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11 December 2019 / Mark Pawlowski
Issue: 7868 / Categories: Features
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It’s a wonderful life!

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Mark Pawlowski takes a festive look at some of the more humorous cases taken from the English & Commonwealth law reports

Contacting the spirit world

Very spooky behaviour can be found in the criminal law case of R v Young [1955] QB 324. Four members of a jury, while staying overnight in a local hotel, used a ouija board to contact the victim of a murder to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. The Court of Appeal, not surprisingly, held that this was a material irregularity and duly quashed the conviction for murder.

Unreasonable behaviour?

Most family law practitioners will be aware of O’Neill v O’Neill [1975] 3 All ER 289. This involved a wife’s petition for divorce, which was based on her husband’s unreasonable behaviour in embarking on an extensive two-year programme of renovation of the matrimonial home in order to cure dampness under the floorboards. As part of this work, the toilet door was removed for a period of eight months, causing great embarrassment to the wife and

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

DWF—David Kennedy

DWF—David Kennedy

DWF appoints new major injury and casualty partner in Dublin

Keystone Law—12 appointments

Keystone Law—12 appointments

Keystone Law reinforces full-service offering with 12 partner appointments

Haynes Boone—Linton Bloomberg

Haynes Boone—Linton Bloomberg

Linton Bloomberg joins Haynes Boone's London office, expanding cross-border restructuring capabilities

NEWS
Sole practitioners and small firms are struggling due to the pressure of recruitment issues and excessive regulation, the Law Society has warned
Pressure is mounting for a dedicated UK AI law, but deciding what it should achieve remains the central challenge
Legal professional privilege has checked the SRA’s investigative powers, exposing difficult questions about tackling suspected abusive litigation
Refusing mediation need not trigger a costs penalty, but litigators must justify their position
Group claims, disputed costs and judicial recruitment dominate the latest courtroom round-up
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