Current Awareness

The Stamp Duty Land Tax (Open-ended Investment Companies) Regulations 2008

The Income Tax (Indexation) (No. 2) Order 2008

The Capital Gains Tax (Annual Exempt Amount) Order 2008

The Fire and Rescue Authorities (Best Value Performance Indicators) (Wales) Order 2008

The Discretionary Financial Assistance (Amendment) Regulations 2008

The Metropolitan Police Authority Regulations 2008

The Police Authority Regulations 2008

The Companies (Defective Accounts and Directors’ Reports) (Authorised Person) and Supervision of Accounts and Reports (Prescribed Body) Order 2008

The Police and Justice Act 2006 (Supplementary and Transitional Provisions)(Amendment) Order 2008

The Inheritance Tax (Delivery of Accounts) (Excepted Settlements) Regulations 2008

The Town and Country Planning (Determination of Appeals by Appointed Persons) (Prescribed Classes) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2008

The Police and Justice Act 2006 (Commencement No.1, Transitional and Saving Provisions) (Amendment) Order 2008

The Public Trustee (Fees) Order 2008

The Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 (Commencement No. 3 and Supplementary Provision) Order 2008

The Northern Rock plc Compensation Scheme Order 2008

Source: www.opsi.gov.uk

“Nearly a third of retail websites surveyed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) are breaking laws designed to protect shoppers.”

Full story

OUT-LAW.com, 12th March 2008

Source: www.out-law.com

The 2008 Budget Report was published on 12 March 2008.

Full Report

Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Budget statement

HM Treasury, 12th March 2008

Source: www.hm-treasury.gov.uk

“Eighteen months and two cases on, lawyers are still unsure how age discrimination rules apply to them.”

Full story

The Times, 12th March 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

R (On The Application of Animal Defenders International) V Secretary of State For Culture, Media and Sport (Respondent) [2008] UKHL 15 (12 March 2008)

Norris (Appellant) v Judgments - Government of the United States of America and others (Respondent) (Criminal Appeal from Her Majesty’s High Court of Justice) [2008] UKHL 16 (12 March 2008)

Brit Syndicates Limited for and on behalf of Brit Syndicate 2987 at Lloyd’s for the 2003 year of account and others (Respondents)v Italaudit SpA (in liquidation) (formerly Grant Thornton SpA) and others (Appellants) [2008] UKHL 18 (12 March 2008)

Total Network SL (a company incorporated in Spain) (Original Respondents and Cross-appellants) v Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (suing as Commissioners of Customs and Excise) (Original Appellants and Cross-respondents) [2008] UKHL 19 (12 March 2008)

Source: www.parliament.uk

“A compulsive gambler has lost his bid at the High Court to force bookmaker William Hill to repay his £2m losses.”

Full story

BBC News, 12th March 2008

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Court of Appeal (Civil Division)

Smith v Northamptonshire County Council [2008] EWCA Civ 181 (11 March 2008)

XZ (Russia) & Anor v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] EWCA Civ 180 (11 March 2008)

Smith v Northamptonshire County Council [2008] EWCA Civ 181 (11 March 2008)

McKenny & Anor v Foster (t/a Foster Partnership) [2008] EWCA Civ 173 (06 March 2008)

High Court (Family Division)

PD v MD [2008] EWHC 403 (Fam) (03 March 2008)

High Court (Administrative Court)

D and B v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis & Ors [2008] EWHC 442 (Admin) (14 February 2008)

Director of Public Prosecutions v Cove [2008] EWHC 441 (Admin) (14 February 2008)

HBH, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2008] EWHC 446 (Admin) (15 February 2008)

JR Cussons & Son v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government & Anor [2008] EWHC 443 (Admin) (20 February 2008)

Park Pharmacy Trust, R (on the application of) v Plymouth City Council & Anor [2008] EWHC 445 (Admin) (20 February 2008)

Bridgewood Rochester Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government [2008] EWHC 405 (Admin) (26 February 2008)

Source: www.bailii.org

“Forced marriage is an appalling and indefensible practice that the government is working hard to stop, Justice Minister Bridget Prentice said today.”

Full story

Ministry of Justice, 11th March 2008

Source: www.justice.gov.uk

“The attorney general, Lady Scotland, is using her powers over criminal prosecutions to delay another major overseas corruption case, the Guardian has learned.”

Full story

The Guardian, 12th March 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“An urgent cash injection of £40m to promote the use of alternatives to short prison sentences was announced yesterday by the justice minister David Hanson in the face of a prison population which stands at record levels of nearly 82,000.”

Full story

The Guardian, 12th March 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“A gay Iranian teenager faces deportation from Britain and execution in his home country after a Dutch court refused to hear his asylum claim.”

Full story

The Times, 12th March 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

“Three local authorities are to take the government to the high court in an attempt to stop night flights which they claim break noise regulations. Richmond, Wandsworth, and Windsor and Maidenhead councils have campaigned against night flights at Heathrow for several years and claim that the transport secretary, Ruth Kelly, is ‘failing in her duty to protect residents from excessive night noise’.”

Full story

The Guardian, 12th March 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane SpA v Rotunno and Others

Chancery Division

“There was no reason not to give the word ’secure’ its usual meaning as a transitive verb when contained within the words ‘to secure the benefits under the scheme’ in a set of trust rules.”

The Times, 12th March 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.

Mayr v Backerei und Konditorei Gerhard Flockner OHG Case C-506/06

Court of Justice of the European Communities

“The dismissal of a female employee when her ova had been fertilised in an in vitro procedure but had not yet been transferred into her uterus was not prohibited by the Community directive on the safety and health of pregnant workers, but was prohibited by the equal treatment directive it if was established that the dismissal was based on the fact that she had undergone in vitro fertilisation.”

The Times, 12th March 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.

Regina (Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council and Another) v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government

Court of Appeal

“Proposals to replace two-tier local government in some parts of the country with unitary authorities, made before the necessary statutory powers were in place, were lawful as long as genuine reconsideration had been given to them after the commencement of the relevant Act.”

The Times, 12th March 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.

“The controversial bill which will ratify the Lisbon Treaty has cleared its final Commons stages.”

Full story

BBC News, 11th March 2008

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

“Independent schools are threatening legal action over new rules that would force them to offer more free places to children from poor backgrounds.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 12th March 2008

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

“About 1,000 detainees are involved each year in incidents that result in serious illness or self-harm while in police custody, a report has suggested.”

Full story

BBC News, 12th March 2008

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

“A City lawyer who was left too ill to work after alleged bullying and harassment at her office is in line for record sex discrimination compensation of more than £13 million, it has been disclosed.”

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 12th March 2008

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

“The House of Lords will rule tomorrow on whether Ian Norris should be extradited to the US, in what is one of the most eagerly awaited legal cases of recent years.”

Full story

The Times, 11th March 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

“The government set up an independent inquiry yesterday into allegations of bullying and racism at the regulatory body that upholds professional standards among Britain’s 700,000 nurses and midwives.”

Full story

The Guardian, 12th March 2008

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

“Ministers have allowed headlines and political posturing to dictate penal policy. Now the time has come for the Government to step back from introducing more sentencing legislation, says Robert Verkaik, Law Editor.”

Full story

The Independent, 12th March 2008

Source: www.independent.co.uk

“Patients at a top security psychiatric hospital have brought a test case over the Government’s smoking ban.”

Full story

The Times, 12th March 2008

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk