bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
20. Defamation: foundational principles
Authors: Witting Christian
Published: September 2021

This chapter examines the foundational principles of defamation in tort law. It explains that there are two types of defamation, libel and slander, the former of which concerns ‘permanent’ and the latter of which concerns other imputations. The chapter discusses the main elements of defamatory imputation: reference, publication, and serious harm. It suggests, taking into account the defences examined in the next chapter, that liability for defamation reflects efforts to strike a balance between the interests of free speech and the preservation of one’s reputation. This chapter incorporates the provisions of the Defamation Act 2013 and analyses recent court cases exploring its provisions.
22. Privacy actions in tort
Authors: Witting Christian
Published: September 2021

This chapter examines the privacy action in tort. It explains that the tort has its origins in the equitable wrong of breach of confidence. It discusses the gist and elements of this tort and highlights the influence of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights on the case law. The law now protects against infringements of private information and against infringements upon the seclusion of the individual. This chapter also discusses potential defences, which include consent to the disclosure and the differential treatment of private information in the public domain.
3. Duty of care: basic principles
Authors: Horsey Kirsty , Rackley Erika
Published: September 2021

This chapter begins by tracing the development of the duty of care starting with the case of Donoghue v Stevenson [1932]. It goes on to consider the various general tests developed and used by the courts in order to establish when a duty of care is owed. Finally, the chapter discusses the ‘incremental and by analogy’ and so-called Caparo three-stage ‘test’ established by the House of Lords in Caparo Industries v Dickman [1990] and recently reconsidered by the UK Supreme Court in Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police [2018].
5. Special duty problems: psychiatric harm
Authors: Horsey Kirsty , Rackley Erika
Published: September 2021

This chapter begins by explaining the meaning of psychiatric harm. It then discusses the general exclusionary rule; the distinction between ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ victims; and other circumstances where the law recognises victims of psychiatric harms as having a claim in negligence (rescuers, involuntary participants, communicators of shocking news, self-harm by the defendant and ‘assumption of responsibility’ cases). Though initially psychiatric harm was recoverable only if accompanied by physical injury, it is now clear that the claimant can recover for pure psychiatric harm so long as it is a recognised psychiatric illness. It is not, therefore, possible to recover in the tort of negligence for mere grief, anxiety or distress.
10. Defences to negligence
Authors: Horsey Kirsty , Rackley Erika
Published: September 2021

This chapter discusses three key defences in the tort of negligence: voluntary assumption of risk (consent or volenti non fit injuria), contributory negligence and illegality. The defence of voluntary assumption of risk is based on the common-sense notion that ‘one who has invited or assented to an act being done towards him cannot, when he suffers it, complain of it as a wrong’. The defence of illegality denies recovery to certain claimants injured while committing unlawful activities. Contributory negligence is a defence that operates not to defeat the claimant’s claim entirely but rather to reduce the amount of damages the defendant must pay.
16. Invasion of privacy
Authors: Horsey Kirsty , Rackley Erika
Published: September 2021

This chapter examines the nascent ‘tort’ of invasion of privacy. It first considers why no free-standing tort of invasion of privacy exists, before looking at breach of confidence—a legal concept straddling tort and equity and concerned with ‘secrets’ and judicially adapted to protect privacy by developing the new tort of misuse of private information. The chapter then asks whether developments in the law protecting privacy—particularly in the wake of the Human Rights Act 1998—threaten freedom of expression and therefore the general public’s ‘right’ to information, particularly about celebrities, including royalty and politicians.
4. Human Rights and Land
Authors: McFarlane Ben , Hopkins Nicholas , Nield Sarah
Published: September 2021

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter examines the mechanics of how the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) brings human rights home. It then explores Art 1 of the First Protocol (protection of possessions) and Art 8 (respect for the home). Article 14 (protection from discrimination) and Art 6 (right to a fair trial) are also outlined. Whilst compliance with Art 1 of the First Protocol has required little change in domestic law, a recent string of cases concerning compliance with Art 8 and repossession of the home has demonstrated that a new approach is necessary to comply with human rights norms.
13. Regulating Co-ownership: The Content Question
Authors: McFarlane Ben , Hopkins Nicholas , Nield Sarah
Published: September 2021

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter discusses the internal regulation of co-ownership. It is concerned with the content question: the rights enjoyed by co-owners, including their rights and duties in relation to each other, and whether one co-owner can insist on a sale of the land against the wishes of another. The joint tenancy and the tenancy in common are two forms of co-ownership. The chapter explores the operation of survivorship in respect of a joint tenancy and the process through which a joint tenant may become a tenant in common through severance. Co-ownership is terminated once there is a sole legal and equitable owner. The process of partition can also terminate co-ownership. In both forms of co-ownership, the rights and duties of the co-owners are governed through the imposition of a trust of land, regulated by the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA 1996). TOLATA 1996 contains a procedure enabling disputes relating to land held on trust to be determined by an application to court. The chapter considers how the courts have resolved disputes between the beneficiaries as to whether land should be sold. The chapter also considers the relationship between TOLATA 1996 and ‘home rights’ (of occupation) conferred by the Family Law Act 1996.
22. Easements
Authors: McFarlane Ben , Hopkins Nicholas , Nield Sarah
Published: September 2021

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter is concerned with easements. An easement is the proprietary right to enjoy limited use of the land of another, which may exist in both positive and negative form. To constitute an easement, a right over the land of another must display certain characteristics. If these characteristics are not present, the right over the land of another is merely a personal right. An easement may be created by express, implied, or presumed grant. As a proprietary right, an easement is not easy to extinguish, but, in the case of freehold land, easement will be extinguished where the dominant and servient land come into common ownership and an easement attached to a lease may sometimes be extinguished upon the termination of that lease.
23. Freehold Covenants
Authors: McFarlane Ben , Hopkins Nicholas , Nield Sarah
Published: September 2021

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter investigates how certain covenants relating to land between freehold owners can overcome the normal privity of contract rule and can be enforced by and against third parties. Restrictive covenants significantly control land use and supplement and complement public planning laws. The burden of a negative covenant will not run at common law, but may run in equity by virtue of the rule in Tulk v Moxhay. The benefit of a restrictive covenant will run if it is: expressly assigned; annexed to the land; or subject to a building scheme. The Lands Chamber of the Upper Tribunal has jurisdiction under s 84 of the Law of Property Act 1925 to modify or extinguish restrictive covenants. Reform recommendations offer a final acknowledgement that both negative and positive covenants affecting land should be ‘genuine proprietary interests’ rather than ‘a peculiar species of personal contract’.
25. Security Interests in Land
Authors: McFarlane Ben , Hopkins Nicholas , Nield Sarah
Published: September 2021

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter reviews the use of land (or legal and equitable property rights relating to land) as security for the repayment of money by a borrower to a lender. It also describes charging orders, the use of which increases in the context of the recession. There are four types of security interest: the pledge; the lien; the mortgage; and the charge. The borrower holds the equity of redemption under a classic mortgage by conveyance or sub-demise, but its continued relevance under the predominant legal charge by way of mortgage is questionable. It is observed that the domestic lending market has seen the development of Islamic mortgages, the emergence of shared-ownership schemes, and equity release schemes.
27. Protection of the Borrower
Authors: McFarlane Ben , Hopkins Nicholas , Nield Sarah
Published: September 2021

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter reviews the loan contract and the controls that the law has imposed to protect the borrower. The level of protection differs according to the nature of the borrower and the type of security transaction. Market regulation of the residential mortgage market has increased protection for domestic borrowers. Vitiating factors, particularly undue influence, have impacted upon the creation of collateral mortgages of the family home to secure commercial borrowing. Equitable protection has been provided by controls against penalties and oppressive and unconscionable terms, as well as by protection of the borrower’s equity of redemption. Statutory consumer protection now offers more effective protection to domestic borrowers. The common law, equitable, and statutory control mechanisms are then described and applied to demonstrate the protection they afford against particular mortgage terms, for instance to control rates of interest and other costs associated with borrowing.
7. The Structure of the Tribunals
Authors: Gillespie Alisdair A. , Weare Siobhan
Published: September 2021

This chapter examines the jurisdiction and structure of tribunals. It then considers two very different tribunals through the use of case studies, namely the Employment Tribunals and the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. Tribunals have existed for many years but have traditionally operated as an oversight system for administrative issues. In recent years, the number of tribunals has increased and their work has begun to involve more complicated legal questions. Tribunals are now, in essence, a parallel system of dispute resolution and their complexity is recognized by the fact that their presiding officers now bear the title of ‘judge’. This chapter examines this parallel judicial system and identifies similarities between and differences from court justice.
14. Those in Court
Authors: Gillespie Alisdair A. , Weare Siobhan
Published: September 2021

This chapter focuses on the people who are present during criminal trials. It considers those in summary trials in magistrates’ court (magistrates, justices’ clerks/legal advisors, lawyers, and the defendant). It also considers those who are present in the Crown Court during a trial on indictment (the judge, the jury, lawyers, court clerks, the stenographer, the usher, and the defendant). The chapter also explores how lawyers for the defence are funded under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012.
2. Understanding trusts
Authors: Watt Gary
Published: September 2021

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. There are many kinds of trusts performing different functions. Private family trusts of the orthodox type are different from special trusts such as pension trusts and charitable trusts, and the so-called ‘NHS trust’. The diversity of functions performed by trusts explains why there is diversity within the law of trusts. This chapter provides an overview of trusts, including their usefulness, how they differ from other legal concepts (contracts, debt, powers, agency), the different trust types, the role of trusts in asset protection and the social significance of trusts. It looks at special categories of trusts and trustees, including bare trusts, protective trusts, pension fund trusts and asset protection trusts.
8. Charitable trusts
Authors: Watt Gary
Published: September 2021

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. Charitable trusts are not subject to the objections against private purpose trusts and enjoy certain privileges. Charities are not public institutions, but are nevertheless subject to judicial control, to the constitutional protection of the Crown as parens patriae (acting through the Attorney-General) and to the supervision of the Charity Commission. Moreover, they are not subject to the beneficiary principle and to the rule against inalienability of capital. This chapter deals with charitable trusts and discusses the distinction between legal and ‘everyday’ notions of charity. It also examines a charitable purpose, the advantages and disadvantages of charitable status, limits on the recognition of charitable trusts, what happens when a charitable purpose fails, whether the purpose of a charitable status is sufficiently beneficial to the public and the administration of charitable trusts. The chapter furthermore considers trust law and tax law privileges; the roles of charities, such as the prevention or relief of poverty and the advancement of education and religion; the public benefit requirement in educational trusts; recreational charities; the exclusivity requirement; the doctrine of cy près; and the disposal of surplus donations.
9. Variation of trusts
Authors: Watt Gary
Published: September 2021

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. The courts’ jurisdiction to vary trusts is a tax avoidance facility that reduces the amount of revenue available to the Treasury. The question is whether the jurisdiction to vary trusts is advantageous to the average taxpayer. Not every variation is intended to achieve tax advantages. There are variations involving a variation of the beneficial interests under the trust, as well as variations involving a variation in the way in which the trust is administered. This chapter deals with variation of trusts and looks at the possible reasons for varying the terms of a trust. It also examines the numerous modes of varying trusts, the distinction between administrative variations and variations in beneficial interests, variation under the Variation of Trusts Act 1958, when a variation will be for the benefit of the beneficiaries and the extent to which courts take the settlor’s intentions into account when considering a variation. In addition, the chapter discusses the rule on variation of trusts in Saunders v Vautier and variation under the courts’ inherent jurisdiction.
11. The nature of trusteeship
Authors: Watt Gary
Published: September 2021

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. Trusteeship requires the proper discharge of a number of fundamental duties, such as the duty of undivided loyalty (the fiduciary duty), the duty of care for the trust fund (the duty of care) and the duty to exercise a sound discretion. The trustee must act in the interests of the beneficiaries rather than his own interest. More specifically, the trustee must serve the beneficiaries within their larger obligation to serve the trust in accordance with the terms of the trust instrument and the general law. This chapter examines the general nature of trusteeship. It considers how a trustee meets their fiduciary obligations to the trust, the standard of care which trustees must exercise in service of the trust, the discretionary nature of a trustee’s decision-making powers and the requirement that trustees must act unanimously. The chapter also discusses the self-dealing rule and fair-dealing rule, the Trustee Act 2000 and factors influencing the courts’ willingness to review trustee decisions.
17. Informal trusts of land
Authors: Watt Gary
Published: September 2021

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. The trust law that applies to family land might not be applicable to other types of land. Resulting trusts present a particular challenge in this regard. Although the doctrines of resulting trust have long been settled in the law of trusts, they have recently been questioned in the context of the family home. This chapter focuses on informal trusts of land and the social reasons why they are recognised, first looking at the problem of informality before turning to the different kinds of informal trusts of land. It also examines whether facts give rise to a resulting trust or a constructive trust, the practical significance of the distinction between constructive and resulting trusts of land, the relationship between proprietary estoppel and constructive trust, express agreement plus detrimental reliance, and the decision of the House of Lords in Stack v Dowden. The chapter concludes by considering some of the problems addressed by, and caused by, the operation of informal trusts in the context of cohabitation.
11. International economic law
Authors: Henriksen Anders
Published: September 2021

International economic law covers a vast range of rules and principles on economic conduct and relations between states, international organizations and private actors, both individuals and corporations. This chapter deals with the most fundamental areas of the law: the international law of trade, international investment law and international monetary law. It introduces the World Trade Organization and the most important principles governing international trade, including those contained in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. It presents international monetary law, with a particular emphasis on the role and activities of the International Monetary Fund. It also discusses the international regulation of international investments and the most important principles thereof, including those that govern expropriation of foreign property.
3. Mens rea
Authors: Child John , Ormerod David
Published: September 2021

This chapter provides an overview of mens rea, loosely translated as ‘guilty mind’. Whereas the concept of actus reus focusses on the external elements of an offence, mens rea focusses on state of mind or fault. The mens rea of the offence describes the fault element with which D acted: D intended, believed, foresaw as a risk of the proscribed element; and so on. The chapter first considers how offences differ in the role mens rea plays. For some offences a mens rea element may be required in relation to each actus reus element; for other offences there are actus reus elements that do not have a corresponding mens rea and vice versa. The chapter moves on to discuss the legal meaning of central mens rea terms such as ‘intention’, ‘negligence’, ‘dishonesty’, and ‘recklessness’. Finally, it outlines reform debates, and a structure for analysing the mens rea of an offence when applying the law in a problem-type question. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter.
13. Denials of an offence
Authors: Child John , Ormerod David
Published: September 2021

This chapter deals with the rules on denials of an offence, a denial of one or more actus reus or mens rea elements. In particular, it considers three sets of rules relating to the denial of an offence: intoxication, sane automatism, and insanity. As well as discussing how each of these rules can be used by D to avoid liability, the chapter also focusses on how circumstances of ‘prior-fault’ can be used by the prosecution to substitute for missing mens rea elements so as to construct liability. It also outlines potential options for legal reform concerning intoxication, sane automatism, and insanity, and concludes by considering how denials of offending based on intoxication, automatism, and insanity should be applied to problem facts. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter, with brief summaries of the main facts and judgments.
14. General defences
Authors: Child John , Ormerod David
Published: September 2021

This chapter deals with general complete defences that the accused can use to avoid liability. The focus is on defences that can apply (with one exception) to offences throughout the criminal law and will result in the accused’s acquittal. Five kinds of general complete defences are examined: insanity (as a defence), duress by threats, duress by circumstances, the public and private defence (also known as self-defence), and necessity. The chapter first considers the categorical division between excuses and justifications, before explaining the elements of each of the defences in turn. It then outlines potential options for legal reform concerning individual defences and concludes by discussing the application of the general defences to problem facts. Relevant cases are highlighted throughout the chapter, with brief summaries of the main facts and judgments.
1. Guidance on reading cases
Authors: Merkin Robert , Saintier Séverine
Published: September 2021

Poole’s Casebook on Contract Law provides a comprehensive selection of case law that addresses all aspects of the subject encountered on undergraduate courses. This chapter offers tips for students on how to read cases relating to contract law. In reading a case, it is important to understand how it relates to the legal principles taught in lectures. The chapter also discusses the basics of reading a case and how to read a case in practice, using the case Carlill v Carbolic Smoke Ball Co. so that the student will learn to appreciate contract case law.
3. Enforceability of promises: consideration and promissory estoppel
Authors: Merkin Robert , Saintier Séverine
Published: September 2021

Poole’s Casebook on Contract Law provides a comprehensive selection of case law that addresses all aspects of the subject encountered on undergraduate courses. In order to be enforceable, a promise must either be supported by consideration or be expressed in the form of a deed. This stems from the assumption in English contract law that only bargains should be enforced. This chapter examines the enforceability of promises, focusing on consideration and promissory estoppel. The case law has addressed what can constitute consideration and whether a promise can be enforced in the absence of consideration. The chapter focuses particularly on the enforceability of alteration promises, discusses part-payment of a debt, when and how the doctrine of promissory estoppel will operate, and how far the doctrine can be extended.
8. Mistake
Authors: Merkin Robert , Saintier Séverine
Published: September 2021

Poole’s Casebook on Contract Law provides a comprehensive selection of case law that addresses all aspects of the subject encountered on undergraduate courses. This chapter considers the area of ‘mistake’. The law distinguishes between several types of mistake. Some mistakes (‘agreement mistakes’) prevent formation of an agreement. These mistakes are mutual mistakes (where the parties are at cross purposes) and unilateral mistakes (where one party is mistaken and the other knows or ought to know this, e.g. unilateral mistake as to identity). The chapter also looks at document mistakes and specifically rectification of a written document to reflect accurately what the parties in fact agreed, and the plea of non est factum (‘this is not my deed’). Finally, a contract having no contractual allocation of risk and made under the same mistaken assumption may be void for ‘common mistake’ if the mistake is so fundamental that it ‘nullifies’ consent. This is known as ‘initial impossibility’ because the impossibility already exists when the parties agree to the contract. This chapter deals with common mistake and initial impossibility, contractual risk allocation, and the theoretical basis for the doctrine of common mistake. It discusses categories of fundamental common mistake, including res extincta, and assesses the legal effects of mistakes as to quality made by both parties. The chapter concludes by considering the relationship between common mistake and frustration.
Poole's Textbook on Contract Law
Authors: Merkin QC Robert , Saintier Séverine
Published: September 2021

Course-focused and comprehensive, Poole’s Textbook on Contract Law provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This book has been guiding students through contract law for many years. It places the law of contract clearly within its wider context, including the growing distinction between commercial and consumer contracting, before proceeding to provide detailed yet accessible treatment of all the key areas encountered when studying contract law. Part 1 considers formation, looking in detail at agreement, certainty and agreement mistakes, the enforceability of promises and the intention to be legally bound. Part 2 looks at content, interpretation, exemption clauses and unfair terms, performance, and breach. Part 3 considers the enforcement of contractual obligations including remedies, detailed treatment of damages for breach of contract, privity and third party rights, and discharge by frustration. Part 4 looks at methods of policing the making of a contract, such as non-agreement mistakes which render the contract void, misrepresentation, duress, undue influence, unconscionable bargains, and illegality. The book also includes references to relevant EU consumer legislation and introduces students to the various attempts (international and European) to produce a harmonized set of contract principles.
2. Agreement
Authors: Merkin Robert , Saintier Séverine , Poole Jill
Published: September 2021

Course-focused and comprehensive, Poole’s Textbook on Contract Law provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. This chapter explains how to determine whether parties have reached an agreement. Traditionally, the existence of agreement is determined objectively on the basis of an offer and corresponding acceptance. However, this approach has been challenged for being artificial and inflexible, and even in the absence of these traditional criteria the courts have occasionally found agreement, particularly where there has been performance. For formation there needs to be an offer (as opposed to an invitation to treat) and that offer must be accepted before it has been rejected or otherwise lapsed. In order to be effective, offer and acceptance must be properly communicated, which normally means ‘received’. The chapter also considers the mirror-image rule, whereby an acceptance must be unconditional and correspond with the exact terms proposed by the offeror. This chapter also examines principles that determine when an agreement can be enforced with sufficient certainty and whether liability will arise in the absence of agreement. An apparent contract will be void if the terms are considered too uncertain or where there is no context for gap filling. But this must be balanced with the need to prevent the parties from using allegations of uncertainty to escape from bad bargains. This chapter therefore considers how the courts deal with the difficult question over agreements to agree.
9. Misrepresentation
Authors: Merkin Robert , Saintier Séverine , Poole Jill
Published: September 2021

Course-focused and comprehensive, Poole’s Textbook on Contract Law provides an accessible overview of the key areas on the law curriculum. False statements of fact that induce a contract are known as actionable misrepresentations. In case of a misrepresentation, there are different legal remedies for breaches of contract. A misrepresentation renders the contract voidable (liable to be set aside using the remedy of rescission) so that the contract will be treated as if it had never been made, whereas a breach of contract will have no effect on the existence of the contract (in the absence of a repudiatory breach that will terminate the contract when future contractual obligations will be discharged). The chapter identifies actionable misrepresentations and, in particular, loss in instances where there is a duty of disclosure in English law. There are three types of actionable misrepresentations, dependent upon the state of mind of the one who makes the false statement: fraudulent, negligent, and innocent. This chapter looks at the legal remedies for actionable misrepresentations such as rescission, the availability of damages for different types of misrepresentations, and the provisions of the Misrepresentation Act 1967. It also examines the effect of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) as amended on this area of law, the criminal offences and civil remedies for consumers, as well as the relationship of misrepresentation to other areas of law. Finally, it looks at clauses that seek to exclude or limit liability for misrepresentation or to deny any actionable misrepresentation, e.g. ‘non-reliance clauses’.
3. Registration
Authors: French Derek
Published: September 2021

This chapter discusses the process of registration for the incorporation of companies under the Companies Act 2006. It considers the distinction between private and public companies, the meaning of limited liability and the significant characteristics of the company created by the registration procedure at Companies House, such as a company’s separate corporate personality (which is highly artificial), its members, shareholding, directors, secretary, name, constitution and its registered office and domicile. To deter misuse of companies, the registration process involves disclosing much information about a company which is then available for public inspection. This process of public disclosure continues throughout a company’s existence.
4. Articles of association
Authors: French Derek
Published: September 2021

This chapter deals with articles of association, the principal element of a company’s constitution, under the Companies Act 2006. It describes the content of the articles, model articles of association which can be adopted by limited companies (either in whole or in part) on registration, and the function of articles as a contract between the company and its members and between the members themselves. It also considers provisions of articles that may be incorporated in other contracts and the right of members of a company to amend its articles. The chapter discusses a number of particularly significant court cases, including Allen v Gold Reefs of West Africa Ltd [1900] 1 Ch 656 and Quin and Axtens Ltd v Salmon [1909] AC 442.
17. Company officers, secretary and auditor
Authors: French Derek
Published: September 2021

This chapter focuses on company officers (secretaries, auditors and managers), with emphasis on their responsibilities and liabilities under the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) and the appropriate sanctions for breach of its requirements. It first considers who, in general terms, is an ‘officer’ or ‘manager’ of a company for the purposes of criminal or fiduciary liability. Then it deals with the appointment and qualifications of secretaries and the appointment and reappointment of auditors. There is discussion of auditors’ remuneration, integrity and independence, the required contents of an auditor’s report and an auditor’s investigative powers. There is analysis of an auditor’s liability in contract and tort for negligence in carrying out the audit and negligent misstatement in an auditor’s report. The chapter cites relevant legislation, including CA 2006 and UK Corporate Governance Code, and considers two particularly significant cases: Caparo Industries plc v Dickman [1990] 2 AC 605 and Stone and Rolls Ltd v Moore Stephens [2009] UKHL 39, [2009] AC 1391.
2. How the UK constitution has developed
Authors: Dennett Anne
Published: September 2021

This chapter discusses the historical development of the UK constitution. The key to understanding the evolution of the British constitution is to imagine it being shaped by a dynamic ebb and flow of power between the key players—the monarch, Parliament, the Church, governments, judges—to determine the issue of where supreme power and authority would ultimately settle and reside. In the case of the UK, supreme authority settled in the monarch in Parliament, while political power resided with the executive. The chapter then argues that the constitution is fluid and changing, despite the received view that it has evolved slowly and peacefully without invasion or violent revolution. Despite fluctuations in power, and changes in Britain’s territorial composition and external alliances, there has always been a sense that the constitution is based on the collective memory of ancient laws and principles that fundamentally protect the people and cannot be changed.
4. How the UK is organised
Authors: Dennett Anne
Published: September 2021

This chapter details how power is allocated in the UK, and its organisation in terms of devolution and regional and local government. Power in the UK is divided into three branches or arms of state: legislature (law-makers), executive (government and administration), and judiciary (courts and judges). Before devolution, the government’s (executive’s) administrative power was centralised and it extended to the whole of the UK, but devolution has made significant changes to the constitution and has brought a substantial rebalancing of power in the government of the UK. Since devolution’s introduction, the power of central government no longer extends to the growing areas of domestic policy that have been devolved to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The UK government’s remit therefore now covers England and the whole of the UK on non-devolved matters including the conduct of foreign affairs, defence, national security, and oversight of the Civil Service and government agencies.
11. The key functions of Parliament
Authors: Dennett Anne
Published: September 2021

This chapter identifies Parliament’s primary functions of making law and scrutinising government action. Parliament’s scrutiny of government has been defined as ‘the process of examining expenditure, administration, and policy in detail, on the public record, requiring the government of the day to explain itself to parliamentarians as representatives of the citizen and the taxpayer, and to justify its actions’. In the absence of a codified constitution and entrenched limits on executive power, the requirement for the government to answer to Parliament for its actions acts as a check and control. The chapter also considers the legislative process, particularly legislative scrutiny. Secondary legislation made by the government can often be subject to much less scrutiny and debate than primary legislation, and sometimes none at all. These scrutiny gaps increase the risk of arbitrary law-making and ‘governing from the shadows’, again raising rule of law concerns.
15. Introduction to judicial review
Authors: Dennett Anne
Published: September 2021

This chapter looks at the purpose and constitutional significance of judicial review. Where public bodies overreach themselves by acting unlawfully, the judicial review process allows individuals to hold public bodies to account in the courts, ensuring that governmental and public powers are lawfully exercised. This maintains the rule of law by helping to protect the public from the arbitrary or unreasonable exercise of government power. Judicial review is therefore a powerful check and control by the courts on executive action, but it also raises issues of whether the process gives the judiciary too much power over the elected government. There are three preliminary or threshold issues that a claimant needs to satisfy when bringing a judicial review claim. To be amenable to judicial review, the claim must raise a public law matter; it must be justiciable; and the claimant must have standing (locus standi).
16. Judicial review: grounds and remedies
Authors: Dennett Anne
Published: September 2021

This chapter assesses judicial review and the rule of law, the three traditional grounds of judicial review, proportionality, the modern approach to judicial review, and remedies. Judicial review is the rule of law in action. Through judicial review, the courts place constraints on executive power by upholding and projecting rule of law principles on to executive actions. Indeed, it ensures that administrative decisions are taken rationally, in accordance with a fair procedure, and within the powers conferred by Parliament. As such, the traditional judicial review grounds of illegality, irrationality, and procedural impropriety are applied flexibly to protect individuals against the unreasonable, arbitrary, procedurally unfair, or unlawful use of power. Judicial review has unique remedies known as prerogative orders which comprise mandatory orders, prohibiting orders, and quashing orders.
19. Police powers
Authors: Dennett Anne
Published: September 2021

This concluding chapter studies police powers. It is the function of the police to keep the public secure by preventing and detecting crime, and maintaining public order. This involves the exercise of public power and powerfully engages the relationship between the citizen and the state. There are clear links between police powers and the rule of law: it is imperative that police powers are not used in a random, arbitrary way; are clear, foreseeable, and accessible; are not unlimited; and are in accordance with the law. Police powers are mostly statute-based, the most significant of which is the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) which was enacted to achieve a balance between protecting citizens’ rights and effective police powers. Under section 66, the Home Secretary issues detailed Codes of Practice regulating the exercise of police powers and providing clear guidelines for the police and safeguards for the public.
2. The constitutional base of the Union
Authors: Horspool Margot , Humphreys Matthew , Wells-Greco Michael
Published: September 2021

This chapter discusses the Treaties which together represent the primary law of the European Union; its constitutional base. These include the Single European Act 1986; the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty) 1993; the Treaty of Amsterdam (signed June 1997, entered into force 1 May 1999); the Nice Treaty (adopted December 2001, entered into force 1 February 2003); and the Treaty of Lisbon (signed December 2007, entered into force 1 December 2009).
6. Exemption clauses
Authors: Taylor Richard , Taylor Damian
Published: September 2021

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. Exemption clauses provide that one party will not be liable in certain situations; they exclude or limit liability. Exemption clauses have traditionally been frowned upon because they have been misused, often to the detriment of consumers, and the courts have responded by repeatedly looking for ways to cut them down. In recent years the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 has given the courts much stronger powers and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations have strengthened the position of consumers. These statutory controls have recently been radically overhauled in the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and this chapter provides a full explanation of these complex developments.
7. Misrepresentation
Authors: Taylor Richard , Taylor Damian
Published: September 2021

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. Questions, diagrams and exercises help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress. This chapter is concerned with the territory just beyond the borders of the contract, where we find the representations which are not part of the contract but which influenced its creation and which, if false, are remedied by the law on misrepresentation. The discussions cover the key elements of the definition of misrepresentation; the differences between fraudulent, negligent and innocent misrepresentations; and the remedies of rescission and the various rights to damages. This also includes the bars on the right to rescind, the principles of assessment of damages and the controls on excluding liability for misrepresentation.
4. Discrimination
Authors: Jefferson Michael
Published: September 2021

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter focuses on ss 4–12 Equality Act 2010. The Act protects people from discrimination in relation to nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. It also protects people from discrimination by association with someone who has one of the protected characteristics and from discrimination by perception (eg discrimination because of sexual orientation includes discrimination against those one perceives to be gay, even if they are not).
6. Parental rights
Authors: Jefferson Michael
Published: September 2021

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses the law on parental rights. Topics covered include maternity leave, parental leave, time off for dependants, the right to request flexible working, and the new right of parents to bereavement leave. The right to shared parental leave (SPL) is singled out for detailed treatment, partly because it is fairly new, and partly because, some would say, it exemplifies an old-fashioned approach to sex equality when caring for newborns. The option as to whether her partner can share in SPL is for the mother to decide; the mother may receive (by contract) enhanced maternity pay, but there is no enhanced SPL. The effect is to reinforce the mother’s staying at home because if she goes back to work, the family will lose most of the partner’s income because the rate of pay for SPL is low, around £151 a week. The latter point is arguably sex discrimination, and, during the currency of this book, the Employment Appeal Tribunal will decide this issue (at the time of writing employment tribunals are split).
11. Continuity of employment and TUPE
Authors: Jefferson Michael
Published: September 2021

Each Concentrate revision guide is packed with essential information, key cases, revision tips, exam Q&As, and more. Concentrates show you what to expect in a law exam, what examiners are looking for, and how to achieve extra marks. This chapter discusses continuous employment and the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE). An employee’s period of continuous employment begins on the day on which the employee starts work. Although continuity provisions normally apply to employment by one employer, there are situations where a transfer from one employer to another can preserve continuity of employment. One such situation is when there is a relevant transfer under TUPE. TUPE acts to ensure that an individual’s contract of employment is transferred in its entirety when the individual employee experiences a change of employer as a result of a transfer.
11. Article 5: right to liberty and security
Authors: Davis Howard
Published: September 2021

Without assuming prior legal knowledge, books in the Directions series introduce and guide readers through key points of law and legal debate. It discusses European Convention law and relates it to domestic law under the HRA. Questions, discussion points, and thinking points help readers to engage fully with each subject and check their understanding as they progress and knowledge can be tested by self-test questions and exam questions at the chapter end. This chapter discusses Article 5 the right to liberty. This is liberty in its classic sense, addressing the physical liberty of a person (as opposed to broader concepts of liberty, such as the sense of personal autonomy and the lack of individual or social subordination). Article 5 deals with restrictions of liberty like arrest and detention by the police, imprisonment after conviction, detention of the mentally ill in hospitals, and the detention of foreigners in the context of immigration and asylum. It defines and restricts the purposes for which a person can be deprived of his or her liberty and, importantly, requires that people have access to judicial supervision so that the lawfulness of any deprivation of liberty can be examined and, if necessary, remedied. The overriding guarantee of Article 5 is the right not to be detained in an arbitrary manner.