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04 November 2022 / David Walbank KC
Issue: 8001 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Criminal
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Crime brief: 4 November 2022

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Equality before the law: David Walbank KC examines a case which tested the limits of this most fundamental legal doctrine
  • Equality before the law.
  • Ex-monarch sued for harassment. 
  • Doctrine of state immunity. 

From day one of their legal studies, it is drummed into students that ‘all are equal before the law’. But does that actually mean anything? In the next two ‘Crime brief’ pieces, we will look at two very different cases, each of which demonstrates that it is very much more than a highfalutin phrase.

Harassment allegations

Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn v De Borbon y Borbon [2022] EWHC 668 (QB) concerned a civil action in harassment brought by the estranged lover of an ex-king and prompted consideration of the doctrine of state immunity.

Corinna zu-Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (pictured) is a German-born Danish entrepreneur with homes in Monaco, Switzerland, London and Shropshire. In the mid-2000s, she became the mistress of Juan Carlos I, the King of Spain, but five years later, their relationship ended in acrimony. When, after four

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