Dear Colleagues,

Today saw the first two (substantive) judgments of the new UK Supreme Court. Neither directly involved the law of obligations, but the cases may nonetheless be of some interest as they mark the dawn of a new era. The judgments are available at http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/news/judgments.html.

In Re Sigma Finance Corporation (in administrative receivership) and In Re The Insolvency Act 1986 (Conjoined Appeals) [2009] UKSC 2 involved the construction of a Trust deed to determine the distribution of assets, in the wake of difficulties engendered by the financial crisis.

R (on the application of L) (FC) v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2009] UKSC 3 concerned the compatibility of a "enhanced criminal record certificate", which may contain "allegations held on local police records about the applicant’s criminal or other behaviour which have not been tested at trial or led to a conviction" with the right to private life under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Court held that it was compatible.

For those interested in the mode of giving judgment, in the R (on the application of L) appeal, the Justices followed the practice of the House of Lords, in that each of the five judges gives an individual opinion (Lord Saville, who has just returned to the judicial fray after a decade chairing the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, offers a formulaic concurrence). In the Sigma appeal, the Justices adopt a US Supreme Court style, of  only indicating which judges concur in the given opinions (Lord Mance and Lord Collins offer those for the majority, while Lord Walker dissents).

The Court's website also offers the innovation of official "press summaries" of the decisions.

Best wishes,

James

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James Lee

Lecturer

Director of the LLB Programme

Birmingham Law School

University of Birmingham

Edgbaston

Birmingham

B15 2TT, United Kingdom

 

Tel: +44 (0)121 414 3629

E-mail: j.s.f.lee@bham.ac.uk