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Articles by LawTeacher
Morris-Garner and another v One Step (Support) Ltd [2018] UKSC 20
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that damages for breach of a non-competition covenant are normally compensation for the financial loss actually caused, not a hypothetical fee for releasing the covenant. One Step (Support) Ltd sued two former associates who competed through another company in breach of covenants given when they left the business. The majority decided […]…
R (Mott) v Environment Agency [2018] UKSC 10
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that catch limits on Mr Mott’s historic Severn Estuary salmon fishery unlawfully interfered with his right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions unless compensation was paid. The limits were an environmental control, not a formal expropriation, but they removed at least 95 per cent of the commercial benefit of his lease and […]…
JSC BTA Bank v Khrapunov [2018] UKSC 19
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court dismissed Mr Khrapunov’s challenge to the English court’s jurisdiction over a claim that he conspired with Mr Ablyazov to conceal assets in breach of a freezing order and a receivership order. Contempt of court could be unlawful means for the tort of conspiracy even if it was not independently actionable, and there […]…
Gavin Edmondson Solicitors Limited v Haven Insurance Company Limited [2018] UKSC 21
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that solicitors acting under conditional fee agreements retained an equitable lien over settlement payments made directly by an insurer to their clients in low-value road traffic claims. Although the agreements protected the clients from having to pay anything personally, they still created a contractual responsibility for the solicitors’ charges, and the […]…
Dryden and others v Johnson Matthey Plc [2018] UKSC 18
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
After Johnson Matthey Plc breached its duty and exposed them to platinum salts, the claimants developed platinum salt sensitisation. The condition caused no symptoms, but further exposure was likely to bring on an allergy, so they could no longer do that work and said they had lost earnings. The Supreme Court held that the sensitisation […]…
SM (Algeria) v Entry Clearance Officer, UK Visa Section [2018] UKSC 9
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court considered whether an Algerian child placed in the permanent legal guardianship of French citizens under the kefalah system could enter the United Kingdom as their family member under EU free movement law. Because it was not clear that she was a “direct descendant” with automatic rights, or how far the Directive could […]…
In the matter of C (Children) [2018] UKSC 8
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
A father asked the English court to order the summary return of his two children to Australia under the Hague Convention after their mother, who had brought them for an agreed stay of up to a year, decided that they would not go back. The Supreme Court held that the Convention cannot require summary return […]…
Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust v Haywood [2018] UKSC 22
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that, unless the contract says otherwise, written notice of dismissal posted to an employee’s home takes effect only when the employee reads it or has a reasonable opportunity to do so. Mrs Haywood read the recorded-delivery letter on 27 April 2011 after returning from holiday, so her 12 weeks’ notice expired […]…
Reilly v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council [2018] UKSC 16
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
A head teacher failed to tell her governors that a close friend had been convicted of an offence involving indecent images of children. The employment tribunal found that her dismissal was procedurally unfair but that she could reasonably have been dismissed for the non-disclosure. Her Supreme Court appeal concerned that second finding. What the governors […]…
In the matter of an application by Kevin Maguire for Judicial Review (Northern Ireland) [2018] UKSC 17
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The UK Supreme Court held that article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights does not entitle a legally aided defendant to insist that a junior barrister act as his leading counsel at public expense where a Bar rule requires senior counsel unless none is available. Kevin Maguire’s wish to retain Mark Barlow in […]…
The Advocate General for Scotland v Romein [2018] UKSC 6
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
Shelley Romein, born in the United States in 1978, was refused British citizenship by descent through her British mother because her birth had not been registered at a consulate. The Supreme Court held that the retrospective assumption that nationality could always have been transmitted through the female line on the same terms as through the […]…
HM Inspector of Health and Safety v Chevron North Sea Limited [2018] UKSC 7
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that an employment tribunal hearing an appeal against a prohibition notice may consider evidence obtained after the notice was served, provided it concerns the risk existing at that time. Later testing of Chevron’s helideck access metalwork could therefore be used to show that corrosion had not in fact created a risk […]…
Iceland Foods Ltd v Berry [2018] UKSC 15
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that the specialised air handling system in an Iceland store, used mainly to keep its refrigerated cabinets operating, formed part of a trade process. It therefore had to be ignored when calculating the store’s rateable value under the Valuation for Rating (Plant and Machinery) (England) Regulations 2000. The Court allowed Iceland’s […]…
Burnden Holdings (UK) Limited v Fielding and another [2018] UKSC 14
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that, on the facts assumed for the appeal, two directors of Burnden Holdings could not have a claim against them summarily dismissed as outside the ordinary six-year limitation period. The claim concerned an allegedly unlawful distribution of the company’s share in a subsidiary to another company which they controlled. The directors […]…
Steel and another v NRAM Limited [2018] UKSC 13
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
A commercial lender released security after the borrower’s solicitor wrongly told it that the whole loan was being repaid. The lender’s own records showed that only part of the security was to be released. The Supreme Court considered whether it was reasonable for the lender to rely on the solicitor without checking those records. The […]…
Barton v Wright Hassall LLP [2018] UKSC 12
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
Mr Barton, a litigant in person, emailed his claim form to the defendant's solicitors on the day before it expired, without any prior written indication that they would accept service by email. It was common ground that this was not good service. By a majority, the Supreme Court held that there was no good reason […]…
Patel v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] UKSC 59
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
These joined appeals turned on what would happen to a British citizen if a family carer had to leave the UK. Under the EU citizenship rules then in force, a right of residence could arise if the citizen would, in practice, be compelled to leave the EU with the carer. The tribunal reached different findings […]…
B (Algeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2018] UKSC 5
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court decided whether immigration bail can be granted to a person who can no longer lawfully be detained. B was facing deportation to Algeria, but the Special Immigration Appeals Commission found that there was no reasonable prospect of removing him and that the ordinary basis for detaining him had fallen away. The Court […]…
Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police [2018] UKSC 4
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
Police officers attempting to arrest a suspected drug dealer on a busy Huddersfield shopping street knocked down Mrs Elizabeth Robinson, a frail 76-year-old passer-by, and fell on top of her. The Supreme Court held that they owed her an ordinary duty to take reasonable care not to cause reasonably foreseeable injury, and that the police […]…
R (Bancoult No 3) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2018] UKSC 3
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court dismissed a challenge to the 2010 marine protected area around the Chagos Islands. A leaked United States cable, said to show that officials wanted the reserve to make Chagossian resettlement impracticable, was admissible, but the majority held that it would not have shown an improper purpose in the Foreign Secretary’s own decision, […]…
Miller and others v Ministry of Justice [2019] UKSC 60
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
Four fee-paid part-time judges presented pension claims more than three months after particular appointments ended, but within three months of retirement. The Supreme Court held that the less favourable treatment of failing to pay a pension occurred at retirement, so the claims were not out of time under the Part-time Workers Regulations. The claims and […]…
R (on the application of Lancashire County Council) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and another [2019] UKSC 58
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that land held by a public authority for statutory purposes cannot be registered as a town or village green where registration would be incompatible with those purposes, applying the principle from Newhaven more widely than the Court of Appeal. In joined appeals concerning school land in Lancashire and hospital land in […]…
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v DSD and another [2018] UKSC 11
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
Two women, anonymised as DSD and NBV, who had been sexually assaulted by the London black-cab driver John Worboys, sued the Metropolitan Police for failing to investigate those crimes effectively. The Supreme Court dismissed the police's appeal. A majority held that article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights requires an effective investigation into […]…
R (Gibson) v Secretary of State for Justice [2018] UKSC 2
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that credit for part payment of a confiscation order, against the term of imprisonment fixed in default, must be calculated by reference to the sum due when the Crown Court made the order and not by reference to the larger sum outstanding once interest is added. Mr Gibson was therefore entitled […]…
R (Haralambous) v Crown Court at St Albans and another [2018] UKSC 1
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that courts dealing with search and seizure warrants under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and retention orders under the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 may consider information withheld from affected persons on public interest grounds, including by using a closed material procedure on judicial review. There is no […]…
MacDonald and another v Carnbroe Estates Ltd (Scotland) [2019] UKSC 57
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that Grampian’s off-market sale of its principal property to Carnbroe for £550,000 was not made for adequate consideration under section 242 of the Insolvency Act 1986. The sale formed part of an informal winding-up, and Carnbroe had not shown that a sale by the security holder or a liquidator would have […]…
R (on the application of Hemmati and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2019] UKSC 56
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
Five asylum applicants were detained pending transfer under the Dublin III Regulation. Detention on grounds of a risk of absconding required objective criteria defined by law. The Supreme Court held that the Home Office guidance then in use did not supply those criteria. All five were entitled to damages for false imprisonment. Detention pending transfer […]…
R v Reeves Taylor [2019] UKSC 51
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The prosecution alleged torture by a member of an armed group during the Liberian civil war. For the majority, acting in an official capacity could include acting for a group that exercised governmental functions over a civilian population. Military control of territory alone was insufficient. New expert evidence meant that the judge had to reconsider […]…
Singularis Holdings Ltd (In Official Liquidation) (A Company Incorporated in the Cayman Islands) v Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd [2019] UKSC 50
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
Daiwa transferred about US$204.5 million on the fraudulent instructions of a director authorised to act for Singularis. The trial judge found that obvious warning signs should have led Daiwa to make inquiries before paying. The Supreme Court considered whether the director’s fraud could be attributed to Singularis so as to defeat the company’s negligence claim. […]…
Royal Mail Group Ltd v Jhuti [2019] UKSC 55
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
Ms Jhuti reported a concern that a colleague was offering incentives contrary to regulatory guidance and company policy. Her line manager then created a false picture of poor performance, and another manager, acting on that picture in good faith, dismissed her. The Supreme Court held that the reason for the dismissal was the hidden whistleblowing […]…
Akçil and others v Koza Ltd and another [2019] UKSC 40
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The dispute concerned control of an English company and the authority of trustees appointed to its Turkish parent. For jurisdiction under the Brussels I Recast Regulation, the Supreme Court examined the two claims separately. A dispute about the authority to act for the Turkish company could not be brought within the English company-law jurisdiction simply […]…
Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs v Frank A Smart & Son Ltd [2019] UKSC 39
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that a farming company could deduct VAT paid on buying Single Farm Payment entitlements. The subsidies were outside the scope of VAT, but the company bought the entitlements to fund its taxable business, and objective evidence of that purpose preserved the right to deduct. The business and the claim Frank A […]…
In the matter of NY (A Child) [2019] UKSC 49
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that the High Court’s inherent jurisdiction can still be used to make a summary order for a child’s return to another country even where the Hague Convention does not require return. It nevertheless allowed the mother’s appeal: the Court of Appeal had not itself assessed whether the child’s welfare required an […]…
Sequent Nominees Ltd (formerly Rotrust Nominees Ltd) v Hautford Ltd (a company registered in the British Virgin Islands) [2019] UKSC 47
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The freeholder of a Soho building refused consent to a planning application which would have changed two floors to residential use and substantially increased the tenant’s chance of buying the freehold under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967. The judge and the Court of Appeal held that refusal unreasonable. A majority of the Supreme Court held […]…
Cape Intermediate Holdings Ltd v Dring [2019] UKSC 38
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that the Civil Procedure Rules give non-parties only limited access to the records a court keeps for its own purposes. Courts nevertheless have an inherent power, grounded in open justice, to allow access to documents placed before the court and referred to at a hearing where the applicant shows a good […]…
Edwards on behalf of the estate of the late Thomas Arthur Watkins v Hugh James Ford Simey Solicitors [2019] UKSC 54
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that a miner who accepted a settlement of his vibration white finger claim on negligent advice had lost a services claim of some value under the special compensation scheme. Later medical evidence of a milder condition was irrelevant, because the scheme would not have reopened the original staging. The solicitors’ appeal […]…
R (on the application of Wright) v Resilient Energy Severndale Ltd and Forest of Dean District Council [2019] UKSC 53
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
Forest of Dean District Council granted planning permission for a 500kW wind turbine after taking into account a promise to pay 4% of the operating society's turnover into a local community fund for 25 years. The Supreme Court held that this promise was not a material consideration: it did not serve a planning purpose related […]…
Travelers Insurance Company Ltd v XYZ [2019] UKSC 48
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that Travelers, the product liability insurer of a clinic sued in group litigation over defective PIP breast implants, was not liable for the costs of claimants whose claims fell outside the insurance. Funding and helping to run the defence of common issues did not, without more, make the insurer an unjustified […]…
X v Kuoni Travel Ltd (reference to the Court of Justice) [2019] UKSC 37
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
X sought damages from her package tour operator after a hotel employee raped and assaulted her. In this 2019 decision, the Supreme Court referred questions about the operator’s statutory defence to the Court of Justice. Liability remained to be decided. X had booked a package holiday with Kuoni. A hotel employee offered to guide her […]…
RR v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2019] UKSC 52
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that local authorities and tribunals must not apply the housing benefit bedroom tax deduction where doing so would breach a claimant's rights under the Human Rights Act 1998, including for periods before Parliament amended the regulations. RR and his severely disabled partner needed separate bedrooms, but the unamended rules allowed the […]…
The Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd v Vauxhall Motors Ltd (formerly General Motors UK Ltd) [2019] UKSC 46
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
A missed payment of £50 led the owner of the Manchester Ship Canal to terminate a perpetual licence under which Vauxhall drained its Ellesmere Port factory into the canal. The rights were agreed to be worth more than £300,000 a year. The Supreme Court held that those rights were possessory, so the court had jurisdiction […]…
R (on the application of the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers and another) v Food Standards Agency (reference to the Court of Justice) [2019] UKSC 36
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
After an Official Veterinarian withheld a health mark from a slaughtered bull because pyaemia was suspected, the operator argued that the Food Standards Agency had to take the carcass before a Justice of the Peace under section 9 of the Food Safety Act 1990. The Supreme Court did not decide whether that procedure is available […]…
Secretary of State for the Home Department v Franco Vomero [2019] UKSC 35
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
When the Secretary of State decided in March 2007 to deport Franco Vomero, an Italian national convicted of manslaughter, he did not have the right of permanent residence required before the stronger protections against expulsion in Directive 2004/38/EC could apply. The Supreme Court held that more than two years’ imprisonment before the Directive took effect […]…
Shanks v Unilever Plc and others [2019] UKSC 45
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that patents for a glucose-testing device invented by Professor Shanks were of outstanding benefit to his Unilever employer under section 40 of the Patents Act 1977. A net benefit of about £24 million stood out against other patents from the same research company and was not to be treated as insignificant […]…
Gilham v Ministry of Justice [2019] UKSC 44
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
A district judge who raised concerns about court cuts was not, on the ordinary wording of the Employment Rights Act 1996, a “worker” or a person in Crown employment, so its whistle-blowing protection did not apply to her. The Supreme Court held that excluding judges from that protection discriminated against them in the enjoyment of […]…
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v MM (Scotland) [2019] UKSC 34
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court considered the meaning of “social support” when assessing, for personal independence payment, whether a claimant’s ability to engage with other people face to face is limited. It held that support, which may include prompting, counts only where the claimant needs it from someone trained or experienced in assisting social engagement, and that […]…
London Borough of Lambeth v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and others [2019] UKSC 33
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court allowed Lambeth Council’s appeal and held that a 2014 permission under section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 continued to restrict a Streatham retail store to non-food goods. Although the decision notice did not restate that limit among its numbered conditions, its natural meaning was that the Council had […]…
OWD Ltd trading as Birmingham Cash and Carry (In Liquidation) and another v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs [2019] UKSC 30
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that HMRC could not allow three duty-paid alcohol wholesalers to keep trading while they appealed refusals of approval under the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme. HMRC had already decided that the wholesalers were not fit and proper, even for a limited time and even with conditions. Neither section 88C of the Alcoholic […]…
In the matter of D (A Child) [2019] UKSC 42
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
The Supreme Court held that a parent cannot consent to living arrangements for a 16 or 17-year-old which confine the child beyond what is normal for that age, and so cannot prevent those arrangements from being a deprivation of liberty under article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Official Solicitor’s appeal was […]…
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Gubeladze [2019] UKSC 31
Article. Published: November 3, 2026
Ms Tamara Gubeladze, a Latvian national, was refused state pension credit because some of her work in the United Kingdom had not been registered under the Worker Registration Scheme. The Supreme Court held that extending that scheme in 2009 was a disproportionate, and therefore unlawful, limit on rights arising from the 2004 enlargement of the […]…
