In Imperial Smelting Corporation Ltd v Joseph Constantine Steamship Line Ltd; The Kingswood, the court considered various cases regarding the burden of proof. One such case was Abrath v North Eastern Ry Co, in which some helpful rules relating to the burden of proof were laid down by Bowen LJ: ‘Whenever litigation exists, somebody must go on with it; the plaintiff is the first to begin; if he does nothing, he fails; if he makes a prima facie case, and nothing is done to answer it, the defendant fails. The test, therefore, as to the burden of

The Law Reform (Contributory Negligence) Act 1945 applies to clinical negligence cases in the same way that it does to other litigation. If a claimant has suffered damage partly due to their own fault, the damages recoverable can be reduced to such extent as the court thinks just and equitable, having regard to the claimant’s share in the responsibility for the damage. Successful medical treatment is often dependent upon the patient co-operating, for example, by following the prescribed course of treatment or drawing any particular symptoms to the attention of a medical practitioner. That said, in contrast to cases involving road traffic accidents or slipping and tripping accidents, for example, it is unusual for claimants in clinical negligence claims to be held to be contributory negligent and therefore legally responsible for their actions. Rarely do medical practitioners plead or rely on such arguments, which means that there is only limited case law on the subject. Practice Note: Loss of a

We refer you to the following Commentary extracts, which explain how to deal with name changes of the testator when drafting the commencement clause of their Will: • Commencement of wills: Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents [366] • The list of information: Butterworths Wills Probate and Administration Service [2.9] You will see from the above Commentary that the purpose

A letter of claim should be sent prior to the issue of proceedings (see para 6 of the Practice Direction Pre-Action Conduct and Protocols (the Practice Direction)). While a failure to send a letter of claim does not prevent a party from instituting proceedings, a failure to comply with a relevant pre-action protocol and/or Practice Direction, will be taken into consideration when case management directions are given (CPR 3.1(4)–(6)) and when making orders for costs (CPR 44.2(5)(a)). A failure to comply may therefore mean that even a successful claimant is deprived of part or all of their costs. The letter

Any lease granted for more than seven years after the coming into force of the Land Registration Act 2002 (LRA 2002) on 13 October 2003 will take effect in equity only unless it is registered. The Land Registration Act 1925 (repealed) had a similar effect upon leases granted for a term exceeding 21 years, in providing that

Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1988 (as amended) sets out certain exemptions to assured tenancy (and therefore assured shorthold) status. One of those exemptions relates to tenancies under which no rent is payable—we refer you to Schedule 1 (Tenancies Which Cannot be Assured Tenancies), paragraph 3 of the Housing Act 1988, which states: '3 A

This Q&A is to some extent an examination of the question before the Supreme Court in R (on the application of ZH & CN) v Newham LBC & Lewisham LBC; Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government. Lord Hodge summarised the issue at [16]: ‘In this appeal we are concerned only with whether an applicant is entitled to both a set period of notice and a court order before eviction if, on completing the section 188 investigation, a local authority finds him or her to be homeless intentionally or otherwise not entitled to the full housing duty under section 193 of the 1996 Act. The logic of the answer to that question will apply also to other temporary accommodation provided under Part VII of the 1996 Act, namely sections 188(3) (above), 190(2) (above), 200(1) (accommodation pending a possible referral to another authority), and 204(4) (accommodation pending the determination of an appeal).’ In

Section 142(1) of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (IHTA 1984) provides that, assuming that the instrument of variation complies with all the formal requirements, IHTA 1984 '…shall apply as if the variation had been effected by the deceased'. Therefore, the variation is treated for inheritance tax (IHT) purposes as taking effect on the death of the deceased person. If the intended recipient (the 'new legatee') of the transfer by the original legatee is alive at the date of the transfer but was not alive at the death of the deceased, it is difficult to see how IHTA 1984, s 142 could apply to that transfer, because, if IHTA 1984, s 142 were to apply, the subject

An application for a new business tenancy pursuant to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 should be made in accordance with CPR 8, unless the claim is opposed, in which case the CPR 7 procedure must be used. CPR PD 56 sets out the information which must be included in the claim form. Once issued, the claim form must be served before midnight on the calendar day four months after the date of issue of the claim form, pursuant to CPR 7.5. In lease renewal proceedings, the claimant will often request that once issued, the proceedings are

The word 'maisonette' is not the subject of any particular definition in any UK property statute. The Shorter Oxford Dictionary defines it as a part of a residential building which is occupied separately and usually on more than one floor. Commonly, also, it has its own entrance. A 'maisonette' is generally regarded as different in nature to a house. Moreover, by section 2(1)(a) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 (LRA 1967), where a building is divided horizontally, the flats or maisonettes into which it is divided cannot be separate 'houses'. Accordingly, where a building is divided horizontally into two or more flats or maisonettes,

The variation of a lease to increase the length of term of the original lease will result in an implied or deemed surrender and re-grant of the original lease–see Practice Note: Lease variations—surrender and re-grant issues. The original lease is deemed to have been surrendered and a new lease is deemed to have been granted between the original parties

In answering this Q&A, we have limited our research to section 994 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) which concerns petitions for unfair prejudice by a company member. We have also assumed you are referring to the situation where the majority shareholder is also either the sole director or the controlling director of the board. CA 2006, s 994 states: '(1) A member of a company may apply