Commentary

News, analysis, comment and updates from ICLR's case law and UK legislation platform

Reporting restrictions orders; and contempt of restriction orders

Jurisdiction to make and enforce an order Two very different aspects of the reporting restrictions order (RRO) can be seen in case law over the past couple of weeks. In AB (Application for Reporting Restrictions: Inquest) [2019] EWHC 1668 (QB) (27 June 2019) the question of service of an application in civil proceedings and the Continue reading

Parliamentary privilege and the rule of law

David Burrows explains how parliamentary privilege was designed to stop the courts interfering with Parliament, not to allow parliamentarians to interfere with the work of the courts. He considers Lord Hain’s use of the privilege to trump a court injunction in the light of a recent speech on the matter by the Lord Chief Justice. Continue reading

Lord Wilson and human rights

David Burrows considers the massive gulf in the approaches to human rights of two jurisdictions – the United States and the United Kingdom – that share a common law legacy. Continue reading

‘Guidance’ as law

David Burrows considers the status of judicially-issued practice guidance in the hierarchy of judge-made and statutory law, and questions its use as a shortcut for more formally generated procedural rules.
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What next in family legislation? Part 3: Civil partnerships

A number of changes in marriage and divorce law seem poised to be made by proposed legislation. In three linked posts, we take a quick tour round some of the bills awaiting consideration by Parliament. In this third post, Paul Magrath looks at possible extensions to the law on civil partnerships. Continue reading

What next in family legislation? Part 2: Marriage

A number of changes in marriage and divorce law seem poised to be made by proposed legislation. In three linked posts, we take a quick tour round some of the bills awaiting consideration by Parliament. In this second post, David Burrows looks at the law of marriage and how that might be reformed to accommodate changes in a diverse religio-secular society. Continue reading