Featured documents
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
This Practice Note outlines the principal features of the EU Regulation on reporting and transparency of securities financing transactions ( Regulation ( EU) 2015/2365) ( EU SFTR), together with the Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2015/2365 ( UK SFTR). What is the purpose of the EU SFTR and UK SFTR? As at IP completion day (31 December 2020), the onshored UK SFTR (and the corresponding onshored technical standards) applies in the United Kingdom. The EU SFTR and UK SFTR frameworks are designed to bolster transparency in securities financing transactions ( SFTs) and their reuse. They place duties on counterparties to report SFTs to trade repositories. They also require advance risk disclosures and written consent before assets are reused under a collateral arrangement. Any divergences between the EU and UK regimes are identified in the relevant sections of this Practice Note. Key requirements of the EU SFTR and the UK...
STOP PRESS: On 19 June 2025 the Data ( Use and Access) Bill secured Royal Assent, was enacted as the Data ( Use and Access) Act 2025 ( DUAA 2025), and took partial effect immediately. Provisions dealing with, among other things, handling data subject access requests and granting powers to make further regulations commenced on 19 June 2025. Measures relating to Information Commissioner notices and elements of law enforcement processing started on 19 August 2025, two months after Royal Assent. Most of the Act still awaits commencement via additional statutory instruments. Parts 5 and 6 update elements of UK data protection and e Privacy law, touching the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation, Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679 ( UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the Privacy and Electronic Communications ( EC Directive) Regulations 2003, SI 2003/2426. Most Part 5 measures are...
FORTHCOMING CHANGE 1: Under section 10 of the Finance Act 2022, the normal minimum pension age ( NMPA) is set to rise from 55 to 57 on 6 April 2028, excluding members of the firefighters, police and armed forces public service pension schemes. The Act will also grant members of registered pension schemes a right to take benefits before 57 if, on or before 4 November 2021, they either possessed an ‘unqualified right’ to take benefits, or were in the course of a substantive transfer to a scheme that, by 4 November 2021, offered an unqualified right to a protected pension age below 57. To make use of this 2028 protection, the scheme’s rules must have included, as at 11 February 2021, an unqualified right to draw scheme benefits before age 57. For further detail, see Practice Note: Increasing the normal minimum pension age ( NMPA) to...
ARCHIVED This archived Practice Note reviews an earlier form of personal pension—the retirement annuity contract—and sets out how it contrasts with today’s personal pension arrangements. For further information on personal pension schemes, see Types of personal pension schemes—overview. Personal pension schemes—central role in private pensions sector Personal pensions, in their different guises, occupy a central place in the UK private pensions landscape today. Launched on 1 July 1988, they provide notable flexibility, being open to: employees (with employers allowed to pay in and obtain the tax relief without a tax charge arising for the employee) the self-employed (and, to a degree, individuals with no earnings) Retirement Annuity Contracts—background and aims However, personal pension schemes were preceded by another type—the Retirement Annuity Contract ( RAC). Since the introduction of personal pensions on 1 July 1988, no fresh RACs can be established, but RACs set up before that date may...
Retained EU Law ( Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 The Retained EU Law ( Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 ( REUL( RR) A 2023) overhauls the framework set by the European Union ( Withdrawal) Act 2018 ( EU( W) A 2018). It has a marked effect on the status and treatment of what had been retained EU law ( REUL); from 1 January 2024, by virtue of the Act, this is recognised as assimilated law. The legislation also confers a broad set of powers enabling the further amendment, repeal, and substitution of assimilated law over time. REUL( RR) A 2023 came into force in part on 29 June 2023, with additional provisions taking effect on 29 August 2023, and the remaining elements commencing on appointment. It was brought into force on 1 January 2024, save for section 6 ( Role of courts). For...
This Practice Note explores the principal regulatory obligations and matters that surface when the authorised corporate director ( ACD) of an open-ended investment company ( OEIC) is replaced. It addresses background on OEICs and ACDs, scenarios that may prompt an ACD change, practical points for dismissing an ACD, and the core steps and timescales for altering an OEIC’s ACD, including procedure and timing considerations in practice. Background to OEICs and ACDs An OEIC is a corporate investment fund, defined in section 236 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( FSMA 2000), and is formally established and constituted by means of an instrument of incorporation. OEICs are designed to diversify investment risk and deliver to investors the advantages of professional investment management as a feature......
Background to the regulated activities relating to benchmarks Benchmarks play a crucial role in pricing numerous financial instruments and in commercial and non-commercial contracts. After reports of manipulation involving benchmarks such as the London Interbank Offered Rate ( LIBOR), there were widespread doubts about the overall integrity of benchmarks. In 2009, amid ongoing concerns about how LIBOR operated, the Financial Services Authority ( FSA), working with other overseas regulators, began investigating a number of institutions for alleged misconduct linked to LIBOR, the Euro Inter- Bank Offered Rate ( EURIBOR) and other benchmarks. As part of the response to these investigations, in July 2012 the UK Government set up an independent review into the setting and use of LIBOR. The review was led by Martin Wheatley, then managing director of the FSA and former CEO of the FSA’s successor, the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA). The...
The diagram below sets out the regulatory structure that exists in the UK for financial services Showing the roles of the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulatory Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Payment Systems Regulator and the Financial Policy Committee, and how they interact with each other. Click here to see or print full-size PDF version:......
This Practice Note reviews the statutory and regulatory framework for UK trading venues, covering the recognised investment exchange ( RIE) regime and pertinent elements of Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 600/2014 ( UK Mi FIR) plus the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) Handbook. In the UK, oversight of regulated markets ( RMs) operates via the RIE regime, first set up under the Financial Services Act 1986 ( FSA 1986) and subsequently revised by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( FSMA 2000). The recognition framework and duties for investment exchanges appear in FSMA 2000, Part XVIII, and in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( Recognition Requirements for Investment Exchanges and Clearing Houses) Regulations 2001, SI 2001/995, as amended (the Recognition Requirements Regulations). For further detail on the RIE regime, see Practice Note: Recognised investment...
Background to the regulation of home finance transactions The regulation of home finance transactions developed in stages. In 2000, HM Treasury signalled its plan to bring mortgage lenders within scope, and in December 2001 it refined those plans to include mortgage intermediaries. On 31 October 2004—commonly known as M Day—both lenders and intermediaries involved in regulated mortgage contracts ( RMCs) came under regulation... Thereafter, the Regulation of Financial Services ( Land Transactions) Act 2005 was enacted. This empowered the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA), and before it the Financial Services Authority, to regulate activities comparable to those already overseen for RMCs, but where the provider acquires land rather than simply supplying finance for a homeowner’s purchase. As a consequence, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( Regulated Activities) Order 2001 ( RAO) SI 2001/544 has been amended on two...
Background to the regulation of home finance transactions The regulation of home finance transactions developed over a series of milestones. On 31 October 2004—known as M Day—lenders and intermediaries involved with regulated mortgage contracts ( RMCs) first became subject to regulation. Subsequently, the Regulation of Financial Services ( Land Transactions) Act 2005 gave the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA), and before it the Financial Services Authority, powers to regulate activities comparable to those already covered for RMCs, but where the provider acquires land rather than simply supplying funds for a homeowner’s purchase. A 2006 amendment order ( SI 2006/2383), effective from 6 April 2007, brought home reversion plans ( HRPs) and home purchase plans ( HPPs) within the scope of regulation. HRPs are arrangements in which a provider buys an interest in a homeowner’s property and permits the homeowner to continue living in that...
FSMA 2000 activities and investments Under section 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( FSMA 2000), no one may carry on a regulated activity in the UK by way of business, or hold themselves out as doing so, unless authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority ( PRA) and/or the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA), or is an exempt person. For FSMA 2000, s 22, a regulated activity is a specified form of activity undertaken by way of business in the UK that relates to a specified investment or, depending on the activity, ‘property of any kind’. Activities and investments become ‘specified’ where they are designated in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( Regulated Activities) Order 2001, SI 2001/544 (as amended) ( RAO). For further detail on the general prohibition in FSMA 2000, s 19, its...
This FLASHCARD is designed to help you take in and retrieve the essential points on the recognition of UK central counterparties ( CCPs) under Regulation ( EU) 648/2012 ( EU EMIR). How did Brexit affect the EU market for clearing services? Before Brexit, three UK CCPs— London Clearing House ( LCH), LME Clear and ICE Clear Europe—held a dominant role in the EU market for derivatives clearing. As at June 2017, it was estimated that UK CCPs cleared roughly 90% of euro-denominated interest rate swaps for euro area counterparties, and 40% of their euro-denominated credit default swaps. When the implementation period ended on 31 December 2020, UK CCPs were no longer under EU supervision and became third country CCPs for the purposes of EU EMIR. Article 25(1) of EU EMIR provides that a......
Public censures The Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority ( PRA) hold disciplinary and enforcement powers to publicly censure individuals and firms that have breached requirements under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( FSMA 2000), rules made by the FCA or PRA, or other applicable legislation. The Bank of England also possesses censure powers under FSMA 2000. Public censures help regulators highlight standards and principles, influence the subject’s behaviour, and deter others from similar misconduct. The regulators view public censures as a useful disciplinary measure where appropriate. They have applied them where a financial penalty would result in serious financial hardship, and where the subject has taken substantial, proactive steps to remedy breaches and tackle consumer harm. A public censure may also be issued alongside other enforcement or disciplinary actions, such as a prohibition order. This Practice Note...
This Practice Note examines the Bank of England ( Bo E) and the Prudential Regulation Authority ( PRA)’s supervisory expectations for banks and insurers in managing climate‑related financial risks, as articulated in supervisory statement SS3/19 (updated November 2024), alongside the related policy statement PS11/19. Background and introduction On 15 April 2019, the PRA issued PS11/19: Enhancing banks’ and insurers’ approaches to managing the financial risks from climate change, which summarised responses to consultation paper CP23/18 and included the final SS3/19 setting out the PRA’s expectations. The PRA observed that climate change, and society’s response to it, generate financial risks relevant to its objectives and, although such risks may fully emerge over longer horizons, they are already starting to be seen. SS3/19 set the expectation that firms take a strategic approach to climate‑related risk management, identifying present exposures and plausible future risks, and...
The PRA's strategy Up to 1 March 2017, the Prudential Regulation Authority ( PRA) functioned as a subsidiary of the Bank of England ( Bo E). From that date it continued its remit by operating through the Bank’s Prudential Regulation Committee ( PRC). HM Treasury issued recommendations to the PRC on elements of the government’s economic policy that the PRC should take into account when conducting its work. HM Treasury can also direct the Bank to take steps to deliver the UK’s obligations under the Capital Requirements Directive IV and the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive, and to avoid steps that would conflict with those obligations. The PRA’s subsidiary status came to an end via the Bank of England and Financial Services Act 2016 ( Commencement No. 4 and Saving Provision) Regulations 2017, dated 20 January 2017. Those Regulations commenced specified provisions of the Bank of...
The general objective of the Prudential Regulation Authority ( PRA) is to promote the safety and soundness of the firms it regulates. It achieves its aims primarily by seeking: to see that the business of PRA regulated firms is conducted to avoid an adverse effect—namely any disruption to continuity—on the stability of the financial system; and to reduce to a minimum the adverse effect that any failure (for example, insolvency) of a PRA regulated firm could have on that stability This Practice Note considers how the PRA evaluates the risks that PRA regulated firms pose to the UK financial system. It complements a range of Practice Notes in Lexis+® UK, including: Prudential Regulation Authority—supervisory approach—deposit-takers, Prudential Regulation Authority— Proactive Intervention Framework, and Prudential Regulation Authority—designation of investment firms. The PRA is charged with the prudential regulation of...
ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived; it is no longer maintained and is supplied for background reference only. For further information concerning the Prospectus Regulation, please see the Practice Note titled The UK Prospectus Regulation—essentials [ Archived]. Introduction to the Prospectus Regulation and Prospectus Directive comparison and analysis The Prospectus Regulation ( EU) 2017/1129 ( PR) was released in the Official Journal ( OJ) of the European Union ( EU) on 30 June 2017, with certain elements coming into legal effect on 20 July......
BREXIT: From 31 January 2020, the UK ceased to be an EU Member State, yet entered an implementation period in which, for many purposes, the EU continues to treat it as a Member State. As a third country, the UK no longer takes part in the EU’s political institutions, agencies, offices, bodies or governance structures (save to the limited extent agreed); however, it must still observe its obligations under EU law (covering EU treaties, legislation, principles and international agreements) and accept the continuing jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union in line with the transitional arrangements in Part 4 of the Withdrawal Agreement. This affects this Practice Note. Further reading: Brexit—introduction to the Withdrawal Agreement. Guidance: Practice Note: Brexit—impact on finance transactions [ Archived]— Brexit planning and impact—key issues for debt capital markets...
Money laundering offences—an introduction Money laundering describes the disguising of criminal proceeds as assets that seem legitimately derived, enabling permanent retention or their channelling back into further unlawful ventures. It follows a prior acquisitive offence (the predicate crime), with the profits processed either by the offender or by another acting for them. The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ( POCA 2002) creates the core laundering offences, discussed in greater depth below. Liability can also arise for those who, within the anti-money laundering framework, fail to identify, discourage, stop or disclose substantive laundering activity. These failures are criminalised under POCA 2002 and through secondary legislation. For further detail, see Practice Note: Money laundering offences—failure to disclose offences and Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing offences—overview. Corporate criminal liability extends to organisations where the wrongdoing is committed by a body corporate, a...
Popular documents
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 ]...
Discover more from LexisNexis
