The law relating to the recording of conversations between private individuals and the use of those recordings in court proceedings is a developing area. As a matter of first principles, there is no offence committed where an individual covertly records a conversation with another individual. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA 2000) applies to public bodies but not to individuals. Likewise, the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000, SI 2000/2699, apply to businesses in respect of the recording of conversations without notice to the person being recorded or in certain specified exceptional circumstances. The admissibility of covert recordings as evidence has been considered in several cases by the courts. In Jones v University of Warwick (which was considered in Mustard v Flower, below), an enquiry agent posed as a market researcher and gained access to the claimant’s home. The defendant sought to use as evidence video of

The question of admissibility of evidence in civil proceedings is whether the evidence is relevant to a fact in issue in the case. Admissibility is always decided by the judge and all relevant evidence is potentially admissible, subject to common law and statutory rules on exclusion. What is relevant (namely what goes to prove or disprove a matter in issue) will be decided by logic and human experience, and facts may be proved directly or circumstantially. In civil proceedings, evidence must not be excluded on the ground that it is hearsay. In civil proceedings, 'hearsay' means a statement made otherwise than by a person while giving oral evidence in the proceedings

Contractual clauses—termination A contractual termination clause provides either or both parties with the right to terminate a contract under a defined set of circumstances. Such circumstances may be broadly or narrowly defined and may include either fault and/or non-fault based triggers. For an example of a termination clause, see Precedent: Termination clause and Drafting Notes. Whether a termination right also constitutes a ‘remedy’ depends upon whether such right to terminate (and the consequences of exercising that right) does in fact provide relief or remedy to an afflicted party, the language of the particular contract and the circumstances under which a party may exercise its right to terminate. When considering exercising a right under a termination clause, any clause setting out the ‘consequences of termination’ should also be closely scrutinised. For example, see clauses

The general rule is that where a purchaser of a freehold interest in land enters into obligations with the vendor, while the burden of restrictions will in many cases bind a successor in title, obligations which require the covenantor to do something will not pass when the freehold estate is transferred. The rentcharge is a means by which an obligation to pay money can pass to the successor of the original purchaser. While there is no difficulty as a matter of privity of contract in imposing an obligation upon the purchaser to pay the vendor for the provision of services connected with the land, the position is less straightforward when the vendor passes the freehold interest to a third person. The rentcharge, however gives its owner the right to require the periodical payment of money from the owner of freehold land. It is not a mortgage

Charge over receivables? One factor will be the specific terms of the fixed or floating charge and whether it covers repayments under a loan agreement (ie receivables). Questions to ask are whether the charge covers receivables, and if these fall under the floating charge (rather

Right to work checks It is unlawful to employ an adult who is subject to immigration control who has: • not been granted permission to enter or stay in the UK, or • permission that is invalid, expired or otherwise ceased to have effect (eg cancelled or curtailed) or which is subject to a condition preventing them from accepting the employment Checking whether a person has the right to work and the right to undertake the kind of employment and hours required is necessary for an employer to avoid breaking the law. Some people with

For the purpose of this Q&A we have assumed that the bailiff is taking control of goods under the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 (TCEA 2007) and the Taking Control of Goods Regulations 2013 (TCGR 2013), SI 2013/1894. An enforcement agent may take control of goods only if they are on premises that they have power to enter under TCEA 2007, Sch 12 or are on the highway. An enforcement agent may enter premises to search for and take control of goods if they reasonably believe that they are the place or one of the places where the debtor usually lives or carries on a trade or business. The enforcement agent has power to use reasonable

The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 (C(RTP)A 1999) provides a statutory exception to the common law doctrine of privity of contract. This provides, in specified circumstances, for third parties to enforce a benefit conferred on them under a contract to which they are not themselves a party. For details of C(RTP)A 1999 and its application, see Practice Note: Third party rights—the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. C(RTP)A 1999 makes no express provision as to whether a third party may assign rights conferred on it under the Act to a fourth party. We are not aware of any specific decision which covers this question. However, the Law Commission, in its 1996 report Privity of contract: Contracts for the benefit of third

Such works may fall under section 105(1)(b) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (HGCRA 1996), which defines construction operations as including roads maintenance works: ‘...construction, alteration, repair, maintenance, extension, demolition or dismantling of any works forming, or to form, part of the land, including (without prejudice to the foregoing) walls, roadworks, power-lines, electronic communications apparatus, aircraft runways, docks and harbours, railways, inland waterways, pipe-lines, reservoirs, water-mains, wells, sewers, industrial plant and installations for purposes of land drainage, coast protection or defence’ (our emphasis) Alternatively, the works may fall under HGCRA 1996, s 105(1)(e) if they are considered ancillary to road maintenance works: ‘operations

Are sanctioned persons entitled to receive interest on sums owed to them that accrue during the period in which they are sanctioned? Financial sanctions imposed by the UK government often involve asset freezes, which prohibit dealing with the frozen funds or economic resources of a designated person, making funds available to them, or engaging in actions that circumvent the prohibitions—see Practice Note: Understanding the financial sanctions regime. Specific offences include dealing with the funds of a designated person and making funds available to them—see Practice Note Financial sanctions—offences; such an offence when committed by a firm authorised under the Part 4A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA 2000), would also have regulatory consequencessee Practice Note Introduction to UK sanctions compliance for financial services firms. Asset freeze provisions are set out in the individual regulations applicable to the sanctions regime under which the designation has been made, eg the

It is assumed that ‘scanned signatures’ are digital images of an individual’s handwritten signature. The Electronic Communications Act 2000 (ECA 2000) is the primary UK legislation on electronic signatures. It provides that all forms of electronic signatures incorporated into or logically associated with a particular electronic communication or data are admissible in evidence in England and Wales in relation to any question as to their authenticity or integrity of such communication or data. The weight to be given to the evidence is dependent upon the nature of the

It is important that schools balance the requests of parents with their legislative duties. An important principle to remember is that having parental responsibility does not allow a parent to obstruct a school from carrying out their duties under legislation. The rights of individuals to access their personal data and the data held about others (including children) and the duties of those who hold the information to provide it are set out in sections 7–9A of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA 1998). The duties owed by schools Under the principles of the DPA 1998, children and young adults can assume control over their personal information and restrict access to it, should they be of sufficient age or maturity to exercise their will in this matter. However, this personal control is not extended to cover information which is held within a pupil’s educational