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Civil way: 27 October 2017

27 October 2017 / Stephen Gold
Issue: 7767 / Categories: Features , Civil way , Procedure & practice
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Bible rewrite; Secret buyers; Non-matrimonial assets latest

ORANGE PEEL

The law is getting more colourful. Books of constant green, white, brown and red respectively are devoted to practice and procedure. At a Glance changes its cover colour with each annual edition so that at the next editorial meeting to write the jokes for the 201920 publication they may decide to go naked which should be a laugh. The Judicial College has now got in on the colour act. The 14th edition of its Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages in Personal Injury Cases just published by Oxford University Press is adorned with an orange cover. If you deal with these cases then you are likely to attract a negligence claim absent acquisition of this latest edition or theft of a colleague’s copy.

The guideline figures have been adjusted to reflect the RPI increase of 4.8% in the two years up to 31 May 2017. Having previously flirted with the idea, the differentiation between awards for scarring by reference to gender—‘an outdated stereotype’—has now

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
A construction defect claim in the Court of Appeal offers a sharp lesson in pleading discipline. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains how a catastrophically drafted schedule of loss derailed otherwise viable claims. Across the areas explored in this week's column, the message is consistent: clarity, economy and proper pleading matter more than ever
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