In December last year, the House of Lords handed down its judgment in the case of R (on the application of Laporte) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire. The case considered the proper balance to be struck between an individual's Article 10 and 11 rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association under the European Convention on Human Rights ('ECHR'), and the Police's powers to prevent breaches of the peace ...
In our July 2006 legal update, we reported on a ground-breaking agreement (Agreement) signed by the Hong Kong and Mainland China Governments, under which they agreed to recognise and enforce judgments made in each others courts. Legislative changes are now underway in Hong Kong in order to implement the Agreement ...
Advocate General Sharpston has recently expressed her opinion in the Commission v Republic of Finland case that ensuring a sufficient degree of transparency for the award of sub-threshold procurements should be determined by national law, rather than Community law. If these views were to be followed by the ECJ, it would provide renewed impetus to create national rules on low value awards and represent a meaningful evolution of the ECJ's past case law ...
Each time we give up a bit of information about ourselves to the Government, we give up some of our freedom. For the more the Government or any institution knows about us, the more power it has over us. When the Government knows all of our secrets we stand naked before official power.” [Introductory remarks of Senator Sam Ervin on S3418, Legislative History of the Privacy Act of 1974 ...
The U.S. Department of Justice’s revised corporate charging policy, which was named after deputy attorney general Paul McNulty, was unveiled in December 2006. In the wake of its predecessor document, the 2003 Thompson Memo, we have seen a steady increase in the resolution of corporate criminal investigations without indictments or trials ...
February 2007 UK retail sales rose 0.6% on a like-for-like basis against a weak comparative in February 2006, when sales had fallen. The three-month trend rate of growth weakened in February to 0.9% from 1.1% in January for like-for-like sales, but rose to 4.2% from 3.6% for total sales, reflecting the continued growth of retail space.Clothing and footwear were still difficult but food sales improved, helped by Valentine’s Day, after a flat January ...
The promotion of research, development and innovation (R&D&I) has been identified as a key obligation by both the European Union as well as it member states in recent years ...
The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce upholds a strong position as one of the most important centres of international arbitration. The steady growth in the number of cases involving foreign parties that are administered by the Arbitration Institute convincingly demonstrates its worldwide popularity and reputation ...
The Federal Circuit, in an opinion written by Judge Rader and joined by Judges Lourie and Prost, has determined that a termination of a contract for the government’s convenience does not terminate obligations to perform warranty and software upgrade services under the contract. The Court of Federal Claims, in a well-reasoned opinion by Judge Miller, had determined otherwise ...
At long last, the Government's proposals in relation to the development of a Single Equality Bill have been released for consultation. The proposals stem from the work of the Discrimination Law Review that was established in February 2005 to consider the existing framework of discrimination legislation and to develop proposals aimed at harmonising and simplifying the current law ...
Civil Dispute Resolution in TaiwanSeptember, 2007ForewordTaiwan is a civil law jurisdiction, and its courts are charged principally with interpreting statutory laws and have limited ability to create new remedies or laws where there is no statutory basis. Civil, criminal, and administrative cases fall under the jurisdiction of separate court systems. In addition to civil litigation, civil disputes can also be handled through arbitration, mediation, or settlement ...
On November 21, 2007, the Supreme Court of British Columbia released the decision of Mr. Justice Vickers in Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia(1). The decision dealt with a claim brought by Chief Roger William of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation, on behalf of the Xeni Gwet’in First Nation and the Tsilhqot’in Nation ...
The rule that a party receiving documents in litigation holds them subject to an implied undertaking to use them only in the proceedings in which they were produced has been a fixture of practice in British Columbia since 1995. However, while the rule is easy to state, it often proves more difficult to apply in practice and carries with it the potential for very serious sanctions for breach ...
What It Means: After 339 days of hearings over five years, and at a cost of almost $30 million, a court in British Columbia has expressed its opinion that the Tsilhqot'in Nation has aboriginal title to approximately 2,000 square kilometres of land, but stopped short of making that opinion legally binding by granting a declaration of aboriginal title ...
DALLAS – The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has reversed and vacated the convictions of two indigent Mexican nationals who have spent the last 12 years in prison on life sentences for the Aug. 6, 1996 killing of a convenience store clerk in the Texas Panhandle ...
Three separate bids are expected to be submitted to rescue Northern Rock ahead of today's government-imposed deadline.Following a series of government interventions, the chancellor is keen on a private sector rescue for the bank, which has already received £25 billion worth of loans from the Bank of England ...
The last years have revealed significant divergences between the Romanian Competition Council and the High Court of Cassation and Justice regarding certain merger notification aspects. A recent High Court of Cassation and Justice decision seems however to indicate a potential reconciliation of the positions of the two authorities.The Competition Law no ...
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Finds that Student Who Was Abused Multiple Times by Fellow Students Was Entitled to Multiple Per-Claim Limits Because Each Assault Was a Separate “Claim”.In Essex Insurance Co. v. Doe, No. 06-7163, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 94 (D.C. Cir. Jan ...
Are Municipality has been ordered by the European Commission to reclaim the unlawful state aid which the municipality paid to Konsum in Jämtland? The Commission’s decision underlines the importance of governmental authorities, municipalities and county councils monitoring the provisions on state aid in business transactions involving private players ...
For the first time, the Court of Appeal has rendered a decision on a class action instituted under the Competition Act. A unanimous decision in favour of our client, Toyota Canada Inc. and 37 of its dealers in the Montreal region, was handed down on February 26, 2008 ...
The United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Stoneridge Investment Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. et al. is one of the most important securities law decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in many years. It establishes new guidelines in cases where investors seek to hold third parties (such as vendors, as well as attorneys or accountants) liable for participating in securities fraud ...
According to statistics, 76% of the leading 100 UK retailers have plans to replace at least one of their core IT systems in 2008. Ensuring that your IT system is up to date is vital. Using outdated software packages often results in poor service delivery and inefficient business management. Many old systems are not capable of meeting current legislation requirements or are not able to deliver reports to demonstrate compliance ...
1. This paper will address of a number of issues with respect to the pollution exclusion clauses commonly contained in Commercial General Liability (“CGL”) insurance policies. In particular, this paper considers how Canadian courts have interpreted and applied the standard wording of pollution exclusion clauses, and whether the decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in Zurich Insurance Co. v. 686234 Ontario Ltd ...
In one of the first decisions in Quebec since the landmark Domtar case(1), the Québec Court of Appeal has refined the parameters of the liability of a professional vendor and of a manufacturer for a latent defect. In this case,(2), Joseph Élie Limitée (“Élie”) had sold an oil tank manufactured by Réservoirs d’acier Granby (“Granby”), and supplied the oil to its customer, who was insured by Federation Insurance Company of Canada (“Federation”) ...
In one of the first decisions in Quebec since the landmark Domtar case(1), the Québec Court of Appeal has refined the parameters of the liability of a professional vendor and of a manufacturer for a latent defect. In this case,(2), Joseph Élie Limitée (“Élie”) had sold an oil tank manufactured by Réservoirs d’acier Granby (“Granby”), and supplied the oil to its customer, who was insured by Federation Insurance Company of Canada (“Federation”) ...
