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09 June 2023 / David Walbank KC
Issue: 8028 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Criminal
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Crime brief: 9 June 2023

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Nothing is ever certain in litigation: David Walbank KC assesses the Court of Appeal’s reversal of a first-instance decision on state immunity
  • Juan Carlos I, former king of Spain.
  • ‘Functional immunity’ with regard to alleged campaign of harassment.
  • Court of Appeal overturns first-instance decision.

They say that nothing is certain in litigation and doubtless the ‘Great British Public’ would be amazed by the frequency, if not quite the abandon, with which appellate courts overturn the decisions of their brother and sister judges at first instance. As a consequence, eagle-eyed legal commentators must constantly scan the law reports and the trade press for clues that any judgment about which they have written might be subject to appeal. Where necessary, the record must be corrected to reflect the appeal court’s ruling.

A striking illustration of this phenomenon occurred in Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn v HM Juan Carlos de Borbón y Borbón [2022] EWCA Civ 1595, [2022] All ER (D) 52 (Dec), where the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, overturned the first-instance decision

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NEWS
The government will aim to pass legislation banning leasehold for new flats and capping ground rent, introducing non-compulsory digital ID and creating a ‘duty of candour’ for public servants (also known as the Hillsborough law) in the next Parliament

An Italian financier has lost his bid to block his Australian wife from filing divorce papers in England on the basis it was no longer her domicile of choice

Reforms to the disclosure regime in the business and property courts have not achieved their objectives, lawyers have warned
The Law Society has urged ministers to hold a public consultation on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the justice system as a whole
Ministers have proposed bringing inquest work under a single fee scheme for legal help and advocacy legal aid work
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