Restraint orders meaning

Appointment of Receivers The Crown Court may, on the prosecutor’s application, appoint a receiver over a defendant’s realisable property where a confiscation order remains unsatisfied and is not under appeal. The court may grant the receiver the following powers in respect of that realisable property: power to take possession of the property power to manage or otherwise deal with the property, after hearing representations from those holding it power to realise the property, in such manner as the court directs, after hearing representations from those holding it power to commence, continue or defend any legal proceedings concerning the property Where the defendant’s realisable interest in the property is in dispute, it is not required that the property be shown to be the defendant’s proven realisable property (see eg Re Smith)...

In this issue Key DR developments Claims and remedies Costs and funding Litigation Applications—general Evidence and disclosure Appeals New content Dates for your diary Useful information Daily and weekly news alerts Key DR developments CPR Committee minutes Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting—6 June 2025: The Civil Procedure Rule Committee met on 6 June 2025 in a hybrid session at The Rolls Building (Royal Courts of Justice) and via video conference. The minutes confirm a forthcoming CPR 51 pilot enabling non-parties to obtain court documents, arising from the Supreme Court ruling in Cape Intermediate Holdings Ltd v Dring [2019] UKSC 38. They also record approved amendments to the e‑working pilot, progressing towards a permanent electronic filing system as part of ongoing court modernisation. Further topics included summary assessment of costs, arbitration updates, disclosure, civil restraint orders, closed material procedures, judicial review reforms for infrastructure projects, whiplash reforms, digital services and other procedural...

Umbrella Care Ltd (in liquidation) v Raja; Brittain and another v Raja (a bankrupt) [2024] EWHC 1973 (Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? Insolvency practitioners, acting in varied capacities—here as liquidator of a collapsed company and as trustee in bankruptcy of the director who committed fraud on HMRC via that company—regularly encounter serious non-cooperation. Where the obstruction is acute and there is a genuine risk the respondent may abscond and not return, the court can: Order the respondent’s arrest Impose restrictions preventing departure from the jurisdiction Direct that the respondent’s passport be held by the applicant’s solicitors until issues are concluded This delivers a clear warning to those obliged to assist IPs and obey court orders—engage fully or risk losing the ability to travel overseas. However, the character and persistence of the non-cooperation are decisive. If there is no live court process that a passport order would genuinely support, this most stringent remedy is unlikely to be...

Taiwo v Homelets of Bath Ltd [2025] EWHC 3173 (KB) What are the practical implications of this case? For the purposes of CJCA 2015, s 57, a claim seeking damages for anxiety stemming from harassment under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 is to be treated as a personal injury claim. Consequently, where such a claim is held to be fundamentally dishonest, it must be dismissed unless the court is persuaded that dismissal would lead to substantial injustice. Where fundamental dishonesty is established, the court may: dismiss the whole claim, including components to which no dishonesty is attributed award indemnity costs disapply QOCS protection in respect of enforcement make adverse costs orders for hopeless or abusive appeal conduct The judgment also underlines that persisting with meritless grounds of appeal, particularly in an undisciplined fashion involving repeated applications and iterative documents, can warrant both adverse costs orders and the imposition of a civil restraint order. Finally, lawyers who provide...

This Practice Note explores in detail how restraint orders, confiscation proceedings and compensation orders are deployed in private prosecutions. Restraint orders in private prosecution proceedings For an overarching guide to the operation, mechanics and effect of restraint orders in general, see: Restraint and confiscation—overview. A restraint order operates to freeze property and to preserve a defendant’s assets so that they remain available to meet any confiscation order imposed following a successful prosecution and conviction. For further background, see Practice Note: Restraint orders—What is a restraint order? Applications seeking restraint orders are made in the Crown Court under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002) and can be pursued before any arrest has occurred and/or before proceedings have commenced (commonly described as pre-charge restraint orders), or later within an investigation or prosecution, including post conviction. POCA 2002, s 40 identifies five circumstances in which the Crown Court may make a restraint order. For additional information, see Practice Note: Restraint orders—Conditions for the grant of a restraint order and...

This Practice Note sets out what a civil restraint order (CRO) is and when the court may make one under the Family Procedure Rules 2010 (FPR 2010), SI 2010/2955, 4.8 and FPR 2010, PD 4B. It focuses on general civil restraint orders (GCROs), covering who may apply, their effect and how long they last (including how they can be extended or continued). It also addresses matters relevant to a party bound by a GCRO, such as seeking permission to amend or discharge the order and the consequences of breaching it... Civil restraint orders in family proceedings A CRO is not intended to bar access to the courts; rather, it safeguards the integrity of the court’s process by filtering applications made by litigants who are subject to a CRO. In short, applications that fall within the scope of an existing CRO must be considered by the judge specified in the order before they may proceed...

This Practice Note summarises the confiscation regime set out in the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002), together with the changes introduced by Schedule 8 to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA 2023), insofar as it operates in Scotland. Schedule 8 amended the Proceeds of Crime Act 2022 to make provisions in connection with cryptoassets and confiscation orders. Those amendments have not yet been brought into force. Introduction to Scottish confiscation law and procedure Confiscation is the mechanism by which, after conviction, an offender’s financial gain from offending is taken away. The POCA 2002 confiscation provisions are designed to facilitate the recovery and seizure of the proceeds of crime in order to: disincentivise criminal activity, and prevent offenders from retaining the proceeds of crime following conviction This Practice Note addresses the Scottish confiscation process and procedure. For the parallel provisions in England and Wales, see the subtopic: Restraint and Confiscation. A confiscation order requires...

1 Introduction 1.1 We operate procedures requiring colleagues to escalate any awareness or suspicion of money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, bribery, corruption, sanctions breaches, tax evasion, etc to [ insert, eg the nominated officer ] (see section 3 for further detail). In defined circumstances they must then notify the National Crime Agency (NCA) by submitting a suspicious activity report (SAR) or, depending on the nature of the report, to another agency via the appropriate channels. 1.2 The NCA assigns those SARs to specialist financial crime investigation officers for further enquiry. Intelligence from SARs may then be shared by the NCA with other law enforcement or government agencies (LEAs), which may require additional information. This is a financial crime investigation. 1.3 Where further information is needed from us following a SAR, it will typically be obtained through enforcement action (most often a production order) by an LEA. 1.4 This document outlines our internal procedure for dealing with financial crime investigations and enforcement actions. It sets...