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This Practice Note outlines the law concerning criminal recklessness. The subjective test for recklessness Certain statutory and common law offences allow the prosecution to prove mens rea through ‘recklessness’. Put simply, recklessness is where the accused takes an unjustified risk that results in unlawful harm or damage. The House of Lords in R v G reaffirmed the subjective approach to recklessness. Before R v G, two distinct tests were used, depending on the offence charged: Subjective recklessness from R v Cunningham: the prosecution had to establish that the accused personally foresaw the risk. Objective recklessness from R v Caldwell: the prosecution only needed to show that the risk would have been obvious to a reasonable person, without proving the accused themselves foresaw it. In R v G, the House of Lords concluded that the objective test could operate unfairly where a defendant did not foresee the
This Practice Note examines the remedy of rescission, explaining when and in what manner a contract can be unwound (at common law, in equity and under statute) and thereby terminated and brought to an end. It covers the consequences and effects of rescission, the principal grounds for setting aside an agreement (misrepresentation, mistake, undue influence, duress, non‑disclosure, fiduciary misdealing and bribery) and the main obstacles to claiming rescission—affirmation, the intervention of third‑party rights and the impossibility of restitution. For further guidance on rescission in the context of misrepresentation, see Practice Note: Misrepresentation—rescission as a remedy. There are many ways in which a contract may reach its end; see: Terminating contracts—how and when a contract ends—overview for a brief and accessible summary, with links to the related further practical guidance, including Practice Note: Termination and expiry of contracts. For a table
What is a res judicata? A res judicata is a determination by a court or tribunal with jurisdiction over the cause of action and the parties, which finally disposes of the issues decided so they cannot be litigated again by those bound, save on appeal. Final judgments entered by default or by consent fall within this concept, whereas rulings on purely procedural points and any decision lacking finality do not. The doctrine’s aim is to bring litigation to an end and shield parties from being harassed by the same dispute twice. in personam—binds the parties and their privies in rem—binds all persons, privy or otherwise (ie a judgment binding the whole world) A party may rely on res judicata: as an estoppel to defeat an opponent’s claim or defence; and/or as the basis of their own claim or
The offence of causing grievous bodily harm with intent Wounding or causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent can be tried solely in the Crown Court on indictment. Elements of the offence Under the Offences against the Person Act 1861 (OATPA 1861), the prosecution must establish that the defendant unlawfully and maliciously: wounded with the intention of causing GBH, or caused GBH with that intention, or wounded intending to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of any person, or caused GBH intending to resist or prevent the lawful arrest or detention of any person ‘Unlawfully’ and ‘maliciously’ Unlawfully The wounding or causing of GBH must be unlawful. Such conduct may be lawful if used: in self-defence in defence of another in defence of property for the prevention of crime where the victim gave express or implied consent For further information on these defences, see below:
Most recent Practice notes
Practice Note This Practice Note offers practical guidance on the current border controls between the United Kingdom and the European Union, along with the changes scheduled to commence on 1 January 2022. It covers customs declarations, the payment of customs duty and VAT, and sanitary and phytosanitary checks. Introduction In November 2021, the UK released its updated border operating model, explaining how the UK border functions in relation to the EU. The model was originally brought in on 1 January 2021 following the UK’s departure from the EU customs union. From that date, certain border controls were introduced. These were phased in to allow time to build and prepare the necessary infrastructure to support those controls. In December 2021, the UK further updated the border operating model to temporarily prolong staged customs controls for goods moving from the island of Ireland into Great Britain. This interim step was taken...
STOP PRESS: On 19 June 2025, the Data ( Use and Access) Bill obtained Royal Assent, becoming the Data ( Use and Access) Act 2025 ( DUAA 2025), with parts commencing that day. Provisions dealing with responses to data subject access requests, and the conferral of power to make further regulations, took immediate effect on 19 June 2025. Other measures-covering notices issued by the Information Commissioner and certain aspects of law enforcement processing-commenced on 19 August 2025, two months after Royal Assent. The majority of DUAA 2025’s remaining provisions will only begin once additional regulations are made in the form of statutory instruments. Part 5 of DUAA 2025 updates elements of UK data protection and e Privacy legislation, including the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 ( UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and...
Introduction This Practice Note provides an overview of the Competition and Markets Authority’s ( CMA) guidance on how the Chapter I prohibition in the Competition Act 1998 ( CA 1998) applies to horizontal agreements (the Horizontal Guidance). The Horizontal Guidance supersedes the European Commission Guidelines on Horizontal Cooperation Agreements, which no longer have effect in the UK. Where relevant, this Practice Note also signposts the Competition Act 1998 ( Vertical Agreements Block Exemption) Order 2022 ( VABEO) and the CMA’s guidance on that regime ( VABEO Guidance). NOTE- The Horizontal Guidance contains a high-level outline of the block exemptions for research and development ( R& D) and specialisation agreements, which took effect on 1 January 2023. These exemptions are only summarised in this Practice Note. Sustainability is excluded from the Horizontal Guidance; it is addressed in separate guidance and is not covered...
Advertising and marketing- Canada- Q& A guide [ Archived, 2021 edition] This Practice Note provides a Canada-specific Q& A on advertising and marketing, released within the Lexology Getting the Deal Through series by Law Business Research (published: November 2020). Authors: Miller Thomson LLP- Kelly Harris 1. What are the principal statutes regulating advertising generally? The Competition Act (the Act) is the chief federal law tackling false or misleading advertising and deceptive marketing. It bans public representations that are materially false or misleading. Such statements are reviewable under civil provisions and are likewise prohibited under the Act’s criminal provisions; these are the same, except the criminal offence demands a ‘knowing’ or ‘reckless’ state of mind. The Competition Bureau is the enforcement authority and may proceed along either the civil or criminal route when addressing misleading advertising. In practice, the Bureau reserves the criminal route for the most...
This Practice Note outlines the law on product liability and defective goods under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 ( CPA 1987). The Act places liability on producers of defective products. It examines what amounts to a defect for the purposes of the CPA 1987, which parties in the supply chain may face liability, the extent of that liability and any contributory negligence considerations, the categories of damages recoverable, and the defences available to a producer. It also reviews leading case law affecting the meaning of defect and the burden of liability under the CPA 1987, namely Wilkes v De Puy and Gee v De Puy, and notes plans for future reform in this field. Statutory framework CPA 1987 gave effect in UK law to Council Directive 85/374/ EEC on liability for defective products (the EU Product Liability Directive or EU PLD). Part I of the CPA 1987...
This Practice Note compiles a consolidated set of key United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 ( UK GDPR)-compliant precedent terms, clauses, provisions, schedules and agreements, which can be tailored for commercial dealings and personal data sharing contexts. It also contains certain schedules intended for matters where both the UK GDPR and the General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 ( EU GDPR) apply, tackling both regimes within one contract by adopting the highest common denominator of the two compliance frameworks. It is structured as follows: controller to processor data processing arrangements controller to controller data sharing arrangements clauses for international transfers Consult the relevant document for details on when each is intended to be used. For a broad primer on data protection law that gathers key practical guidance, see: UK data protection law...
This Practice Note examines supply chain sustainability within the wider landscape of sustainable procurement and environmental, social and governance ( ESG) performance, with a particular emphasis on private sector practice in the UK. It delivers practical direction on creating a supplier code of conduct and shaping a comprehensive UK supply chain sustainability programme that considers key matters including human rights, labour standards, environmental effects, corruption, deforestation, exposure to litigation, and risk management. Public procurement does not fall within the scope of this Practice Note. For further reading on central themes in supply chain sustainability—covering what it is, how companies can build a sustainable supply chain, which issues a supply chain sustainability programme should address, the risks of not doing so, and mitigation—see Practice Note: Supply chain sustainability—key themes. For information on supply chain sustainability in the EU, including more detail on EU...
Updated in April 2026 Introduction Türkiye has stood at the centre of international politics owing to its role in the Syrian conflict along its southern border and its approach to refugees. The coronavirus ( COVID-19) pandemic, as elsewhere, heavily influenced domestic policy and the economy. Disputes in the Mediterranean over the search for natural gas also stayed high on the agenda. Since the final quarter of 2018, the economy has endured recessionary conditions linked to the attempted coup d’état of 15 July 2016, marked by elevated inflation, costlier borrowing, and volatile exchange rates. Although economic projections were shaken in 2020 by the pandemic, Türkiye sought to blunt the fallout through the Economic Stability Shield programme unveiled on 18 March 2020, setting out nationwide supportive and preventative steps to lessen the economic damage, covering taxation, credit and labour-related matters. By late 2021, the Turkish lira had...
This Practice Note explores how far businesses established in England and Wales may stipulate that agreements with consumers located elsewhere in the UK are governed by, and/or fall within the courts of, England and Wales. It reviews the rules that select governing law and forum for both contractual and non-contractual liabilities in UK business-to-consumer ( B2C) arrangements. For these purposes, ‘consumer’ means an individual acting for reasons unconnected with their trade or profession. Brexit This Practice Note refers to retained EU law ( REUL) and related concepts introduced by the European Union ( Withdrawal) Act 2018 in the context of Brexit. From the end of 2023, REUL that continues in effect is termed ‘assimilated law’. Re-labelling REUL and linked terms as assimilated law signals a shift in status and treatment within UK law: it is, in general, read through ordinary domestic legal...
This resource kit This resource kit brings together the principal practical guidance available across Lexis+® UK on artificial intelligence ( AI). Organised by practice area, it is refreshed as new material appears. The rapid growth of AI technologies has led lawmakers, businesses and the public to focus more closely on the potential advantages and the risks that accompany AI use. AI gives rise to a range of legal and regulatory considerations across numerous disciplines, including: intellectual property ( IP) data protection and cybersecurity transactional work such as corporate and commercial employment healthcare and life sciences finance The UK government is developing an AI regulatory strategy that will determine how AI is governed here in future. In the EU, a legislative framework is being built to regulate AI, primarily via Regulation ( EU) 2024/1689 laying down harmonised rules on...
What is advertising (ad) fraud? Advertising (ad) fraud encompasses deceptive or unlawful activity across the advertising ecosystem, spanning scams served through adverts to technical ruses that overstate ad performance. It also covers scams delivered via adverts and technical schemes devised to inflate metrics such as impressions or clicks. As the Internet Advertising Bureau ( IAB) frames it, this includes the intentional creation of bogus—often non-human—traffic to siphon money from the advertising marketplace. Although it appears in many guises, it is typically characterised by bot-driven interactions, deliberate misrepresentation, or circumstances where adverts have a slim likelihood of being viewed by genuine people. Robust UK-specific figures are scarce; nevertheless, multiple global datasets indicate losses in the billions and rising swiftly. The consequences are felt by consumers as well as organisations operating within the advertising ecosystem. UK regulators have intensified their focus on ad fraud, with fresh...
Framework This Practice Note offers practical guidance on the UK competition law landscape for major online platforms, drawing principally on Part 1 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 ( DMCCA 2024). DMCCA 2024 secured Royal Assent on 24 May 2024, and the digital markets provisions discussed in this Practice Note, set out in DMCCA 2024, Pt 1, entered into force on 1 January 2025 by means of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 ( Commencement No 1 and Savings and Transitional Provisions) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/1226 (see: LNB News 28/11/2024 7). DMCCA 2024 introduced: a digital competition regime for digital markets in the UK ( Digital Competition Regime) reforms to the UK competition regime via amendments to the Competition Act 1998 ( CA 1998) and the Enterprise Act 2002 ( En A 2002) enhanced consumer...
This Practice Note discusses the key legal and commercial issues relevant to in-app purchases and consumer protection. It explores the context and key terms, outlines the present consumer protection regime covering in-app purchases, and also considers forthcoming changes, relevant non-binding industry guidance, and practical best practice suggestions for developers. Mobile applications now permeate daily life, mirroring the widespread adoption of smartphones, tablets and other portable computing devices. As usage has expanded, developers have increasingly sought to generate income from substantial user communities. Paying for content or functionality within apps—rather than, or alongside, paying for the app itself—has become the norm. However, developers have been criticised for not ensuring that in-app purchasing is sufficiently transparent or easy for consumers to understand and control. This Practice Note: Reviews the background and terminology from a UK consumer law perspective Sets out the current UK consumer...
All websites should be accessible, especially by people with disabilities. Website access is regulated by the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010) together with the Public Sector Bodies ( Websites and Mobile Applications) ( No 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 ( PSBAR), SI 2018/952. Those Regulations give effect to Directive ( EU) 2016/2102 (the EU Web Accessibility Directive) on making public sector bodies’ websites and mobile applications accessible to users. ( As EU‑derived domestic legislation, these Regulations sit within assimilated law and remain in force in the UK—see Practice Note: Assimilated law.) This Practice Note concentrates on UK-specific legislation and guidance relating to web accessibility across the sector. That said, organisations trading in both the EU and the UK should evaluate whether any additional or different compliance obligations may apply in their circumstances. In particular, they should note Directive ( EU) 2019/882 (the...
IP and online retail Building a digital shopfront—either alongside, or in place of, physical stores—opens access to a wider audience and makes services more convenient for customers. This Practice Note offers guidance on protecting IP in an online retail business, obtaining essential third-party rights, avoiding infringement of others’ rights, and enforcing IP against infringers. It addresses choosing a brand, creating an online retail website, running promotional activity, and dealing with suppliers, and also considers emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence ( AI) and the Metaverse. The key issues to consider include: Protecting IP used for retail services and planning effective enforcement. Securing the necessary third-party IP rights and permissions. Reducing the risk of infringing competitors’ rights and responding to infringements. Choosing a brand name When defining an online retail strategy, ensure you select a brand that serves as a clear badge of origin,...
This Practice Note serves as a horizon scanner tracking forthcoming developments in UK commercial law. It highlights diary dates, including projected timings where exact dates are unknown, and offers relevant commentary across: Legislation: Bills in progress Acts not yet in force, partly in force or introduced in stages Statutory Instruments in progress Case appeals: Supreme Court Other key developments: Consultations Calls for evidence Inquiries This scanner does not include past...
This Practice Note is a retrospective tracker cataloguing UK commercial law developments in 2026: legislation in force ( Acts and Statutory Instruments), judgments from the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, plus concluded consultations, calls for evidence and inquiries. Earlier coverage can be found in 2025 [ Archived], 2024 [ Archived], 2023 [ Archived] and 2022 [ Archived]. It is designed to sit alongside, and complement, Practice Note: Commercial—horizon scanner, which monitors forthcoming changes, including Bills and Statutory Instruments still in progress. Once a date on the Horizon Scanner has elapsed, the entry is transferred here for the record. This tracker comprises: Legislation Acts in force Statutory instruments in force Cases Supreme Court ...
Practice Note: Consumer Rights Act 2015—services This Practice Note reviews the Consumer Rights Act 2015 ( CRA 2015) insofar as it concerns services, and outlines consumers’ statutory entitlements under the CRA 2015 in relation to contracts for services. It also examines the standards applicable to the provision of services and the consumer remedies where services are non-conforming. For a general overview of the CRA 2015, including definitions of key terms such as ‘consumer’ and ‘trader’, see Practice Note: Consumer Rights Act 2015—summary. For consideration of how the CRA 2015 applies to goods, digital content and unfair terms, see Practice Notes as follows: Consumer Rights Act 2015—goods Consumer Rights Act 2015—digital content Consumer Rights Act 2015—unfair terms Helpful guidance on the CRA 2015’s application to services has been produced by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute ( CTSI Guidance) and the Department for Business, Energy &...
IP rights must be actively safeguarded and enforced to preserve their value. This Practice Note explores the enforcement of your IP rights. It outlines why prevention, surveillance and the gathering of infringement evidence matter, before setting out practical options for responding to an infringement. For guidance on protecting IP, see Practice Note: How to protect your IP. For fuller guidance on disputes, see Practice Note: How to run an IP dispute. What is IP infringement? When IP rights are breached, this is commonly called IP infringement. It arises where protected products, works or inventions are exploited, copied or otherwise used without the right holder’s permission or consent. Most infringements are civil matters; however, some conduct can amount to a criminal offence. Criminal IP offences usually involve dealing in fake branded (ie counterfeit) or pirated products. For more detail, see Practice Notes: Trade mark offences and...
This Practice Note monitors the development of UK legislation brought forward under the legislative programme linked to the UK’s departure from the EU. It also features a Brexit SI database that compiles details of both draft and made secondary legislation related to Brexit. Quick links Use the links below to go directly to the relevant section or tracker. Practice area trackers Follow the links below for trackers focused on Brexit legislation across specific practice areas: Commercial Corporate Crime Dispute Resolution Employment Energy Environment Financial Services Information Law Intellectual Property Life Sciences Local Government Pensions Property R& I Tax For further updates and guidance tailored to individual practice areas, see: Brexit collection......
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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