Appeal by main contractor (A) against determination of a preliminary issue. Respondent sub-contractor (R) was engaged by A to carry out M&E works on a hospital PFI project on basis of letter from A to R confirming that price of £34.25 million was agreed in principle. R commenced work on basis of short form orders from A limited to work up to value of £14 million: no formal sub-contract was ever entered into. Court at first instance held that R was under no obligation to complete the whole of the ...
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As soon as an asylum seeker, who was refused asylum support, made it clear that there was an imminent prospect of a breach of his rights under Article 3 ECHR because the conditions that he enduring were on the verge of reaching the necessary degree of severity, the secretary of state had the power and the duty to act to avoid the breach, under s.55(5)(a) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and the duty under the Human Rights Act 1998 s.6(1) respectively. The purpose of s.55(5)(a) ...
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In October 2005 the House of Lords heard an appeal concerning the admissibility of evidence from third parties, which has or may have been obtained by foreign states through torture. One of the issues was whether Article 15 of the United Nations Conventions against Torture (which prohibits the admission of such evidence) has effect in English law and if so, on what basis.
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These two cases, both decided by HHJ Coulson QC, concerned the principles upon which indemnity costs will be awarded. It was held in both cases that conduct must be unreasonable to a high degree to justify an award of indemnity costs, but it need not involve morally condemnatory conduct. In the former case, it was held that in exceptional circumstances a refusal to mediate might justify an order for indemnity costs, but in that case the failure to mediate was not the result of any unreasonable ...
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Rylands v Fletcher: Cutting polystyrene blocks with a hot wire machine in factory premises constituted non-natural user of land for the strict liability of Rylands v Fletcher to apply. Further nuisance and negligence were established against the factory owners. Although the landlord was not negligent, it was liable for failing to meets its obligations under various deeds to provide proper support to the party wall by carrying out appropriate remedial works after the fire.
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Civil
This was an action by one of the vendors of a limited company against the purchasers. The contract between the parties was a Share Sale Agreement dated 22 August 1998. The vendors agreed to sell to the defenders the majority of the issued share capital of a limited company, Highland Marine Limited. They also agreed to procure the sale to the defenders of the balance of the issued share capital, owned by another party. In return, the defenders agreed to pay the price of £87,000 .The vendor sought ...
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In accordance with s.269 and Sch.21 CJA 2003 the D would serve a minimum of 40 years before being eligible for release on licence.
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R’s opening speech should not deal with the law save where there are issues of real complication and difficulty and the judge agrees the jury would be assisted by it. Convictions were quashed as being unsafe where the trial judge's attitude and conduct towards counsel for D had damaged D’s confidence in the administration of justice in her case and would similarly have damaged the perception of any reasonable observer present at the trial.
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The 5-year mandatory minimum sentence for certain firearms offences, expect in exceptional circumstances, should not be imposed if it would result in an arbitrary and disproportionate sentence.
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Under a section 4(a) POA 1986 charge, the criminal law should only be invoked if it was established that the conduct amounted to such a threat to public order to require the involvement of the criminal law, and not merely the civil law. The prosecution had to demonstrate that the prosecution was being brought in pursuance of a legitimate aim and was the minimum necessary to achieve that aim. The court had carefully to consider and to set out the reasons why it had reached the conclusion that the ...
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