely to be persuaded of its rightness as a cause and blinded to its weakness as a case. This is no less true of lawyers than anyone… Continue reading
OldSmoothie was against a very traditional opponent today who always insists on bringing along to court the original volumes containing the particular law report in question. This meant that as he came into court both he and his pupil were weighed down by piles of authorities whilst OldSmoothie rather smugly carried his slim bundle of… Continue reading
In an exclusive gentlemen’s club in London, a group of men are discussing the future of their business. They are barristers and the question they must decide is who to keep – and who to keep out – as fellow tenants of their chambers. Two of them have pupils who would like to join, but… Continue reading
Lord Neuberger, President of the Supreme Court, made the following statement in open court in the course of hearing an appeal from the Court of Appeal’s majority decision in Bank Mellat v HM Treasury (No 2) [2011] EWCA Civ 1 [2012] QB 101 [2011] 3 WLR 714 on appeal from Mitting J [2010] EWHC 1332… Continue reading
If a party is charged with drawing up an order it is the duty of its solicitors and counsel to produce a draft that fairly reflects what they think the judge decided or directed. Thus spake Edwards-Stuart J on 14 March 2013 giving judgment in Webb Resolutions Ltd v JV Ltd (trading as Shepherd Chartered… Continue reading
Let me introduce you to a new character in the BabyBarista fold: His Honour Judge Pennyweather who sits as a circuit judge outside London. He’s grumbly, eccentric, crusty and seemingly older than his 68 years would suggest. The first part of his name brings to mind a penny for your thoughts which seem to leak… Continue reading
