Court : House of Lords
Decided on : Jan-23-2008
LORD HOPE OF CRAIGHEAD My Lords, 1. I am grateful to my noble and learned friend, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe, for his comprehensive description of the legislative and factual background to these appeals and his analysis of the competing arguments, and to my noble and learned friend, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, for his further examination of the issues that are before us in this case. I agree with both of them that the Commissioners’ appeal should be dismissed in relation to Mr Fleming’s claim. I agree with Lord Neuberger, for the reasons he gives, that the Commissioner’s appeal in relation to Cond Nast’s claim should also be dismissed. 2. As Lord Walker has explained, claims for overpayment of output tax and previously unclaimed deduction of input tax are provided for by section 80 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 and regulation 29 of the Value Added Tax Regulations 1995 (SI 1995/2518). As originally enacted, section 80 provided that no amount paid by way of ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : House of Lords
Decided on : Jan-23-2008
LORD BINGHAM OF CORNHILL My Lords, 1. I have had the advantage of reading in draft the opinion of my noble and learned friend Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood. I am in full agreement with it and would, for the reasons which he gives, allow the appeal and make the order which he proposes. LORD RODGER OF EARLSFERRY My Lords, 2. I have the advantage of considering the speech of my noble and learned friend, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood, in draft. I agree with it and, for the reasons he gives, I too would allow the appeal and make the order which he proposes. BARONESS HALE OF RICHMOND My Lords, 3. I agree that this appeal should be allowed, for the reasons given by my noble and learned friend, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood. It is not strictly necessary, therefore, to express a view on the issues discussed by my noble and learned friend, Lord Mance, in paragraphs 42 to 53 of his opinion. But they were fully canvassed in argument before us. I feel it only fair, therefore, to confess...
Tag this Judgment!Court : House of Lords
Decided on : Jan-30-2008
LORD HOFFMANN My Lords, 1. These six appeals all raise the question of whether claims for sexual assaults and abuse which took place many years before the commencement of proceedings are barred by the Limitation Act 1980. The general rule is that the period of limitation for an action in tort is six years from the date on which the cause of action accrues. This period derives from the Limitation Act 1623 and is now contained in section 2 of the 1980 Act. All the claimants started proceedings well after the six years had expired. It follows that, if section 2 applies, their claims are barred. But sections 11 to 14 contain provisions, first introduced by the Limitation Act 1975, which create a different regime for actions for “damages for negligence, nuisance or breach of duty", where the damages are in respect of personal injuries. In such cases the limitation period is three years from either the date when the cause of action accrued or the “date of knowledge” as defi...
Tag this Judgment!Court : House of Lords
Decided on : Jan-30-2008
LORD BINGHAM OF CORNHILL My Lords, 1. Mr Duffy, the appellant, is a member of the Garvaghy Road Residents’ Coalition. He applied for judicial review to challenge the appointment by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on 30 November 2005 of two new members of the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland. Those members are Mr David Burrows and Mr Donald Mackay (who has since resigned from the commission). Mr Duffy’s challenge was based on a number of grounds directed to the suitability of Mr Burrows and Mr Mackay to be members of the commission and to the process leading to their appointment. His challenge was upheld, on a limited ground, by Morgan J but was rejected by a majority of the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland (Kerr LCJ and Campbell LJ, Nicholson LJ dissenting) in the judgment now under appeal ([2006] NICA 28, [2007] NI 12). Background 2. The holding of public parades, processions and marches has long been cherished by adherents of both the main traditions...
Tag this Judgment!Court : House of Lords
Decided on : Jan-30-2008
LORD HOFFMANN My Lords, 1. I have had the advantage of reading in draft the speech of my noble and learned friend Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury. For the reasons he gives, with which I agree, I too would allow this appeal. LORD SCOTT OF FOSCOTE My Lords, 2. I have had the advantage of reading in advance the opinion of my noble and learned friend Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury and am in full agreement with the reasons he has given for allowing this appeal. LORD RODGER My Lords, 3. I have had the advantage of considering in draft the speech to be delivered by my noble and learned friend, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury. I agree with it and, for the reasons which he gives, I too would allow the appeal. LORD WALKER OF GESTINGTHORPE My Lords, 4. I have had the advantage of considering in draft the opinion of my noble and learned friend, Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury. I agree with it and, for the reasons which he gives, I too would allow the appeal. LORD NEUBERGER OF ABBOTSBURY My Lords, 5. The s...
Tag this Judgment!Court : House of Lords
Decided on : Jan-30-2008
LORD BINGHAM OF CORNHILL My Lords, 1. I have had the advantage of reading in draft the opinion of my noble and learned friend Lord Hope of Craighead. For the reasons he gives, with which I agree, I would allow this appeal and make the order which he proposes. LORD HOPE OF CRAIGHEAD My Lords, 2. This is an appeal against the grant on 25 April 2007 by the Divisional Court (Smith LJ and Irwin J) of a writ of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum to the respondent, Farid Hilali, on the ground that his detention in custody while he was awaiting extradition under a European arrest warrant had become unlawful due to a fundamental change in circumstances since the making of the extradition order: [2007] EWHC 939 (Admin); [2007] 3 WLR 621. 3. On 29 April 2004 the appellant, the Central Court of Criminal Proceedings No 5 of the National Court, Madrid, issued a European arrest warrant seeking the extradition of the respondent to Spain for the purpose of his being prosecuted there for participation in a ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : House of Lords
Decided on : Feb-06-2008
LORD HOPE OF CRAIGHEAD My Lords, 1. I have had the advantage of reading in draft the speeches of my noble and learned friends, Lord Scott of Foscote and Baroness Hale of Richmond. I am grateful to Lord Scott for setting out the facts and the procedural history and to Baroness Hale for her explanation of the wider context in which the legislation that we are concerned with needs to be viewed. For the reasons Baroness Hale gives I would allow the appeal and make the order that she proposes. 2. The question is whether the phrase “the whole or a substantial part of any premises in which the flat is contained” in section 47(2)(b)(ii) of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 enables the landlord, unconstrained by their existing state, to identify the premises by drawing his own line around the tenant’s flat in support of his counter-notice or whether it refers to the existing and objectively recognisable state of the premises. No direct assistance can...
Tag this Judgment!Court : House of Lords
Decided on : Feb-06-2008
LORD BINGHAM OF CORNHILL My Lords, 1. On 23 April 1997 in the Crown Court at Worcester each of the appellants was convicted by a jury of causing grievous bodily harm with intent contrary to section 18 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. For that offence each was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment. The first appellant received a concurrent sentence for another offence and the second appellant received a consecutive sentence of 2 years’ for other offences, making a total sentence in his case of 14 years’. For the purposes of this appeal, referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, it is accepted that when the trial of the appellants began in April 1997, although leave to prefer voluntary bills had previously been given on two occasions, there was no signed indictment before the Crown Court. The evidence at the trial ended on Friday 18 April. On Monday 21 April 1997 the appellants were arraigned on an additional (but alternative) co...
Tag this Judgment!Court : House of Lords
Decided on : Feb-06-2008
LORD BINGHAM OF CORNHILL My Lords, 1. I have had the benefit of reading in draft the opinion of my noble and learned friend Lord Scott of Foscote. I am in full agreement with his reasoning and his conclusions and therefore, like him, I would dismiss the appeal. LORD SCOTT OF FOSCOTE My Lords, 2. This is an appeal from the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland. The Statement of Facts and Issues, agreed and signed by counsel for both parties, identifies two issues of construction of the Proceeds of Crime (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (“the 1996 Order”) for your Lordships to decide. One of these your Lordships must decide; the other, in my opinion, does not arise on the facts of this case. It is convenient, therefore, before describing the issues, to outline the relevant facts. The facts 3. At arraignments on 8 January 2002 and 15 January 2002 the appellant, Mr Maye, pleaded guilty to various counts of obtaining property by deception. Sentencing was adjourned in order, inter ali...
Tag this Judgment!Court : House of Lords
Decided on : Feb-06-2008
LORD BINGHAM OF CORNHILL My Lords, 1. For the reasons given by my noble and learned friend Lord Hope of Craighead, with which I agree, I would dismiss this appeal. LORD HOPE OF CRAIGHEAD My Lords, 2. In April 2007 two European arrest warrants were issued by the Circuit Court of Legnica for the extradition of the appellant to Poland. The decisions on which the warrants were based were orders by Judge Bartlomiej Treter for the appellant to be arrested for the purpose of serving custodial sentences which had been imposed on him by the District Court in Lubin after his conviction for various offences and which had become final. The validity of each warrant falls to be determined under Part 1 of the Extradition Act 2003. This is the measure by which the United Kingdom has transposed into national law the Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on the European arrest warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States (2002/548/JHA; OJ 2002 L 190, p1). Poland was designated as a ca...
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