English Law Research Articles

SLAPPs: What are they? And how should defamation law be reformed to address them?

ABSTRACT This article examines the need for legislative reform to address the problem of strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPPs), with a focus on defamation law as the most common action for such claims. It draws upon legislative and judicial approaches from a range of different jurisdictions to define the problem of SLAPPs and examines whether the existing law in England and Wales provides an adequate solution to the problem of SLAPPs. This analysis indicates some important recent developments in the law that are relevant to SLAPPs but concludes that legislative reform is necessary to address the problem of SLAPPs. In contrast to the current proposals for reform, the article proposes an anti-SLAPP provision that crystallizes and builds upon recent developments in the law, to effectively address the problem of SLAPPs without posing an unnecessary risk of the denial of innocent claims.

Double Jeopardy, Autrefois Acquit and the Legal Ethics of the Rule Against Unreasonably Splitting a Case

Section 75 of the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) of 2003 overturned the principle in English law that a person cannot be retried for an offense of which he has been acquitted, recognizing advances in forensic science that uses modern analysis of DNA in adducing in evidence. The special plea of autrefois acquit can be overturned based on finding of compelling evidence after a previous acquittal of a suspect who can now be tried again for the same offense. The double jeopardy arises only after a lawful acquittal or autrefois convict of the accused for the first offense and these principles have allowed exceptions to the rule against double jeopardy developed by the courts. There is an analogous rule in common law courts based on the unreasonable splitting of the case when there is a severing of indictments which overrides the bar on the accused being retried for the same offense. This paper examines the difficulty of trying a defendant fairly in the English courts when the defense has pleaded an abuse of process and there is no clear overall argument for trial. This question needs an appraisal of legal ethics in criminal courts because a retrial of the accused on the same charge breaches the autrefois acquit doctrine, and severing of an indictment can cause the fair trial process to be undermined.

Poverty, old age and outdoor relief in late-Victorian England

ABSTRACT While studies dedicated to the extent of poverty in old age under the New Poor Law in nineteenth-century England have grown, gaps still exist in terms of a detailed examination of outdoor relief compared with workhouse populations. Using rarely consulted outdoor relief application and report books for three Poor Law Unions in the early 1880s (Alton Union, Hampshire; Hertford Union, Hertfordshire; and Ripon Union, Yorkshire West Riding), this article provides estimated proportions of older people on outdoor relief by linking the report books with census materials. It also examines variations in allowances prescribed to single and married individuals. Firstly, older people in southern England were more likely to receive outdoor relief compared with their northern counterparts, consistent with the extant literature outlining a ‘north–south’ divide of welfare provision. Secondly, allowances were surprisingly generous in Ripon Union. For married couples, allowances were double the average documented elsewhere and reflect those granted under the Old Age Pensions Act of 1908. In conclusion, continuity in the treatment of older-age applicants between the later years of the New Poor Law and the start of the Old Age Pensions Act is emphasised, especially in the context of northern Poor Law Unions such as Ripon.

A Roman face on an English body: the typography of Plowden’s Commentaries

ABSTRACT This paper examines the typographic form of Plowden’s Commentaries within its legal, printing, and technological histories, demonstrating that its typographic appearance embeds complex tensions over the study and dissemination of the common law into its material form. There are legally relevant meanings in the shape of letters, beyond mere legibility, that are connected with the heritage of type design and print technologies. Within the context of debates over the propriety of early common law printing, this paper provides an examination of Plowden’s typographic style as roman and humanist. Tracing the genealogy of roman and humanist letters that led to the ones used in Plowden’s opening judgment, the typography of the Commentaries is connected to debates over the resistance of the common law (as an unwritten law) to humanism and Roman-style codification. Plowden’s typographic register is thereby seen to encode the Latinate traditions to which the structure and custom of the English common law is opposed.

МНОГОКОМПОНЕНТНЫЕ ТЕРМИНЫ МЕЖДУНАРОДНОГО ВОЗДУШНОГО ПРАВА В АНГЛИЙСКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ

The article reveals an actual problem of the specificity of the terminology system of international air law in the English language. The study presents the results of the specificity of multicomponent terms according to the criterion of belonging to the semantic core within the framework of terminological fields. The research goal is to determine the features of multi-component terms of international air law in the English terminology system. The study objectives were to identify the specific lexical and grammatical characteristics of multi-component terms of international air law in English, and to conduct a partial analysis of terms with a multi-component composition in English. The article presents the results of an empirical study that prove that the component-by-component method of term analysis proposed in the study allows us to identify a number of key features of multi-component terms in the English term system of international air law. Based on empirical results, the author concluded that within the field of international air law, multicomponent terms occupy the second position in terms of frequency of use in English. The research materials are useful for analyzing the partial structure of terms with a multicomponent composition in the terminology system of international air law in English.

The legally binding nature of intentional agreements in common law

This article examines the intentional forms of expressing will under English law and evaluates how courts of common law jurisdictions qualify such non-standard contractual constructions. The increasing acceptance of these instruments in Russian business transactions, particularly within the context of public- private legal relations, supports the relevance of this topic. The research highlights some features of the nature of agreements and contracts under English law and analyzes the main elements inherent in contractual constructs. The author presents the thesis, which states that while the parties’ intentions are a crucial element in making the agreement enforceable, their mere presence does not automatically result in creating a legally binding force. The second part of the paper identifies the main forms of documents in English commercial turnover that involved parties use to express their intentions. The author proposes to generalize the identified forms into the category of «intentional» agreements due to the similar purpose of their practical application. The final part of the paper identifies and analyzes the cases of making intentional agreements binding, offering a list of criteria for courts in common law jurisdictions to enforce such agreements.

The Balance Between EU Harmonization and English Common Law: Ultra Vires Transactions and Restrictions on Officer’s Powers in Cyprus Company Law

The Balance Between EU Harmonization and English Common Law: Ultra Vires Transactions and Restrictions on Officer’s Powers in Cyprus Company Law

ФОРМУВАННЯ СУЧАСНОГО ПРАВОВОГО ТЕРМІНОЛОГІЧНОГО АПАРАТУ В ІВРИТІ: СПОСОБИ ТА ВПЛИВ ІНШИХ ПРАВОВИХ СИСТЕМ

The article is dedicated to the peculiarities of the legal terminology formation, which took place in the process of the restoration of the Hebrew language and its becoming the official state language of the modern Israel. The legal system of Israel has been created during XX century, after near two-thousand-year period of its existence without own state, being limited to the small community’s common and religious law in different languages only. Thus, creation of the own state has demanded not only to adapt the legal institutes, but to develop new actual terminology in the new official state language. But the terminology complex of the Hebrew was based on the ancient language sources, so creation or adapting of the classic Hebrew words for the definition of the modern legal terms became a great scientific challenge. In the article we conclude, that new lexemes were not created in the process of the Israel legal terminology formation, but the old texts words were chosen, usually with some rethinking and reinterpretation of its meanings. This approach provides the possibility to avoid direct borrowing of the terms, which is a typical process in the reception of law in other states. Despite the fact that, in addition to the English Common Law, the formation of Israel’s legal system was influenced by the Ottoman and Romano-Germanic law, concepts from the English legal system were taken as the basis for the selection of many basic terms. The terms creation was not limited to formal denomination only. Often the process becomes more substantive, noticing the etymology, the content of the legal institute and the mechanisms of the practical law-enforcements. After this deep scientific work of the linguists and lawyers Hebrew terminology of the Israel legal system fully expresses the content and the scope of the concepts of the relevant legal institutes.

Compulsory purchase of lands and implementation of public plans in the Iranian and British legal systems

Compulsory purchase of lands and implementation of public plans in the Iranian and British legal systems

Analysis of the Legitimacy of Directors’ Liability to Company’s Creditors —Drawing on English Case Law

Analysis of the Legitimacy of Directors’ Liability to Company’s Creditors —Drawing on English Case Law

Legislation Related to School Shootings in Great Britain

Introduction: school shootings remain a highly relevant topic for investigation because the social environment and interpersonal relationships play a leading role in the formation of aggressive intentions of perpetrators. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of British legislation related to school shootings. Historically, the law of homicide in the United Kingdom has had a number of distinguishing marks. Structurally, the Scots law of homicide resembles the law of England and Wales because the offences of murder and culpable homicide in Scotland closely resemble the offences of murder and manslaughter in England and Wales. Methods: empirical methods of comparison; specific scientific methods: legal dogmatic method and method of legal norm interpretation. Results: the paper describes the law of homicide in England and Wales, including the common law, the relevant sections of British legislation and the proposals of the Law Commission for the creation of a new Homicide Act with a three‐tier structure of general homicide. This overview also encompasses the punishment regime for murder by the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and Sentencing Act 2020. The law of England and Wales is compared with the law of Scotland, especially its crimes of homicide, sentencing guidelines and juvenile justice. Also, the article deals with rules concerning gun ownership. The 1996 Dunblane school shooting in the United Kingdom played a critical role in this issue as it sparked a campaign to change gun laws, which resulted in British lawmakers banning private possession of handguns.

Legal Consciousness and the Implementation of Equality and Human Rights Law in England and Wales

Legal Consciousness and the Implementation of Equality and Human Rights Law in England and Wales

The Indian Contract Act — background and case law

This article aims to illustrate the background and the case law of the Indian Contract Act, enacted in 1872. It also tries to provide a comparison between the law introduced in India and the model which is the English Common Law of Contract based on the English law of the time. Indeed, the provisions contained in the Indian Contract Act are more advanced and more organically conceived than the English Common Law of Contract. Pillars of the Common Law of Contract such as the doctrine of consideration, the doctrine of frustration and the doctrine of economic duress are found in the Indian act in an improved version. Indian courts applied them consistently in the majority of cases. Even today, in a few exceptional cases, the Indian courts appear to be influenced by English case law to such an extent that they do not comply with the innovative aspects of the Indian Contract Act. Recently the pandemic of Covid-19 causing hindrance to the performance of many contracts raised questions such as the existence of force majeure able to nullify the contract and in certain cases it triggered the applicability of the doctrine of frustration. Such situations are codified by the Indian Contract Act and case law is available. New needs have arisen in the field of marriage law such as prenuptial agreements, which may apparently be deemed valid if they pass the test of public order as stated in the Indian Contract Act.

The overdependence of African courts and businesses on English law and forum: the negative repercussions on the development of African legal and economic systems

The overdependence of African courts and businesses on English law and forum: the negative repercussions on the development of African legal and economic systems

<span>The Over dependence of African Courts and Businesses on English Law and Forum: The Negative Repercussions on the Development of African Legal and Economic Systems</span><span></span>

<span>The Over dependence of African Courts and Businesses on English Law and Forum: The Negative Repercussions on the Development of African Legal and Economic Systems</span><span></span>

The English Law Doctrine of Frustration in the Context of the COVD-19 Pandemic

This paper examines the extent to which the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the formation and execution of contracts in the United Kingdom. Using the English Law doctrine of frustration, it assesses how far foreseeability plays a role in determining whether contracts are frustrated. It examines concepts such as illegality, impossibility and frustration of purpose as well as case law to see what arguments can be used to support or deny liability for contractual terms. It argues that in many ways, frustration is narrowly constructed. The COVID- 19 pandemic and its aftermath, however, will encourage more creativity as legal systems revisit their provisions to accommodate the changing dynamics of the international system. English law, frustration, foreseeability, illegality, impossibility, frustration of purpose, COVID-19

Electronic Monitoring of Imprisonment in the Law and Judicial Practice of England

Electronic monitoring, as an alternative to imprisonment, became a part of England's penal policy in the 1990s. Since then, it has been applied in various cases, such as low-risk offenses, suspended sentences, and bail conditions. This method has helped reduce the costs of prisoner maintenance and overcrowding in prisons, while also facilitating the rehabilitation and social reintegration of offenders. However, challenges such as privacy violations, human rights criticisms, and the technological costs of these systems remain topics of discussion. This research, using a descriptive-analytical method, examines key laws regarding electronic monitoring in England, including the Criminal Justice Acts of 1991, 2003, and 2012, and analyzes examples of related judicial cases. The results indicate that electronic monitoring, in some cases, has contributed to crime reduction and social reintegration, but its effectiveness depends on the type of offense, social conditions, and its combination with other monitoring tools. Ultimately, the research concludes that electronic monitoring can be an effective tool in offender management but requires ongoing reforms and evaluation to address the challenges it faces and improve its efficiency.

Analysis of Higher Vocational English Learners’ Behavioral Characteristics and Teaching Content Optimization Strategies Based on Big Data Mining

Abstract In the context of the big data era, the study of the massive data accumulated in the information construction of higher vocational colleges and universities can provide convenience for the teaching and management of colleges and universities. By improving the K-means clustering algorithm and Apriori algorithm in big data mining technology, the article mines the English learning behaviors and laws of higher vocational English learners and explores the correlation between learners’ behavioral characteristics and teaching performance. Finally, through empirical testing, this paper proposes an optimization strategy for teaching content in higher vocational English education. In the comparative analysis of reading and writing pre-test and post-test scores between the experimental class and the control class, the pre-test score of reading comprehension of the students in the experimental class is 31.25, and the post-test score is 32.84, and the average score of reading comprehension has increased by 1.59, which can be obtained that the English reading comprehension of the students has been improved after teaching with the teaching content optimization strategy proposed in this paper.

A Comparative Analysis of Contract Law Interpretation Approaches in English and French Law: A Focus on Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Transactions

A Comparative Analysis of Contract Law Interpretation Approaches in English and French Law: A Focus on Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Transactions

The Origin and Development of Equity under the English Common Law Legal System: An Introduction

The Origin and Development of Equity under the English Common Law Legal System: An Introduction