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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:
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at the Land Charges Department When a creditor lodges a bankruptcy petition, the court must, as promptly as reasonably practicable, send notice of the petition to the Chief Land Registrar with a request that it be entered in the register of pending actions. In addition, once a bankruptcy order is made, the official receiver must notify the Chief Land Registrar so that the order is recorded in the register of writs and orders. These records are made irrespective of whether the debtor or the bankrupt, as applicable, is known to own any real property. Both registers are kept by the Land Charges Department of HM Land Registry at its Plymouth office and are available for public inspection. An Official Search of these registers (a bankruptcy search) against a specified name should show whether, for that name, a bankruptcy petition has been presented and, where...
A conversation with Kazi Ershadul Alam, Partner, and Munqualib Faruqui, Associate, at Bangladeshi law firm Tanjib Alam and Associates, on key issues on merger control in Bangladesh Note—to check whether notification thresholds in Bangladesh and worldwide are satisfied, see Where to Notify. 1. Have there been any recent developments regarding the Bangladeshi merger control regime and are any updates/developments expected in the coming year? Are there any other ‘hot’ merger control issues in Bangladesh? The latest and most significant change to the merger control landscape is the addition of the Eight Schedule, Part 1 – Business Restructuring, within the newly enacted Income Tax Act 2023 ( Income Tax Act). Under the Income Tax Act, no tax is payable on capital gains arising from the transfer of a capital asset pursuant to a reconstruction scheme (merger or demerger), provided certain conditions are met. That said, any...
Note – to determine whether notification thresholds in Azerbaijan and around the world are satisfied, see: Where to Notify. 1. Have there been any recent developments regarding the merger control regime in Azerbaijan and are any updates or developments expected in the coming year? Are there any other ‘hot’ merger control issues in Azerbaijan? On 8 December 2023, the Law approving the Competition Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan (the Competition Code) was adopted. This Code marks a substantial overhaul of the national regulatory landscape. Consisting of 12 chapters and 84 articles, it brings in fresh concepts and definitions, including relevant market, unfair trade practices, low monopoly price, barriers to entry, and concentration of economic entities. The Competition Code supersedes the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Antimonopoly Activity of 4 March 1993 and the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Unfair...
This Practice Note reviews the striking off of a company from the register of companies and how to manage this where a fixed charge/ LPA receivership sale involves a company-owned property at risk of strike-off and dissolution. Part 31 of the Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006) sets out two routes for a company to be removed from the register and dissolved: voluntarily, on application by the company, and under the statutory powers of the Registrar of Companies (the Registrar) This Practice Note focuses on the latter—removal by the Registrar. Striking off by the Registrar of Companies Company not in business or operation The Registrar of Companies may commence the statutory process to remove a company where there is reasonable cause to believe it is not carrying on business or not in operation. This is commonly triggered where a company fails to make its annual...
Once it has been determined that a claimant is entitled to bring an unfair dismissal claim (see Practice Notes: Entitlement to claim unfair dismissal and Definition of dismissal in unfair dismissal), the onus will generally rest on the employer to demonstrate that the reason—or, if there are several, the principal reason—for the dismissal was a potentially fair one (see Practice Note: Reason for dismissal—general). If the employer satisfies the tribunal that the reason was potentially fair, the tribunal will then assess whether, considering all the circumstances, the dismissal itself was fair... Automatic unfair dismissal The Employment Rights Act 1996 ( ERA 1996) and related legislation set out specific grounds that render a dismissal automatically unfair. In such cases, it is for the employee to allege that their dismissal occurred for one of those specified reasons......
NOTE—to check whether notification thresholds in Australia and across the world are met, please see: Where to Notify. 1. What recent developments have occurred in the Australian merger control regime, and are any updates expected in the year ahead? Are there any other ‘hot’ merger control issues in Australia? Substantial changes to Australia’s merger regime as of 1 April 2026 From 1 January 2026, Australia’s merger regime experienced the biggest changes in roughly fifty years. The reforms were intended to make Australian mergers simpler, quicker and more transparent, and to align Australia’s approach with that of other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development economies. Nevertheless, the regime that has emerged is highly intricate, carefully calibrated and uniquely Australian. The new framework has been contentious, and its effectiveness in practice is still to be determined......
A discussion with Intan Eow, Partner, at the Sydney office of international law firm King & Wood Mallesons, on key matters concerning foreign direct investment ( FDI) control in Australia. 1. What is the applicable legislation? The chief statute regulating acquisitions of Australian businesses, entities or land by foreign persons, and other activities by foreign persons, is the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 ( Cth) ( FATA). The Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Regulations 2015 ( Cth) ( FATR) complement FATA and provide additional particulars of the framework. Moreover, the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Fees Imposition Act 2015 ( Cth) and its associated regulations further strengthen the Australian FDI regulatory regime. 2. Which government or other body (or bodies) reviews foreign investments? The Australian Federal Treasurer holds ultimate responsibility for all decisions relating to foreign investment. Australia’s foreign investment regime authorises the Treasurer to make orders on...
The Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006) The Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006) addresses appointing an auditor to a private company ( CA 2006, ss 485–488) as well as to a public company ( CA 2006, ss 489–491). In addition, further rules concerning the appointment of an auditor may apply in certain circumstances, from time to time to a listed company, an AIM company, or a company with securities admitted to the AQSE Main Market, AQSE Growth Market or AQSE Trading (formerly NEX Exchange Main Board, NEX Exchange Growth Market and NEX Exchange Secondary Market), yet these fall outside the scope of this Practice Note. Where a fresh auditor is to be chosen in place of an outgoing auditor whose term of office has ended, or is due to end, see Practice Note: Failure to re-appoint an auditor. Regarding the terms of an...
Where a company produces annual accounts for a financial year, an audit is required unless an audit exemption applies. Qualifying subsidiary exemption from the requirement to audit accounts A subsidiary that meets specific criteria may claim an exemption from auditing its individual accounts for a given financial year. The necessary conditions are: it is a subsidiary undertaking its parent undertaking is constituted under the law of any part of the United Kingdom every member consents to the exemption for the financial year concerned its parent undertaking provides a guarantee for that financial year under section 479C of the Companies Act 2006, namely a statement guaranteeing all of the subsidiary’s outstanding liabilities at the end of the financial year until they are settled in full, which is enforceable against the parent by any person to whom the subsidiary is liable in respect of those...
This Practice Note is intended for judgment creditors thinking about seeking an attachment of earnings order. It sets out what an attachment of earnings order is, when you can seek one, how to make the application, and what follows after it is lodged. What is an attachment of earnings order? To enforce a judgment debt, a creditor may apply for an attachment of earnings order ( AEO). This directs the judgment debtor’s employer to send a specified portion of the debtor’s pay to a central collecting office for transfer to the judgment creditor. The statutory basis for AEOs is the Attachment of Earnings Act 1971 ( At EA 1971), and the procedural framework appears in CPR 89. Under At EA 1971, s 6(1), an AEO is a direction to the judgment debtor’s employer to: make periodical deductions from the debtor’s earnings at such times as the...
This Practice Note explores the use of After the Event insurance ( ATE insurance) as a form of security for costs. It sits within a suite of Practice Notes addressing matters concerning security for costs under CPR 25. The other Practice Notes are listed in: Security for costs—overview. There are also CPR routes that allow for orders mirroring a security for costs order; for further detail, see Practice Note: Security for costs—equivalent orders. From 6 April 2025, amendments to CPR 25 took effect, renumbering the former CPR 25 provisions and revising some of the wording dealing with security for costs. Where relevant, this Practice Note refers to the prior version as ‘old rule 25’ and draws attention to any distinctions between the current CPR 25 and the old rule 25. As to the preconditions for the court to make a security for costs order, CPR 25.13 was...
This Practice Note looks at the general recovery of liability expenses insurance premiums. For an overview of before the event ( BTE) insurance and after the event ( ATE) insurance (often called costs insurance), refer to Practice Note: Costs insurance. Rules concerning the recoupment of ATE premiums in mesothelioma and clinical negligence matters fall outside the scope of this Practice Note. Recoverability of the cost of liability expenses insurance premiums Whether premiums can be recovered as costs from the opposing party turns on the nature of the policy and the date it was taken out. BTE insurance Premiums payable for BTE cover (policies arranged prior to the incident giving rise to a claim) are never recoverable. ATE insurance Where insurance is purchased to guard against the risk of adverse liability in proceedings, the position is: for ATE policies incepted before 1 April 2013, the premium is...
In most situations, practitioners will have little trouble pinpointing an individual or organisation that owed the claimant a duty of care and who, on the face of it, is amenable to suit. Where liability is contested, the dispute typically concerns not the presence of a duty, but whether the defendant has breached that duty. For further guidance, see Practice Notes: Duty of care in personal injury claims and Breach of the duty of care in personal injury claims. There are, however, occasions when the practitioner must grapple with whether the proposed defendant owed any duty of care at all. This Practice Note seeks to draw out broad principles from the case law, while heeding Lady Hale’s caution in the Supreme Court in Woodland v Essex County Council: judges’ explanations for their decisions should not be read as if they were statutory wording, setting rules in...
The Landlord and Tenant ( Covenants) Act 1995 ( LT( C) A 1995) stipulates that, save for specified exceptions, any lease completed on or after 1 January 1996 is treated as a ‘new tenancy’ for the purposes of the LT( C) A 1995, with earlier grants classified as ‘old tenancies’. This Practice Note sets out, for both ‘old’ and ‘new’ tenancies, whether the benefit of tenant covenants and the burden of landlord covenants pass with the reversion, whether the benefit of landlord covenants and the burden of tenant covenants attach to the term, and the scope of any release from liability on assignment. Old tenancy New tenancy Transfer of reversion Benefit of tenant covenants—does it run with the reversion? By virtue of section 141 of the Law of Property Act 1925, the obligation to pay rent and the benefit of other lease covenants and...
Practice Note This Practice Note offers direction on costs assessment in family proceedings, covering both summary and detailed assessments. It reviews assessment on the standard basis and the indemnity basis in private proceedings, publicly funded costs, who has authority to assess and when, and the procedure for addressing points of dispute and for obtaining default costs certificates. Its emphasis is principally inter partes costs. For further practical guidance on solicitor and own client costs, see Practice Note: Client care—family law — Costs......
This Practice Note looks closely at assents of interests in land made by the personal representatives of a deceased landowner. It chiefly addresses how an assent operates and the appropriate format for vesting a legal or equitable estate in land in a beneficiary named in a will, or in trustees to hold under the terms of a continuing trust. For guidance on other matters that may arise following the death of someone owning an interest in land, see the following Practice Notes: Death of a proprietor of land—sale of property by a sole surviving co-owner Death of a proprietor of land—death of the seller or buyer between exchange and completion Death of a landlord or tenant Use and form of an assent of land As a general rule, a transfer of land must be effected by deed, ordinarily......
Article 102 TFEU bans undertakings holding a dominant position within the EU, or a substantial part of it, from abusing that position where their conduct may affect trade between Member States. It is often difficult to determine whether a company is ‘dominant’ for EU competition law. Dominance does not inevitably mean a majority market share; however, a firm with about 50% will typically be treated as dominant. Unless a company has faced earlier competition cases, or there have been merger findings identifying dominance, it can be unclear whether it is legally dominant. This Practice Note looks more closely at what amounts to a ‘dominant position’... The legal test The Court of Justice describes dominance as a degree of economic strength that allows an undertaking to prevent effective competition from being maintained on the relevant market, conferring the capacity to act to a...
Damage to property caused by fire is charged as arson A person who, without lawful excuse, destroys or harms another’s property by fire, intending that outcome or being reckless as to whether it occurs, commits arson under section 1(3) of the Criminal Damage Act 1971 ( CDA 1971). For guidance on criminal damage generally, see Practice Note: Criminal damage. In R v Booth, the omission of any reference to arson in the particulars led the court to treat the indictment as a nullity. The point was considered again in R v Drayton, where the court held that the allegation must, at the very least, be identified as ‘damage by fire’, ensuring the defendant is in no doubt that fire damage is alleged, an accusation carrying a harsher sentence than straightforward criminal damage. This is because arson attracts sterner penalties than simple criminal damage, by clear...
NOTE—to verify whether notification thresholds in Armenia and across the globe are satisfied, please refer to: Where to Notify 1. Have there been any recent developments regarding the Armenian merger control regime and are any updates or developments expected in the coming year? Are there any other 'hot' issues? The Law on Protection of Economic Competition (the Law) was enacted on 6 November 2000 and has seen multiple amendments since. The latest change was introduced on 12 January 2025. Merger control is still a comparatively fresh area in the Republic of Armenia, and its practical implementation continues to prompt a number of questions. Broadly, the framework is advancing in line with the move towards an EU-style model 2. Under Armenian merger control law, is the control test the same as the EU concept of ‘decisive influence’? If not, how does it differ and what is the...
ARCHIVED This Practice Note is archived and no longer maintained. This tracker is no longer being updated. For cases released in 2026, see Practice Note: EU competition law 2026—cases tracker. For matters published between September 2022 and December 2024, see Practice Note: EU competition law–cases tracker (2022–2024) [ Archived]. This Practice Note monitors the latest developments in notable EU competition law cases. The EU competition law cases tracker is split into the following sections: Antitrust cases Merger cases Private action cases State aid cases For more on EU competition law legislation, guidance and policy developments, see Practice Notes: EU competition horizon scanning—2026 and beyond EU block exemptions revision—tracker EU Digital Markets Act—progress tracker Antitrust cases 2025 This table highlights significant antitrust cases from January 2025, listed in reverse chronological order. Case C-545/25 P( I) České dráhy v...
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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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