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Introduction to statutory interpretation The aim of statutory interpretation is to determine the legal meaning of a statute, that is, the sense that expresses the legislator’s intention. The clearest guide to that intention is the statutory wording itself, read in its context and with its overall purpose in mind, and its broader legislative setting. Courts should seek to fulfil the purpose of legislation by construing its language, so far as they can, in the manner that most effectively serves that purpose. Put differently, the courts’ default method is purposive, and every enactment is to be construed with that end in view. There is a starting presumption that the grammatical and ordinary sense of an enactment reflects the meaning intended by the legislator. Where an enactment reasonably bears only a single meaning, and no other interpretative tools or
This Practice Note addresses identifying a fiduciary, fiduciary duties and obligations, the no conflict rule, the no profit rule, a fiduciary's duty of confidence, and the remedies available for breach of fiduciary duty. Who is a fiduciary? There is no definitive catalogue of relationships that give rise to fiduciary obligations at common law in every situation universally. Certain relationships are inherently fiduciary, eg trustee and beneficiary, solicitor and client, principal and agent, business partner and co-partners, together with mortgagor and mortgagee. The obligations of some fiduciaries have been set out in statute; for instance, trustees owe a statutory duty of skill and care under section 1 of the Trustee Act 2000 (TrA 2000), and directors' relationships with their companies are addressed in the Companies Act 2006 too. For guidance on directors' fiduciary duties, see Practice Note: of directors for further detailed
Definition of ADR Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is defined in the CPR Glossary as a collective label for methods of settling disputes other than through the usual trial process. Some courts adopt the term ‘negotiated dispute resolution’ (NDR) to describe resolution by alternative means; for ease, this Practice Note uses ADR. For guidance on how ADR is addressed in the various court guides, see Practice Note: ADR and NDR in the court guides. In essence, ADR is a means of resolving a dispute outside the court system. It typically involves a neutral third party who either helps the parties reach a negotiated outcome, or issues a determination of the dispute that is legally binding. A binding result can follow where the agreement to refer the dispute to ADR so provides. There are multiple forms of ADR processes. For an outline of the different types and their
In brief The British constitution is uncodified, meaning it does not spring from a single constitutional document or code. It draws on a wide range of written and unwritten sources. Alongside the principal written sources of law in England and Wales—legislation (which has also introduced international and human rights principles into our constitution) and the common law—the constitution also rests on two further unwritten bases within this system: the prerogative, and non-legal constitutional conventions. In addition, on one view the basic or prevailing principle of our constitution, Parliamentary sovereignty, is ultimately grounded in political fact rather than in law. Legislation Legislation is the foremost source of constitutional law. Acts of Parliament may set out detailed constitutional rules, or even pass authority to create them to ministers or to others. Under the doctrine of Parliamentary sovereignty, legislation is traditionally regarded as taking precedence over any other form or kind of
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This Practice Note This Practice Note examines the overriding objective that must be applied in public law children cases, notably care proceedings under the Children Act 1989 ( Ch A 1989), to ensure matters are resolved fairly with welfare considerations to the fore and with proper regard to welfare issues. It details the court’s obligations to advance that overriding objective and the general approach in children litigation, alongside the duties of the parties and of legal representatives. It also offers guidance on when a judge should step aside. From 22 April 2014, the Public Law Outline ( PLO) governing care, supervision, and other proceedings under Ch A 1989, Pt IV took effect pursuant to the Family Procedure Rules 2010 ( FPR 2010), via FPR 2010, PD 12A. See Practice Note: Public law children procedure— Public Law Outline for practical guidance on the PLO. In 2014, the...
This Practice Note explains how to complete Precedent H (costs budget), the prescribed form for setting out a party’s budgeted costs under CPR 3 and CPR PD 3D. Except in exceptional circumstances, parties are expected to submit only Precedent H and the budget discussion report ( Precedent R). Where the claim is worth less than £50,000, or the costs sought are under £25,000, only the first page of Precedent H must be completed. It should be read alongside Practice Note: Cost budgets—form, content and practical considerations. This Note provides assistance with completing Precedent H, the court form that records a costs budget... Which CPR provisions apply? CPR 3 and CPR PD 3D apply... What is Precedent H? Precedent H is the court form setting out a costs budget. Unless the court orders otherwise......
Where a provision within the Companies Acts permits or obliges documents or information to be delivered or supplied to a body corporate (however phrased), the individual sending or supplying it must observe sections 1144–1148 and Schedule 4 of the Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006), which set out the company communications provisions. The Companies Acts are defined in CA 2006, s 2, and include CA 2006 itself, save for ss 1182–1283. For the purposes of the company communications provisions, any reference to a document extends to a summons, notice, order, other legal process, or register. The company communications provisions are subject to any requirements imposed, or inconsistent provision made, by or under any enactment. Nevertheless, such a provision is not to be treated as inconsistent with the company communications provisions simply because it expressly authorises a document or information to be sent or...
This Practice Note outlines the scheme for transferring tenancies following relationship breakdown under Schedule 7 to the Family Law Act 1996 ( FLA 1996), applying to those who are or have been spouses/civil partners and to former cohabitants. It identifies the kinds of tenancies caught by the legislation, the circumstances in which the court may make an order, and the principles it applies when deciding an application. The Practice Note further addresses the consequences of the orders available, how these interact with home rights, and the transfer of tenancies via a property adjustment order under section 24 of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 ( MCA 1973) and the corresponding provision in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 ( CPA 2004), together with Schedule 1 to the Children Act 1989 ( Ch A 1989). For practical guidance on procedural issues, see Practice Note:...
Note: the Swiss cases referred to below are not reported by Lexis Nexis®. Introduction and the Structure of this Note The question of immunity arises most often in relation to diplomats, and also consular officials and employees. Immunity is enjoyed by foreign states; numerous intergovernmental and international organisations under headquarters agreements with the Swiss Confederation; the assets of foreign central banks; and state cultural property, whether brought to Switzerland with or without a return guarantee. No immunity applies to foreign state-owned enterprises or to ordinary foreign state-owned banks. Immunity operates solely as a shield. Where an individual, entity, or state benefits from it, the host state may neither exercise jurisdiction over them nor enforce against their assets. Nevertheless, they remain part of legal life and may choose to participate in legal transactions within this forum. Swiss law, like most systems,...
This Practice Note examines the use of expedited (or fast-track) arbitration procedures pursuant to the London Court of International Arbitration ( LCIA) Arbitration Rules 2020 (the LCIA Rules), effective from 1 October 2020. The LCIA does not presently provide a fast-track variant within the LCIA Arbitration Rules. Even so, parties are free to embed a bespoke fast-track process in (i) an arbitration clause; or (ii) a submission agreement concluded before, or upon, commencing an LCIA arbitration. For practical guidance on arbitrations conducted pursuant to the LCIA Rules 2020 and 2014, please refer to the relevant Practice Notes here: LCIA arbitration—overview. For guidance on the general subject of expedited (aka fast-track) arbitration, see Practice Note: Expedited (aka fast-track) arbitration. Fast-track arbitration procedure under the LCIA Rules Expedited arbitration regimes typically supply users with a non-exhaustive suite of procedural tools aimed at ensuring the...
CASE HUB ARCHIVED This archived case hub reflects the position as at the judgment of 7 December 2022; it is no longer maintained. See further, timeline. Case facts Outline Appeal before the General Court seeking annulment of the Commission’s readopted infringement decision of 17 December 2020, which imposed a reduced fine amounting to €9.4m ( AT.39563). Latest development On 7 December 2022, the General Court delivered its judgment and dismissed the appeal in full. In particular, it found that: (i) CCPL grasped the Commission’s reasoning, and the material presented by CCPL was insufficient to overturn the presumption applied by the Commission that CCPL exercised decisive influence over entities within the CCPL group; and (iii) the Commission did not err in concluding that a fine reduction can only be warranted by the aim of preventing the undertaking’s economic viability from being irreparably endangered and its assets stripped of value, so the...
This Practice Note contains a spreadsheet, collating detailed data breach examples provided by UK and European regulators, ie: ICO, Personal data breaches: a guide EDPB, Guidelines 01/2021 on Examples regarding Personal Data Breach Notification The spreadsheet can be consulted to help you judge whether specific kinds of data breach should be reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office ( ICO) and/or to affected data subjects; nonetheless, you must always undertake your own assessment of any breach that occurs within your organisation. The reporting threshold for the ICO is lower than the threshold for notifying data subjects—this is outlined below and also indicated via notes within the relevant spreadsheet columns. The examples are set out as detailed scenarios, which are......
What is repo? A repo, the market shorthand for a 'repurchase transaction', is an arrangement whereby one party (the seller) sells an asset to another (the buyer) with a simultaneous contractual undertaking that the seller will repurchase the asset from the buyer on a future date for a specified price agreed between both parties in advance. Any asset capable of being transferred from one person to another may, in principle, be the subject of a repo transaction. The assets most commonly used in repos are debt securities (bonds), equity securities (shares) and other financial assets, including loans and commodities. However, commodity repos can raise distinctive documentary, structural and legal issues, which are not addressed in this Practice Note. For guidance on commodity repos, see Practice Note: Commodity repo transactions and true sale considerations......
This Practice Note on economic torts This note summarises, at a high level, the key differences when pursuing claims for lawful means conspiracy, unlawful means conspiracy, the tort of unlawful interference, and procuring a breach of contract. Practice Notes: Civil conspiracy claims (economic tort) Lawful means conspiracy (civil action) Unlawful means conspiracy (civil action) Economic tort of unlawful interference The tort of procuring a breach of contract Closely connected to procuring a breach of contract is the so‑called ‘ Marex tort’, a cause of action founded on an alleged deliberate infringement by the defendant of the claimant’s rights in a judgment debt; see Practice Note: The Marex tort (interference with a judgment debt). These claims may (though need not) involve a fiduciary or agent, including company directors. For further guidance, see: Claims against directors—key...
Introduction This Practice Note sets out an overview of flooding matters that can arise in property transactions. It is intended to equip clients to check flood risk at a property and to weigh the key points when buying or selling. For material on heightened flood risk, climate change and the solicitors’ duty to warn clients about climate-related risks, see News Analysis: The legal duty to advise and warn about climate risk—developments for property lawyers. The Law Society of England and Wales has issued an updated practice note entitled ‘ Climate Change and Property’. That guidance expresses the Law Society’s view of sound professional practice on climate-related risks in property work, highlighting physical, transition and liability risks as potentially relevant. It recommends that solicitors, acting within the scope of their instructions and competence, consider whether to bring such risks to clients’ attention and suggest...
THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES TO OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES This Practice Note cites decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union and refers to its case law. For direction on whether EU judgments bind UK courts, see Practice Note: Assimilated law — Assimilated case law. Amending the amendment power Efforts to expand (or limit) a scheme’s amendment power are often legally precarious and may later be attacked as an improper use of the scheme’s own amendment power. They can also risk eroding the very objective of having an amendment power in the first place. Ability to amend the power of amendment At its core, the amendment power may only be modified—whether by imposing or removing restrictions—where the power itself authorises that outcome. The amendment power must be exercised only for the purpose for which it was bestowed......
All lending arrangements rely upon the borrower’s solvency and its capacity to meet its financial obligations under the arrangement. A receivables financing facility follows exactly the same principle too......
This Practice Note outlines what a statutory demand is and what it is intended to achieve in corporate and personal insolvency, assuming the debtor is located in England and Wales. The statutory demand—the general position A statutory demand (in both corporate and personal contexts) is a formal request for a debt—either immediately payable or due at a specified future time—served on the debtor by one or more of their creditors. Across both regimes, if the debtor, within 21 days of service, does not pay the sum, does not satisfy it or provide security to the creditor’s satisfaction, or does not take the proper steps to stop the creditor acting further upon it, a presumption of insolvency arises on an inability to pay basis in respect of the debtor. Where the debtor is an individual, an unanswered statutory demand supplies a creditor with one of only two bases on which a...
Practice Note This Practice Note summarises the principal requirements and considerations surrounding disciplinary and grievance procedures in broad terms. It explains the advantages of carefully drafted, written procedures for discipline and grievances. It addresses the obligation to include specified information about these procedures in written statements of particulars, the core principles underpinning them, the effect of the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures, and the statutory right to be accompanied. It also examines the use of disciplinary warnings, contractual issues where procedures are binding terms, and the implications of the right to a fair hearing under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights ( ECHR). Many employers maintain their own processes for managing discipline or enabling staff to raise grievances, commonly set out in employee handbooks or staff manuals, and in some organisations made available by other means, for...
Company voluntary arrangement ( CVA) A company voluntary arrangement ( CVA) is a binding contract between a company and its creditors. A CVA proposal must include one or both of the following: paying a lump sum instead of a larger debt or other obligation; and/or providing for less than the full release or discharge of creditors’ debts However, a CVA cannot be used to change the rights of secured creditors, or to alter a preferential creditor’s priority, unless the affected creditors agree. For any CVA put forward within 12 weeks of the end of a moratorium under the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 ( CIGA 2020), the holders of any unpaid moratorium debts and priority pre‑moratorium debts effectively have a veto: neither the company nor the creditors may approve the CVA unless those debts are paid in full, unless the creditors consent; CIGA 2020, Sch 3,...
Arbitration under the Abu Dhabi Commercial Conciliation & Arbitration Centre ( ADCCAC) Where an arbitration clause designates the ADCCAC, the proceedings are governed by its Procedural Regulations of Arbitration 2013 (the 2013 Regulations). This Practice Note relies on the ‘official’ English text of the 2013 Regulations. Translation inconsistencies exist between Arabic and English regarding whether terms are mandatory or permissive, particularly in the rendering of compulsory and discretionary wording. The authoritative version is Arabic, which will prevail if any controversy arises over the meaning of the 2013 Regulations. For enforcement purposes, it is essential that any arbitral award satisfies all requirements imposed by the rules under which it is made, and strict adherence to procedural form is required. The provisions extend to every arbitral award, not solely a final award; the Panel (the ADCCAC expression for the tribunal) may issue...
Production orders A production order allows authorities to obtain material connected to an identified person or business, such as bank records and correspondence. The individual named must either deliver the specified material to an officer or permit that officer to access it. The order can be served on a person or an institution, and may extend to authorising entry to premises to reach the material. This mechanism is available for all forms of ‘investigation’, including confiscation, civil recovery, money laundering, exploitation proceeds, detained cash, detained property, and investigations into frozen funds and cryptoassets. The dominant purpose test In R (on the application of Bowles) v Southwark Crown Court, a pre‑ POCA ruling, it was decided that production orders could not be secured under the predecessor to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ( POCA 2002) to further a criminal...
Proving the identity of the driver Where the bench is satisfied the defendant was served with a notice under section 172 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, and the court receives a statement from the defendant admitting they were the driver, that statement is accepted as proof of identity. If no such admission exists—either because a RTA 1988, s 172 notice was not properly served in line with the Criminal Procedure Rules 2025 ( Crim PR 2025), SI 2025/909, Pt 4, or the allegation is not one to which section 172 applies—the magistrates will look to other material. Information provided by the registered keeper to police during interview or questioning Entries held on the police national database See: Creed v Scott [1976] RTR 485 (not reported by Lexis Nexis®) and DPP v Bayliff [2003] EWHC 539 ( Admin) (not reported by Lexis Nexis®). Details supplied to the police may...
This Practice Note considers how civil partnership is defined in the Civil Partnership Act 2004, reflecting amendments effective from 2 December 2019 that extend it to opposite-sex couples. It outlines the formal steps required to enter into a civil partnership Definition On enactment of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 ( CPA 2004), civil partnerships were confined to two people of the same sex. From 2 December 2019, the Civil Partnership ( Opposite-sex Couples) Regulations 2019 ( CP( O-s C) R 2019), SI 2019/1458, took effect and the CPA 2004 eligibility rules were changed to permit opposite-sex couples to register a civil partnership in England and Wales. The Marriage and Civil Partnership ( Minimum Age) Act 2022 ( MCP( MA) A 2022), in force from 27 February 2023, further amends CPA 2004 by raising the minimum age for a civil partnership to 18 (rather than 16), thereby...
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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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